Major or greater sins are those which are mentioned by name in the Qur’an or hadith as the subject of an explicit threat, prescribed legal penalty, or curse. Examples of major sins are mentioned in the Quranic verse which describes the true and sincere servants of Allah, “And those who do not invoke with Allah another deity or kill the soul which Allah has forbidden [to be killed], except by right, and do not commit unlawful sexual intercourse. And whoever should do that will meet a penalty. Multiplied for him is the punishment on the Day of Resurrection, and he will abide therein humiliated. Except for those who repent, believe and do righteous work. For them Allah will replace their evil deeds with good. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful. And he who repents and does righteousness does indeed turn to Allah with [accepted] repentance.” (Al-Furqan 25:68-72)
The Prophet (peace be upon him) referred to the top seven major sins in his saying, “Shall I not inform you of the biggest of the great sins?” We said, “Yes, O Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him)” He said, “To join partners in worship with Allah: to be undutiful to one’s parents.” The Prophet (peace be upon him) sat up after he had been reclining and added, “And I warn you against giving forged statement and a false witness; I warn you against giving a forged statement and a false witness.” The Prophet kept on saying that warning till we thought that he would not stop.” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim).
A good reference for all major sins is the the Book of Imam Adh-Dhahabi, Kitab al-Kaba’ir (Book of Enormities) and Imam Ibn Hajar Haythami’s Al-Zawajir.
Minor sins may be forgiven from prayer to prayer, from one Friday prayer to another, and so forth, as there are many acts and deeds through which minor sins are forgiven. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “the five prayers, Jumu`ah to Jumu`ah and Ramadan to Ramadan entail forgiveness for what is between them as long as the enormities are avoided.”
Abu Hurairah (Allah be pleased with him) reports that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, “Shall I not show you something, which will wipe out your mistakes? They replied, Yes O Messenger of Allah! The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, Complete wudu’ with difficulty, steps towards the masjid and waiting for prayer, because this is commitment and self-control”. (Muslim)
All what is mentioned in the Qur’an and ahadith, of following up a bad deed with a good deed means the wiping away of minor sins and not major sins. Minor sins do not require a specific proportion of small or greater good deeds, but major sins require repentance (tawbah).
There are conditions for a valid tawbah as mentioned by Imam Nawawi:
- a) to refrain from the sin;
- b) to regret having done it;
- c) and to resolve never to commit again.
If the repentance is connected with the rights of another human being, repentance has four conditions: the three mentioned above, plus clearing oneself of the obligation owed to the other person.
Thursday, Jan. 01, 1970 | 00:00 - 00:00 GMT
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