The effect of sin on faith: when all works become weaker.
Ustad Abdini explains a profound reality about how sin affects a believer.
In the stories we learn that if a person commits a great sin (kabir), the "spirit of faith" (spirit of faith) separates from them at the moment of the act. If they repent and return to God, the spirit of faith returns - but it returns at a weaker level than before.
Why is this so significant?
The spirit of faith is the life force of all your actions. Not just one specific action is weakened; All actions become weaker.
If the spirit of faith weakens, it means that the "life" of all your actions - your prayer, your charity, your fasting - has diminished. They are no longer at the same level of vitality and acceptance as before.
The Quranic principle.
The Koran says:
"If you avoid the major forbidden sins, we will atone for you for your bad deeds. ".
"If you avoid the major sins that are forbidden to you, we will remove from you the lesser sins... " (Surah An-Nisa 4:31).
This means that the effort of the community must be focused on preventing major sins. If the major sins are avoided, God removes the effects of the lesser sins.
But if we treat every small sin as a big sin and judge people harshly, the community becomes unstable. We must preserve the levels of faith - the weak and the strong - within the community, always striving for the higher level while maintaining the minimum level.
Practical Islam - Said Samer Hakim.