The part of this reckoning on Earth is already happening to many defiantly disobedient people.
You can see its shadow in the news every week: sudden falls, unexplained illnesses, empires crumbling overnight.
It is not random. It is measured. It is just.
The inevitable Divine reckoning are the punishments of Allah (SWT) eligible for a disbeliever, an evildoer, or a defiantly disobedient person for indulging in sinful practices and disobeying the commandments of Allah without sincere repentance and without seeking forgiveness.
But it is important to note that these reckonings (punishments) on earth are not usually guaranteed for most people. Some people may live in error for a long time and die while they never face any nearer punishment on earth; that does not mean they will escape the punishment of Allah SWT, because it is totally inevitable. The real Day of facing the general punishment; whether the ones on earth meet you or miss you but you refused to repent sincerely; is on the Day of Judgement. That is, if the person meets certain death without sincere repentance and without seeking the forgiveness of Allah SWT.
Know that the reckoning in the Hereafter is different from the immediate on earth.
Some people might partially escape the earthly reckonings with other means and schemes, but believe this or not: no person who lives and dies on the path of corruption, disbelief in the words of Allah SWT, disobedience, or evil can ever escape the punishment of the Hereafter.
The Holy Quran said:
"Corruption has appeared throughout the land and sea by [reason of] what the hands of the people have earned, so that Allah may let them taste part of [the consequence of] what they have done; that perhaps they will return [to righteousness]." (Quran 30:41)
"And Allah (SWT) will surely let them taste the nearer punishment before the greater punishment, that perhaps they may return." (Quran 32:21)
Both verses speak of the punishments of Allah SWT and the reasons why.
One says, "...the consequences of what they have done, that perhaps they will return"; return to alignment after indulgence in error and meeting their punishment.
The other verse says, "...the nearer punishments before the greater punishments." These punishments are both from Allah SWT for disobeying His commandments without sincere repentance.
That is why the verse above says: "The nearer punishment before the greater punishment, that perhaps they may return."
The nearer punishments can take different forms:
-- Immediate consequence (exposure, loss),
-- Delayed consequence,
-- Or even apparent success despite corruption. But when the nearer punishment comes for a defiantly disobedient person, it is only a mercy from Allah SWT, so that they may see the evil of their choices and the destruction it has led into, or continue deeper into error due to arrogance and hardheartedness. That is why the verse ends with "...that perhaps they may return."
These nearer punishments are meant to awaken the perpetrator to truth, to repentance, and return to alignment if they are a person that reflect and reason.
But this worldly outcome does not equal the final judgment. If you do not repent after meeting the punishment; if you do not discern and seek the forgiveness of Allah SWT and then return to living in alignment after wrongdoing; the main inevitable part lies in the Hereafter, where the reckoning:
-- Cannot be avoided.
-- Cannot be reduced by status or power.
-- Cannot be escaped by delayed repentance.
The greater punishment is the punishment of the Fire in the Hereafter.
It is the general Divine reckoning for any human who dies while living in misalignment, who dies while spreading corruption upon the earth surface, who dies while following the way of the devil, who never repented sincerely away from their wrongdoings, nor soughted forgiveness, and thereby made themselves blameworthy.
It is the decreed promise of Allah SWT since the days of Prophet Adam (AS).
That is the final punishment for everyone who dies on the path of disbelief, hypocrisy, or a defiant disobedience. Which they will face on the Day of Judgement; those who met their certain death without sincere repentance.
Know that if you persist in sin without repentance and these nearer punishments take effect while you are alive, it is the mercy of Allah SWT. But if you die without sincere repentance away from those sinful practices, you have thereby made yourself worthy of the punishment of the Hereafter; even if you might have faced some of the nearer punishments while you were alive but instead chose disobedience and further indulgence in error.
Allah SWT said in the Holy Quran:
"And if Allah were to impose blame on the people for what they have earned, He would not leave upon the earth any creature. But He defers them for a specified term. And when their time comes, then indeed, Allah has ever been, of His servants, Seeing." (Quran 35:45)
"Whoever disbelieves, upon him is [the consequence of] his disbelief. And whoever does righteousness; they are for themselves preparing." (Quran 35:39.)
"It is Allah who made you successors upon the earth. So whoever disbelieves; upon him is the consequence of his disbelief. And the disbelief of the disbelievers does not increase them in the sight of their Lord except in hatred."
"Indeed, the punishment of Allah will occur. Of it there is no preventer." (Quran 52:7-8)
"And indeed, for those who have wronged is a punishment before that, but most of them do not know." (Quran 52:47)
Across generations, people err, people sin, people disobey, people spread corruption, people repent, people reform. But those who persist in sinful practices without sincere repentance and without remembrance of Allah SWT; for them is a great punishment in Hell. But first there is "...a punishment before that," which refers to the nearer punishments that happen on earth, while the "that" the verse refers to is the final punishment in the Hereafter. They are both punishments of Allah, of which "...there is no preventer."
No one can prevent you from the punishment of Allah SWT except the mercy of Allah SWT, so why disobey Allah SWT.
The people who indulge in sinful practices but do not face these nearer punishments, neglecting the future consequences of their indulgence; and those who might face the punishment but never guide their inner criterion to understand the cause, absorb the lesson, and repent sincerely; are those people in our today generation who wander blindly in error, living and enjoying in delusion while they think they are rightly guided; until certain death grabs them, and they thereby automatically become worthy of the greater punishment.
The warning of Allah SWT through His messengers is clear across centuries and decades. He has made clear to the descendants of Adam the paths that only leads to loss, misguidance, and terrible consequences, and warned us of the dangers of disobedience without repentance through different messengers. He has also made clear the paths that lead to good rewards from Him both on earth and in the Hereafter. Those who recognize and accept the truth are trailing it, doing good, establishing prayer, and fearing their Lord; unseen. The Most Merciful. The Most Beneficent.
But those who have forgotten Allah, their Lord; they are those who justify disobedience and consider sin as normal. They are those who the whispers of their devil companion have seared their conscience to the extent that even if they come across any nearer punishment, the enjoyment of delusion and the beautification of illusion by their devil companion make the warning look insignificant to them, while leading them deeper into unseen spiritual consequences.
The tragedy of our society is not that sin exists. The tragedy is that people among the descendants of Adam (AS) have blindly accepted the guidance of the devils; a spiritual enemy they cannot see; while ignoring the guidance of Allah SWT, the true spiritual Guide they cannot see.
The silent normalization of sin and descent into corruption-rooted practices while ignoring Allah SWT; is the slow divergence into ruin.
In reality, the normalization of sin by many of the former people is the bedrock of the calamity, social injustice, economic collapse, misalignment, and arrogant rejection of truth affecting our today's society; just as it affected the society of the former peoples, manifesting through incapable leadership, failure to uphold truth and Divine guidance, mismanaged natural resources, hunger, famine, lack of coordination, and bloodshed.
We now see a generation and society that treats the warnings of Allah SWT as irrelevant.
We see a society where the fear of Allah SWT is mocked.
A society where the punishments of Allah SWT for disobedience to His commandments without sincere repentance are not well spoken of, nor generally accepted; whereas the punishment comes directly, silently, unseen, and tragically unannounced.
The most disturbing part is how these disobedient and corruption-rooted practices were innovated and accepted by the majority without much resistance (unlike how they resist truth), and without root check on the future spiritual consequences; either because of instant gratification, or the temporary pleasure it offered. That is how it spread across continents through trades and tribes, passing from father to son, to friend to wife, to chief to servants, to leader to followers. Some innovating new practices like the former, some carrying on the former. Many accept and indulge without discernment. They think, "Well, since the former people accepted it, it must be right for us too." But they did not weigh the choice under the lens of obedience to the commandments of Allah SWT.
Still, there are people who know the consequences of these practices yet indulge in it because of the gain. This is not ignorance or illiteracy, but out of disbelief or ego-led hypocrisy.
The Holy Qur'an repeatedly describe these people who recognize truth inwardly yet resist it outwardly due to arrogance or desire as hypocrites. Their denial of truth and normalization of sin is tied to ego, pride, worldly desire, inherited beliefs, and defiant disobedience: the unwillingness to submit because accepting ultimate accountability changes how one must live. This is why most people reject signs and sincere repentance even after Allah SWT shows them mercy through a series of nearer punishments; not because the signs are weak, but because the implications of sincere return are uncomfortable. And they never awaken their discerning questions until they meet certain death.
Allah SWT said in the Holy Quran:
"Allah admits whom He wills into His mercy; but the wrongdoers; Allah has prepared for them a painful punishment." (Quran 76:31)
"But those who wrong follow their own desires without knowledge. Then who can guide one whom Allah has sent astray? And for them there are no helpers."
(Quran 30:29)
"And Allah misleads not except the defiantly disobedient."
"So be patient for the decision of your Lord and do not obey from among them a sinner or ungrateful disbeliever." (Quran 76:24)
"So indeed, you will not make the dead hear, nor will you make the deaf hear the call when they turn their backs, retreating." (Quran 27:80)
"And you cannot guide the blind away from their error. You will only make hear those who believe in Our verses so they are Muslims [in submission to Allah]."
(Quran 27:81)
Heedlessness, arrogance, and self-pity to justify sinful indulgence; caused by wealth, abundance, poverty, or ignorance; only lead you away from Allah SWT, brings blindness of the heart, and eventually leads one into destruction.
The greatest tragedy for the descendants of Adam is not the innovation of sinful practices, nor the acceptance of sin, nor the normalization of it, nor the justification of it, nor the protection of it, nor the establishment of similar practices. Because shaytan will always find a way to make most people slip through other people.
The greatest tragedy is that countless souls, both from among the former people and from among the people of our today's generation, have died and returned to Allah SWT while indulging in these practices without sincere repentance; not knowing the weight of what they carry into the grave, and what awaits them in the Hereafter on the Day of Accountability.
An adage says:
"Those we have 'spoken to', Father let them hear. Those we have 'told', Father let them accept. Because heedlessness only and only leads to destruction."