Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Ethical Discourses: Volume 2 Discourse 31: The Effects of Sins عَنِ الْبَاقِرِ: مَا مِنْ عَـبْدٍ يَمْـتَنِعُ مِنْ مَعُونَةِ أَخِيهِ الْمُسْلِمِ وَ السَعى لَهُ فِي حَاجَتِهِ قُضِـيَتْ أَوْلَمْ تَقْضِ إِلاَّ أَبْتَلى بِالسَّعى فِي حَاجَةِ فِيمَا يَأْثِمُ عَلَيْهِ وَ لاَ يُوْجَرُ. وَ مَا مِنْ عَبْدٍ يَبْخَلُ بِنَفَقَةِ يَنْفَقُهَا فِيمَا يَرْضى اللٌّهُ إِلاَّ أَبْتَلى بِأَنَّ يُنْفِقُ أَضْعَافَهَا فِيمَا أَسْخَطَ اللٌّهُ. [Imam Muhammad b.
‘Ali] al-Baqir (as) has said: “There is no servant who sees his Muslim brother in need, however does not help him or tries to alleviate his difficulties, except that he will face a tribulation in that his energies will be expended in an area in which there is no reward for the next life and no reward for the transient world.
There is not a single servant (of Allah) who is miserly in spending his wealth in that which pleases Allah except that his wealth will end up being spent in the forbidden and prohibited channels where in lies Allah's anger.”[^1] Both the acts of obedience and sinning against Allah (SwT) have two effects to them: Effects within the physical world; Effects within the spiritual world.
Taking interest (from the banks or other institutions) has a spiritual effect which is the punishment on the Day of Resurrection and the squeezing in the grave; as for the effects in the physical world, the person who takes interest will be accursed and hated by others! The effects within the physical world are broken up into two categories: Some of them have a logical reasoning which we can understand with logical proofs.
For example, we read in the Qur’an that: وَ لاَ تَنَازَعُوا فَتَفْشَلُوا وَ تَذْهَبُ رِيـحَكُمْ “…and do not quarrel with one another for then you will be weak, and your power will depart…”[^2] Thus, the effects in the physical world include arguments and differences amongst the people. We are able to understand the logic of this outcome since when there is an argument between people, naturally their power is dissipated.
Instead of fighting the enemy, one would end up fighting with those of the same faith and close to the person! In addition, the Qur`an also tells us (as another example of this phenomena): إِدْفَعْ بِالَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُ فَإِذَا الَّذِي بَيْنَكَ وَ بَيْنَهُ عَدَاوَةٌ كَــأَنَّهُ وَلِيُّ حَمِيمٌ “…repel (evil) with what is best.