Imam Ali (AS) has been reported as saying...

Imam Ali (AS) has been reported as saying: “Be aware that sins are like untamed horses on which sinners ride; their reins have been let loose and they take the riders into fire.” He has also said: “Be aware that Taqwa is like tamed horses on which the people of piety ride; they take the riders to paradise.”[^16] Haytham ibn Waqid has reported: “I heard Imam Sadiq (AS) say: ‘One whom God Almighty takes out of the humiliation of sin to the honor of piety; makes him rich without having wealth, honorable without having relatives, comforts him without having a friend…” ^17 Imam Abu Ja’far al-Baqir (a.s.) (SAW) has been reported as saying: “By Allah, our Shia (followers) are but those who have Taqwa.”[^18] Imam Ali (AS) has been reported as saying: “Taqwa is what keeps you away from what makes you commit sin.”[^19] Truly, sin is a vice that makes man sick as a germ makes him sick.

In the same way that when we get sick, we have to observe certain points in order to keep away from the sickness of soul, we have to observe certain things. Sin makes man badly sick in a way that it drives him toward disbelief. In this relation, God says: “Then evil was the…