Symposium 20

Is Punishment Equal to Sin?

Anwar: Salam ‘Alaykom, Akhi Hasan!

Hasan: ‘Alaykom As-Salam Wa Rahmatollah Wa Barakatoh! I can see you already have a question.

Anwar: Indeed! Usually, punishment is equal to the crime committed, quantitatively and qualitatively. Yet, we see that this formula is not achieved for the otherworldly punishments; researches confirm that some criminals remain in fire although their sin is less in time than that of their punishment. How is that?

Hasan: You are saying that the punishment has to be equivalent to the crime; this is what the man-made or manufactured punishment is about. However, when the punishment has a positive effect towards the criminal act, we do not see this consistency neither in quantity nor in quality.