Seven Stages of Laziness

The teachers of the path of purification have mentioned there are some stages which can lead to a person’s spiritual heart getting permanently sealed if he does not do sincere Tawbah (repentance) before death.

Many people who begin the spiritual path to Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ become lazy and this results in spiritual death. A person who wishes to travel on the path to Allah and does not want to become a puppet of his nafs (ego) or evil people, should avoid getting himself into the following seven stages of laziness.

Why is shirk the most hated sin? It’s because we have made the things that were meant to serve us as our masters and replaced Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ with these people and objects in his place. Don’t submit to anyone thinking they can cause permanent harm or benefit only Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ can do this.
The sign to know if you are a slave of Shaytan and who is Shaytan are whoever and whatever is inviting you to disobey Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ. If you follow it then that is your master; it can be the TV, the mobile or a friend even a family member.
A person who has become a slave to his nafs has never-ending masters as the nafs never subsides from its desires and commands. Whereas others have become slaves of their families and friends. For example, when the time for marriages comes, people say I don’t want to do anything wrong but it’s my family saying this and that. Why are they confused?
When they have said I believe in Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ and the Prophet ﷺ . When we have accepted Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ as our lord and that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ as our role model. The Prophet ﷺ said (when tribes had gathered against him, including his uncles and cousins) “I will not leave the command of Allah تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَىٰ even if you were to place the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left”. We should be like this, not move from Allah & his Prophet ﷺ no matter what. Some people are slaves of fashion and society, “I want to follow this and look like this and that” letting the thoughts of others dictate how they should live their lives. It is a sign of lowliness that a person who is supposed to follow Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ and his Messenger ﷺ gets agitated when someone looks at him strangely when he tries to follow the Sunnah.
Some think to themselves, ‘I feel odd following the Sunnah or growing a beard and living the prophetic lifestyle, when everyone else is doing something else.’ If everyone turns into a donkey, will you want to follow suit? Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ says make me happy and I will make you independent of everyone and everything else – a truly free person. If Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ does not want harm to come to a person, then no matter what happens no harm will come to that person. A person who Allah جل جلالہ does not protect will be harmed by anything.
Sayyiduna Abu al- ‘Abbas ‘Abdullah bin ‘Abbas, رضي الله عنه, reported: One day I was behind the Prophet, ﷺ, and he said to me: “O young man, I shall teach you some words [of advice]: Be mindful of Allah, and Allah will protect you. Be mindful of Allah, and you will find Him in front of you. If you (have need to) ask, ask of Allah; and if you seek help, seek help from Allah. Know that even if the Nation (or the whole community) were to gather together to benefit you with something, they would not benefit you with anything except that which Allah has already recorded for you, and that if they gather together to harm you with something, they would not be able to harm you with anything except that which Allah has already recorded against you. The pens have been lifted and the pages have dried.”

Imam Jalaludin Rumi رَحِمَهُ ٱللَّٰهُ is reported to have said that one sitting in the company of the Awliyah (friends of God) is better than 100 years of worship because of the teachings of Quran and Sunnah and illumination one gets from them. This only applies to those have sincere intention to change and take action to prove this. Those who do not want to change or have sincerity will not benefit from such gatherings.
Imam Nizam Uddin Awliyah رَحِمَهُ ٱللَّٰهُ and other teachers of the path to Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ said when a person travels on the way to Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ, he is called a Saalik, this can be a student of knowledge, or someone going out to earn halal or even jihad. If he has stopped in this journey which he started, he is called a Waki: a stationary person, standing still. He should not confuse himself thinking he has reached his goal. Many people think just sitting in the gatherings of the awliyah and the righteous has made them reach the goal of eternal success when they have not! You must travel the path by putting in effort and then and reach your goal. If the teachers of the path like Sayyiduna Abdul Qadir Jilani رضي الله عنه had to travel the path with effort and steadfastness, then who are you and I? If a person stays at the Waki stage, he will soon progress to a stage called Raji. These are people who return to their previous sinful state. That is why many people stay for many years in this state and do not achieve anything; they may outwardly pray but do everything else which is haram, physically they are there but do not achieve anything. These people are in more danger as they think they have reached somewhere but they have not. This happens due to laziness and forgetfulness.
Nizam Uddin Awliyah رَحِمَهُ ٱللَّٰهُ and others have mentioned there are 7 stages of laziness and forgetfulness:

1) The first one stage is turning away – this is when a man stops whatever good he was doing, the prayers, fasting, charity, etc. If he continues in this state and does not consult his teacher or consults just like the hypocrites in Madinah who wilfully did not change, then like the hypocrites of Madinah his state will not change. If he continues in this state it leads to the second stage.

2) If he reaches the second stage it is called the veil – where a barrier is erected in front of the person’s heart and Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ. Now he indulges in the world and does not remember Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ. This person’s condition is going from bad to worse.

3) The following stage is when a man gets separated from Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ. He gets separated from Allah and he indulges in all his desires as well as sins with no limits. When he does a dua in this stage for example it does not get accepted as he/she is not remembering Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ but instead has begun to dislike good deeds and see it as unproductive and backwords. If a person reaches this stage and does not consult his shaykh for a cure on why he feels the separation and distaste in doing good. Allah almighty does not need us, we need Allah تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَىٰ . He only pays attention to us when we pay attention to him. Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ does not even consider the dua of a heedless person!

4) The fourth stage is confiscation; this means confiscation of the extra blessings. When a person becomes practicing, Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ usually sends extra blessings like good dreams for his spiritual journey and to encourage him to continue on the path to greatness. The dreams and the good feelings he got when he used to do the ibadah, gets taken from him and many people reach this stage and become very adamant in their evil ways.
A person who usually has conflicts with the wrong people gets harshly treated on the street. Things get taken from him and is told not to mess around. What about with Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ? when we do not take the journey to him seriously then things will be taken away!

5) The next is the confiscation of primary good/ blessings. This is when a person who before coming on the path to Allah, a person may have been just a simple Muslim i.e. just praying, fasting etc. These blessings/ abilities to do good are also taken away at this stage – before whatever good he had in him, is taken away.

6) Contention is the sixth stage. This stage is very dangerous as a person becomes content with the separation with Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ. This is why you find many people who say “I am happy. You will go to your grave, and I will mine, so don’t bother me with your lectures!” They do not pay heed to their evil lives. However, if anyone wants to turn back to Allah even at this stage he can. When people reach this stage and are persistent on sin and rebellion to him عَزَّ وَجَلَّ Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ then opens all the doors to sin to the individual. You want Women? Money? Wealth? Fame and name? Then everything and every door are opened for the person. Allah جل جلالہ gives a person all he wants out of complete loathing of the individual because he is doing things against the commands of Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ.
Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ says to these people he gives them all they want of the world, then when they least expected it, he عَزَّ وَجَلَّ holds them to account! On the day of judgement Allah will also forget these people as they forgot him.

7) The final stage of laziness, due to the contentment in separation of Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ is known as becoming the enemy of Allah جل جلالہ . As the person has not returned to Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ and continued with his sinful life. He begins to dislike Allah تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَىٰ and his Messenger ﷺ being mentioned to him. They become deaf to any sound good advice given about Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ and his Messenger ﷺ. They despise hearing good speeches, the names of Allah and his Messenger ﷺ like many of the devils. This is a stage when you see a person hating practicing Muslims as it reminds of what they hate and what gives them uncomfortable feelings as ultimately they still have to return to Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ but don’t want to. You will notice when you say to a person let’s go and pray, he will say “oh no, I have to do this and that”.

The example of a Muslim in the mosque is like a fish in the water whereas the example of hypocrites are like the birds in a cage, whilst they are in the mosque. They feel very anxious and agitated. When it should be the case that our hearts should be yearning to go Mosque. Hypocrisy existed not only during the time of the Prophet ﷺ but it also exists now. Imam Hasan al Basri رضي الله عنه said, “ if I should know I have no hypocrisy in my heart I will be happier than spending a mountain of gold in the way of Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ ”. Imam Hasan Basri was a great Wali (friend) of Allah جل جلالہ
There is one stage further which is called the Khatam-e-Kulub – a stage with the Shaytan (Iblis). This stage is where the heart is sealed and stamped forever.

This is the final stage in which if a person is a non-Muslim the kufr stays in the heart, and the Muslim who is disobedient to Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ stays in this stage. Now it is regarding these people Allah said:
إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ سَوَآءٌ عَلَيْهِمْ ءَأَنذَرْتَهُمْ أَمْ لَمْ تُنذِرْهُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ ٦
As for those who persist in disbelief, it is the same whether you warn them or not—they will never believe.
This is not because of Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ is leading people astray; the fault is on the individual. It’s like a person who takes drugs and destroys his immune system, he then no longer benefits from the good food as his system has been destroyed. Similarly, many people destroy their sexual/reproductive system by doing silly evil sexual practices, when they want to marry, they can’t. The teachers say if anyone reaches the first stage of laziness he should turn back and go to Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ before it’s too late.
May Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ save us from the sinful lives and from going astray. Remember the greatest harm the devil will do to you is when he makes you commit sins and leads you on and makes you believe you are okay in the state that you’re.