What Is the Point of Obedience, If Allah Most High May Forgive the Disobedient Person and Both Will Enter Paradise Anyway?
Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch
Question
If a Muslim person (A) shows patience and strictly follows Islam, and another Muslim person (B) did Zina and stayed in haram relationships and followed all his desires and didn’t seek forgiveness from Allah, both stand in front of Allah on the day of judgment, and Allah lets the first person enter Janna because he showed patience and didn’t do haram things, and Allah also forgave the second person who was sinful and let him enter Janna without punishment.
What is the point of obedience, if Allah Most High may forgive the disobedient person and both will enter Paradise anyway?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
There is an immense difference between the one who spends their life in the disobedience of Allah Most High and the one who spends their life in the obedience of Allah Most High, even if Allah Most High enters both into Paradise.
They Can Never Be the Same
The difference between them is immense with regards to the life of this world, the life of the grave (the intermediary life between this life and the Hereafter), the Day of Judgment, and their ranks in Paradise.
Allah Most High says, “Do those who commit evil deeds really think that We will deal with them in the same way as those who believe and do righteous deeds, that they will be alike in their living and their dying? How badly they judge!” [Quran, 45:21]
The above verse is obvious with regards to a disbeliever compared to a believer, but also true of the disobedient and obedient believers.
Entering Paradise
The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “None of you will be given salvation by his deeds.” A man said, “Not even you, O Messenger of Allah?” He said, “Not even me. Unless Allah shrouds me in mercy.” [Muslim]
Entering Paradise is only granted to those upon whom Allah has mercy. However, the rank that one is granted in Paradise is according, first and foremost, to their deeds. With this meaning we understand the following verse:
Allah Most High says, “That is the Paradise which you will be awarded for what you used to do.” [Quran, 43:72]
Summary
Hopefully, the above explains the vast difference between the obedience and disobedience of Allah Most High. We have not even mentioned in differences in the inward spiritual experiences of the two in this life or the following lives.
Allah Most Highs says, “Whoever turns away from my remembrance (i.e., obedience) will have a constricted life.” [Quran, 20:124]
In closing, we do not know how we will fare on the Day of Judgment and all we can do is choose to act in obedience in each moment.
Disobeying Allah Most High is a dangerous path that has led many even to lose their faith in Allah and to disbelieve, resulting in them residing in Hellfire eternally. May Allah save us from His disobedience, His wrath, and Hellfire and may He enter us all into the Gardens of His Mercy.
Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he then completed four years at the Darul Uloom seminary in New York where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences. He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he stayed for three years studying in Dar Al-Mustafa under some of the greatest scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib. In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Qur’an and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Qur’anic exegesis, Islamic history, and a number of texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.
