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In some translations of the Holy Quran, the following translation comes up:

And if you decide on a foster suckling-mother for your children, there is no sin on you, provided you pay (the mother) what you agreed (to give her) on reasonable basis.

  • Emphasis is mine.

I wonder if this usage of sin is common in contemporary English.

Noah
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  • No, not common, but it is not unheard of. Rare as it is, you might hear one person say to another person before they embark on a risky mission together, "Hey, if this mission goes south, it's all on you!" Meaning: YOU bear the blame if things go badly. On the other hand, if one person were to say to the other, "Hey, I know this mission is all my idea, and since you are not keen on joining me in it, if it all goes south there is no sin on you; it's all on me." Meaning: You won't bear the sin if things go badly; I will (Edwin Ashworth's "burden" metaphor in both examples). – rhetorician May 09 '13 at 13:50
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it appears to about a religious interpretation of what a sin is. – Skooba Sep 25 '17 at 19:18
  • @Skooba The question is about an unfamiliar, possibly nonstandard construction, not a request for a religious opinion. It's not off topic. – MetaEd Sep 26 '17 at 16:32
  • @Skooba The question of on-topicness of jargon is a perennial here, but I think most Anglophones will be aware of the word 'sin', if not 'praseodymium', ''filtrum' or 'chancery'. – Edwin Ashworth Sep 26 '17 at 16:39

2 Answers2

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No.

The word sin is used in two different ways:

1. as a non-count noun (the 'sin-disposition' and almost personification):

Christians believe in original sin.

Sin is fundamentally rebellion against God's rules of conduct, an insistence on one's own way.

2. as a count noun (a particular occurrence, or arguably type):

I gave way to the sin of anger yesterday. (arguably in between non-count and count)

Her sins are many.

The count-noun usage may be encountered in statements such as:

There is not one sin that can be held against you if you are forgiven on the basis of the substitutionary death of Jesus.

The non-count noun usage may be encountered in statements such as:

Sin will no longer have the hold on you it did before you became a Christian.

Using the preposition on here is really using a staining (or burdening) metaphor, and would require the metaphor to be stated more fully:

She is now washed clean from the stain of sin that was once on her.

The burden of sin on him has now been removed.

And, though contemporary, this type of language is obviously largely confined to the religious domain.

Edwin Ashworth
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The phrase there is no sin on you is a literal translation of the Arabic.

It is understood, but I think in English the most correct way of saying it is to use the verb incur with the noun sin.

The resulting translation would read:

And if you decide on a foster suckling-mother for your children, you will incur no sin, provided you pay (the mother) what you agreed (to give her) on reasonable basis.

nicholas ainsworth
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  • Can we not simply understand "on you" to be a shortening of "on your account"? That would make it analogous with similar statements like "shame on you". – Flater Sep 25 '17 at 12:11