forbidden to them, a waste of their wealth, and they will be taken to task for it on the Day of Resurrection—when there will be no park to stroll in, no promenade to enjoy, nothing before them but their deeds. Such people squander their time, destroy their money, and corrupt their character; and more than that, they often take their families along. It is truly astonishing that they should travel to lands of unbelief where no call to prayer is heard, no voice remembers Allah—only the sirens of the Jews and the bells of the Christians. There they remain for days on end, they and their wives, their sons and their daughters, and from this springs great evil. We ask Allah for well-being and safety.

This is one of the tribulations whereby Allah unleashes upon us the calamities that now engulf us, all of them the direct result of our sins and acts of disobedience, as the Exalted says: “Whatever calamity befalls you is because of what your own hands have earned, and He pardons much besides” (al-Shura 42:30). Yet we are heedless, feeling secure in our homelands, as though our Lord were unaware of us, as though He did not know, as though He does not grant the wrongdoer respite only to seize him when escape is impossible.

People are being wrung by these events, but their hearts remain hard—may Allah protect us! The Almighty has said: “We seized them with punishment, but they did not humble themselves to their Lord, nor did they supplicate” (al-Mu’minun 23:76). We afflicted them, the punishment descended upon them, yet they neither humbled themselves before Allah nor implored Him in prayer, nor did they fear His might. Instead, their hearts hardened—may Allah grant us safety—and died, so that decisive disasters now pass over the heart like cool water. We seek refuge in Allah from a dead, callous heart—otherwise, if people were in