How can we be patient in abstaining from wrong actions?

It is important to have within us, a fear of punishment. For many, this fear is not a constant reality. While growing up, we have a fear of punishment from parents at home and teachers at school, and this is something which ultimately wears off as we grow older. If we really feared Allah, our lives would be virtuous and always good. It is the weakness in our fear that makes us disobey Allah and engage in wrong actions. Also, we need to have a sense of shame – ‘haya’ before Allah; shameful for using the blessings of Allah, in a way that displeases him. We should feel ashamed knowing that He sees us and watches us, knowing that we will have to stand before Him and give account of whatever we have done.

Take for instance, the act of smoking. Smoking cigarettes is wrong. It is not just makruh, according to the popular belief, but rather, it is haram. What applies to the act of cigarette smoking is a hadith of Prophet (ﷺ), which is narrated by Abu Huraira:

The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Whoever purposely throws himself from a mountain and kills himself, will be in the (Hell) Fire, falling down into it and abiding therein perpetually forever; and whoever drinks poison and kills himself with it, he will be carrying his poison in his hand and drinking it in the (Hell) Fire, wherein he will abide eternally forever; and whoever kills himself with an iron weapon, will be carrying that weapon in his hand and stabbing his Abdomen with it in the (Hell) Fire, wherein he will abide eternally forever."[1]

Similarly, killing ourselves by smoking will doom us to hell forever, causing us to kill ourselves with cigarette, smoking it over and over again.

But how do we break such bad habits? We must tackle them head on and commit ourselves to give it up for the sake of Allah. We may use what is available to us of help, but in the end, we just have to break these bad habits. Whatever bad habits we have become used to, we need to break them and develop patience to abstain from wrong actions.

Reference: 

[1] Sahih al-Bukhari, no. 5778, Book 76, Hadith 90