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Fatwa CenterRealizing the Enormity of Sin Makes It Easy for One to Return to the Right Path
Question
What is the ruling concerning a person who knows the truth and cannot follow it because it is different from that to which he has been accustomed? Although he knows that what he does is wrong, it is difficult for him to abide by what is right.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
Accepting the truth after getting to know it and returning to it after verifying it is a great merit and an upright moral character. Similarly, persistence in falsehood although the truth is clear is a vicious sin and shameful moral character, being the conduct of Satan and the way of every sinful liar. Allah, the Almighty, says (what means): {Woe to every sinful liar who hears the verses of Allah recited to him, then persists arrogantly as if he had not heard them. So give him tidings of a painful punishment.} [Quran 45:7-8]
It was narrated on the authority of Ibn ‘Umar 
that the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, “And he who disputes with another over falsehood and he knows that (it is falsehood) continues to expose himself to the displeasure of Allah till he leaves it.” [Abu Dawood and Ahmad]
Persistence in falsehood entails Allah’s displeasure and anger. So let every Muslim fear Allah and abide by the truth, and return to Allah, even if he is forced to suppress his own self and inclination.
He should not allow his inclination to overpower him or let his desire destroy him. If one falls in a mistake or a sin, then he should not make little of it or regard it as insignificant because that is the conduct of the wicked. It was narrated on the authority of ‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ood 
that he said, “Verily, the believer sees his sins (as huge as if) he is sitting under a mountain and he fears lest it would fall upon him. The wicked sees his sins (as small) as flies passing over his nose and he drives them away like this.” Abu Shihab (the sub-narrator) moved his hand over his nose in illustration. [Al-Bukhari]
Al-Hafith Ibn Hajar, reported the statement of Ibn Abu Jamrah 
“It seems clear from this hadith that the person’s lack of fear of his sins and taking them lightly features his wickedness.”
Since man does not know when he shall die, then why does he procrastinate accepting the truth and returning to the right way? May Allah, the Almighty, make us successful in obeying and pleasing Him.
Allah knows best.
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