a settled disposition of avoiding sin while remaining able to commit it
General Technical Meaning
ʿIṣma is a settled disposition (malaka) of avoiding sins while being able to commit them.
In ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s Works
Risālat al-Manāmāt wa-l-Nubuwwāt
infallibility — explanation
Here ʿiṣma names the protectedness of the soul of the one who preserves the revealed law unchanged in every age, the Imām: a soul kept from change through its preserved connection with the higher principles and worlds.
Limits of this account
It does not establish the later theological doctrine of protection from sin and error, nor the treatise’s complete proof of the scope of infallibility.
Read in context
Open a passage in the edition where this term is linked.