Why Sins Harm Us: The Physical, Psychological and Spiritual Cost

IF YOU JUMPED out of a 10th-floor window, the consequences would be severe injury, if not death. If you put for hand in a naked flame or liquid nitrogen the consequences would be immediate severe burns. If you decide to breathe underwater you would drown.

The physical world will instantly remind you that it will not tolerate fools who think they can defy its laws. 

But what if you broke a moral law? What if you lied, cheated, stole, slandered, fornicated, etc? What would be the consequences? There might well be none. There might even be great benefits if you get away with it or if society considers it acceptable. 

This difference in consequences between breaking physical laws and moral laws (together with the irrationality of the Christian Church) is perhaps what drove Western ‘Enlightenment’ thinkers to demote the spiritual to irrelevance and create the secular, materialistic worldview that dominates today. In the secular world, the word sin has lost its meaning as sinning in essence is about a transgression against Divine guidance. 

Of course, for Muslims, there is no disjoint between the physical and the spiritual. The physical world comes from the same source as the spiritual. From Allah. And breaking moral laws, just like physical laws, has grave consequences.

وَمَن يَكْسِبْ إِثْمًۭا فَإِنَّمَا يَكْسِبُهُۥ عَلَىٰ نَفْسِهِۦ ۚ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ عَلِيمًا حَكِيمًۭا

And whoever commits a sin—it is only to their own loss. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. (an-Nisa 111)

Allah describes the one who has committed a sin as one who has transgressed, oppressed, or exceeded the limits against himself. 

It is something worth thinking more about. Why should something that I do that gives me benefit or pleasure potentially be an oppression against myself? 

Only Allah, the Creator, with His immeasurable knowledge and wisdom, understands what is good and bad for humanity. It is only He who has the authority to define what is sin.

Anything that we do, sinful or otherwise, will have no effect on Allah. He is far above any of His creations. So sins can only have an effect on our own souls or those who surround us as we act contrary to what our soul was created for. 

We harm ourselves in three ways.

Firstly, there is physical harm. These are often the easiest to understand. Alcohol, drugs, etc are physically harmful. Promiscuity runs a high risk of sexually transmitted diseases. All of these have significant immediate and long-term physical harm to us.

Secondly, there is psychological harm. This is perhaps not so easy to spot. But those who commit sin understand how it does not sit well in the heart. There are emotions of guilt and shame, anger, hatred or envy, etc that when we overcome them through repentance or reconciliation, we feel as though a weight has been lifted off our chests. 

This is perhaps alluded to in the hadith where the Messenger of Allah ﷺ  with regards to righteousness said: “Consult your heart. Righteousness is that about which the soul feels at ease and the heart feels tranquil. And wrongdoing is that which wavers in the soul and causes uneasiness in the breast, even though people have repeatedly given their legal opinion [in its favour].” (Nawawi Arbaeen) 

This psychological harm is also evident in the reports of those non-muslims who have accepted Islam. Reverts often say that despite having the freedom to do as they pleased they never felt happy. Sisters will say that even though they were free to wear whatever they wanted before thinking they were free, it was only the hijab that gave them true freedom. Having an abortion despite having some benefits at the time resulted in long-term psychological scars. Etc.

Thirdly, sinning leads to spiritual harm. It blocks a person from the mercy of Allah. It is like the sun giving out its warmth and radiance all day long. If you turn towards it and stand in its presence you will receive that warmth and light. If you turn away or veil yourself from it then you won’t. Similarly, those who turn their faces toward Allah, believing in Him and obeying Him, then there is only His mercy. But those who turn away in disbelief or those who sin, have put a barrier between them and His mercy. Again reverts describe how their lives were somehow empty and devoid of meaning and that only through belief in Allah and Islam did they find what was missing. It was as though they reconnected to something that was lost, or found their way home, perhaps referring to the fitra that Allah created in each of us.

There is no better time than Ramadhan to seek forgiveness for our sins. Indeed, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “…May his nose be soiled in dust (i.e. may he be humiliated) — the man upon whom Ramadhan enters, and then ends before he is forgiven!”  (Tirmidhi)

Hopefully, if we can start thinking of the effects of sins like above then maybe we will be motivated to identify our shortcomings and turn to Allah in sincere repentance.