Fantasizing is Worse than Looking
To fantasize about women and men is even worse than staring at them with lust. This is because looking only requires the eyes to sin, but to fantasize requires the heart, which is the king of all the limbs. If the heart is corrupted, the whole body is corrupted. So, many people ponder over the figures, shapes and forms of numerous women and men, deriving a perverted pleasure, all the while they consider themselves to be highly qualified people in the field of Deen. Understand very carefully, this is a deception of the devil! This is a deception of the sworn enemy of every soul desiring closeness to Allah. At times, it may be reprehensible or distasteful, but by the mental conversations that occur, one is further entrapped in this evil. The mere consideration of casting evil glances appears distasteful and repugnant while the heart inclines to continue the mental conversation. This form of conversation is not under any circumstance purged from the heart. In fact, by not looking, the individual considers himself to be a great sahib-e-mujaahadah, a person given to great sacrifice of desires, and thus imagines himself to be even closer to Allah, not realizing that his heart is constantly inclining towards the sin. So, what type of sacrifice is this? Sacrifice has not even been established yet, let alone perpetuated. The termination of this fantasizing is extremely necessary. Sometimes through the ears, such conversations find their way to the heart, thus, a vigilant watch over the ears like the eyes is also necessary. A person must therefore not listen to conversations about such incidents, nor go to places where there is singing or music. The heart perpetrates sins without the participation of the eyes and ears by pondering over figures, shapes and forms that a person has seen previously, and thereby derives a perverted pleasure.
Taken from a lecture entitled Ghadh-ul-Basr by Hakeem-ul-Ummah Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (RA)
Explore posts in the same categories: Razaail, Spiritual Diseases and Their Remedies
An-Noor 
October 24, 2010 at 1:09 pm
asalamualikum
dear sister
THAT WAS AN AWESOME ARTICLE!! forgive my excitment but u just helped me realize sumthing i shud hav realized ages ago. thank u, and may Allah bless you and keep you guided onto the true straight path!!!!!
:)
May 7, 2007 at 1:36 pm
saalam.
I benefited so much from your Blog. JazakhAllah khair.
saalam
March 4, 2007 at 2:44 pm
JazakAllah for this beautiful blog.
Keep up the good work
March 3, 2007 at 6:51 am
Mashallah, jazakallah shaikh nabeel for that clarification.
February 26, 2007 at 9:12 pm
No, it does not mean that nafli ibadat is useless. It just means that more focus needs to be given on eradicating sins from one’s life. Maulana Abrar ul Haq (RA) would give an example that if a person is driving on a hot day with the AC on, but due to some negligence a window in the car is rolled down a bit. The cool air from the AC will still be felt somewhat, but the hot air from outside will also come in the car. This will defeat the purpose. The window needs to be rolled up entirely to benefit properly from the AC. Similar is the case of “positive ibadat” (nafl, zikr, tilawat etc..) and “negative ibadat” (not negative in terms of bad, but rather in terms of abstaining from sin, which is also a form of ibadat).
I hope this sheds some light on your question.
February 26, 2007 at 8:29 pm
Would that mean there is no use in doing nafli ibadat when one is still sinning? i.e. focus first on your sinful activities and try to deal with that first?
February 22, 2007 at 12:25 am
Mashallah, this blog has become truly one of a kind. I am very pleased to see these recent posts.
It is extremely important that there be a site where sin and the remedy to sin is dealt with and explained. For it is this obstacle which keeps a person from attaining the love and friendship of Allah Ta`ala.
My beloved Hazratwala (damat barakatuhum) always says: “If a person prays no tahajjud, makes no nafli ibadaat whatsoever, rather he performs all his faraa’iz, wajibaat, and sunan-e-mu`akkadah; but along with this he does not indulge in a single act of disobedience, then he will definately be a friend of Allah.
But if a person does a hundred thousand zikrs and overloads himself with nafli ibaadat and tahajjud, but at the same time, casts lustful glances at unlawful women and men, and pornographic sites and pictures, then he will never become a friend of Allah. Rather this person cannot even dream of the friendship of Allah. He will always remain deprived and will be wondering (foolishly) why have not attained ALlah’s love, maybe i need to make more ibaadat?
Rather to attain His freindship one needs to abstain from sin as Allah Ta`ala says: “Lo! The friends of Allah, they have no fear, neither shall they grieve. They are those have believed and they fear Him[by abstaining from sins]…(sura yunus)