Why Aren’t Sinful People Deprived of Their Livelihood? Why Do They Live in Luxury?

It is important to bear in mind several points and principles concerning divine punishment.

Poverty is not confined to financial hardship. It takes many forms, including the loss of outward and inward peace and comfort, and of inward joy—things from which all those who persist in sin are deprived, however abundant their worldly resources may be.

Nor does wealth simply mean possessing a great deal of money. A person’s provision is what they actually enjoy: it is what they savour and taste. No one receives more than their allotted share; indeed, great wealth may become a burden around one’s neck.

التوبة : 55 فَلا تُعْجِبْكَ أَمْوالُهُمْ وَ لا أَوْلادُهُمْ إِنَّما يُريدُ اللَّهُ لِيُعَذِّبَهُمْ بِها فِي الْحَياةِ الدُّنْيا وَ تَزْهَقَ أَنْفُسُهُمْ وَ هُمْ كافِرُونَ
Let neither their wealth nor their children impress you. Allah only intends to punish them through these things in the life of this world, and that their souls should depart while they are disbelievers!

التوبة : 85 وَ لا تُعْجِبْكَ أَمْوالُهُمْ وَ أَوْلادُهُمْ إِنَّما يُريدُ اللَّهُ أَنْ يُعَذِّبَهُمْ بِها فِي الدُّنْيا وَ تَزْهَقَ أَنْفُسُهُمْ وَ هُمْ كافِرُونَ
Let neither their wealth nor their children impress you. Allah only intends to punish them through these things in this world, and that their souls should depart while they are disbelievers!

The punishment of this world is the lightest and easiest form of punishment. The fact that someone escapes punishment in this life does not mean they have been spared the consequences of their deeds, for the punishment of the Hereafter is far more painful and unbearable.

There are also countless examples of sinners—including those who engage in usury and adultery—being struck by unimaginable misery in this very life, so much so that their misfortune has become proverbial. In His justice and wisdom, God determines the nature, time and place of punishment. It is not the case that divine punishment will spare every sinner: some earlier peoples were, and continue to be, subjected collectively to severe punishment in this world.

Perhaps one reason punishment is delayed or withheld in this life is that some deeds are requited here.

البقرة : 86 أُولئِكَ الَّذينَ اشْتَرَوُا الْحَياةَ الدُّنْيا بِالْآخِرَةِ فَلا يُخَفَّفُ عَنْهُمُ الْعَذابُ وَ لا هُمْ يُنْصَرُونَ
Those are the ones who have purchased the life of this world at the price of the Hereafter. Their punishment will not be lightened, nor will they be helped.

The delay of worldly punishment is no benefit to the sinner; rather, their situation becomes more severe. The respite granted to them and the gradual drawing of them towards ruin must not be overlooked.

Outward pleasures have an appointed end; their time will run out, and ultimately divine punishment will overtake a person, whether in this world or in the Hereafter.

هود : 8 وَ لَئِنْ أَخَّرْنا عَنْهُمُ الْعَذابَ إِلى‏ أُمَّةٍ مَعْدُودَةٍ لَيَقُولُنَّ ما يَحْبِسُهُ أَلا يَوْمَ يَأْتيهِمْ لَيْسَ مَصْرُوفاً عَنْهُمْ وَ حاقَ بِهِمْ ما كانُوا بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِؤُنَ
If We delay their punishment until an appointed time, they will surely ask in mockery, “What is holding it back?” When it comes upon them, it cannot be turned away from them, and what they mocked will engulf them.

العنكبوت : 53 وَ يَسْتَعْجِلُونَكَ بِالْعَذابِ وَ لَوْ لا أَجَلٌ مُسَمًّى لَجاءَهُمُ الْعَذابُ وَ لَيَأْتِيَنَّهُمْ بَغْتَةً وَ هُمْ لا يَشْعُرُونَ
They impatiently demand that you hasten the punishment. Had a time already been appointed, it would have come upon them. It will surely overtake them suddenly, while they are unaware.

آل‏عمران : 178 وَ لا يَحْسَبَنَّ الَّذينَ كَفَرُوا أَنَّما نُمْلي‏ لَهُمْ خَيْرٌ لِأَنْفُسِهِمْ إِنَّما نُمْلي‏ لَهُمْ لِيَزْدادُوا إِثْماً وَ لَهُمْ عَذابٌ مُهينٌ
Let not those who disbelieve suppose that the respite We grant them is good for them. We grant them respite only so that they may increase in sin; and theirs will be a humiliating punishment.

آل‏عمران : 188 لا تَحْسَبَنَّ الَّذينَ يَفْرَحُونَ بِما أَتَوْا وَ يُحِبُّونَ أَنْ يُحْمَدُوا بِما لَمْ يَفْعَلُوا فَلا تَحْسَبَنَّهُمْ بِمَفازَةٍ مِنَ الْعَذابِ وَ لَهُمْ عَذابٌ أَليمٌ

Never think that those who rejoice in what they have done—the concealment of the signs of the heavenly Book and keeping people from Islam—and love to be praised for what they have not done will escape punishment. No indeed: a painful punishment awaits them.
الأنعام : 65 قُلْ هُوَ الْقادِرُ عَلى‏ أَنْ يَبْعَثَ عَلَيْكُمْ عَذاباً مِنْ فَوْقِكُمْ أَوْ مِنْ تَحْتِ أَرْجُلِكُمْ أَوْ يَلْبِسَكُمْ شِيَعاً وَ يُذيقَ بَعْضَكُمْ بَأْسَ بَعْضٍ انْظُرْ كَيْفَ نُصَرِّفُ الْآياتِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَفْقَهُونَ

Say: “He is able to send down upon you a punishment from above you or from beneath your feet; or to divide you into factions and make you taste the bitterness of fighting one another.” See how We explain the signs in different ways, so that perhaps they may understand and turn back.
النحل : 26 قَدْ مَكَرَ الَّذينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ فَأَتَى اللَّهُ بُنْيانَهُمْ مِنَ الْقَواعِدِ فَخَرَّ عَلَيْهِمُ السَّقْفُ مِنْ فَوْقِهِمْ وَ أَتاهُمُ الْعَذابُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لا يَشْعُرُونَ

Those before them also plotted in this way. But God struck at the very foundations of their lives and laid them to ruin; the roof collapsed upon them from above, and the punishment of God came upon them from where they could not have imagined.
النحل : 45 أَ فَأَمِنَ الَّذينَ مَكَرُوا السَّيِّئاتِ أَنْ يَخْسِفَ اللَّهُ بِهِمُ الْأَرْضَ أَوْ يَأْتِيَهُمُ الْعَذابُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لا يَشْعُرُونَ

Are those who plot secure from God causing the earth to swallow them, or from punishment coming upon them from where they least expect it? …

Even if a person owned the whole universe, it would be worth no more than a moment’s punishment from God.
المعارج : 11 يُبَصَّرُونَهُمْ يَوَدُّ الْمُجْرِمُ لَوْ يَفْتَدي مِنْ عَذابِ يَوْمِئِذٍ بِبَنيهِ

They will be shown to one another, though each will be occupied with his own plight. The sinner will wish to ransom himself from that day’s punishment by giving up his children,
المعارج : 12 وَ صاحِبَتِهِ وَ أَخيهِ
his wife and his brother,
المعارج : 13 وَ فَصيلَتِهِ الَّتي‏ تُؤْويهِ
his clan, who always stood by him,
المعارج : 14 وَ مَنْ فِي الْأَرْضِ جَميعاً ثُمَّ يُنْجيهِ
and everyone on earth, if only that might save him.
المعارج : 15 كَلاَّ إِنَّها لَظى‏
امّا

No indeed! It is a blazing Fire,
المعارج : 16 نَزَّاعَةً لِلشَّوى‏
stripping away the limbs and the skin of the head!

There is no escape from God’s punishment, for the sinner is surrounded by it, even if it may not be felt for a time.
العنكبوت : 54 يَسْتَعْجِلُونَكَ بِالْعَذابِ وَ إِنَّ جَهَنَّمَ لَمُحيطَةٌ بِالْكافِرينَ
They challenge you to hasten the punishment, while Hell already surrounds the unbelievers!

َ وَ لَا يُمْكِنُ الْفِرَارُ مِنْ حُكُومَتِكَThere is no escape from God’s dominion.
السجدة : 21 وَ لَنُذيقَنَّهُمْ مِنَ الْعَذابِ الْأَدْنى‏ دُونَ الْعَذابِ الْأَكْبَرِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ
We will make them taste a nearer punishment—the punishment of this world—before the greater punishment of the Hereafter, so that perhaps they may turn back!