Class 1
Prohibitions set by Allah S.W.T.
Praise be to Allah; we praise Him and seek His help and forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allah from the evil of our own souls and from our evil deeds. Whomever Allah guides will never be led astray, and whomever Allah leaves astray, no-one will guide. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah Alone, with no partners or associates, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His Slave and Messenger.
Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, has laid down obligations which we are not permitted to ignore, and has set limits which we are not permitted to transgress, and has set out prohibitions which we are not allowed to violate.
The Prophet ﷺ said: “Whatever Allah has permitted in His Book is allowed, and whatever He has prohibited is forbidden; whatever He has remained silent about is a concession, so accept the concession of Allah, for Allah is never forgetful.” Then he recited the ayah: “. . . and your Lord is never forgetful” [Maryam 19:64]. (Reported by al-Hakim, 2/375; classified as hasan by al-Albaani in Ghaayat al-Maraam, p. 14)
Allah has issued a threat to the one who transgresses His set limits and violates His prohibitions, as He says (interpretation of the meaning):
“And whosoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger, and transgresses His limits, He will cast him into the Fire, to abide therein; and he shall have a disgraceful torment.” [al-Nisaa’ 4:14]
Avoiding that which has been forbidden is a duty, because the Prophet ﷺ said: “Whatever you have been prohibited to do, avoid it, and whatever you have been commanded to do, do as much of it as you can.” (Reported by Muslim, Kitaab al-fadaa’il, hadeeth no. 130, Abd al-Baaqi edition).
It is well-known that some of those who follow their desires, who are weak at heart and have little knowledge, become irritated when they hear lists of prohibitions. They grumble and mutter, “Everything is haram, you haven’t left us anything that is not forbidden! You make our lives boring and miserable. You don’t talk about anything but what is haram, but religion is supposed to easy, not strict, and Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.”
In response to such remarks, we say:
Allah, may He be glorified, rules as He wills and there is none to put back His judgement. He is All-Wise and Aware, and He allows whatever He wills and forbids whatever He wills, may He be glorified. One of the basic principles of our being His slaves is that we should accept whatever He decrees and submit fully to it. His rulings stem from His knowledge, wisdom and justice, and are not the matter of frivolity or foolish whims, as He says (interpretation of the meaning):
“And the Word of your Lord has been fulfilled in truth and in justice. None can change His words. And He is the All-Hearer, the All-Knower.” [al-An’aam 6:115]
Allah has explained to us the governing principle behind the allowing and prohibiting of various things (interpretation of the meaning):
“. . . He allows them as lawful al-tayyibaat [(i.e., all good and lawful) as regards things, deeds, beliefs, persons, foods, etc.], and prohibits them as unlawful al-khabaa’ith (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: ‘Shall I not tell you of the most serious of the major sins?’ three times. We said, ‘Of course, O Messenger of Allah!’ He said, ‘Associating anything in worship with Allah . . .’”
(Agreed upon; see al-Bukhari, no. 2511, al-Bagha edition).
Major & Minor Sins
Major sins are defined as what is forbidden by Allah and His Messenger in the Qur’an and the Sunnah in addition to what is narrated on the authority of early Muslims. Allah, the Most high, promises whoever avoids the major sins to expiate his minor sins.
Allah, the Almighty says, “If ye (but) eschew the most heinous of the things which ye are forbidden to do, we shall remit your evil deeds, and admit you to a gate of great honour”. (An-Nisaa :31)
In this text, Allah, the Most High, also promises whoever avoids the major sins to admit him to Paradise. Allah, the Almighty says, {Those who avoid the greater sins and indecencies, and when they are angry even they forgive;} (Ash-Shura:37)
The Qur’an also states, {Those who avoid great sins and indecent deeds, save lesser offences, verily thy Lord is ample in forgiveness.} (An Najm:32)
Major sins are those which appear by name in the Qur’an or hadith as the subject of an explicit threat of punishment, prescribed legal penalty, or curse.
Minor sins may be forgiven from prayer to prayer, from one Friday prayer to another, and so forth, as there many acts and deeds through which minor sins are forgiven.
The Prophet ﷺ said, “The five prescribed Prayers, and from one Friday Prayer to another and from Ramadan to another entail forgiveness for what is between them as long as you do not commit the major sins.” Reported by Muslim, Tirmidhi, Ibn Khuzaymah and Ahmed.
We are obliged to learn about what the major sins are, so that Muslims may avoid them. We have to bear in mind that some major sins are most heinous than another. This is because the Prophet ﷺ has enlisted Shirk (worshipping others with Allah) though a polytheist will suffer eternal torture in Fire and will never be forgiven.
We will first study the 70 Major Sins mentioned in the book “Al Kaba’ir (Major Sins)” by “Imam Shamsu ed-Deen Dhahabi” and then study some more mentioned in the book “Prohibitions taken lightly”’ by “Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid”.
The 70 Major Sins mentioned by Imam Shamsu ed-Deen Dhahabi: –