Class 4

‘Major Sins committed as an individual’

I – ACTIONS

3) SORCERY

Sorcery is a major sin because the sorcerer must necessarily disbelieve and the accursed Devil has no other motive for teaching a person witchcraft than that he might thereby ascribe associates to Allah.

It is one of the 7 destructive sins mentioned in the authentic ahadeeth and he ﷺ said, “The penalty for a sorcerer is the sword.”(Tirmidhi)

10) ADULTERY

Allah, the Almighty, says,

• {Nor come near to adultery: for it is an indecent (deed) and an evil way.} (Al-Isra’: 32)
• {The woman and the man guilty of fornication, flog each of them with a hundred stripes: Let not compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by Allah, if ye believe in Allah and the Last Day: And let a party of the believers witness their punishment.” (An-Nur: 2)

The punishment mentioned in the last verse concerns only single fornicators in the world as argued by the scholars. In case of married adulterers (even if they experienced marriage before) they must be stoned until death as postulated by the Prophetﷺ . But if they escaped the worldly punishment and died without making repentance, they will be tortured in the Hell-Fire with lashes of Fire.

The following hadith was stated by the Prophet ﷺ,

“An adulterer is not a believer at the time of committing adultery.” (Bukhari Muslim)

11) SODOMY

Allah, Most High recounts in His Book the story of Lut’s people in several positions. Allah, the Almighty says, {When Our decree issued, We turned (the cities) upside down, and rained down on them brimstones hard as baked clay, spread, layer on layer, marked from thy Lord; nor are they ever far from those who do wrong!”} (Hud: 82-83)

This abode is not far from those who do wrong amongst our nation if they committed the same sin. Therefore, the Prophet ﷺ said,

• “What I fear most is that my nation may follow the crime of Lut’s people.” (Tirmidhi)
• “May Allah curse him who does what Lut’s people did.” (Tirmidhi)
• “Whoever is caught doing the crime of Lut’s people, you should kill the one who sodomizes and the one who lets it be done to him.” (Tirmidhi)

14) LYING ABOUT THE PROPHET (ﷺ )

Allah, the Most High, says,

{On the Day of Judgement will thou see those who told lies against Allah;- their faces will be turned black: is there not in Hell an abode for the Haughty?} (Az-Zummar: 60)

AI-Hasan said commenting on this ayah that: they are those who say, if we want to do something we do it but if we do not want to do it we do not.

Ibn AI-Jawziy said when interpreting the above ayah: Some scholars hold that lying about Allah and His Prophet ﷺ is unbelief that puts one beyond the pale of Islam. There is no doubt that a premeditated lie against Allah and His Messenger that declares something which is unlawful to be permissible or something permissible to be unlawful is pure unbelief. The question (as to when it is a major sin rather than outright unbelief) only concerns lies about other than that.

It was related that the Prophet ﷺ said,

• “Whoever relates something from me I have not said shall take a place for himself in Hell.” (Bukhari & Muslim)
• “Whoever intentionally lies about me shall take a place for himself in Hell.”(Bukhari)

This is a very commonly seen these days, people will argue and just to prove their point they will say anything and say it is a Hadeeth. SubhaanAllah!

We ask Allah to guide and protect us; He is the Most Generous.

19) DRINKING ALCOHOL

Allah, Most High says,

{O ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, sacrificing to stones and (divination by) arrows, is an abomination, of Satan’s handiwork: Eschew such (abomination) that ye may prosper. Satan’s plan is (but) to excite enmity and hatred between you, with intoxicants and gambling, and hinder you from the remembrance of Allah, and from Prayer: will ye not then abstain?} (Al-Ma’idah: 90-91)

Thus, Allah the Exalted forbids wine and warns us of approaching it.

The Prophet ﷺ said, “A void wine, it is the mother of abomination. “(An Nisa’ai)

Therefore, if anyone does not avoid it, he then disobeys Allah and His Messenger and thus entails punishment.

Ibn ‘Abbas related that, “When the wine was forbidden, the companions (of the Prophet) met each other and said, The wine was forbidden and became equal to polytheism (Shirk).” (Al Hakim)

‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Amr held that, “Wine is the worst of the major sins.” (Al Hakim)

Undoubtedly, wine is the core of abominations. Moreover, he who drinks it was cursed in various hadiths.

• “Every intoxicant is wine and every wine is unlawful. Whoever it in the world and dies addictive to it without repentance, he will not drink it in the Hereafter.” (Muslim)
• “A drunkard is like a worshiper of an idol.“(Ahmed & Ibn Majah)

 Wine is forbidden as a medicine. Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) related, “Once, one of my daughters was ill, so I made wine in a container for her. Then, the Prophet entered while it was boiling. He asked, “What is this, Umm Salamah?” She replied, “It is just a medicine for my daughter.” The Prophet, then, said, “Allah has not made a cure for you in what He has prohibited to you.” (Ibn Hajar)

20) GAMBLING

Allah says,

{O ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, sacrificing to stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination, of Satan’s handiwork: eschew such (abomination) that ye may prosperO0 Satan’s plan is (but) to excite enmity and hatred between you, with intoxicants and gambling, and hinder you from the remembrance of Allah, and from prayer: will ye not then abstain?} (5:90-91)

Gambling connotes backgammon, chess and speculation by nuts, balls, stones and all kinds of betting. It ranks under encroaching upon people’s rights that Allah has made forbidden in His saying,

{And do not eat up your property among yourselves for vanities, nor use it as bait for the judges, with intent that ye may eat up wrongfully and knowingly a little of (other) people’s property.} (2:188)

It was also referred to in the Prophetic saying,

“The one who invites his companions: Come let us gamble”, should (expiate his sin) by giving in charity.” (Bukhari)

Since the mere willingness to gamble requires expiation, what would be the sin of the real practice of gambling? The Muslim scholars have differed about the exact legal ruling on backgammon and chess in case of being played free from betting. However, the preponderant opinion is to prohibit backgammon. They established their view on the Prophetic saying,

• “He who played backgammon is like one who dyed his hand with the flesh and blood of swine”  (Muslim)
• “He who played backgammon has disobeyed Allah and His Messenger.” (Ibn Majah)

Regarding chess, with or without betting, it is viewed as forbidden by most jurists, for if it includes betting, there is originally no difference of opinion concerning its prohibition. But in case it is void of betting, the prohibition stands more preferable.

29) SUICIDE

On the authority of Jundub Ibn ‘Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

“There was amongst those before you a man who had a wound. He was depressed that he took a knife and cut his hand. The blood did not cease to flow until he died. Allah the Almighty said, ‘My servant has forestalled Me, and I have forbidden paradise for him. .” (Bukhari)

Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet ﷺ said,

“Whoever purposely throws himself from a mountain and kills himself will be in the Hell-fire falling down into it and abiding therein perpetually forever; and whoever drinks poison and kills himself with it, he will carry his poison in his hand and drink it in the Hell-fire wherein he will abide forever, and whoever kills himself with an iron weapon, he will carry that weapon in his hand and stab himself with it in the Hell-fire wherein he will abide forever.” (Bukhari & Muslim)

Thabit Ibn Al-Dahhak (may Allah be pleased with him) reported the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to have said,

“He who killed himself with any thing in this world will be tormented with that very thing on the Day of Judgment. Both cursing the believer and charging him with disbelief is tantamount to killing him.” (Bukhari)

It is also stated in the Sahih that

“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ told his Companions about a man, who was wounded during a battle with the Prophet but he was not patient and he killed himself with the tip of his sword. The Prophet ﷺ said “that this man will to be among the people of Hell.” (Bukhari & Muslim)

48) PICTURE MAKING

This applies to pictures on clothes, walls, stones, coins and all things whether they are made from wax, pastes, steel, copper, wool or otherwise.

Allah, the Almighty said,

{Those who annoy Allah and His Messenger-Allah has cursed them in this world and in the Hereafter, and has prepared for them a humiliating punishment.}(AI-Ahzab: 57)

‘Ikrimah said, what is meant by “Those who annoy Allah and His Messenger are picture-makers. On the authority of Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

“On the Day of Judgment, the picture-makers will be punished and will be told, “Bring to life what you have created.” (Bukhari)

On the authority of ‘Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) who said, “Once the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came back from a journey while I unintentionally covered myself with a curtain on which there were pictures of statutes. Upon seeing it, the face of the Messenger of Allah was changed and said,

“0 ‘Aishah, the most severely punished among people (on the Day of Judgment) will be those who try to create something similar to what Allah has created. ‘Aishah (may Allah be pleased with he) said, ‘I cut it off and made from it two cushions.” (Bukhari)

On the authority of Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) who said, “I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ saying, “Every picture-maker will be in Hell-Fire, in which there will be, with every picture he has made (in the worldly life), a soul with which he will be tortured.” (Muslim)

Ibn ‘ Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) also reported that, “I heard the messenger of Allah ﷺ

saying,

“In the worldly life, whoever made a picture, he would be ordered, on the Day of Judgment, to put life into it which he would never be able to do.” (Bukhari)

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

“The angels do not enter a house in which there is a dog or a picture.”(Bukhari)

In Sunan Abu Dawud, it is reported on the authority of ‘Ali Ibn Abi Talib that the Messenger of

Allah ﷺ said,

“The angels do not enter a house in which there is a dog, a picture or a person who is in a state of ritual impurity.”

Concerning this hadith, AI-Khattabi (may Allah bestow mercy upon him) said, “What is meant by angels is those who descend with mercy and blessings and not those who are entrusted with recording the actions of the servants who accompany those who are in a state of ritual impurity or otherwise. It is also said that what is meant by “a person who is in a state of ritual impurity” is not the one who delays washing until the time of the Prayer comes but the one who does not wash himself from this impurity and neglects it to the extent that it becomes a habit for him.

As for keeping dogs, it is prohibited if they are used in purposes other than guarding groups of people or for hunting. But if a person is obliged to keep them, for certain purposes, there will be no wrong in this. By the same token, if the person keeps dogs for guarding his house, there will also be no wrong in this.

As for pictures, it includes everything, which has a soul, whether they are erected bodies, or painted in a ceiling or on a wall or placed in a certain pattern or woven in clothes or places. In all these cases, pictures should be avoided.

Pictures should be defaced and removed in cases where the person is able to do so. In his Sahih, Muslim reported on the authority of Hayyan Ibn Husain who said, “Ali Ibn Abi Talib (may Allah bepleased with him) told me saying, “Should I teach you something on which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ has brought to me? Do not leave a picture until you erase it, or a raised grave unless leveling it.”

57) FLEEING OF THE SLAVE

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

• “When the slave flee away (from his master), his/her prayer will not be accepted.” (Muslim)
• “Any slave that flees away, the pledge of Islam is cleared from him.” (Muslim)

II – Attitude & Behaviour

17) ARROGANCE, PRIDE, CONCEIT, VANITY & HAUGHTINESS

Allah, Most High, says,

{Moses said, “I have indeed called upon my Lord and your Lord (for protection) from every arrogant one who believes not in the Day of Account.} (Ghafir: 27)

{Verily He loveth not the arrogant.} (An-Nahl: 23)

The Prophet ﷺ said,

“Once a man was walking along in a new set of clothes, with a swagger to his step, pleased with himself, Allah caused the earth to swallow him and he will keep sinking until the Last Day.” (Tirmidhi)

Arrogance, as early Muslims said, was the first fault against Allah.

Allah, the Almighty, says,

{And behold, we said to the angels: bow down to Adam: and they bowed down: not so Iblis: he refused and was haughty: he was of those who reject Faith} (AI-Baqarah: 34)

Therefore, Faith is of no avail if arrogance exists, as is Iblis.

The Messenger ﷺ said,

• “Arrogance is belittling to admit the truth and considering people inferior.” (Muslim)
• “No one with the slightest particle of arrogance in his heart will enter Paradise.” (Bukhari)
• Allah, the Almighty, says, “Pride is My garment and haughtiness My Mantle: whoever vies with Me for them I will throw into Hell.”(Muslim)
• “A debate took place between heaven and hell. The latter said; in me shall enter tyrant and the arrogant people: while heaven said, “In me shall enter the weak and the lowly…” (Bukhari)

Salama Ibn Al-Akwa’ recounted that a man was eating with his left hand in the presence of the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet told him, “Eat with your right. ” To which the man replied, “/ cannot.” Though nothing stopped him but arrogance.

The Prophet  ﷺ said,‘ “May you not be able to ” And the man could never lift his right hand to his mouth again.” (Ahmad)

The wickedest arrogance is that of someone who exalts himself over people of his learning and gloats to himself about his superiority. The knowledge of such person is of absolutely no benefit to him. Whoever learns sacred knowledge for the sake of the next world is unsettled by his learning, his heart is humbled and his ego lowered. Such a person lies in wait for his selfishness and never gives it free rein. He constantly takes his ego to task and corrects it. Were he to neglect it, it would diverge from the right path and destroy him. The person who seeks knowledge to take pride in it or gain a position of leadership, looking disdainfully at other Muslims, thinking them fools and making light to them all this is the most enormous arrogance and no one with the slightest particle of arrogance in his heart will enter Paradise.

There is no power nor might save in Allah Most High, Most Glorious.

30) TELLING LIES

Allah Most High states,

• {Then let us earnestly pray and invoke the curse of Allah on those who lie!} (Al-‘Imran: 61)
• {Allah guides not one who transgresses and lies!} (Ghafir: 28)
• {Cursed be the conjecturers (the liars).} (Al-Dhariyat: 10)

On the authority of Ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him), “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

“Adhere firmly to truthfulness for truthfulness surely leads to righteousness and righteousness leads to Paradise, and a man is recorded with Allah as a sincere one as long as he is truthful. However, lying leads to immorality and immorality leads to the Hell-Fire, and a man is recorded with Allah as a liar as long as he lies.”(Bukhari & Muslim)

He ﷺ also said,

“Three are the signs of the hypocrite, even if he prays, fasts, and pretends to be a Muslim: When he talks, he lies; when he makes a promise he breaks it; and when he is given a trust, he betrays it” (Bukhari & Muslim)

In another narration it is reported on the authority of ‘ Abdullah Ibn ‘Umar that the Prophet ﷺ said,

“Four traits if found together in a person make him a hypocrite. Whoever has one of these, possesses one of the hypocritical characteristics until he renounces it: When he speaks, he lies; when he draws a contract, he breaches it, When he makes a promise, he breaks it; and he abuses his opponents in time of dispute.” (Bukhari & Muslim)

AI-Bukhari reported in his Sahih the following hadith on the authority of Samarah Ibn Jundub (may Allah be pleased with him):

“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to ask, “Did anyone of you see a dream?” So those whom Allah wished to tell would narrate dreams to him. One morning the Prophet ﷺ said, “Last night two persons came to me in a dream and woke me up and said to me, ‘Proceed!’ I set out with them… And we came to a man laying flat on his back and another man standing over his head with an iron hook, and behold, he would put the hook in one side of man’s mouth and tear off that side of his face to the back of the neck and similarly tear his nose from front to back and his eyes from front to back. Then he turned to the other side of the man’s face and did just as he had done with the other side. He hardly completed this side when the other side returned to its normal state. Then he returned to repeat what he had done before. I said to my two companions, ‘Glory be to Allah! Who are these two persons?’… They said, ‘This man is the symbol of the person who goes out of his house in the morning and tells so many lies that it spreads all over the world. ‘”

Allah’s Messenger ﷺ also said,

“The believer may be naturally disposed to any shortcoming except treachery and lying.” (Bukhari)

Other hadith states,

• “Beware of suspicion for suspicion is the most untruthful of speech.” (Bukhari)
• “Woe to the one who tells lies to make people laugh. Woe to him, woe to him.”(Abu Dawood)

False oaths are more heinous than the normal lying (as discussed in the previous topic)

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

“!t is a grievous treachery to tell your brother lies when he believes what you say.” (Abu Dawood)

A Hadith states,

“Whoever claimed to have seen a vision while he is lying, on the Day of Judgment he will be commanded to tide two hairs which is impossible.” (Bukhari & Muslim)

Ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “A servant insists on lying until a black dot be stamped over his heart and so his heart would be stamped as a whole with black colour. With Allah such servant would be recorded as a liar.”

The Muslim, therefore, is required to utter only the good words to be safe from error. Al-Bukhari reported on the authority of Abu Huriarah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

“Whoever believes in Allah and in the Last Day should utter only good word or he should keep silent.”

This agreed upon hadith indicates clearly that a person should not speak except with what seems to him as good.

Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) said that, “I asked the Messenger of Allah, ‘0 Messenger of Allah! Who amongst Muslims is the most charitable?’ He ﷺ responded,

“The one who from his tongue and hands Muslims are safe.”(Bukhari & Muslim)

It is reported in the two Sahihs that,

“A servant may utter a word while he is unaware of its consequences, by it he would be thrown in Hell for a distance more far than the distance between the east and west.”

45) BREAKING ONE’S PROMISE OR PLEDGE

Allah, Most High, says,

• {And fulfill (every) engagement, for (every) engagement will be enquired into on the day of reckoning} (AI-Isra: 34)
• {O ye who believe! Fulfill (all) obligations?} (AI-Ma’idah: 1)

Az-Zajjaj said engagements include all what Allah commands or forbids. AI-Wahidi also said obligations include what Allah made lawful or unlawful in the Qur’an. Muqatil Ibn Hayyan added, it is also included the convenants held among Muslims or between Muslim and non-Muslims.

The Prophet ﷺ said,

• “There are four (habits) which, if found in a person, he is a perfect hypocrite. If one of these is found in a person, then he has one sign of hypocrisy, until he leaves it. These four characteristics of a hypocrite are: when he is entrusted (with something) he embezzles, when he talks he lies, when he promises he breaks it, and when he argues he starts abusing people.” 1 
• “For everyone who breaks his promise, there will be a flag (to mark him out) on the Day of Judgment, and it will be announced that this flag is the symbol of promise by so and so.” (Bukhari & Muslim)
• “There will be three people against whom I shall fight on the Day of judgment: one, the person who makes a promise with an oath in my name and then breaks it, two, the person who sells a free man as a slave and appropriates his sale proceed and three, the person who employs, a workman and having taken full work from him fails to pay him his dues.” (Bukhari)

III – RELATED TO ATTIRE

33) WOMEN IMITATING MEN & VICE VERSA

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared,

• “Allah curses men who imitate women and women who imitate men.”(Bukhari)
• “May Allah curse the masculine woman.” (Abu Dawood) (It means that the woman who behaves like men)
• “May Allah curse the effeminate man and the masculine woman.” (Bukhari)
• “Allah curses a woman who wears a men’s clothing and a man who wears a woman’s dress.”(Abu DAwood)

When woman wears a man’s clothing, she will incur Allah’s curse upon herself and her husband as long as he does not rebuke her or try to discipline her character. The husband, in Islam, is responsible about disciplining and teaching his wife as the Glorious Qur’an commands,

{O ye who believe! Save yourselves and your families from a fire whose fuel is men and stones.] (AI- Tahrim: 6)

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ stressed this fact saying,

• “Each of you is a guardian and responsible about his subjects: The man is a guardian over his household and will be asked about them on the Day of Judgment.”(Bukhari)
• “Men would be perished because they obeyed women (in vanity).”(Ahmad)

Abu Hurairah narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

“I will not be a witness for two types of people who are destined for the Hell-fire: People with whips like the tails of cows, who beat the people (i.e., tyrannical rulers who are the enemies of their own people), and women who although clothed, are yet naked, seducing and being seduced, their hair styled like the tilted humps of camels. These will not enter the Garden nor its fragrance even reach them, although its fragrance reaches a very great distance.” (Muslim)

The hadith depicts these women with clothed and naked ones meaning that although they are clothed by Allah’s gifts, they are naked because of their ingratitude. Other scholars hold that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ described such women as being clothed, yet naked, since they wear clothes which fail to cover the body and which are transparent, revealing what is underneath.

Such women are further described as seducing and being seduced, meaning that they behave and walk in seductive and sensuous manner. They disobey Allah and call others to do so.

The Messenger ﷺ likened their hairstyle to the humps, special breed of camel which has very large humps, because they put up their hair in a beehive shape from the middle of their heads.

Thus, the display of women’s attractions is a cause for incurring Allah’s curse. This display may take various forms like exposing the ornament such as gold and pearls from under the head-covering, wearing revealing and sexy clothes, using of fragrant perfumes, etc. unfortunately, most of women today are accustomed to these immoral fashions.

55) DRAGGING THE HEM OF ONE’S GARMENT OUT OF CONCEIT

Allah, the Almighty said,

{Nor walk haughtily through the land: For Allah loveth not any arrogant boaster.} (Luqman: 18)

The Prophet ﷺ said,

“Any part of the caftan of the Muslim below the anklebones is in Hell.”1

“There are three people whom Allah will not speak to, look at, or exonerate on the day of judgment, and who will have a painful torment: he who wears the hem of his garment low (out of pride…………..”(Bukhari)

“He who, out of pride, drags his garment, Allah will not look at him on the Day of Judgment.”(Bukhari)

“D ragging applies to one’s garment, shirt and turban.

“The caftan of the Muslim comes down to mid calf, there being no harm in what is between this and the ankle bones, though any of it below the ankle bones is in Hell.”(Abu Dawood)

This judgment applies to all kinds of clothing. So, we ask Allah for safety. Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “While a man was praying, dragging his garment on the ground, the Prophet of Allah said to him,

“Go and make Wudu’ (ablution) again” he went and made ablution and came. The Prophet ﷺ said, “Go and make Wudu’ again.” A man asked, 0 Messenger of Allah, why did you order him to renew his Wudu’? The Prophet ﷺ kept silent for a while, then he said, “He was praying while letting his garment to reach the ground, and Allah does not accept the prayer of such a person.” (Abu Dawood)

56) MEN WEARING SILK OR GOLD

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ is reported to have said,

• “He who wears silk in this worldly life, will not wear it in the Hereafter.”(Bukhari)
• “Wearing gold and silk has been made unlawful for the men of my community but permissible for its women.” (Tirmidhi)
• “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ made it unlawful for us to drink or eat in the vessel of gold or silver, to wear or set on silk.” (Bukhari)

Therefore, he who makes wearing silk by men permissible, he is a disbeliever. The Prophet ﷺ made it lawful only for the one who suffers from a certain disease such as scabies and for the soldiers in time of fighting. As for wearing silk for only ornament by men, it is unanimously prohibited. Whether it is a hat or a turban. Likewise, if the most of the cloth is silk, it is also unlawful. Wearing gold by men is also unlawful, whether it is a ring or a sheathe of sword. It is unlawful to wear or make it. Once, the Prophet ﷺ saw a man wearing a ring of gold, took it off from his hand and said, “It is an easier act for anyone of you to handle afire brand than to do such thing.” (Muslim)

Likewise, the embroidery of gold on embellished turban is also unlawful.