Slackening of the soul in obedience (futur)

The Sheikh says the soul sometimes slackens in obedience and grows sluggish, and that some people remain in that state until they are used to it; he attributes it to faith increasing with obedience and decreasing with sins, and mentions the hadith that hearts have times of eagerness and times of turning away: in eagerness, voluntary acts; in turning away, the obligations. He holds that the believer should not leave this state long. ^{1 2 3}

• Laziness in obedience: missing the dawn prayer for days until the sun is about to rise while one is still in the tashahhud, and finding a sick visit burdensome. ^{3 4}
• Hardness of heart: seeing slain Muslims or famine victims with their bones showing on the screen and being unmoved, then eating and sleeping soundly. ^{5 6}
• Wasted time: a day passing with no Qur'an memorised, no gathering of knowledge, no sick visit and nothing achieved, so that one feels blessing has left one's time. ^{6 7}
• Disorder in work and loss of success, discovering at day's end that nothing was done. ^{7 8}
• Hearing the Qur'an and hadith as one reads a newspaper, while listening closely to stock prices and football matches. ^{8 9}
• A tongue quick to disparage people's good deeds, belittling a rich man's charity or an uncle's care of his orphaned nephews. ^{10 11}
• Many idle wishes, which he likens to sailing the sea of the bankrupt, and taking death lightly as though the angel of death visited only the sick or the old. ^{11 12}
• Laxity toward sins and belittling them; he quotes the scholars: no sin is small with persistence, and none is great with seeking forgiveness. ¹³

See also: purification of the soul.