Burning Coal on Palm

The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “A man who touches a woman who is not legitimate for him, will have a burning coal placed on his palm on the Day of Judgement.” [Mabsut]

Touching a non-Mahram is akin to playing with fire. It could easily destroy you, your family, and your home. If you play with fire in the world, you will be given fire to play with on the Day of Judgement.

If having a burning coal placed on your palm is the punishment one will have to suffer for touching a non-Mahram, then one can imagine that the punishment will be much worse for crimes greater than touching a woman whom Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) has forbidden you to touch.

If any such mishap has already befallen you, repent, ask for Allah’s forgiveness, ask Him to avert the consequences of your misdeeds from you, and as a necessary part of an acceptable repentance, vow to yourself never to repeat your sins.

If you throw a ball against a wall it will necessarily come back at you. This happens according to the laws of nature Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) has created. Nothing can prevent that ball from coming back to hit you, except divine intervention. Similarly, when we perform deeds, their good or bad consequences come back to us. Only Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) can save us from the consequences of our bad deeds.

If you follow the guidelines of Islam, such as guarding your gaze, not allowing yourself to look at non-Mahrams, in real life, on screen, or in any other way, it will help you to keep yourself from falling into greater evils.The media plays a large role in over-sexualizing people, including children, including through subliminal messaging in programs we consider harmless.

The greater a population exposes itself to Haraam, in real life or on screen, the greater the prevalence of sexual violence in it. Islam cuts evil off at its root; by forbidding mingling between the genders, and looking at the opposite sex, it minimizes the provocation to evil, as prevention is better than cure.