A Summary of Part I — Man's Decline Into Shamelessness
Allah (ﷻ) said: {Mankind was [of] one religion [before their deviation]; then Allah sent the prophets as bringers of good tidings and warners and sent down with them the Scripture in truth to judge between the people concerning that in which they differed.}
Ibn ʿAbbās (رضي الله عنه) explained that between Ādam and Nūḥ were ten generations, all upon a revealed law of truth. Then they differed, so Allah sent the prophets as bearers of glad tidings and warners.
Ibn Kathīr: The first opinion is soundest in chain and meaning — mankind remained upon the religion of Ādam until they worshipped idols.
All people were a single united community affirming the oneness of Allah — from Ādam until Nūḥ, or from Ibrāhīm until ʿAmr ibn Luḥayy. Tawḥīd and Islam are an ancient religion, embraced by all humanity by innate disposition and divine legislation. Polytheism is ignorance innovated by the deviant.
Before the messengers were sent, mankind was one community upon a single religion — Islam. Ādam was a prophet given revelation and a divine law. His children followed him. Then humanity multiplied, desires diverged, and they began to differ — requiring the sending of messengers.
Abū Umāmah al-Bāhilī (رضي الله عنه) reported that a man asked the Prophet (ﷺ): "How long was there between Ādam and Nūḥ?" He replied: "Ten generations." The man asked further: "And between Nūḥ and Ibrāhīm?" He replied: "Ten generations."
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: "Allah created Ādam, and his height was sixty cubits in the heavens, and creation has continued to diminish in size until now."
Ibn ʿUmar (رضي الله عنه) confirmed: "Indeed, people have continued to experience a decline in their lifespans, discernment, and character — up to this very day of yours."
Al-Tirmidhī narrated the ḥadīth of Ādam's stature as evidence of the effect of sins upon physical appearance and constitution. When the earth is purified of oppressors and the Mahdī fills it with justice, the earth will yield its blessings and return to its former state — a single pomegranate feeding a group, a cluster of grapes too heavy for a camel.
Ibn Masʿūd (رضي الله عنه) said: "Allah has distributed your character traits among you just as He has allocated your provisions. And indeed, Allah gives wealth to those He loves and those He does not love — but He only grants īmān to those He loves. So, whoever clings to their wealth, refuses to spend it, fears the enemy, avoids striving against him, and dreads the night while failing to endure its hardships — then let them increase in saying: Lā ilāha illa Allāh, Subḥān Allāh, al-ḥamdu liLlāh, and Allāhu akbar."
Historically, moral decay and the erosion of faith have consistently been linked to the collapse of worldly stability and the loss of comfort and security.
Ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī mentions that earlier Muslim historians said the people of Nūḥ had unanimously embraced practices detested by Allah — engaging in indecencies, drinking wine, and occupying themselves with vain distractions at the expense of obedience to Allah. So Allah sent Nūḥ to warn them of His might, call them to repentance, and act upon what Allah had revealed in the pages of Ādam, Shīth (Seth), and Akhnūkh (Enoch).
Abū Masʿūd al-Anṣārī (رضي الله عنه) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "Indeed, among the words which the people have attained from the first prophecy is: 'If you do not feel shame, then do as you wish.'"
Modesty has always been upheld since the beginning of prophethood. Every prophet was guided toward modesty and tasked with promoting it. It has neither been abrogated in any revealed law nor altered — because its virtue is apparent and all minds agree on its goodness.
Modesty is an innate quality in humans, praised and considered good by reason. It inherently exists in both body and soul. Therefore, it is not subject to abrogation by religious laws — it has remained consistent across all revealed laws as long as moral mandate exists.
Natural and not acquired — one of the noblest traits Allah bestows. It restrains one from shameful acts and encourages noble conduct. The Prophet (ﷺ) said: "Modesty brings nothing but good."
ʿUmar (رضي الله عنه): "Whoever is modest will conceal himself, and whoever conceals himself will be cautious, and whoever is cautious will be protected."
Born of knowledge of Allah — His greatness, nearness, watchfulness, and knowledge of what hearts conceal. This is among the highest qualities of faith and the loftiest ranks of iḥsān.
The Prophet (ﷺ): "Be modest before Allah as you would be before a righteous man from your tribe."
Ibn Rajab: "When a servant is stripped of both innate and acquired modesty, nothing remains to prevent him from engaging in shameful deeds and lowly character. It is as though he possesses no faith at all."
Linking modesty directly to faith
"Modesty brings nothing but good"
Imām Muḥammad ibn Naṣr al-Marwazī explained that modesty before Allah is stirred by awareness of His greatness, majesty, and power. When glorification of Allah becomes firmly rooted in the heart, it gives rise to modesty and awe. The servant becomes overwhelmed by the awareness that Allah is constantly watching — gazing upon what lies within his heart and what is enacted by his limbs.
He remembers the standing before Allah on the Day of Judgment, that he will be questioned regarding every deed of his heart and body, and how little gratitude he has shown. This modesty leads him to purify his heart from every sin and restrain his limbs from all acts of disobedience.
In the generations leading up to Nūḥ's prophethood, three things at the root of all shamelessness appeared on earth, culminating in mankind's dire need for prophetic guidance.
Rooted in envy — the first sin by which Allah was disobeyed on earth
Rooted in carnal desires — the ultimate surrender to the lower self
Rooted in attachment of the heart to other than Allah
Ibn al-Qayyim explains: "These three — shirk, injustice, and immorality — call to one another and command one another mutually. The weaker a heart is in its tawḥīd and the greater its entanglement in shirk, the more prone it becomes to immorality." Allah combines all three in the verse: {And those who do not invoke with Allah another god, or kill the soul which Allah has forbidden, except by right, and do not commit unlawful sexual intercourse.}
Allah says: {Whatever you have been given is merely for the enjoyment of worldly life. But what is with Allah is better and everlasting for those who believe and rely on their Lord, avoid major sins and immoralities and forgive when angry.}
These three together represent all of good's essence.
{And recite to them the story of Adam's two sons, in truth, when they both offered a sacrifice to Allah, and it was accepted from one of them but was not accepted from the other. Said [the latter], 'I will surely kill you.' … And his soul permitted to him the murder of his brother, so he killed him and became among the losers.} — Al-Māʾidah: 27–31
"Envy was the first sin by which Allah was disobeyed in the heavens — the envy of Iblīs toward Ādam. And the first sin by which He was disobeyed on earth — the envy of Qābīl (Cain) toward Hābīl (Abel)."
Envy frequently arises among those who share authority or wealth. Qābīl envied Hābīl for the virtue with which Allah favored him — faith and piety — and killed him because of it. The first sins by which Allah was disobeyed: greed (from Ādam), pride (from Iblīs), and envy (from Qābīl).
Envy begins as a mere passing thought, then gradually grows until it becomes a fixed trait — inciting a person to commit crimes to soothe the burning grudge within. Hence people are prohibited from such thoughts, to check their souls through the discipline of religion and wisdom.
Allah's established way concerning the sons of Ādam: "Whenever people settle and grow comfortable, they begin to envy; and when they envy, they turn on one another, until some of them kill others."
This pattern repeats after every victory — when blessings lead to ingratitude and people forget the consequences of divine wrath.
When ʿUmar (رضي الله عنه) saw the treasures of Jalūlāʾ laid out, he wept. When asked why, he said: "I swear, Allah has never given this to a people except that they began to envy and hate one another. And once they envy, Allah casts enmity among them."
"Allah will uphold a just state even if it is disbelieving, and He will not uphold an unjust state even if it is Muslim. Worldly life persists through justice and disbelief, but will not continue through injustice accompanied by Islam."
"Injustice is a destroyer of civilization, and the ruin it brings upon society ultimately rebounds upon the state itself, corrupting it and leading to its downfall."
To a governor whose city had fallen to ruin: "Fortify it with justice, and cleanse its roads from injustice — for that is its true restoration."
Tribulations throughout human history are a linked chain — each trial dragging the next behind it — until the final and greatest appears: the Dajjāl. Yet what the Prophet (ﷺ) feared most was not the Dajjāl himself, but the fitnah that festers within us.
Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān reported the Prophet (ﷺ) said: "I fear for you the tribulation of some [of you] to others more than I fear the tribulation of the Dajjāl. Never has a trial been wrought upon the world — whether great or small — except that the tribulation of the Dajjāl will eclipse it."
Ḥudhayfah ibn Asīd said: "Had the Dajjāl emerged during your time, even the children would have pelted him with pebbles. But he shall appear at a time when people are filled with hatred, religion is light in their hearts, and mutual discord runs deep."
Ibn ʿAbbās (رضي الله عنهما) recited the verse: {And do not display yourselves as the display of the former times of ignorance}, and explained: Between Nūḥ and Idrīs were one thousand years. Two groups among the descendants of Ādam — one in the plains, one in the mountains. The men of the hills were handsome; the women of the plains were beautiful.
Iblīs disguised himself as a servant, invented a musical instrument producing a sound unlike anything heard before. News spread; people gathered. They established an annual festival where men displayed themselves to women and women adorned themselves for men.
A man from the mountains stumbled upon the celebration, saw the women, and informed his people. They moved to join the festivities — and indecency spread. This is the meaning of Allah's saying: {And do not display yourselves as in the former times of ignorance}.
"Music causes hypocrisy to grow in the heart."
"Music causes hypocrisy to grow in the heart just as water causes vegetation to grow; and remembrance of Allah causes faith to grow in the heart just as water brings forth the crops."
"Music is the incantation of fornication."
"Music diminishes modesty, increases lust, and destroys a man's dignity. It takes the place of wine and produces the same effects as intoxication. Music is a caller to fornication."
Ibn al-Qayyim said: "None becomes accustomed to music except that his heart becomes hypocritical without his realizing it. Love for music and love for the Qur'an never coexist in a heart without one driving out the other. We have witnessed firsthand how the Qur'an weighs heavily upon the hearts of music-lovers — they remain unmoved, untouched, unstirred by any yearning. But when the Qur'an of Shayṭān — music — comes forth, how softened become their voices! How stilled and tranquil their hearts! If this is not hypocrisy, then it is its twin and very foundation."
Al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Muzāḥim: "Music corrupts wealth, incurs the wrath of the Lord, and ruins the heart."
Abū ʿUbayd al-Qāsim ibn Salām clarified: these reports do not necessarily render the one who commits such acts a disbeliever or hypocrite — such a person may still be a believer who fulfills his obligations. However, these acts are characteristic of the disbelievers, prohibited in the Qur'an and Sunnah, so that Muslims may avoid them and not resemble the disbelievers in their behaviors.
"If listening to music causes hypocrisy to grow in the heart — what then do you suppose is the effect of committing sexual immoralities and persisting in major sins? How much faith — pure and unblemished — do you imagine can remain alongside such acts?"
Many early and later scholars traced the genealogy of polytheism to the time of Nūḥ (عليه السلام). Ibn al-Qayyim summarizes: among the greatest of the Devil's stratagems — from which none is saved except he whom Allah does not will to test — is the temptation surrounding graves.
Step by step: graves were taken as places of devotion → structures were built upon them → images of the buried were drawn inside → images were fashioned into tangible bodies → they were made into idols and worshipped alongside Allah.
Ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī narrated from Muḥammad ibn Qays: Yaghūth, Yaʿūq, and Nasr were righteous men from among the descendants of Ādam. When they died, their companions said: "If only we fashioned images of them, it would stir in us a greater longing for worship." So they sculpted their likenesses. When those companions also passed away, Iblīs crept in and said: "Indeed, those before you used to worship these figures, and by their virtue rain was sent down." And thus they began to worship them.
Belonged to the tribe of Kalb in Dūmat al-Jandal
Belonged to Hudhayl
For Banū Ghuṭayf of Murād
Belonged to Hamdān
For Dhū al-Kalāʿ of Ḥimyar
Qatādah noted: these were idols worshipped by the people of Nūḥ — then the Arabs came to worship them centuries later, combining the trial of graves and the trial of images.
Allah said: {Similarly, there never came to those before them any messenger but they said, 'A magician or a madman.'}
Ibn ʿUthaymīn explained: they called the messenger a sorcerer given his influence and eloquence — for the Prophet (ﷺ) said: "Indeed, some speech is a kind of magic." Or they called him a madman about his behavior, for it appeared to be madness in the eyes of these deniers.
Since Nūḥ was the first messenger, the accusation of sorcery implies the practice was already familiar to his people. The story of Hārūt and Mārūt predates the time of Nūḥ, as narrated by Ibn Isḥāq and others. Sorcery was indeed present during Nūḥ's time, as Allah informed us that his people claimed he was a sorcerer.
Allah (ﷻ) said: {Did I not enjoin upon you, O children of Adam, that you not worship Satan — indeed, he is to you a clear enemy. And that you worship Me? This is a straight path.}
Ibn Abī Zamanīn: "The worship of an idol is worship of the Shayṭān."
Ibn Rajab: "Whoever does not actualize his servitude to the Most Merciful and obey Him, then he is worshiping the Shayṭān by obeying him. None are saved from worshiping the Shayṭān except those who sincerely serve the Most Merciful."
Idol-making began as an attempt to represent a worshipped entity that was absent — crafted in the likeness of the one they sought to worship. No rational person would carve wood or stone and sincerely believe it to be their deity.
Devils would enter into idols and speak to the people from within them, revealing hidden matters. The ignorant assumed the idol itself was speaking; the more "rational" called them spirits, angels, or abstract intelligences.
Most of humanity is afflicted with idol worship. Only the ḥunafāʾ — followers of the religion of Ibrāhīm — have escaped. The Prophet (ﷺ): "Out of every thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine will go to the Fire."
Ibn al-Qayyim: "This subtly alludes to the secret underlying the fact that shirk is considered the greatest of all sins in the sight of Allah. It is never forgiven except through repentance, entails eternal punishment in the Fire, and its prohibition stems not merely from Allah's command, but from the inconceivable nature of Allah legislating the worship of any deity besides Himself. How could it be imagined that the One who is alone in His Lordship, divinity, grandeur, and splendor would permit or be pleased with anyone sharing that with Him? Exalted is Allah far above that — a tremendous exaltation."
One of the most profound moral lessons from the story of Nūḥ (عليه السلام) is this: shamelessness — manifested in unchecked desires, entanglement in doubts, and a heart desensitized to religious innovation and sin — is a path that often leads to disbelief and polytheism.
Heedlessness gives rise to small transgressions
Small sins drag major sins in their wake
Major sins give rise to religious innovations
Innovations are the gateway to disbelief
"Muḥammad (ibn Sīrīn) used to regard the people of desires — the people of innovated doctrines — as the quickest among mankind to fall into apostasy."
On the origins of ancestor worship in the story of Nūḥ: "In it is evidence supporting what has been transmitted from the Salaf: that innovations are a cause of disbelief. [Another benefit:] The devil's awareness of what an innovation ultimately leads to — even if the doer's intention is good."
"Innovations are the gateway to disbelief. Innovation is more evil than committing a major sin. Satan rejoices more over it — for the sinner knows his sin and repents, but the innovator believes his innovation to be an act of devotion and does not repent."
Their forefathers made images of the righteous to find comfort and remember their pious states. Time passed. Successors came who were ignorant of the original intent. Then Satan whispered: "Your fathers and grandfathers used to worship these images." So they began to worship them.
Thus the Prophet (ﷺ) warned sternly against such actions and closed every gateway that leads to it.
"It was through exaggeration in honoring the righteous and excessive love for them that Satan led those people into shirk. The same has occurred in this Ummah: he presented exaggeration and innovation in the guise of venerating the righteous, so that he might ultimately cast them into worshiping them besides Allah."
"Those innovators among the people of speculative theology — when they opened the door to corrupt analogical reasoning in matters of intellect and misguided interpretation in matters of revelation — they paved the way for heretical atheists to go far beyond this into sophistry and esotericism. Every further step down that path drew them into something more depraved, until the Qarāmiṭah nullified all known religious obligations. As their leader declared: 'We have lifted from you the burden of worship — there is no fasting, no prayer, no pilgrimage, and no zakāh.'"
"Sins are the precursor to disbelief, much like fever is the precursor to death."
"There is no doubt that disobedience can be a cause leading to disbelief. Thus, it is prohibited for fear that it may lead to disbelief which nullifies good deeds. Iblīs opposed the command of Allah and became a disbeliever."
"Continuing in sin and hypocrisy without repentance raises the fear of completely losing one's faith, leading to pure hypocrisy and a bad end. We seek refuge with Allah from this."
"Sins drag one another in their wake: heedlessness gives rise to the minor sin, then the major sin, then various forms of innovation and disbelief. So we ask Allah for well-being from every trial."
Ibn al-Qayyim: "Tawḥīd and following one's desires are mutually opposed. Desire is a kind of idol, and every servant harbors an idol in their heart according to their desire. Allah sent His messengers to shatter idols and to call people to worship Him alone. The intent of Allah is not merely to break down carved idols while leaving intact the idols within the heart; rather, His intent is first to destroy the idols lodged in the heart."
Ibn al-Qayyim: "Sins, in relation to faith, are like illness and fever in relation to physical strength. Sins are like poisons — harmful in and of themselves. If they are not countered swiftly by spiritual remedies, they overpower the strength of faith and lead to ruin."
Yet when the servant witnesses the deterioration of his state upon disobeying his Lord — hearts turning away, doors closing, paths becoming difficult — and he searches for the cause and repents, his faith increases. He beholds honor after disgrace, joy after sorrow, safety after fear. Such a person is among those about whom Allah says: {He will expiate for them the worst of what they did and will reward them according to the best of what they used to do.}
The ultimate destination of unchecked sin
Boldness in outright forbidden acts
Habit of audacity and leniency toward questionable matters
The starting point — failing to fear Allah
Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Qurṭubī: "Whoever does not fear Allah and dares to engage in questionable matters will ultimately commit prohibited actions due to a habit of audacity. For this reason, some of the pious have said: 'The small sin leads to the large one, and the large sin leads to disbelief.'"
Ten generations between Ādam and Nūḥ, all upon Islam. Polytheism is an innovation of the deviant, not the original religion of humanity.
Every prophet promoted it. It has never been abrogated. When modesty is lost, faith itself is imperiled.
Shirk, oppression, and sexual immorality are interconnected — each leading to the others. Tawḥīd, justice, and chastity are their antidotes.
Minor sins → major sins → innovation → disbelief. This is the pattern repeated from the people of Nūḥ to every age. The believer must guard against every step of this descent.
The story of Nūḥ (عليه السلام) is not merely ancient history — it is a mirror held up to every age. The same patterns of moral decline, the same satanic strategies, the same divine mercy through prophetic warning. The waters of the flood were preceded by generations of shamelessness. The question for every believer is: where do we stand in this pattern?
Before the Waters Rise