Cruelty of the Heart

There is no harder punishment than when the servant has a cruel heart and moves away from Allaah. Hellfire was created to melt such cruel hearts. The most remote heart from Allaah is the cruel one. If the heart was cruel, the eye will never shed tears. Cruelty of the heart is caused by increasing four things over and above one's needs: excessive food, sleep, talk, and socializing. When the body is sick, food and drink is no use to it. Likewise when the heart is ill because of desires, advice is useless.

Ibn al-Qayyim, rahimahUllaah [al-Fawaa'id]