Origin of Good and Evil

عَلِيُّ بْنُ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ عَنْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ بْنِ إِسْحَاقَ عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ حَمَّادٍ عَنِ ابْنِ مُسْكَانَ عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع قَالَ: نَحْنُ أَصْلُ كُلِّ خَيْرٍ وَ مِنْ فُرُوعِنَا كُلُّ بِرٍّ فَمِنَ الْبِرِّ التَّوْحِيدُ وَ الصَّلَاةُ وَ الصِّيَامُ وَ كَظْمُ الْغَيْظِ وَ الْعَفْوُ عَنِ الْمُسِي‌ءِ وَ رَحْمَةُ الْفَقِيرِ وَ تَعَهُّدُ الْجَارِ وَ الْإِقْرَارُ بِالْفَضْلِ لِأَهْلِهِ وَ عَدُوُّنَا أَصْلُ كُلِّ شَرٍّ وَ مِنْ فُرُوعِهِمْ كُلُّ قَبِيحٍ وَ فَاحِشَةٍ فَمِنْهُمُ الْكَذِبُ وَ الْبُخْلُ وَ النَّمِيمَةُ وَ الْقَطِيعَةُ وَ أَكْلُ الرِّبَا وَ أَكْلُ مَالِ الْيَتِيمِ بِغَيْرِ حَقِّهِ وَ تَعَدِّي الْحُدُودِ الَّتِي أَمَرَ اللَّهُ وَ رُكُوبُ الْفَوَاحِشِ‌ ما ظَهَرَ مِنْها وَ ما بَطَنَ* وَ الزِّنَا وَ السَّرِقَةُ وَ كُلُّ مَا وَافَقَ ذَلِكَ مِنَ الْقَبِيحِ فَكَذَبَ مَنْ زَعَمَ أَنَّهُ مَعَنَا وَ هُوَ مُتَعَلِّقٌ بِفُرُوعِ غَيْرِنَا

Narrated that Imam Sadiq (عليه السلام) said:

We are the origin/source of every good, and from Our branches is every righteousness. So, from the righteousness is:

Oneness (Tawheed), 

and Prayer (salat),

and Fasts, 

and suppression of anger,

and pardoning others,

and being merciful to the poor,

and taking care of the neighbors,

and accepting the preference (Fadhl) of the deserving ones.


And Our enemies are the origin/source of every evil, and from their branches is every thing shameful and immoral. So, from these is:

lying,

and niggardliness,

and slandering,

and cutting-off (relationships),

and consumption of the interest,

and consumption of the wealth of the orphans without right,

and transgressing the limits that Allah as set,

and committing immoral acts the apparent from it as well as the hidden,

and adultery,

and stealing,

and everything that is in lines of that which is shameful. 

So he has lied, the one who thinks he is with Us while he attaches himself to the branches of others apart from Us."

[Source: Al-Kafi, Vol 8, Pg. 232]