Tradition

"إنَّ اللّهَ جَعَلَ لِلشَّرِ أَقْفَالاً وَ جَعَلَ مَفاتِيحِ تِلْكَ الأَقْفالِ اَلشَّرابَ، وَ الْكِذْبُ شَرٌّ مِنَ الشَّرابِ"

Imam Hasan al-’Askari (‘a) is narrated to have said: “God has created a lock for all the evils and the key to this lock is found in wine (alcohol). And (yet), lying is worse than wine.”1

Brief Commentary

The greatest preventative tool against the evils found in this world is the faculty of the intellect. This is a most secure ‘lock’ that has been placed upon these evils. This ‘lock’ can easily be opened with the ‘key’ of alcohol, and once it has been opened, all of these evils come rushing out. When a person is in a drunken state, they will say and do almost anything, and even the greatest of sins do not seem so evil any longer.

Even though the drunken person commits sins due to a lack of proper judgment and thinking, the individual who lies with full awareness destroys the bonds that society has been established upon. When such trust is broken in the society, this gives rise to an unbelievable level of sin, deviation, and widespread corruption. It is for this reason that lying is considered even more dangerous than alcohol.

• 1. Wasa’il al-Shi’ah, vol. 2, p. 223.