Every act of disobedience committed due to passion, its forgiveness is hoped for. Every act of disobedience committed due to arrogance, its forgiveness is not hoped for because the root of Satan’s disobedience was arrogance, whereas the root of Adam’s lapse was passion.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that disobedience stemming from passion can be forgiven, while disobedience arising from arrogance cannot.
In this quote, Sufyan Al-Thawri draws a distinction between two types of disobedience: that which is driven by passion and that which is fueled by arrogance. He posits that disobedience born from genuine emotion or desire is more understandable and thus more likely to be forgiven, whereas disobedience rooted in pride and arrogance reflects a deeper moral failing akin to the original sin of Satan. The comparison to Adam's lapse suggests that human flaws are often complex and rooted in passion, whereas arrogance is seen as a more severe and deliberate transgression.
In practice
In a discussion on ethics, one might use this quote to highlight the difference between mistakes made out of emotion versus those made out of pride.
Most people are basically a victim of the circumstances of their life. They have things like 9/11, they have terrorism threats, they have new war threats, they have economy problems, and they think, 'What can I do? I'm basically a victim.'
Let us not forget that the reasons for human actions are usually incalculably more complex and diverse than we tend to explain them later, and are seldom clearly manifest.
Our instinct may be to see the impossibility of tracking everything down as frustrating, dispiriting, perhaps even appalling, but it can just as well be viewed as almost unbearably exciting. We live on a planet that has a more or less infinite capacity to surprise. What reasoning person could possibly want it any other way?
I find more and more, as I grow older, that I prefer women to men, children to adults, animals to humans.... And rocks to living things? No, I'm not that old yet.
I had to nurture those doubts as if they were tiny, sickly kittens, until eventually they became sturdy, healthy grievances, with their own cat doors, which allowed them to wander in and out of our conversation at will.
We have to distinguish between a man as he is in essence, and as he is in ego or personality. In essence, every person is perfect, fearless, and in a loving unity with the entire cosmos; there is no conflict within the person between head, heart, and stomach or between the person and others. Then something happens: the ego begins to develop, karma accumulates, there is a transition from objectivity to subjectivity; man falls from essence into personality.
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