Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon

إِثْمٌ

Root: اثم

Full Definition

إِثْمٌ [accord. to some, an Verbal.Noun; see أَثِمَ: accord. to others, only a simple subst., signifying] A sin, a crime, a fault, an offence, or an act of disobedience, syn. ذَنْبٌ, for which one deserves punishment; differing from ذَنْبٌ inasmuch as this signifies both what is intentional and what is unintentional: or [so accord. to the M, but in the K “ and, ”] an unlawful deed: or a deed which retards from recompense: or, accord. to Fr, what is exclusive of the [punishment termed] حَدّ: accord. to Er-Rághib, it is a term of more general import than عُدَوانٌ: مَأْثَمٌ [which is originally an Verbal.Noun of أَثِمَ] is syn. with إِثْمٌ; and so, too, is أَثَامٌ , or إِثَامٌ , signifying a deed retarding recompense: the pl. of إِثْمٌ is آثَامٌ: and the pl. of مَأْثَمٌ is مَآثِمُ.
2 [Sometimes it is prefixed to a noun or pronoun denoting its object:
3 and sometimes it means The punishment of a sin &c.: see explanations of a passage in the Kur v. 32, voce بَآءَ.]
4 Wine: sometimes used in this sense; but tropically; not properly: I think, [says ISd,] because the drinking thereof is what is thus termed.
5 [And for a like reason,] Contention for stakes, or wagers, in a game of hazard; syn. قِمَارٌ; which is a man's destruction of his property. It is said in the Kur [ii. 216, respecting wine and the game called المَيْسِر], قُلْ فِهِيمَا إِثْمٌ كَبِيرٌ وَ مَنَافِعُ لِلنَّاسِ [Say thou, In them both are great sin and means of profit to men]: and Th says, when they contended in a game of this kind, and won, they gave food and alms, and these were means of profit.


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