An Explication of the Relationship between New Sins and the Emergence of New Calamities in Societies

The outbreak of Coronavirus gave rise to tremendous changes across the world. Upon the outbreak of this disease and humans' failure in overcoming it, a number of questions came up. Is this disease a kind of Divine punishment? Is Coronavirus merely a natural phenomenon or a moral evil rooted in humans' deeds? Are the explanations provided by experimental sciences in contradiction with the unseen relationship between sins and calamities? And lastly, the main question is whether this pandemic is likely to be the result of the new sins committed by humankind. Drawing upon the Quranic verses and the traditions transmitted from the Infallible Imams (à) as well as applying an analytical and traditional approach, the present article aims to demonstrate that the new sins perpetrated by humankind definitely play a role in the emergence of new natural and unnatural calamities. There is no conflict between the justifications of experimental sciences and spiritual analyses, and modern sciences cannot deny the immaterial impact of human conduct on the emergence of some phenomena. Therefore, the impact of some new sins on the emergence of a new form of punishment cannot be exactly proven. Similarly, the outbreak of a new disaster or disease cannot be considered to be a definite result of an unprecedented sin.