In The Name of Allaah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy

Allaah [The Most High] said:

 [ أَفَرَءَيۡتَ مَنِ ٱتَّخَذَ إِلَـٰهَهُ ۥ هَوَٮٰهُ وَأَضَلَّهُ ٱللَّهُ عَلَىٰ عِلۡمٍ۬ وَخَتَمَ عَلَىٰ سَمۡعِهِۦ وَقَلۡبِهِۦ وَجَعَلَ عَلَىٰ بَصَرِهِۦ غِشَـٰوَةً۬ فَمَن يَہۡدِيهِ مِنۢ بَعۡدِ ٱللَّهِ‌ۚ أَفَلَا تَذَكَّرُونَ –]

– Have you seen him who takes his own lust (vain desires) as his ilah (god), and Allah knowing (him as such), left him astray, and sealed his hearing and his heart, and put a cover on his sight. Who then will guide him after Allah? Will you not then remember? [45:23]

•Imaam Ibnul Qayyim [rahimahullaah] said: 

Disobedience is the cause of being in shaytaan’s captivity and a prisoner of lowly desires. A disobedient person is always in the captivity of his devil, the prison of his lusts and leadership of his desires. He is a captive and a shackled prisoner. There is neither a captive whose state of affairs is more evil than that of a captive whose captor is his worst enemy, nor is there a prison more restricted than the prison of desires, and shackles that are more restrictive than the shackles of lust; so how can a heart that is a captive and a shackled prisoner follow the path to Allaah and the home of the afterlife? How can he follow a single path when the heart is shackled and stricken with harm from every angle as a result of the [severity] of its shackles? The likeness of the heart is that of a bird; it distances from harm whenever it flies high and surrounded by harm whenever it lands. It is reported in a hadeeth: 

‘’Shaytaan is a wolf to a human being.’’ 

And just as an unprotected sheep in the midst of wolves is quickly destroyed, likewise if there is no protection from Allaah for the slave, it is inevitable that his wolf will prey on him. He is protected by Allaah through Taqwaah. Taqwaah is a shield and shelter from Allaah between the person and his wolf; just as it is a shield against punishment in this life and the afterlife. 

Whenever the sheep is closer to its shepherd, it is safer from the wolf and whenever it is distanced from the shepherd, it comes closer to being destroyed. So the sheep is more protected when it is closer to the shepherd, for the wolf only takes away the [sheep, cattle]  that are distanced and far away from the shepherd.

The basis of this affair is that whenever the heart is distanced from Allaah, then harm upon it is quicker, and whenever it is comes closer to Allaah, it is distanced from harm. Being distanced from Allaah is of various levels and some are more severe than others. Being distanced from [Allaah] through disobedience is greater than being distanced from [Allaah] through thoughtlessness; being distanced from [Allaah] through bidah is greater than being distanced from [Allaah] through disobedience, and being distanced from [Allaah] through hypocrisy and shirk is greater than all of that. 

•Imaam Sadi [rahimahullaah] said:

Allaah [The Most High] said:

[ لَقَدۡ مَنَّ ٱللَّهُ عَلَى ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنِينَ إِذۡ بَعَثَ فِيہِمۡ رَسُولاً۬ مِّنۡ أَنفُسِهِمۡ يَتۡلُواْ عَلَيۡہِمۡ ءَايَـٰتِهِۦ وَيُزَڪِّيہِمۡ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ ٱلۡكِتَـٰبَ وَٱلۡحِڪۡمَةَ وَإِن كَانُواْ مِن قَبۡلُ لَفِى ضَلَـٰلٍ۬ مُّبِينٍ – Indeed, Allah conferred a great favour on the believers when He sent among them a Messenger (Muhammad) from among themselves, reciting unto them His Verses (the Qur’an), and purifying them (from sins by their following him), and instructing them (in) the Book (the Qur’an) and Al-Hikmah [the wisdom and the Sunnah of the Prophet (i.e. his legal ways, statements, acts of worship, etc.)], while before that they had been in manifest error. [3:164]

Allaah [The Most High] said:

[ وَٱذۡكُرُواْ نِعۡمَتَ ٱللَّهِ عَلَيۡكُمۡ إِذۡ كُنتُمۡ أَعۡدَآءً۬ فَأَلَّفَ بَيۡنَ قُلُوبِكُمۡ فَأَصۡبَحۡتُم بِنِعۡمَتِهِۦۤ إِخۡوَٲنً۬ا وَكُنتُمۡ عَلَىٰ شَفَا حُفۡرَةٍ۬ مِّنَ ٱلنَّارِ فَأَنقَذَكُم مِّنۡہَا‌ۗ كَذَٲلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمۡ ءَايَـٰتِهِۦ لَعَلَّكُمۡ تَہۡتَدُونَ – And remember Allah’s Favour on you, for you were enemies one to another but He joined your hearts together, so that, by His Grace, you became brethren (in Islamic Faith), and you were on the brink of a pit of Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus, Allah makes His Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.,) clear to you, that you may be guided. [3:103]

Allaah [The Most High] said:

[ ٱلۡيَوۡمَ أَكۡمَلۡتُ لَكُمۡ دِينَكُمۡ وَأَتۡمَمۡتُ عَلَيۡكُمۡ نِعۡمَتِى وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ ٱلۡإِسۡلَـٰمَ دِينً۬ا‌ۚ – This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My Favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion]. [5:3]

Allaah [The Most High] said:

[وَمَنۡ أَحۡسَنُ مِنَ ٱللَّهِ حُكۡمً۬ا لِّقَوۡمٍ۬ يُوقِنُونَ – And who is better in judgement than Allah for a people who have firm Faith]. [3:50] Whoever utilises sound intellect to examine what the Messengers brought [i.e. the revelation] – what they commanded and guided the people to, such as knowledge and Awareness of Allaah, the worship of Allaah alone, turning to Allaah in repentance and obedience with true Faith (Islamic Monotheism) and the command to fulfil all the rights [of the people] based on courteous good will, perfecting one’s actions [i.e. based on sincerity to Allaah alone] and treating others with kindness [by sincerely seeking to benefit them though one’s knowledge, wealth or position], and that which they [i.e. Messengers] forbade; then thereafter he examines what the Mul’hidoon call to, he will know that good [and its outcomes], success, sound rectification of the hearts and deeds, [sound rectification of] the worldly affairs and [sound rectification of the religious affairs and their end results in the afterlife] are all in agreement with what the Messengers called to.

On the other hand, he will know that the call of the Mul’hidoon is designed to do away with good manners [traits, characteristics etc], whose end result is nothing but complete chaos and a state in which one goes along with lust [or evil desires of the soul] until the animals become more noble and beneficial than humans. This is no doubt their state of affairs – clearly manifested by what they are upon and what they proclaim with their tongues. Among the most amazing of affairs is that many contemporary writers and politicians seek to remedy the many social ills and try to do so do from many angles, however as for the problem of Il’haad – whose surge has carried away the majority of young people – they have not rushed to stop it by returning to sound Eemaan and certainty; rather they [i.e. the Mul’hidoon] have been abandoned to wander blindly in their misguidance and wavering in beguilement, and thus the social ills they seek to remedy gives birth to other social ills- because if the path to remedying social ills is not based on Eemaan and sound Deen, they will increase and become worse. 

Meaning of the terms Il’haad, and Mul’hid [plural (Mul’hidoon)]: The Mul’hidoon are the people of Il-haad. Ilhaad means to turn away from that which one is obligated to believe in or do. This is a general definition of Il’haad and anyone who turns away from that which is obligated upon him to believe or do, then such a person is referred to as a Mul’hid. But Il’haad is of two types: Major Il’haad and Minor Il-haad.

Complete Il’haad is to turn away from Islaam completely and that is Major Il’haad, which exits a person from the fold of Islaam, such as the Il’haad of the communists, the idol worshippers and those similar to them. Minor Il-haad does not exit a person from the Religion of Islaam, such as turning away from some actions.

Allaah [The Most High] said:

[وَمَن يُرِدْ فِيهِ بِإِلْحَادٍ بِظُلْمٍ نُذِقْهُ مِنْ عَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ –And whoever inclines to evil actions therein or to do wrong, him We shall cause to taste a painful torment.” [22:25] 

-[An Excerpt from ‘Ad-Daa’u Wad-Dawaa’u’ page 119-120’. slightly paraphrased, An Excerpt from ‘Al-Adillatul Qawaatiq’ pages 40-41′. slightly paraphrased]