Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:31
If you avoid the major sins which you are forbidden, We will remove from you your lesser sins and admit you to a noble entrance [into Paradise].
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
Surah An-Nisā' (4:31)
إن تجتنبوا كبائر ما تنهون عنه ("If you avoid the major sins from which you are forbidden")
The statement concerning the explanation of the words of the Exalted: If you avoid the major sins from which you are forbidden. The exegetes differed concerning the meaning of the major sins (kabā'ir) which Allah, exalted is His praise, promised His servants that, if they avoided them, He would remit for them the rest of their evil deeds. Some said: The major sins concerning which Allah, blessed and exalted, said: If you avoid the major sins from which you are forbidden, We shall remit your evil deeds, are the matters which Allah has set before His servants as a prohibition, from the beginning of Surah An-Nisā' to the end of the thirtieth (verses) thereof.
Mention of who said that:
7281 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Abū al-Ḍuḥā, on the authority of Masrūq, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh (Ibn Masʿūd), who said: The major sins run from the beginning of Surah An-Nisā' to thirty (verses) thereof.
* - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ḥammād, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, with the same import.
* - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, saying: Ḥammād related to us, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, the same.
* - Abū Hishām al-Rifāʿī related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, saying: al-Aʿmash related to us, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, who said: ʿAlqama related to me, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, who said: The major sins run from the beginning of Surah An-Nisā' to His word: If you avoid the major sins from which you are forbidden.
* - Al-Rifāʿī related to us, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya and Abū Khālid related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of ʿAlqama, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, who said: The major sins run from the beginning of Surah An-Nisā' to His word: If you avoid the major sins from which you are forbidden.
* - Abū al-Sā'ib related to me, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Muslim, on the authority of Masrūq, who said: ʿAbd Allāh was asked about the major sins, and he said: That which lies between the beginning of Surah An-Nisā' and the end of the thirtieth (verses).
* - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ḥammād, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, who said: The major sins: that which lies between the beginning of Surah An-Nisā' and thirty verses thereof: If you avoid the major sins from which you are forbidden.
* - Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Mughīra informed us, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, that he said: The major sins run from the beginning of Surah An-Nisā' to the thirtieth (verses) thereof. If you avoid the major sins from which you are forbidden.
7282 - Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAwn, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, who said: They were of the opinion that the major sins fell between the beginning of this surah, Surah An-Nisā', up to this place: If you avoid the major sins from which you are forbidden.
* - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ādam al-ʿAsqalānī related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Najūd, on the authority of Zirr ibn Ḥubaysh, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, who said: The major sins run from the beginning of Surah An-Nisā' to thirty verses thereof. Then he recited: If you avoid the major sins from which you are forbidden, We shall remit your evil deeds and admit you to an honorable place.
* - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Misʿar related to us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Najūd, on the authority of Zirr ibn Ḥubaysh, who said: ʿAbd Allāh said: The major sins: that which lies between the beginning of Surah An-Nisā' and the end of the thirtieth (verses).
Others said: The major sins are seven. Mention of who said that:
7283 - Tamīm ibn al-Muntaṣir related to me, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq informed us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Sahl ibn Abī Ḥathma, on the authority of his father, who said: I was in this mosque, the mosque of Kūfa, while ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, was addressing the people from the pulpit. He said: O people, verily, the major sins are seven! The people pricked up their ears. He repeated it three times, and then said: Do you not ask me about them? They said: O Commander of the Believers, what are they? He said: Associating partners with Allah (al-ishrāk bi-llāh), killing the soul which Allah has forbidden to kill, falsely accusing a chaste woman (of zinā), consuming the property of the orphan, consuming usury (ribā), fleeing on the day of the battle (fleeing from the armed struggle), and reverting to the Bedouin life after the hijra (al-taʿarrub baʿd al-hijra). I said to my father: O father, reverting to the Bedouin life after the hijra, how does that fit here? He said: O my son, and what is greater than that a man should emigrate, and then when his share of the spoils (fay') accrues to him and jihād becomes obligatory upon him, he casts that off his neck and reverts to being a Bedouin as he was?
7284 - Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd al-Muḥāribī related to me, saying: Abū al-Aḥwaṣ Sallām ibn Sulaym related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr, who said: The major sins are seven; there is no major sin among them but there is concerning it a verse in the Book of Allah. Associating partners with Allah belongs to them: And whoever associates partners with Allah, it is as though he had fallen from the sky (22:31); and Those who consume the property of orphans unjustly only consume fire in their bellies (4:10); and Those who consume usury will not rise (from their graves) except as one rises who has been driven to madness by the touch of Satan (2:275); and Those who falsely accuse the chaste, heedless, believing women (24:23); and fleeing from the armed struggle: O you who believe, when you meet the disbelievers in battle array, do not turn your backs to them (8:15); and reverting to the Bedouin life after the hijra: Verily, those who turn back on their heels after the Guidance has become clear to them (47:25); and killing the soul.
* - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr al-Laythī, who said: The major sins are seven: associating partners with Allah: And whoever associates partners with Allah, it is as though he had fallen from the sky and the birds snatch him away or the wind carries him to a far-off place (22:31); and killing the soul: And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell (jahannam) (4:93), the verse; and consuming usury: Those who consume usury will not rise except as one rises who has been driven to madness by the touch of Satan (2:275), the verse; and consuming the property of orphans: Verily, those who consume the property of orphans unjustly (4:10), the verse; and falsely accusing the chaste woman: Verily, those who falsely accuse the chaste, heedless, believing women (24:23), the verse; and fleeing from the armed struggle: And whoever turns his back to them on that day, unless as a maneuver in battle or to join a troop (8:16), the verse; and whoever reverts as an apostate to the Bedouin life after his hijra: Verily, those who turn back on their heels after the Guidance has become clear to them (47:25), the verse.
7285 - Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAwn, on the authority of Muḥammad, who said: I asked ʿAbīda about the major sins, and he said: Associating partners with Allah, killing the soul which Allah has unjustly forbidden to kill, fleeing on the day of the battle, consuming the property of the orphan unjustly, consuming usury, and false accusation (al-buhtān). He said: And they say: reverting to the Bedouin life after the hijra. Ibn ʿAwn said: I said to Muḥammad: and what about sorcery? He said: Verily, false accusation (al-buhtān) encompasses much evil.
7286 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Manṣūr and Hishām informed us, on the authority of Ibn Sīrīn, on the authority of ʿAbīda, that he said: The major sins: associating partners, killing the forbidden soul, consuming usury, falsely accusing the chaste woman, consuming the property of the orphan, fleeing from the armed struggle, and whoever reverts as an apostate to the Bedouin life after his hijra.
* - Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Hishām related to us, on the authority of Ibn Sīrīn, on the authority of ʿAbīda, with the same import.
And the substantiation of who made this statement is what:
7287 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: al-Layth informed me, saying: Khālid related to me, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Abī Hilāl, on the authority of Nuʿaym al-Mujmir, who said: Ṣuhayb, the freedman of al-ʿUtwārī, informed me that he heard from Abū Hurayra and Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, both of whom said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ addressed us one day and said: "By Him in Whose hand my soul is!" three times, and then bowed down, and each of us bowed down, weeping, not knowing about what he had sworn. Then he raised his head, and upon his face was joy, which was dearer to us than red camels, and he said: "There is no servant who performs the five prayers, fasts in the month of Ramadan, pays the obligatory alms (zakāh), and avoids the seven major sins, but the gates of Paradise are opened for him, and it is then said: Enter in peace."
7288 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of ʿAṭā', who said: The major sins are seven: killing the soul, consuming usury, consuming the property of the orphan, falsely accusing the chaste woman, bearing false witness, disobedience to one's parents, and fleeing on the day of the battle.
Others said: They are nine. Mention of who said that:
7289 - Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Ziyād ibn Mikhrāq informed us, on the authority of Ṭaysala ibn Mayyās, who said: I was with the Ḥaddathān (the Azāriqa, the Kharijites), and I committed sins which I considered nothing but major sins. Then I met Ibn ʿUmar and said: Verily, I commit sins which I consider nothing but major sins. He said: And what are they? I said: such and such. He said: Those do not belong to the major sins — (Ṭaysala) said: he mentioned something which Ṭaysala did not hear — He said: They are nine, and I shall enumerate them for you: associating partners with Allah, unjustly killing a human soul, fleeing from the armed struggle, falsely accusing the chaste woman, consuming usury, consuming the property of the orphan unjustly, violating the sanctity of the Sacred Mosque (al-Masjid al-Ḥarām), practicing sorcery, and making one's parents weep, which belongs to disobedience. Ibn Ziyād said: And Ṭaysala said: When Ibn ʿUmar saw my fear, he said: Are you afraid of the Fire, that you will enter it? I said: Yes. He said: And do you desire to enter Paradise? I said: Yes. He said: Is your father still alive? I said: I have my mother with me. He said: By Allah, if you speak kindly to her and feed her, you will surely enter Paradise, so long as you avoid the grave sins.
* - Sulaymān ibn Thābit al-Kharrāz al-Wāsiṭī related to us, saying: Salm ibn Sallām informed us, saying: Ayyūb ibn ʿUtba informed us, on the authority of Ṭaysala ibn ʿAlī al-Nahdī, who said: I came to Ibn ʿUmar while he was sitting in the shade of an arāk tree on the day of ʿArafa, and he was pouring water over his head and face. I said: Tell me about the major sins! He said: They are nine. I said: What are they? He said: Associating partners with Allah, falsely accusing the chaste woman — I said: before killing? He said: Yes, and with contempt — killing the believing soul, fleeing from the armed struggle, sorcery, consuming usury, consuming the property of the orphan, disobedience to the Muslim parents, and violating the sanctity of the Sacred House, your qibla, living and dead.
7290 - Sulaymān ibn Thābit al-Kharrāz related to us, saying: Salm ibn Sallām informed us, saying: Ayyūb ibn ʿUtba informed us, on the authority of Yaḥyā, on the authority of ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr, on the authority of his father, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, with the same import, except that he said: He began with killing before the false accusation.
Others said: They are four. Mention of who said that:
7291 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām ibn Salm related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of Muṭarrif, on the authority of Wabra, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, who said: The major sins: associating partners with Allah, despairing of the mercy of Allah, giving up hope of relief from Allah, and feeling secure from the stratagem of Allah.
* - Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Muṭarrif informed us, on the authority of Wabra ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of Abū al-Ṭufayl, who said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd said: The greatest of the major sins: associating partners with Allah, giving up hope of relief from Allah, despairing of the mercy of Allah, and feeling secure from the stratagem of Allah.
* - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Wabra ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, who said: ʿAbd Allāh said: Verily, the major sins: shirk against Allah, despairing of the mercy of Allah, feeling secure from the stratagem of Allah, and giving up hope of relief from Allah.
* - Abū Kurayb and Abū al-Sā'ib related to us, both saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: I heard Muṭarrif, on the authority of Wabra, on the authority of Abū al-Ṭufayl, who said: ʿAbd Allāh said: The major sins are four: associating partners with Allah, despairing of the mercy of Allah, giving up hope of relief from Allah, and feeling secure from the stratagem of Allah.
7292 - Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra al-Asadī related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Shaybān informed us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Wabra, on the authority of Abū al-Ṭufayl, who said: I heard Ibn Masʿūd say: The greatest of the major sins: associating partners with Allah.
* - Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Isrā'īl informed us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Wabra, on the authority of Abū al-Ṭufayl, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, with the same import.
* - Ibn al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Wahb ibn Jarīr related to me, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Malik, on the authority of Abū al-Ṭufayl, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, who said: The major sins are four: associating partners with Allah, feeling secure from the stratagem of Allah, giving up hope of relief from Allah, and despairing of the mercy of Allah.
* - And through that same chain he said: Shuʿba, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Abī Bazza, on the authority of Abū al-Ṭufayl, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, the same.
* - Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Abī Bazza, on the authority of Abū al-Ṭufayl, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, with the same import.
* - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Rufayʿ, on the authority of Abū al-Ṭufayl, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, who said: The major sins are four: associating partners with Allah, killing the soul which Allah has forbidden, feeling secure from the stratagem of Allah, and giving up hope of relief from Allah.
* - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: My father related to us, on the authority of al-Masʿūdī, on the authority of Furāt al-Qazzāz, on the authority of Abū al-Ṭufayl, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, who said: The major sins: despairing of the mercy of Allah, giving up hope of relief from Allah, feeling secure from the stratagem of Allah, and shirk against Allah.
Others said: Everything that Allah has forbidden is a major sin. Mention of who said that:
7293 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibn Sīrīn, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The major sins were mentioned in his presence, and he said: Everything that Allah has forbidden is a major sin.
7294 - Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Ayyūb informed us, on the authority of Muḥammad, who said: I was told that Ibn ʿAbbās used to say: Everything that Allah has forbidden is a major sin. And the furtive glance was mentioned, and he said: That is the (forbidden) look.
7295 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Muʿtamir related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ṭāwūs, who said: A man said to ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās: Tell me about the seven major sins. Ibn ʿAbbās said: They are more than seven and nine. And I do not know how many times he said that.
* - Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Sulaymān al-Taymī, on the authority of Ṭāwūs, who said: The major sins were mentioned in the presence of Ibn ʿAbbās, and it was said: They are seven. He said: They are more than seven and nine. Sulaymān said: And I do not know how many times he said that.
7296 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar and Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of ʿAwf, who said: Abū al-ʿĀliya al-Riyāḥī stood up at a circle in which I was present, and said: Verily, people say: The major sins are seven, but I fear that the major sins are seventy, or that they exceed even that number.
7297 - ʿAlī related to us, saying: al-Walīd related to us, saying: I heard Abū ʿAmr report on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that he was asked whether the major sins were seven. He said: They are closer to seventy.
7298 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Qays ibn Saʿd, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, that a man said to Ibn ʿAbbās: How many are the major sins, are they seven? He said: They are closer to seven hundred than to seven, except that no major sin remains with the seeking of forgiveness (istighfār), and no minor sin (remains minor) with persistence.
* - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Ṭāwūs, who said: A man came to Ibn ʿAbbās and said: What do you say about the seven major sins that Allah has mentioned, what are they? He said: They are closer to seventy than to seven.
* - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Ibn Ṭāwūs, on the authority of his father, who said: It was said to Ibn ʿAbbās: The major sins are seven? He said: They are closer to seventy.
7299 - Aḥmad ibn Ḥāzim related to us, saying: Abū Nuʿaym informed us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿdān related to us, on the authority of Abū al-Walīd, who said: I asked Ibn ʿAbbās about the major sins, and he said: Everything in which Allah is disobeyed is a major sin.
Others said: They are three. Mention of who said that:
7300 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, who said: The major sins are three: giving up hope of relief from Allah, despairing of the mercy of Allah, and feeling secure from the stratagem of Allah.
Others said: Every (sin) that makes (the Fire) obligatory and everything for which Allah threatens those who commit it is a major sin. Mention of who said that:
7301 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: If you avoid the major sins from which you are forbidden, he said: The major sins: every sin which Allah has sealed with the Fire, or with wrath, or with a curse, or with chastisement.
7302 - Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Hishām ibn Ḥassān informed us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Wāsiʿ, who said: Saʿīd ibn Jubayr said: Every (sin) that makes (the Fire) obligatory in the Qur'an is a major sin.
* - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: My father related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Muhazzim al-Shaʿʿāb, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Wāsiʿ al-Azdī, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: Every sin that Allah ascribes to the Fire belongs to the major sins.
7303 - ʿAlī ibn Sahl related to us, saying: al-Walīd ibn Muslim related to us, on the authority of Sālim, that he heard al-Ḥasan say: Every (sin) that makes (the Fire) obligatory in the Qur'an is a major sin.
7304 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word of Allah: If you avoid the major sins from which you are forbidden, he said: The (sins) that make (the Fire) obligatory.
* - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same.
7305 - Yaḥyā ibn Abī Ṭālib related to me, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Juwaybir related to us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, who said: The major sins: every (sin) that makes (the Fire) obligatory, for which Allah has made the Fire obligatory upon those who commit them, and every deed for which the prescribed punishment (ḥadd) is carried out belongs to the major sins.
Abū Jaʿfar (Ṭabarī) said: And what we say concerning this is what has been established by reliable transmission on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. And that is:
7306 - Aḥmad ibn al-Walīd al-Qurashī related this to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Abī Bakr related to me, saying: I heard Anas ibn Mālik say: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ mentioned the major sins, or was asked about the major sins, and he said: "Shirk against Allah, killing the soul, and disobedience to one's parents." Then he said: "Shall I not inform you of the greatest of the major sins?" He said: "The false word", or he said: "The false testimony." Shuʿba said: And according to my strongest conjecture he said: "The false testimony."
* - Yaḥyā ibn Ḥabīb ibn ʿArabī related to us, saying: Khālid ibn al-Ḥārith related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Abī Bakr informed us, on the authority of Anas, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ concerning the major sins, he said: "Shirk against Allah, disobedience to one's parents, killing the soul, and the false word."
* - Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Kathīr related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Abī Bakr, on the authority of Anas, who said: The major sins were mentioned on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he said: "Shirk against Allah, disobedience to one's parents, and killing the soul. Shall I not inform you of the greatest of the major sins? The false word."
7307 - Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Firās, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, who said: "The greatest of the major sins: shirk against Allah, disobedience to one's parents, or killing the soul" — Shuʿba was the one who doubted (the wording) — "and the perjurious oath (al-yamīn al-ghamūs)."
* - Abū Hishām al-Rifāʿī related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Shaybān related to us, on the authority of Firās, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, who said: A Bedouin came to the Prophet ﷺ and said: What are the major sins? He said: "Shirk against Allah." He said: And then? He said: "And disobedience to one's parents." He said: And then? He said: "And the perjurious oath." I said to al-Shaʿbī: What is the perjurious oath (al-yamīn al-ghamūs)? He said: The one who, by his oath, seizes the property of a Muslim, while he is lying therein.
7308 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ibn Abī al-Sarī Muḥammad ibn al-Mutawakkil al-ʿAsqalānī related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to us, on the authority of Khālid ibn Maʿdān, on the authority of Abū Ruhm, on the authority of Abū Ayyūb al-Anṣārī, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Whoever performs the prayer, pays the obligatory alms (zakāh), fasts in the month of Ramadan, and avoids the major sins, for him is Paradise." It was said: And what are the major sins? He said: "Shirk against Allah, disobedience to one's parents, and fleeing on the day of the battle."
* - ʿAbbās ibn Abī Ṭālib related to me, saying: Saʿd ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Ibn Abī Jaʿfar, on the authority of Ibn Abī al-Zinād, on the authority of Mūsā ibn ʿUqba, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salmān al-Aghar, on the authority of his father Abū ʿAbd Allāh Salmān al-Aghar, who said: Abū Ayyūb Khālid ibn Ayyūb al-Anṣārī — a participant in the pledge of ʿAqaba and in (the battle of) Badr — said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "There is no servant who worships Allah without associating anything as a partner with Him, who performs the prayer, pays the obligatory alms (zakāh), fasts in the month of Ramadan, and avoids the major sins, but he enters Paradise." They asked him: What are the major sins? He said: "Shirk against Allah, fleeing from the armed struggle, and killing the soul."
7309 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: ʿAbbād ibn ʿAbbād related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr, on the authority of al-Qāsim, on the authority of Abū Umāma: that some men of the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ mentioned the major sins while he was reclining, and they said: Shirk against Allah, consuming the property of the orphan, fleeing from the armed struggle, falsely accusing the chaste woman, disobedience to one's parents, the false word, the misappropriation of spoils (ghulūl), sorcery, and consuming usury. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Where then do you place those who sell the covenant with Allah and their oaths for a paltry price?" to the end of the verse.
7310 - ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Firyābī related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Abū Muʿāwiya, on the authority of Abū ʿAmr al-Shaybānī, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, who said: I asked the Prophet ﷺ: What are the major sins? He said: "That you call upon an equal to Allah while He has created you, and that you kill your child lest it eat with you, and that you commit fornication (zinā) with your neighbor's wife." And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ recited to us: And those who do not call upon any other god besides Allah, and do not kill the soul which Allah has forbidden, except by right, and do not commit fornication.
7311 - ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Zuhrī related this tradition to me, saying: Sufyān related to us, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya al-Nakhaʿī — who was the overseer of the prison — related to us, he heard it from Abū ʿAmr, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd: I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said: Which deed is the worst? He said: "That you ascribe an equal to Allah while He has created you, and that you kill your child out of fear that it will eat with you, and that you commit fornication with your neighbor's wife." And he recited to me: And those who do not call upon any other god besides Allah.
Abū Jaʿfar (Ṭabarī) said: And the most correct of what has been said concerning the explanation of the major sins is what has been established by reliable transmission on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and not what others have said concerning it — even though everyone who made a statement concerning this, among those whose statements we have mentioned, exerted himself and did his utmost, and his statement has, in respect of correctness, a valid import. The major sins, then, are: shirk against Allah, disobedience to one's parents, killing the soul which may not be killed, and the false word. And under the false word may fall: false testimony, the false accusation of the chaste woman, the perjurious oath, and sorcery. And under killing the soul which may not be killed falls: a man's killing of his child lest it eat with him, fleeing from the armed struggle, and fornication with the neighbor's wife. And since that is so, all the traditions transmitted on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ concerning the meaning of the major sins are valid, and they confirm one another mutually. For that which has been transmitted from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, namely that he said: "They are seven", means then that his word "They are seven" is in the detailed manner (tafṣīl), while his word in the tradition transmitted from him, namely that he said: "They are shirk against Allah, killing the soul, disobedience to one's parents, and the false word", is in the summary manner (ijmāl) — since his word "and the false word" can encompass various meanings, and the false word can summarize all of that.
As for the tradition of Ibn Masʿūd which al-Firyābī related to me in the manner that I have mentioned, that is in my judgment an error of ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Muḥammad. For the mutually reinforcing traditions through the reliable routes on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ agree with the tradition which al-Zuhrī transmitted on the authority of Ibn ʿUyayna, and none of them said in his tradition on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd that the Prophet ﷺ was asked about the major sins. Their transmission of what they transmitted on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ is therefore more correct than the transmission of al-Firyābī.
So whoever avoids the major sins which Allah has promised that He will, for whoever avoids them, remit the rest of his evil deeds and admit him to an honorable place, and whoever fulfills the obligations which Allah has imposed upon him, that one Allah will find, with respect to what He has promised to whomever He has promised something, fulfilling, and constant (faithful) in the discharge thereof.
نكفر عنكم سيئاتكم ("We shall remit your evil deeds")
As for His word: We shall remit your evil deeds, by it He means: We shall remit for you, O believers, on account of your avoiding the major sins from which your Lord forbids you, your minor evil deeds, that is to say: the minor of your sins. As:
7312 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: We shall remit your evil deeds, the minor ones.
7313 - Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAwn, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: that some people met ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr in Egypt and said: We see matters in the Book of Allah which are commanded to be observed, but which are not observed, and we wished to meet the Commander of the Believers about this. Then he set out and they traveled with him, and ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with him, met him and said: When did you arrive? He said: Since such-and-such (a time). He said: Have you come with permission? — (al-Ḥasan) said: and I do not know how he answered him — then he said: O Commander of the Believers, verily, some people met me in Egypt and said: We see matters in the Book of Allah, blessed and exalted, which are commanded to be observed but which are not observed, and they wished to meet you about this. He said: Gather them for me! He said: So I gathered them for him — Ibn ʿAwn said: I think he said: by a river — and he took the nearest man and said: I adjure you by Allah and by the right of Islam upon you, have you read the entire Qur'an? He said: Yes. He said: And have you observed it within yourself (fully complied with it)? He said: O Allah, no. He said: And had he said yes, he would have refuted him. He said: And have you observed it with your glance? Have you observed it with your speech? Have you observed it in your conduct? He said: Then he went through them until he came to the last of them, and said: May ʿUmar's mother lose him (an expression of astonishment)! Do you burden him with making the people act according to the Book of Allah (in all perfection)? Our Lord already knew that we would have evil deeds! And he recited: If you avoid the major sins from which you are forbidden, We shall remit your evil deeds and admit you to an honorable place. Do the people of Medina know of it? — or he said: Does anyone know what you have come with? They said: No. He said: Had they known it, I would have admonished (them) by means of you.
7314 - Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Ziyād ibn Mikhrāq related to us, on the authority of Muʿāwiya ibn Qurra, who said: We came to Anas ibn Mālik, and among what he related to us was that he said: We have seen nothing like that which has reached us from our Lord; yet for it we did not give up all family and property. Then he was silent for a moment and then said: By Allah, our Lord has imposed upon us something easier than that; for He has forgiven us what lies below the major sins; what then have we to do with those (minor sins)? Then he recited: If you avoid the major sins from which you are forbidden ... the verse.
7315 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: If you avoid the major sins from which you are forbidden ... the verse: Allah has promised forgiveness only to whoever avoids the major sins. And we were told that the Prophet of Allah ﷺ said: "Avoid the major sins, act correctly, and rejoice."
7316 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of a man, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, who said: In five verses from Surah An-Nisā' (I find something) that is dearer to me than the whole world: If you avoid the major sins from which you are forbidden, We shall remit your evil deeds, and His word: Verily, Allah does no wrong of the weight of an atom, and if it is a good deed, He multiplies it (4:40), and His word: Verily, Allah does not forgive that partners be associated with Him, but He forgives what is less than that to whomever He wills (4:48), and His word: And whoever does evil or wrongs himself and then asks Allah for forgiveness, will find Allah Forgiving, Merciful (4:110), and His word: And those who believe in Allah and His messengers and make no distinction between any of them, to them He will give their reward, and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful (4:152).
7317 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Abū al-Naḍr related to me, on the authority of Ṣāliḥ al-Murrī, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Eight verses were revealed in Surah An-Nisā' which are better for this community than everything over which the sun rises and sets. The first of them: Allah wishes to make it clear to you and to guide you to the customs of those who were before you, and to turn to you in mercy; and Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise (4:26); and the second: And Allah wishes to turn to you in mercy, while those who follow their desires wish that you should deviate greatly (4:27); and the third: Allah wishes to make it lighter for you; and man was created weak (4:28). Then he mentioned the same as the statement of Ibn Masʿūd, precisely so, and he added to it: Then he began to explain the end of the verse: And Allah is for those who committed the sins Forgiving, Merciful.
وندخلكم مدخلا كريما ("And We shall admit you to an honorable place")
As for His word: And We shall admit you to an honorable place, concerning it the Qur'an reciters differed in their reading. Most of the reciters of the people of Medina and some of the Kūfans read it: "wa-nudkhilkum madkhalan karīman" with a fatḥa on the mīm (madkhal), and likewise that which is in (Surah) al-Ḥajj: He will surely admit them into a place with which they will be pleased (22:59). The meaning of "wa-nudkhilkum madkhalan" is thus: then they enter with an honorable entering. And according to the method of him who reads this reading, it may be that the meaning of "al-madkhal" is the place and the location, for the Arabs sometimes place a fatḥa on the mīm of it in this meaning, as the rajaz poet said: "bi-muṣbaḥ al-ḥamd wa-ḥaythu yumsī" (at the place of the morning prayer of praise and where he passes the evening). And one of them recited to me, heard from the Arabs: "Praise be to Allah, our evening and our morning, with good has my Lord brought us into the morning and the evening." And another than he recited to me: "Praise be to Allah, our evening and our morning", derived from aṣbaḥa (to reach the morning) and amsā (to reach the evening). Thus the Arabs deal with that verb whose stem consists of four (letters): they place a ḍamma on its mīm in a case such as this, and say: "daḥrajtuhu mudaḥrajan fa-huwa mudaḥraj" (I rolled it rolling, and it is rolled). Then they treat what comes in the form afʿala-yufʿilu in the same manner, for yufʿil of yudkhil — even though it consists of four (letters) — has as its origin that it would be in the manner yu'fʿil: yu'dkhil and yu'khrij, and that is therefore the counterpart of yudaḥrij.
And most of the reciters of the Kūfans and the Baṣrans read that: mudkhalan with a ḍamma on the mīm, that is to say: and We shall admit you with an honorable admitting.
Abū Jaʿfar (Ṭabarī) said: And the correct of the two readings is the reading of him who reads that: wa-nudkhilkum mudkhalan karīman with a ḍamma on the mīm, on account of what we have described, namely that what has, of the verb, a stem of four (letters) in (the form) afʿala, the verbal noun (maṣdar) thereof is on the pattern mufʿal; and that adkhala and daḥraja are verbs of four (letters), so that al-mudkhal as a verbal noun thereof is more fitting than mafʿal, all the more so since that is more eloquent in the usage of the Arabs in the verbal nouns of what comes in the form afʿala — as one says: "aqāma bi-makān fa-ṭāba lahu al-muqām" (he stayed in a place and the staying (al-muqām) pleased him) when one means by it the staying (al-iqāma); and "qāma fī mawḍiʿihi fa-huwa fī maqām wāsiʿ" (he stood in his place, so he is in a spacious standing-place), as the Exalted, exalted is His praise, said: Verily, the God-fearing will be in a secure standing-place (maqām) (44:51), from qāma-yaqūmu; and had one meant by it the staying (al-iqāma), one would have read: "inna al-muttaqīna fī muqām amīn" as is read: And say: My Lord, cause me to enter with a true entering (mudkhal ṣidq) and cause me to go out with a true going-out (mukhraj ṣidq) (17:80), with the meaning of admitting and bringing out; and it has not reached us from anyone that he read: "madkhal ṣidq", nor "makhraj ṣidq", with a fatḥa on the mīm.
As for the honorable place (al-madkhal al-karīm): that is the good, fair, honored (abode), honored by the removal of calamity and its defects from it, and by the lifting of cares and griefs and the entry of turbidity into the life of whoever enters it; therefore Allah called it "honorable." As:
7318 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: And We shall admit you to an honorable place, he said: The honorable: that is the fair (abode) in Paradise (janna).
