As for a person’s own conduct, he may not do what he knows to be forbidden on the assumption that it will help him obey Allah. Such an act can only be wholly harmful, or its harm outweighs its benefit; indeed, that act of obedience may itself become harmful. For the Lawgiver is wise: if He knew that this was beneficial, He would not have forbidden it. A person may, however, commit a forbidden act and then repent, the benefit lying in his repentance and the humility, tenderness of heart, and turning to Allah Most High that it brings him. Sins may thus bring benefit when accompanied by repentance. A person’s freedom from sins may give rise to arrogance, conceit, and hardness of heart; then, if he falls into a sin, it humbles him, breaks his heart, and softens it through the repentance that follows.

For this reason, Sa‘īd ibn Jubayr said:

“A servant may do a good deed through which he enters the Fire, and commit an evil deed through which he enters Paradise.”

This is the wisdom behind the trials of those prophets and righteous people who were tested with sins. Without repentance, however, the harm of a forbidden act necessarily outweighs its benefit. A person may not regard as lawful what he knows with certainty Allah has forbidden, and he is certainly not permitted to do it. If his own soul and Satan overcome him and he falls into it, he must repent of it. If he repents and becomes better through repentance than he was before, this is part of Allah’s mercy towards him in accepting his repentance. Otherwise, had he not repented, his condition would have deteriorated because of the sin.

He may not say, “I will do it and then repent,” nor does the Lawgiver permit him to do so. He is like someone who says, “I will eat what makes me ill and then seek treatment,” or, “I will take poison and then drink the antidote.”