There is a difference between minor and major sins. 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)

 

Shirk is one of those major sins. It is forgivable by repentance but if a person dies in a state of Shirk, all his past good deeds fall apart and he is destined for Hell.

 

Allah says, “Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills. And he who associates others with Allah has certainly fabricated a tremendous sin.” (An-Nisaa’ 4:48)

 

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 (peace be upon him) 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.”

 

The prayer of tawbah is based on the authentic hadith of `Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him). It was narrated from Humran that he saw `Uthman call for (water for) wudu’, then he poured water on his hands from the vessel and washed them three times. Then he put his right hand in the water and rinsed his mouth and his nose. Then he washed his face three times, and his arms up to the elbow three times. Then he wiped his head, and washed each of his feet three times. Then he said: “I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) performing wudu’ like I have just done.” Then he said: “Whoever performs wudu’ as I have done, then stands and prays two Rak`ahs without letting his thoughts wander, his previous sins will be forgiven.'” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

 

It is further based on the hadith of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) saying: When a servant (of Allah) commits a sin, and he performs ablution well, and then stands and prays two rak`ahs, and asks pardon of Allah, Allah pardons him. He then recited this verse: “And those who, when they commit indecency or wrong their souls, remember Allah” (Aal-`Imran 3:135)

 

Some commentators of Hadith including Mulla al-Qari maintained that if seeking forgiveness in this context refers to repentance, it is for all the sins one has committed and not for one sin.

 

Therefore, you do not need to perform Tawbah prayer for each sin, but you can perform one Tawbah prayer for multiple sins and, hopefully, you will be forgiven.

 

Other scholars hold that declaring one’s repentance of all sins is obligatory after offering two rak`ahs for tawbah. They based their view on the second report which mentioned that one should seek Allah’s forgiveness in addition of offering two rak`ahs. The preferred view is that one should seek forgiveness from Allah, by making a since repentance. His/her repentance should be meant for the pleasure of Allah. It should not be intended for showing off. It must show remorse for the sin one has committed and one must give up this sin. Finally, one must have a strong resolute not to make this sin again.

Allah knows best.