سورة النساء

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Among the encouragements of the Noble Quran for the servants [and the verses of hope] is the verse: تَجْتَنِبُوا کَبائِرَ ما تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ نُکَفِّرْ عَنْکُمْ سَیِّئاتِکُمْ وَ نُدْخِلْکُمْ مُدْخَلًا کَرِیماً [If you shun the great sins which you are forbidden, We will do away with your small sins and cause you to enter an honorable place of entering], and the like of these verses are many in the Quran.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Halabi said: Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) regarding the verse: إِن تَجْتَنِبُواْ کَبَآئِرَ مَا تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ نُکَفِّرْ عَنکُمْ سَیِّئَاتِکُمْ وَنُدْخِلْکُم مُّدْخَلاً کَرِیمًا [If you shun the great sins which you are forbidden, We will do away with your small sins and cause you to enter an honorable place of entering] said: "What is meant by کَبَآئِرَ [the great sins] are the deeds upon which Allah the Mighty and Majestic has made the Fire of Hell obligatory."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Abbad ibn Kathir al-Nawwa' said: I asked Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) about the kaba'ir (major sins). He said: "Every act for the doing of which Allah has promised the Fire."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Whoever abstains from those matters for which Allah has deemed one deserving of the Fire of Hell, if he is a believer, Allah will forgive his evil deeds.

Imam Rida (peace be upon him): إِنْ تَجْتَنِبُوا کَبائِرَ ما تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ نُکَفِّرْ عَنْکُمْ سَیِّئَاتِکُمْ [If you shun the great sins which you are forbidden, We will do away with your small sins]; idol-worship, drinking wine, murder, disobedience to parents, falsely accusing a married woman of fornication, fleeing from battle, and consuming the property of an orphan are among the major sins.

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): إِنْ تَجْتَنِبُوا کَبائِرَ ما تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ [If you shun the great sins which you are forbidden]; the major sins are seven: disbelief, killing a soul, disobedience to parents, consuming the property of an orphan, consuming usury, fleeing from battle, apostasy (becoming a disbeliever after having believed), and every major sin for which Allah has promised the Fire of Hell in the Qur'an.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Drinking wine is among the major sins, and injustice in making a bequest is among the major sins.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Lying against Allah, against the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) and against the awsiya (the successors) is among the major sins.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): [A major sin is] denying whatever Allah has revealed; [these deniers] denied our right, and this is something which no one denies. And Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him), at the end of this exegesis of his, said: "Adopt taqwa (Allah-consciousness) of Allah and do not be audacious or defiant."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): The major sins are nine, the greatest of them being: associating partners with Allah, the Mighty and Majestic; killing a believing soul; consuming usury; consuming the property of an orphan; slandering a chaste woman; fleeing from the battlefield; disobedience to parents; violating the Sacred House; and sorcery. Whoever meets Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, free of these will be with me in a Paradise whose doors are of gold.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Zurarah said: "I asked him about the major sins." He said: "In the book of Ali (peace be upon him) they are seven: disbelief in Allah, killing a soul, disobedience to parents, consuming usury after clear evidence (of it being usury), consuming the property of an orphan unjustly, fleeing from jihad, and reverting to the ways of the pre-Islamic Bedouin after having migrated." I said: "Are these the greatest of sins?" He said: "Yes." I said: "Is consuming unjustly one dirham of an orphan's property greater, or abandoning the prayer?" He said: "Abandoning the prayer." I said: "But you did not count abandoning the prayer among the major sins?" He said: "What was the first thing I told you?" I said: "Disbelief." He said: "Indeed the one who abandons prayer is a disbeliever" — meaning the one who abandons prayer without cause or excuse.

Imam Rida (peace be upon him): Sulayman al-Ja'fari said: I said to Imam Rida (peace be upon him): "What do you say concerning the affairs of the ruler [participation in the administrative work of the caliphs]?" He said: "O Sulayman! Entering into their affairs, aiding them, and striving to fulfil their needs is on a par with disbelief, and looking at them intentionally is one of the major sins by which a person deserves the Fire."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Ahmad ibn Umar al-Halabi said: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) about the verse: إِن تَجْتَنِبُواْ کَبَآئِرَ مَا تُنْهَوْنَ عنْهُ نُکَفِّرْ عنکُمْ سَیِّئَاتِکُمْ وَنُدْخِلْکُم مُّدْخَلاً کَرِیمًا [If you shun the great sins which you are forbidden, We will do away with your small sins and cause you to enter an honorable place of entering]. He said: "Whoever avoids the matters for which Allah has deemed the doer deserving of the Fire of Hell, if he is a believer, Allah will forgive his bad deeds. The seven major sins that necessitate the Fire are: murder, disobedience to parents, consuming usury, apostasy after having believed, wrongfully consuming the property of an orphan, accusing a married woman of adultery, and fleeing from the battlefield."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Muyassir narrates: I, Alqamah, Abu Hassan and Abdullah ibn Ajlan were waiting for Imam Baqir (peace be upon him). The Imam came out ... Alqamah said: "Do you then bear witness that whoever is upon the religion of Allah is among the people of Paradise?" Muyassir says: The Imam paused for a moment, then said: "Examine yourselves: if you have not committed the major sins, I bear witness." We asked: "What are the major sins?" He said: "In the Book of Allah, the major sins are of seven kinds." We said: "May we be your ransom, enumerate them for us." He said: "Associating partners with Allah the Great, consuming the property of an orphan, consuming usury after its prohibition has become clear, disobedience to parents, fleeing from the battlefield, killing a believer, and defaming a married woman." We said: "Not one of us has committed any of these major sins." He said: "Then you are among the people of Paradise."

Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): Muhammad ibn Abi Umayr said: I heard Imam Kazim (peace be upon him) saying: "Allah does not keep anyone in the Fire forever except the people of disbelief and denial, and the people of misguidance and polytheism. And a believer who has shunned the major sins is not questioned about his minor sins, for Allah has said: إِنْ تَجْتَنِبُوا کَبائِرَ ما تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ نُکَفِّرْ عَنْکُمْ سَیِّئاتِکُمْ وَ نُدْخِلْکُمْ مُدْخَلًا کَرِیماً [If you shun the great sins which you are forbidden, We will do away with your small sins and cause you to enter an honorable place of entering]." I asked the Imam (peace be upon him): "O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), for which of the believers does intercession become obligatory and necessary?" He said: "My father narrated from his fathers from Imam Ali (peace be upon him) who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) say: 'Those of my Ummah who have committed major sins become in need of my intercession, and the righteous among them have no other way [to be delivered from the Fire].'" I said to the Imam (peace be upon him): "O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), how does your intercession include the people of major sins, when Allah says: 'And they do not intercede except for one whom He approves, and they are, from fear of Him, in awe.' (al-Anbiya/28). And certainly one who commits a major sin is not one whom Allah is pleased with." The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "O Aba Ahmad, there is no believer who commits a sin but that he regards it as ugly and repents of it. And the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) has said: 'It is enough for you to be considered as having repented that you are regretful.' And he said: 'Whoever is made happy by his good deeds and grieved by his evil deeds is a believer, and whoever does not regret a sin he has committed is not a believer, and our intercession does not reach him, and he is counted a wrongdoer. And Allah said: The wrongdoers on that Day will have no close friend nor any intercessor whose word will be heeded. (Ghafir/18).'" I said: "O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), why is a person who has not regretted his sin not a believer?" The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "O Aba Ahmad, there is no one who commits a major sin and knows that he will be punished for committing it but that he regrets what he has done. And whenever he regrets, it is as though he has repented and is deserving of intercession. But if he does not regret, it means he persists in committing it, and one who persists in a major sin is not forgiven, because he does not believe in the punishment for what he has done. For had he believed in the punishment for his deed, he would certainly have regretted." The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: "No sin is counted major when istighfar (seeking forgiveness) is made, and no sin is minor when it is persisted in. And the word of Allah, that He said: 'And they do not intercede except for one whom He approves.' (al-Anbiya/28), what is meant is that the intercession of those is accepted whose religion Allah is pleased with. And by 'religion' is meant faith itself and the acknowledgment that good and evil deeds have reward and punishment. And whoever Allah is pleased with in his religion and belief regrets the sin he has committed, because he knows and recognises the end and recompense of his deed in the Hereafter."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Amr ibn Ubayd came to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) and recited إِنْ تَجْتَنِبُوا کَبائِرَ ما تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ [If you shun the great sins which you are forbidden] and said: 'I would like to know the great sins (kaba'ir) from the Qur'an.' The Imam (peace be upon him) said: 'Very well, O Amr!' Then he began to explain them in detail. He said: Associating partners with Allah (shirk); on the evidence of this verse: Indeed Allah does not forgive the sin of one who associates partners with Him. (An-Nisa/48). Despair of Allah's mercy; on the evidence of this verse: Do not despair of Allah's mercy. (Yusuf/87). Disobedience to father and mother; because one who disobeys his parents is wretched, on the evidence of this verse: And [He has made me] dutiful to my mother, and He has not made me a tyrant, wretched. (Maryam/32). Murder; on the evidence of this verse: And whoever kills a believer intentionally. (An-Nisa/93). Accusing chaste women of indecency, and consuming the property of the orphan; on the evidence of this verse: Indeed those who consume the property of orphans wrongfully. (An-Nisa/10). Fleeing from battle; on the evidence of this verse: Except those who withdraw to regroup for battle. (Al-Anfal/16). Consuming usury (riba); this is derived from the verse: Those who consume usury. (Al-Baqarah/275). Sorcery and magic; on the evidence of this verse: And they certainly knew that the purchasers of it. (Al-Baqarah/102). Fornication (zina); on the evidence of the verse: And whoever does that will meet the penalty of his sin. (Al-Furqan/68). A false oath; on the evidence of this verse: Those who sell Allah's covenant and their own oaths for a small price. (Al-Imran/77). Treachery; whoever betrays in anything will bring it with him on the Day of Resurrection. (Al-Imran/161). Withholding zakat; on the evidence of the verse: The day when it will be heated in the fire of Hell. (At-Tawbah/35). False testimony and concealing testimony; on the evidence of this verse: Whoever conceals testimony, indeed his heart is sinful. (Al-Baqarah/283). Drinking wine; on the evidence of the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): The wine-drinker is like an idol-worshipper. Abandoning the prayer; on the evidence of this saying: Whoever deliberately abandons the prayer has severed his ties with Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him and his family). Breaking a covenant and cutting off ties of kinship; on the evidence of the verse: الَّذِینَ یَنْقُضُونَ عَهْدَ اللهِ [Those who break Allah's covenant]. Lying and false speech; on the evidence of the verse: Shun false speech. (Al-Hajj/30). Becoming bold [in disobedience] against Allah; on the evidence of this verse: Do they then feel secure from Allah's plan? (Al-A'raf/99). Ingratitude for blessings; on the evidence of this verse: If you are ungrateful, know that My punishment is severe. (Ibrahim/7). Giving short measure; on the evidence of this verse: Woe to those who give short measure. (Al-Mutaffifin/1). Sodomy (liwat); on the evidence of the verse: And those who shun the great sins. (Ash-Shura/37). Innovation in religion (bid'ah); on the evidence of the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): Whoever smiles in the face of an innovator has helped in the destruction of his own religion.' Amr ibn Ubayd left the Imam's presence weeping loudly, saying: 'Ruined is the one who seized your inheritance and contended with you in merit and knowledge.'

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Mu'adh ibn Kathir narrates: Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: "O Mu'adh! The great sins are seven, which came down from Allah concerning us, and all of those sins were committed against us. The first is associating partners with Allah the Great, and next is killing one whom Allah has forbidden to kill, consuming the property of the orphan, disobedience to parents, casting false accusations against chaste women, fleeing from the battlefield, and denying our right. As for shirk with Allah — Allah revealed the necessary verses concerning us, and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) gave the necessary reminders about us, but these people belied Allah and considered the sayings of the Prophet to be lies and became polytheists. As for killing a soul which Allah had forbidden — they killed Husayn ibn Ali (peace be upon him) along with his companions. As for consuming the property of the orphan — they took from us the anfal which Allah had appointed for us. As for grieving father and mother — Allah said in His Book: 'The Prophet is closer to the believers than their own selves, and his wives are the mothers of the believers.' (Al-Ahzab 6). With this, the people became disobedient to the Prophet regarding the religion of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) and his Ahl al-Bayt. As for slandering chaste women — indeed they cursed Fatimah (peace be upon her) from the tops of their pulpits. As for fleeing from the battlefield — with full willingness and without any compulsion upon them they gave the pledge of allegiance to Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him), then they scattered from around him and humiliated him. As for denying our right — they themselves also acknowledge it, and there is no disagreement in this that they denied our right."

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): Everything that Allah has forbidden is a great sin.

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): If you avoid the sins for which Allah has appointed a hadd (prescribed penalty) and promised the fire of Hell, He will forgive the other sins in the interval from one prayer to the next, from one Friday to the next, and from one month of Ramadan to the next.

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: "How many are the great sins? Are they seven?" He said: "They reach seven hundred sins, but the most important of them reach seven sins. And [know that] no sin is a great sin when istighfar (seeking forgiveness) is made, and no sin is a small sin when it is persisted in."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Fudayl said: I entered Masjid al-Haram with Imam Baqir (peace be upon him); the Imam (peace be upon him) was leaning and looking at the people, and I was beside Bab Bani Shaybah ... He said: "O Fudayl! By Allah, the deeds of Hajj are not accepted from anyone other than you (the Shia), and the sins of anyone other than you are not forgiven, and no deed is accepted from anyone other than you. This verse: إِنْ تَجْتَنِبُوا کَبائِرَ ما تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ نُکَفِّرْ عَنْکُمْ سَیِّئاتِکُمْ وَ نُدْخِلْکُمْ مُدْخَلًا کَرِیماً [If you shun the great sins which you are forbidden, We will do away with your small sins and cause you to enter an honorable place of entering] is about you."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Musayyar said: Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said to me: "O Musayyar! What is your view about someone who shares your religion, and commits the same sins that others commit, but abstains from the major sins?" I said: "What can I say in your presence?" He said: "Speak, for it is I who order you to speak." I said: "Such a person is [likely] of the people of Paradise." He said: "Do not find it hard [to say so]; indeed he is in Paradise. Allah the Mighty says: إِنْ تَجْتَنِبُوا کَبائِرَ ما تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ نُکَفِّرْ عَنْکُمْ سَیِّئاتِکُمْ وَ نُدْخِلْکُمْ مُدْخَلًا کَرِیماً [If you shun the great sins which you are forbidden, We will do away with your small sins and cause you to enter an honorable place of entering]."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Iman (faith) is one degree above Islam, and taqwa (piety) is one degree above iman, and iman has ranks. It may happen that a sin issues from the tongue of a believer (a small or minor sin) for which Allah has not threatened the Fire, and He has said: إِنْ تَجْتَنِبُوا کَبائِرَ ما تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ نُکَفِّرْ عَنْکُمْ سَیِّئاتِکُمْ وَ نُدْخِلْکُمْ مُدْخَلًا کَرِیماً [If you shun the great sins which you are forbidden, We will do away with your small sins and cause you to enter an honorable place of entering].

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The definition of the attribute of iman (faith) is the affirmation of servitude and submission before Allah through that affirmation, and drawing near to His court, and the performance of all obligations with knowledge of them — small and great — from the boundary of tawhid (belief in Allah's oneness) and beyond, in order to the last of the chapters of obedience; all of them are joined and connected to one another. So whenever a servant performs his obligations in the way we have described to you, as they have reached him, he is a believer, worthy of the attribute of iman and deserving of the divine reward. For the meaning of iman in general is affirmation, and affirmation means: acceptance and assent joined and accompanied by obedience. It has therefore been established that all acts of obedience, small and great, are linked and connected to one another. The believer does not leave the attribute of iman except by abandoning what is required of the people of iman. It is only by performing the great obligations continuously, and by abandoning and avoiding the major sins, that one becomes worthy and deserving of the name iman (becomes a believer). By leaving mustahabbat (recommended acts) and small deeds and by committing minor sins he does not go out of iman; so long as he has not left any of the obligatory acts of obedience, and has not committed any of the major sins, and has not fallen into these matters, he is a believer — on the basis of the word of Allah who says: إِنْ تَجْتَنِبُوا کَبائِرَ ما تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ نُکَفِّرْ عَنْکُمْ سَیِّئاتِکُمْ وَ نُدْخِلْکُمْ مُدْخَلًا کَرِیماً [If you shun the great sins which you are forbidden, We will do away with your small sins and cause you to enter an honorable place of entering], meaning: the forgiveness of the small and minor sins. For if a person commits one of the major sins, he will be held accountable and punished for all sins [small and great] and will be tormented for them. This is the description of iman and of the believer who deserves the reward.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): If anyone shuns the major sins, Allah will forgive all his sins, just as He Himself says: إِن تَجْتَنِبُواْ کَبَآئِرَ مَا تُنْهَوْنَ عنْهُ نُکَفِّرْ عنکُمْ سَیِّئَاتِکُمْ وَنُدْخِلْکُم مُّدْخَلاً کَرِیمًا [If you shun the great sins which you are forbidden, We will do away with your small sins and cause you to enter an honorable place of entering].