Disobedience Means Decay

Words like sin and disobedience are at once harsh and hollow. As believers, these words tend to evoke fear in us, but sometimes we feel disconnected from their greater meaning.

When you look at the word disobedience (maa’sy) linguistically, an understanding takes shape that is broad in scope. Here are a few meanings and connotations:

Refractory: to be resistant to treatment or cure
Disobedience can make a person resistant to guidance. One may, for instance, become habituated to a bad habit and find the habit hard to break. Ibn Ata Allah al-Iskandari is quoted as saying: "How are the laws of nature going to change for you when you can’t even change your bad habits?" The true danger is when a bad habit becomes so ingrained that the resistance one puts up to change is happing on a subconscious level. The ability for a habit to become second nature is a powerful tool God has given us that can serve it positively in so many ways. However, it can just as easily empower our negative traits as it does our positive traits.

Difficult: hard to manage
Disobedience can harden one’s heart and limbs and make it more difficult to follow guidance. Disobedience can cause disturbance in the soul and one may not be able to manage the output from a chaotic soul.

Virulent: the capacity of a pathogen to overcome a host's defenses and cause disease or damage
Persistent disobedience weakens one’s moral and spiritual defenses, thereby making them even more susceptible to further egotistic and satanic incitements. Just like a pathogen overrides your immune defenses, attacking your system at the moment and leaving you vulnerable to further attacks.

Malignant
Disobedience poisons and spreads chaotically like a malignant tumor. It does not suffice to harm you in one area, but disperses itself and causes a disturbance in the soul.

I’m reminded of Imam al-Shafi’s classic words: "I complained to al-Waki’ about the deficiency in my memory, he advised me to leave disobedience and informed me that knowledge is light and God’s light will not be bestowed on a sinner."

We know that Imam al-Shafi’ was not committing major sins, and his minor sins were likely insignificant. al-Waki’s words have often been understood as taking a comprehensive ethical stance. In other words, he warns al-Shafi’ not only of sins of the limbs but also transgressions of the heart and mind as well. We can understand from this that all actions and states of the heart that are contrary to what serves us well in this life and the next life. All that does not serve us could potentially be shielding us from the guiding light of Allah with which He desires to illuminate our hearts. Ibn Ata Allah said: "Whoever finds it strange that God should save him from his passion or yank him out of his neglectfulness has deemed Divine Power inadequate." "God has power over all things" (Qur’an 18:46) including your bad habits. So, have hope!

P.S. I did an interview with the historian of the African diaspora Dr. Sylviane Diouf on how African Muslims enslaved in the Americas used music to express their states to God. It's called "Music for the Soul" and you can read it here.