Righteousness and sin defined

Arabic

الْبِرُّ حُسْنُ الْخُلُقِ، وَالْإِثْمُ مَا حَاكَ فِي صَدْرِكَ وَكَرِهْتَ أَنْ يَطَّلِعَ عَلَيْهِ النَّاسُ.

Translation

Righteousness is good character, and sin is what flutters in your chest and you would hate for people to know about.

Narrator

al-Nawwās ibn Samʿān

Source

Muslim 2553

Commentary

A portable test: if my heart wavers and I would be ashamed for this to be public, it is sin. The conscience of a believer is calibrated; when its needle tilts, that itself is data.