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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Faith and Reason Question 39: Sin: Reality, effect on Soul and Psyche Question: What is the reality of sin and how does it affect the soul and psyche of the human being? Sin—the ‘Arabic equivalents of which are ithm and ‘isyan —signifies disobeying the injunctions of the Lord and the failure to comply with His wishes.

In other words, the committing of an action which is displeasing to the Lord, the Creator, (due to the harm it entails) or to avoid an action that has been obligated by Him (due to the benefit it entails). Hence, sin is contradictory to the spirit of obedience. In essence, the sinner has deposed the rightful king of his faculties—in wit, reason—and has supplanted it with desire and anger, which should be in the service of reason.

When desire and anger have taken power as the rulers of the soul, they will be the sinner’s beloved. Thus, whatever, he wishes to do must be pleasing either to desire or to anger, and it is for this reason that he commits sin. Brief Answer The above question must be answered in four parts. The Reality of Sin Sin, which in ‘Arabic is referred to as ithm and ‘isyan , means to disobey the order of the Master and to slip in complying with His wishes.

The sinful individual, in lieu of following the dictates of reason, obeys his desire and anger, which means that he may commit any sin imaginable, which if he does, he has actually betrayed himself. Sin is the snare of Satan. The inner reality of sin is fire while on the outside it deceives the individual by a fleeting sense of pleasure and lust, in temptation of which the oblivious human being incurs Divine chastisement.

The Effects of Sin Sin entails harmful consequences for the individual as well as for society at large.

Its consequences for the individual are, among others: the darkening and hardening of one’s heart; depriving the sinner of knowledge of the Divine secrets and gnosis; the transformation of the heart into a niche for Satan; being barred from self-knowledge; relinquishing the pleasure of Divine conversation; the invalidation of the sinner’s worship; leading the sinner to denying the hereafter and Allah’s (awj) reward and punishment.

The social repercussions of sin consist of the decadence and retrogression of the sinful society, although it might appear as though it is headed in the direction of progress. For, in reality, such a society is drawing near to its extinction due to neglecting human and moral values.