The center of gravity of Islam’s ideology and apex of its creed is the Sovereignty of Allah swt in His existence, attributes, and authority. The Creator and Master of the universe introduces Himself: “Highly blessed is He, Who has sent down Al’Furqan (Qur’an) to His servant (Prophet Muhammad) so that it may be a warner to all mankind: He to Whom belongs the Sovereignty of the heavens and the earth: Who has taken no son: Who has no partner in His Sovereignty: Who created each and everything and then ordained its destiny.” [Q, 25:1-2]
For Allah swt is the Creator and Sustainer of everything, He is then alone worthy of worship and obedience. Other claims to loyalty and obedience are acceptable only insofar as they remain subservient and do not compete with those owed to Allah swt. The Prophet Muhammad saw reinforces this fundamental doctrine of Islam by saying: “There may be no obedience to any creature in disobedience to the Creator.” [Muslim, Ahmad]
The Qur’an was revealed to the Prophet saw as the final revealed guidance to live a noble, disciplined, and a meaningful life. His mission was to convey the message as revealed, which he did in letter and spirit and presented himself as a role model of its contents. Those who embrace Islam, must follow the teachings of the Prophet saw as a condition for their obedience to Allah swt: “He who obeys the Messenger thereby obeys Allah; as for he who turns away, We have not sent you as a keeper over them.” [Q, 4: 80]
A deliberate act against the Qur’an or the teachings of the Prophet saw is regarded as a sin. Islam prescribes a number of duties a Muslim must perform. There are also some prohibitions that he must refrain from. An express obligation is called Fard and a prohibited act Haram. Disobeying Allah swt is always a serious matter; however, some sins are considered major (kabirah) and others as minor (sagirah). Willfully missing a fard or committing a haram is a major sin. All sins other than major are minor sins. The Qur’an describes these sins throughout the text and a clear distinction is made between them, indicating that if people stay away from the major sins, they will be forgiven of their minor sins: “Those who avoid grave sins and open indecencies, save the minor offences, surely your Lord is liberal in forgiveness.” [Q, 53: 32]
We need to grasp the essential differences between major and minor sins. Generally, an act propelled by one of the three character-failures turns that act into a major sin: (a) Violation of others’ rights, termed as injustice (zulm). Shirk (assigning partners to Allah) or disobedience to parents is a major sin in this category. (b) Insufficient Allah’s fear (fisq). Intentionally missing required prayers or drinking is a sign of fisq. (c) Severing bonds that need to be established causing disorder (fujur). Society’s peace and social order depends on the sanctity of these bonds. Adultery and false accusation destroy society’s fabric and are prohibited. Sins falling in these categories are major and punishment for each is prescribed, while for minor sins is unspecified.
Major sins include: “…they will not ascribe partners to Allah (shirk), will not steal nor commit adultery nor kill their children, nor produce any lies…, nor disobey you (Prophet) in what is right…” [Q, 60: 12] A partial list of major sins also includes: Disobedience to parents, injustice, fornication, murder, interest, intoxication, black magic, gambling, usurping orphan’s property, bribery, cutting off the ties of relationship, backbiting and slandering, accusing chaste women of adultery, false testimony, or missing any of the obligatory duties without valid reason.
Temptation must be curbed to commit a sin just because it is minor. The Prophet saw says that minor sins lead to major sins. When a person persists, he becomes desensitized to a sin. Not only he continues to add on, even the major sins eventually lose their gravity to his inclinations. He finally begins to callously commit major sins. Similarly, trivial good deeds motivate a person to do major good deeds. Thus, no sin is too small to commit and no good deed is too small to pass.
Among major sins, shirk is the most felonious sin in Islam: “… commit not shirk (joining associates) with Allah; indeed shirk is the gravest injustice.” [Q, 31: 13] A person who commits shirk is called Mushrik. Essentially, a mushrik tempers with Allah’s Sovereignty, which is the most blatant injustice and treason against Allah’s authority. The real victim of shirk, however, is the mushrik himself. Allbeing created by Allah swt, there is nothing more absurd, unconscionable, and humiliating than to submit to objects who are no better than the one who submits to them: “…People have set up, besides Him, deities who have not created anything instead have themselves been created: who can neither harm nor help even themselves, who have no power over life or death nor can they raise the dead.” [Q, 25: 3] Disgraced and baffled, he embarks on a path of self-debasing, as shirk sets the stage for many serious sins and a disconcerted conduct overall.
There are two forms of shirk – shirk akbar (major)and shirk asghar (minor). The former is a major act of shirk and the latter is more unnoticeable (subtle) act of shirk. Shirk akbar has two forms: Shirk akbar jail (clear), such as worshipping someone other than Allah swt; and shirk akbar khafi (subtle), such as supplicating to someone other than Allah swt. Similarly, shirk asghar has several forms. The Prophet saw has expressed his concern about shirk khafi: “Shirk in the Muslim nation is more inconspicuous than the creeping of ‘the black ant on a black rock in the pitch darkness of the night.” Swearing with names other than Allah swt, believingsomething as protection against misfortune, and sorcery are examples of shirk asghar.
Nobody is infallible; we all err in different ways, knowingly or unconsciously. Allah swt is Most Compassionate, however. In Islam, the doors for forgiveness never close while a person is still alive. Any sin is forgivable if a person turn to Allah swt seeking forgiveness: “Say O My servants, who have wronged their souls: Do not despair of Allah’s mercy: surely Allah forgives all sins: He is the All-Forgiving, the All-Merciful. Return to your Lord and submit to Him before the scourge overtakes you, and then you get no help from anywhere.” [Q, 39: 53-54]
Tawbah is an Islamic concept of repenting to Allah swt for having committed sins. It is a direct matter between a person and Allah swt without any intercession. Allah’s Mercy is eager to grant forgiveness to anyone who turns to Him. The Prophet saw provides inspiration: “Allah the Almighty says: O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great as it.”[Tirmidhi, Ahmad] Not only Allah swt invites people to promised forgiveness, a non-response is a sign of arrogance and is in itself a major sin: “And your Lord says: call upon me, I will accept your call; those who refuse in contempt will enter hell, disgraced.” [Q, 40: 60] Likewise, insistence on non-compliance to a prohibition is a sin bigger than the sin itself.
Acceptance of tawbah by Allah swt is conditioned on taking three steps: (a) The person is remorseful as soon as he realizes his sinful behavior, (b) sincerely repents and asks for forgiveness, and (c) commits not to repeat those sins again. Further, to the extent possible, he must also undo the damage he may have caused. Money owed to someone, for example, should be returned as much as possible; if he has slandered someone, he must apologize to the person before asking for Allah’s pardon; and the like. The field is open: “…He who repents after committing wrong and reforms himself, Allah will graciously turn to him…” [Q, 5: 39]
To have the major sins forgiven, tawbah is required:“…who do not invoke any god but Allah nor kill a soul, which Allah has forbidden, unjustly, nor commit adultery; he who does this shall be punished for his sin, …; except the one who repents and believes and performs righteous deeds, for then Allah will change his evil deeds into good deed… [Q, 25: 68-70]Allah swt is so forgiving that even if a person of 70 riddled with sins sincerely repents and coincidentally dies the next moment, he dies as pure as a newborn. When a serial killer, who had taken 100 lives, sought forgiveness, as the Prophet saw once indicated, was forgiven. [Bukhari, Muslim]
Regarding the minor sins, however, Allah swt forgives them all the times out of His Mercy if we avoid the major sins: “If you abstain from heinous sins forbidden to you, We will remit your trivial offences and admit you to a place of honor.” [Q, 4: 31] It should be noted, however, that Allah swt will forgive minor sins only if the major sins are avoided. But if a person does not refrain from major sins, the minor ones will also go on his record and counted against him.
If a person commits sins and dies without seeking forgiveness, it is all up to Allah swt to forgive or not to forgive some or all of his sins. However, if he had also committed shirk, that will not be forgiven. Due to its severity, shirk is the only sin in Islam which is not forgivable (unless person seeks forgiveness before death). This is so outrageous and a blatant transgression against Allah’s Supremacy that Allah swt has decreed not to forgive it: “Shirk is the only sin that Allah will not forgive and He may forgive, whomsoever He pleases, sin other than this (shirk)…” [Q, 4: 48]
In sum, a sin is a willful violation of Allah’s rule. Tawbah is repentance seeking Allah’s forgivenessfor such sins with a commitment to live a reformed life in the future. Nothing pleases Allah swt more than to embrace a run-away slave who turns back to Him in remorse. His Mercy continues even after the death of a person died without repentance. He may still forgive whoever and whatever He wills except for shirk, because it is a gross subversion against Allah’s Sovereignty. As the Prophet saw advised his wife Aisha, the best du’a (asking something from Allah) at a moment when Allah swt is most willing to accept du’a is: “O’ Allah You are Most Forgiving, You love to forgive, so forgive me.” [Ahmed ibn Majah, Tirmidhi]
Islamic Point of View 