Al-'Ism is interpreted in five ways:
1. By the word al-ism, shirk (shirk — associating partners with God) is meant; as in the following verse:
Should not the rabbis and the religious scholars have forbidden them from sinful speech {that is, from uttering the word of shirk}? (Māʾida/63)
2. The word al-ism is used in the sense of maʿṣiya (disobedience/sin); as in the following verses:
Whoever is compelled by severe hunger (or, a vital necessity) to eat of what is forbidden (the flesh of dead animals and other forbidden foods), without inclining to ism {that is, without intending maʿṣiya (disobedience)}... (Māʾida/3)
My Lord has only forbidden indecencies (.....) and ism {that is, maʿṣiya (disobedience)}
... (Aʿrāf/33)
Do not help one another in ism {that is, maʿṣiya (disobedience)} and enmity! (Māʾida/2)
You join together and help one another in ism {that is, maʿṣiya (disobedience)} and enmity against them. (Baqarah/85)
Do not converse together in ism {that is, maʿṣiya / sin} and enmity (that is, injustice)! (Mujādala/9)
3. The word al-ism is used in the sense of dhanb (sin); as in the following verses:
Whoever hastens (to depart) in two days, there is no ism {that is, dhanb / sin} upon him. (Baqarah/203) Will you take it with a slander and with a manifest ism {that is, dhanb / sin}? (Nisāʾ/20)
4. By the word al-ism, zinā (fornication/adultery) is meant; as in the following verse:
Abandon the outward {that is, the manifest} and inward {that is, the hidden} aspects of ism {that is, zinā (fornication/adultery)}! (Anʿām/120)
5. By the word al-ism, khaṭāʾ (error/mistake) is meant; as in the following verse:
If anyone fears from the testator any deviation or ism {that is, if he knows that he has acted unjustly, whether intentionally or by mistake}... (Baqarah/182)