Major vs Minor sins

 

Major vs Minor sins

•        اِنۡ تَجۡتَنِبُوۡا كَبٰٓئِرَ مَا تُنۡهَوۡنَ عَنۡهُ نُكَفِّرۡ عَنۡكُمۡ سَيِّاٰتِكُمۡ وَنُدۡخِلۡـكُمۡ مُّدۡخَلًا كَرِيۡمًا

•        اگر تم اُن بڑے بڑے گناہوں سے پرہیز کرتے رہو جن سے تمہیں منع کیا جا رہا ہے تو تمہاری چھوٹی موٹی برائیوں کو ہم تمہارے حساب سے ساقط کر دیں گے اور تم کو عزت کی جگہ داخل کریں گے

•        if you avoid the major sins which you have been forbidden, We shall remit your (trivial) offences, and cause you to enter an honorable abode. (4:31)

 

Allah is not narrow-minded to punish our servants by holding on to small things. If your record is free of major crimes, minor offenses will be overlooked and you will not be charged. However, if you commit major crimes, then in the case that will be established against you, even small mistakes will be caught.

Here it should be understood what is the fundamental difference between major sin and minor sin. As far as I have considered in the Qur'an and the Sunnah, I find that there are three things that make an act a major sin.

(1) The violation of one's rights, whether it is God whose right is violated, or parents, or other human beings, or one's own self. Then, the greater the right of the one, the greater is the sin of destroying his right. This is why sin is also called "oppression" and this is why polytheism is called the greatest oppression in the Qur'an.

(2) Fearlessness of Allah and arrogance in relation to Him, due to which a person does not care about Allah's commands and prohibitions, and with the intention of disobeying, he deliberately does what Allah has forbidden, and deliberately does not do those deeds. Do what he has ordered. This disobedience will be more brazen and daring and the state of God-fearing will be in it, so the sin will be severe.

(3) The breaking of the bonds and the perverting of those relations on the integrity of which the peace of human life depends, whether they be between man and God or between men and men. Then the more important the connection, and the more the severing of which harms the peace, and the greater the expectation of mammothness in the matter, the greater is the sin of breaking and severing and spoiling it. For example, consider adultery and its different degrees. This act per se is corrupting the system of civilization, therefore it is a major sin in itself, but its different forms are more severe in sin than each other. Committing a sin by a married person is a graver sin than that of an unmarried person. Committing a sin with a married woman is worse than committing a sin with an unmarried woman.

Committing adultery with a neighbor's family is worse than committing adultery with a non-neighbour. For example, committing adultery with one's sister or daughter or mother is more worse then committing adultery with a non-Mehram. Sinning in the mosque is worse than committing it anywhere else. In these examples, the difference between the different forms of the same verb as a sin is due to the reasons explained above. Where the expectation of mammothness is greater, where human contact is more deserving of respect, and where the severing of that contact is more likely to cause corruption, the more serious is the commission of adultery. In the same sense, the term "fajur" is used for sin. (Maududi)