The Exalted Allah created numberless illuminated creatures. They are the angels. He created also creatures that always disobey Him. They are the devils. Moreover, among these creatures, He created a creature that errs and be right, obeys and disobeys. The Exalted Allah wants this creature to be repentant. Thus, some of the creatures are absolutely obedient, others are absolutely sinners, but man is repentant. He is the creature who is loved by the Exalted Allah Who said: "For Allah loves those who turn to him constantly in repentance"
The Prophet (PBUH) said: "All human beings are liable to err, but the best erroneous people are those who repent".
The behavioral problem is not in man's erring, for this is an inborn quality on which man's natural disposition is based. The problem is when man adopts the way of erring as his method in life, and turns away completely from the method of obeying his Lord. It is when man reaches a stage where there is no way for repentance, nor does repentance occur to his mind.
Today, let us meditate upon a verse in the Book of the Exalted Allah, that says:
"Nay, those who seek gain in evil, and are girt round by their sins, they are companions of the fire; therein shall they abide {forever} " (Al Baqarah, 81).
It is a verse that necessitates much meditation: "Nay, those who seek gain in evil". Those are plenty, but the problem that causes their being eternally in Hell is when they are encompassed by their sins.
"And are girt round by their sins". The presented problem in this verse is not man's sinning, for the Holy Qur'an refers to removing blame from the mistaken. Read the following verse:
"But there is no blame on you if ye make a mistake therein. {What counts is} the intention of your hearts; and Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful "(Al Ahzab, 5).
Compare between the verse that removes blame from the mistaken and the verse we are dealing with that shakes man greatly: "Nay, those who seek gain in evil, and are girt round by their sins, they are companions of the fire". His sin encompasses him so that he becomes like the chained, the caged and the imprisoned.
The meaning of this verse can be understood more throughout the Book of Allah. The behavioral aspects of this verse is sorrowfully common in our societies that are deteriorating to a state in which man becomes encompassed by mistakes and sins and by all the causes that lead him to become eternally in Hell.
The Holy Qur'an presents details of how man, sometimes, defiles himself by mistakes and wrong doing. Man might defile his mind, his brain, his heart, his breast, his belly, his tongue, his eyes, his ears, his chastity, his hands, his feet, his skin, his forehead and head, and all his body… .
In these details presented by the Holy Qur'an, the Exalted Allah wants to draw our attention to the principles of behavior. How can man avoid not being encompassed by his sins when he is defiled with all wrong doings?
In this case, man will have not followed any way of goodness. If he sought the enlightened way by his hand to do good and obey the Exalted Allah's orders, he might have been saved from being encompassed by his sins.
If he sought goodness by his feet, he might have been escaped and his sin might not have encompassed him.
If he were preoccupied with true and faithful prostration to his Lord, he might have escaped from this encompassing and prison that leads him to dwell eternally in Hell.
Let us read some of the Qur'anic verses that refer to this filth of the sin that man might fall in; a filth that might overwhelm all the particles of his human nature.
1- The Holy Qur'an refers to the fact that man may defile his soul. The soul carries out an abstract function that serves man's instincts and desires. Lust and instinctive desires are pushed by this element that has abstract function called the soul. The Exalted Allah said:
"The Soul, and the proportion and order given to it, and its enlightenment as to its wrong and its right. Truly he succeeds that purifies it, and he fails that corrupts it" (Ash Shams, 7-10).
Consequently, man is able to purify his soul, and rise above his desires to the human level disciplined by the order of the Exalted Allah. On the other hand, he might also be defiling and soiling this soul when he directs his desires to the mean and the lowly.
Man may defile his mind. This is referred to in the following verse concerning the people of Hell:
"They will further say: Had we but listened or used our intelligence, We should not {now} be among the Companions of the Blazing Fire" (Al Mulk, 10).
As indicated by the Holy Qur'an in the above mentioned verse, this type of people make their minds inactive and turn away from the right method by which they might have had sound thinking to lead them to the straight path.
"They will further say: Had we but listened or used our intelligence". If they had listened and obeyed the Exalted Allah's order, and realized that this method was the path of guidance and rationality, they would not have been in Hell.
3-Man might defile his brain. Today, scientific researches talk a lot about the brain. The verse that refers to the brain in the Holy Qur'an is marvelous.
Through their understanding of the Holy Qur'an, scientists decide that the place of the mind is the heart, but the light of the mind is in the brain. The Qur'an decides that the heart is the place of the mind, as the Exalted Allah said:
"Do they not travel through the land, so that their hearts may thus learn wisdom" (Al Haj, 46).
The fact that the place of the mind is in the heart as indicated by the Qur'an is clear. Today, this relationship between the heart and the mind is scientifically proved to be true. The Holy Qur'an refers to the brain, and the brain derives its light from the heart. Consequently, the place of the mind is in the heart, and the light of the mind is in the brain.
Read the following Exalted Allah's statement:
"Let him beware! If he desist not, We will drag him by the forelock; a lying, sinful forelock" (Al 'Alaq, 15-16).
if we read the text as we usually read any other text, we understand the sin to be in the general behavior, and lying by the tongue. But the Qur'an talks about the sin and lying of the forelock. This absolutely agrees with the scientific researches that emphasize the fact that the forelock is the center from which behavior is issued. The Exalted Allah describes this cerebral center very accurately. He said: "a lying, sinful forelock".
The Exalted Allah said: "
"For the sinners will be known by their Marks; and they will be seized by their forelocks and their feet" (Ar Rahman, 41).
Hence, the forelock is the cause of sin and lying, and the feet lead the body to the place this forelock aims at.
This is a marvelous description presented by the Qur'an. It talks about the influence of the brain that man should take care of, as he does with his eyes, his ears, his mouth and his feet… .
4-The brain may defile man's heart. The Exalted Allah said: "they have hearts wherewith they understand not" (Al 'Araf, 179).
Consequently, the Exalted Allah makes the heart the place of understanding and comprehending knowledge from Allah. How can man understand the Book of Allah thoroughly when he closes the windows of the hearts by his own sins?

"Do they not then earnestly seek to understand the Quran, or are their hearts locked up by them?" (Muhammad, 24).
"By no means, but on their hearts is the stain of the {ill doing} which they do" (Al Mutafiffin, 14).
Consequently, the heart understanding will be disabled because of man's ill doing that closes the widows of the heart. Hence the heart becomes completely materialistic and is not influenced nor excited by the verses of the Qur'an, nor do the eyes shed tears in glorification of the Exalted Allah and in awe of Him. We, rather, find him like stone, and he becomes far away from fearing the Exalted Allah, and away from any intention of being pious.
The Exalted Allah said: "Allah hath set a seal on their hearts and on their hearing, and on their eyes is a veil; great is the penalty they {incur}" (Al Baqarah, 7).
He also said: "Conceal not evidence; for whoever conceals it, his heart is tainted with sin" (Al Baqarah, 283).
Accordingly, the Holy Qur'an draws our attention to a place that might be one of the causes of being encompassed by sin.
5-Man may defile his breast: depending on the Book and the Sunnah, the religious scholars decide that the breast is the place of the acquired records that man may gather.
Do not say: How can this piece of information be in consistent with recent science?
I say: What science has presented today is just little knowledge, and no one can say that science has encompassed all knowledge.
The Holy Qur'an refers to the breast in many places, one of them is the following Surah:
"Say: I seek refuge with the Lord and Cherisher of Mankind, the King of Mankind, the Allah of Mankind, from the mischief of the Whisperer {of Evil}, who withdraws {after his whisper}, who whispers into the hearts of Mankind" (An Nas, 1-5).
The Exalted Allah praised the breast when He said to His Beloved: "Have We not expanded thee thy breast?" (Ash Sharh, 1).
On another occasion, the Exalted Allah dispraised the breast when it is the place of unbelief and sin. He said:
"Anyone who, after accepting Faith in Allah, utters unbelief, except under compulsion, his heart remaining firm in Faith but such as open their breast to unbelief, on them is wrath from Allah, and theirs will be a dreadful penalty" (Al Nahl, 106).
Moreover, the Exalted Allah praised those in whose breasts the verses of the Holy Qur'an are preserved. He said:
"Nay, here are Signs self evident in the hearts of those endowed with knowledge: and none but the unjust reject Our Signs" (Al 'Ankabut, 49).
6-Man can defile his belly and body by unlawful wealth. As a result, his body grows out of this unlawful gain. The Exalted Allah said:
"Those who unjustly eat up the property of orphans, eat up a fire into their own bodies: they will soon be enduring a blazing fire" (An Nisa', 10).
He also said:
"And there are those who hoard gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah: announce unto them a most grievous penalty. On the day when heat will be produced out of that {wealth} in the fire of Hell, and with it will be branded their foreheads, their flanks, and their backs" (At Tawbah, 34-35).

It is the body that grows out of the unlawful.
7-Man may defile his tongue by lying, backbiting, tale-bearing, slander, and other legally unpermitted sins. Read the Exalted Allah's statement when He draws our attention to the place of sin:
"But say not for any false thing that your tongues may put forth, this is lawful, and this is forbidden, so as to ascribe false things to Allah" (An Nahl, 116).
"It is a grievous thing that issues from their mouths as a saying. What they say is nothing but falsehood" (Al Kahf, 5).
8-Man may defile his eyes, his ears, and his modesty by the unlawful:
The Exalted Allah said:
"And pursue not that of which you have no knowledge; for every act of hearing, or of seeing or of {feeling in} the heart will be enquired into {on the day of reckoning}" (Al Isra', 36).
He also said:
"Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that will make for greater purity for them, and Allah is well acquainted with all that they do, and say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty" (An Nur, 30-31).
He also said:
"Already has he sent you word in the book, that when you hear the Signs of Allah held in defiance and ridicule, you are not to sit with them unless they turn to a different theme; if you did, you would be like them. For Allah will collect the Hypocrites and those who defy Faith all in Hell" (An Nisa', 140).‏

Throughout these verses, we notice how the Exalted Allah directs us to the necessity of preserving the eyes, the ears and modesty so that they be away from sin. When man avoids being close to sin, he saves himself from being encompassed by sin from all the sides.
9-Man may defile his hand by disobedience and make it unable to perform the requirement obligations:
The Exalted Allah said: "Woe to them for what their hands do write" (Al Baqarah, 79).
There were a lot of people in the past who used their hand in writing to distort the words of the Holy Books. Today, there are a lot of them too who write books to make people deviate from the right way. There are also a lot of books that spread with the purpose of dissolving morality. Moreover, a great deal of money is spend nowadays on books with the purpose of misleading people and turning them away from the method of Allah.
Read the following words mouthed by Noah (PBUH) as related by the Holy Qur'an:
"And every time I have called to them, that You might forgive them, they have {only} thrust their fingers into their ears" (Nuh, 7).
Read also the story of Abel and Cain in the Holy Qur'an:
"If thou dost stretch thy hand against me, to slay me, it is not for me to stretch my hand against thee to slay thee" (Al Ma'idah, 28).
And:
"If we had sent unto you written {message} on parchment, so that they could touch it with their hands, the unbelievers would have been sure to say: this is nothing but obvious magic" (Al An'am, 7).
Although the hand held the Book, arrogance prevented man from accepting the truth, and from being submissive to the right and satisfied with it.
The Exalted Allah said:
"We have put yokes round their necks right up to their chins, so that their heads are forced up {and they cannot see}" (Yasin, 8).
Their heads are raised upward while their necks are fixed.
And:
"And We have put a bar in front of them and a bar behind them, and further, We have covered them up; so that they cannot see" (Yasin, 9), i.e., their hands are tied to their necks. They might have done so out of arrogance, so this is their retribution in Hell. It is a sin done by their hands and passes through their necks, so it is the cause of their being encompassed by it and be in Hell Fire.
Man may defile his chastity by the unpermitted. The Exalted Allah wants man to be away from sin, in general, and to guard his chastity so that he gets away from sin, in particular. Read the following statements of the Exalted Allah:
"Who abstain from sex, except with those joined to them in the marriage bond, or {the captive women} whom their right hands possess, for {in their case} they are free from blame. But those whose desires exceed those limits are transgressors" (Al Mu'minun, 5-7).
11-Man may defile his skin by uncovering the private parts of his body. The Exalted Allah makes the skin a garment for this body, and according to legal rules, the features of the private parts of the man as well of the woman are defined. Consequently, man's skin is a preserved organ, disciplined by the rules of legislation.

The Exalted Allah said:
"As soon as their skins are roasted through, we shall change them for fresh skins, that they may taste the penalty" (An Nisa', 56).
He also said:
"O Prophet, tell your wives and daughters, and the believing women, that they should cast their outer garments over their persons {when abroad}" Al Ahzab, 59).
The veil is an obligatory well known religious rule of legislation. Nowadays, liars and those who concoct lies try to make the Ummah reject the issue of the veil. They say: "The veil is one of the customs ". Definitely, they are liars. It is a legal rule and an obligation decreed by the Exalted Allah for the man as well as for the woman. The man woman's private parts are accurately defined by the Exalted Allah, and, by necessity, the veil is a religious well known fact. Whoever rejects this fact is an apostate and consequently, he becomes an unbeliever.
The Exalted Allah said:
"they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what {must ordinarily} appear thereof; and they should draw their veils over their bosoms" (An Nur, 31).
12-Man may defile his forehead by submitting himself to other than his Lord. The Exalted Allah wants the Muslim to be honored by his Lord, i.e., he should not bend, nor should he prostrate but to Allah.
The Muslim is honored by Allah. But sorrowfully enough, today, the Muslim is humiliated by submitting to other than Allah. People worship one another, and human idols are deified.
Allah be pleased with you, oh, Omar Bin Al Khattab when you were the Caliph of the Muslims and stood before the Muslims and said: " Listen and obey". One of the subjects said to you: "We shall neither listen nor obey". You asked him: "Why not, oh you? " He said: "You took two garments and gave every one of us only one garment". Then you said: "Oh Abd Allah Bin Omar, stand up". Abd Allah said: "I have given my garment to my father because he is a tall man".
This is our ideal and our example. To us, favoritism has no consideration.
Equality among people is decided. "If Fatima, daughter of Muhammad had stolen something, I would have cut her hand". This was what the Beloved, Al Mustafa (PBUH) decided. Nowadays, we live the time of favoritism and discrimination. It is not discrimination between the white and the black. It is rather discrimination between the ruler and the ruled, between the poor and the rich….
Human equality is denied because of the absence of Islam from the world. When Islam existed on the earth, the ruler was equal to the ruled, the rich to the poor, and the strong to the weak… .
Nowadays, we live the time of lying, idolization and deifying persons. We live the time of discrimination among people, because real Islam is absent, and the Muslim is humiliated, whereas the Exalted Allah wants him to be honored. The Exalted Allah does not want him to prostrate his forehead or kneel but to Allah.
Notice the hoopoe that felt jealousy for the cause of Allah when it came to Solomon (PBUH). The Exalted Allah praised Solomon saying: "How excellent in Our service ever did he turn {to Us}" (Sad, 30), for outwardly, he was a king, but in reality, he was a slave to Allah, humble to Him. He was not tyrannical with the creatures of Allah. On the contrary, he used to take care of them. He used to carry out the Trust and the task of succession on the earth honestly.
Notice the jealousy of the little bird, the hoopoe, when it came to Solomon trembling out of anger, and said:
"I found her and her people worshipping the sun besides Allah" (An Naml, 24).
The bird's heart did not bear to see prostration to other than Allah, but today, you find some people rebellious against Allah. They are humiliated because they are changed into worshippers of self-interests.
Read the following statement of the Exalted Allah: "And when the Quran is read to them, they fall not prostrate" (Al Inshiqaq, 21).
And:
"And enter the gate in a posture of humility. We shall forgive you your faults; We shall increase {the portion of} those who do good" (Al A'raf, 161).
Consequently, the Holy Qur'an draws the attention to the sins of man's organs that make him be encompassed by his sins. Thereupon, we can understand the Exalted Allah's statement:
"Nay, those who seek gain in evil, and are girt round by their sins, they are companions of the fire; therein shall they abide {forever}."
"And are girt round by their sins", because he is a sinner in all the parts of his body. So there is not one outlet for him to get out of this encompassing.
But, can man get out of this encompassment by means of repentance?
Certainly, yes. Read the following statement of the Exalted Allah: "And for those who fear Allah, He prepares a way out for them" (At Talaq, 2).
And: "For us, we have believed in our Lord; may He forgive us our faults" (Taha, 73).
Piety is the way out of this encompassment, so is true belief.
In conclusion, read the Hadith of the Prophet (PBUH), related by Al Hakem in Al Mustadrak, Ibn Hayyan in Sahihihi, and At Tabarani in Al Awsat, from the Prophet (PBUH) who said:
The Prophet said, "When a human being is laid in his grave and his companions return, he even hears their footsteps. If he is a believer, his prayer will be at his head, his fasting at his right, his Zakat at his left, and his good deeds, such as charity, optional prayer, good relationship with kinship, enjoining good, benevolence with people and the like, will be at his feet. The angels come towards his head (i.e., they want to inflict torture upon his head), his payer says: "No way" (If it is real accepted prayer, not the prayer that is mere movements), i.e., "I do not allow torture to be from my side". If the angels of torture come from his right side, fasting says: "No way from my side". Zakat, good deeds and benevolence to people also say the same".
That is how man can save himself from the Exalted Allah's punishment. That is how man can be pure in this life, and be honored in the Hereafter. That is how man can be righteous in this life, and be one of the kings or the princes in the Hereafter, standing on platforms of light.
It is incumbent upon man to ask himself daily whether he has guarded his soul and his organs from falling into the pit of sin, otherwise, he will be encompassed by his sins.
This is a matter that the rational should be aware of. It is not a matter to be trifled with.
Allahum…, guide us to You favorably, and make us from those who listen to wisdom and follow the best of it.
I say my words and ask Allah's forgiveness.