Verse 31

Chapter 4: Al-Nisāʾ (The Women) · Printed edition: Volume 8, pp. 153–168

The verse is not without some connection with the preceding ones which had mentioned some great sins.

إِنْ تَجْتَنِبُوا كَبَائِرَ مَا تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ نُكَفِّرْ عَنْكُمْ سَيِّئَاتِكُمْ وَنُدْخِلْكُمْ مُدْخَلًا كَرِيمًا ٣١

(4:31) If you avoid great sins which you are forbidden, We will expiate from you your (small) sins and cause you to enter an honorable place of entering

al-Ijtināb (to avoid, to shun), is derived from al-janb ([right or left] side of body); the verb is made from that noun in a metaphorical sense; when man wants to take something, he turns to it with his face and frontal part of the body; and if he wants to avoid or shun it, he turns away from it putting it to his side; thus al-ijtināb implies avoidance and shunning. al-Rāghib has said that ‘‘It is more eloquent than the word, ‘leaving’ ’’. This eloquence comes from its having a metaphorical sense. From the same root come al-jānib (side), al-janbah (side, region) and al-ajnabiyy (foreigner, alien).

al-Takfīr (to expiate, to forgive) is derived from al-kafr (to cover, to hide). Generally the Qur’an uses it for forgiveness of sins. al-Kabāʾir is plural of al-kabīrah (the big one); this adjective has been used in place of a deleted noun which it qualifies, like ‘sins’, etc. ‘Greatness’ is a relative idea; it cannot exist without correlation with ‘smallness’. That is why the words, ‘‘great sins which you are forbidden’’, imply existence of some forbidden sins which are small. The verse, therefore, shows two things: First, the sins are of two types, great and small. Second, al-Sayyiʾah (evil; sin) mentioned in the second clause refers to small sins, because it is put parallel to ‘great sins’.

Of course, disobedience and insubordination, of any type, is great when we look at the insignificance of the created and sustained man vis- a-vis the greatness of God. But in this case we are making a comparison between man and his Lord, not between one sin and another. There is no contradiction, therefore, in saying that every sin is great (by one criterion) and that some sins are small (by another criterion).

A sin is considered great if its prohibition has been given much more emphasis than that of some other sins. Probably, the words, ‘‘which you are forbidden’’, imply, or point to, this reality. We may realize the importance of a prohibitory order if its language is severe, or if it has been much emphasized, or is accompanied by a threat of punishment of fire, etc.

... and cause you to enter an honorable place of entering: al-Mudkhal (place of entering) is an adverb of place; and refers either to paradise or to a position of nearness to God—although the end result of both is the same.

Discourse

The discussion “Great and Small Sins and Expiation of Evils” appears here in the printed volume. Read it in the Al-Mizan App.

Examining Narrations

1. al-Sādiq has said: ‘‘Great (sins) are those for which God has imposed (the punishment of) the fire.’’ (al-Kāfī)
2. al-Bāqir has said about the great sins: ‘‘Every (sin) which God has threatened to punish with fire.’’ (Man lā yahduruh al faqīh)
3. al-Sādiq has said: ‘‘Whoever avoids that which God has threatened (to punish) with fire—if he is a believer—God will expiate his (small) sins from him, and will cause him to enter an honorable place of entering; and the seven great (sins) which impose (punishment of fire) are (as follows): Murder of an inviolable person; disobedience to parents; eating usury; going back to non Islamic places [where one cannot perform his/her Islamic worship] after hijrah [that is, after emigration to an Islamic centre]; slandering a married woman (of adultery); swallowing up orphan’s property; and fleeing from jihād.’’ (Thawāb al-aʿmāl)

Author’s comments: There are many Shīʿī and Sunnī traditions which have enumerated great sins, some of which will be given later. Most of them count polytheism as one of the seven great sins, although the above tradition does not mention it; probably the Imām has removed it from this list because it is the greatest of the great sins; and the words, ‘‘if he is a believer’’, point to it.

4. Abd al-Azīm b. ʿAbdillāh al-Hasanī has narrated from Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad b. ʿAlī, (who narrates) from his father ʿAlī b. Mūsā al-Ridā (who narrates) from (his father) Mūsā b. Jaʿfar (peace be on them all!) that he said: ‘‘ ʿAmr b. ‘Ubayd al-Basrī came to see Abū ʿAbdillāh Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad al-Sādiq. When he saluted and sat down, he recited this verse: And those who shun the great sins and indecencies []. Then he stopped. Abū ʿAbdillāh said: ‘What made you to be silent?’ He said: ‘I would like to know the great sins from the Book of God.’ (The Imām) said: ‘Yes! O ʿAmr, the greatest of the great is to ascribe a partner to God, because God, the Mighty, the Great, says: Surely Allah does not forgive that any thing should be associated with Him [;]; and He has said: Surely whoever associates (others) with Allah, then Allah has forbidden to him the garden, and his abode is the fire; [].

‘‘ ‘After that comes despairing of God’s mercy, because God says: ... surely none despairs of Allah’s mercy except the unbelieving people [];

‘‘ ‘Then is feeling secure from God’s plan, because God says: But none feels secure from Allah’s plan except the people who shall perish [];

‘‘ ‘And among (the great sins) is disobedience to parents, because God has counted a disobedient (child) as insolent (and) unblessed, in the verse [quoting Jesus]: And dutiful to my mother, and He has not made me insolent, unblessed [];

‘‘ ‘And among them is killing a soul whom God has given protection to—except with [judicial] authority—as He says: And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his punishment is hell; he shall abide in it [];

‘‘ ‘And slandering married women, because God says: Surely those who accuse chaste believing women, unaware (of the evil), are cursed in this world and the hereafter, and they shall have a grievous chastisement. [];

‘‘ ‘And swallowing the property of an orphan, for He says: (As for) those who swallow the property of the orphans unjustly, surely they only swallow fire into their belies and soon they shall enter burning fire. [];

‘‘ ‘And fleeing from jihād, as God says: And whoever shall turn his back to them on that day—unless he turns aside for the sake of fighting or withdraws to a company—then he, indeed, becomes deserving of Allah’s wrath, and his abode is hell; and an evil destination shall it be. [];

‘‘ ‘And swallowing interest, because God says: Those who swallow down interest cannot stand except as one whom Satan has confounded with (his) touch does stand. []; and He (further) says: But if you do (it) not, [i.e., if you do not forgo the interest], then be apprised of war from Allah and His Messenger;[];

‘‘ ‘And sorcery, for God says:... and certainly they knew that he who bought it (i.e., sorcery) should have no share (of good) in the hereafter, ... [];

‘‘ ‘And fornication, because God says:... and he who does this (i.e., fornication) shall find a requital of sin; the punishment shall be doubled to him on the Day of Resurrection, and he shall abide therein in abasement. [];

‘‘ ‘And false oath, for God says: (As for) those who take a small price for the covenant of Allah and their (own) oaths—surely they shall have no portion in the hereafter, and Allah will not speak to them, ... [];

‘‘ ‘And defrauding; God says: ... and he who defrauds shall bring (with him) that which he has defrauded, on the Day of Resurrection; [];

‘‘ ‘And withholding the obligatory zakāt, for God says: ... and (as for) those who hoard up gold and silver and do not spend it in Allah’s way, announce to them a painful chastisement, on the Day when it shall be heated in the fire of hell, then their foreheads and their sides and their backs shall be branded with it; this is what you hoarded up for yourselves, ... [];

‘‘ ‘And false testimony and concealing (true) testimony, because God says: and whoever conceals it [i.e., testimony], his heart is surely sinful;[];

‘‘ ‘And drinking liquor, because God has made it equal to idol- worshiping [in the verse ];

‘‘ ‘And neglecting prayer or any of the things made obligatory by God, because the Messenger of God says: ‘‘Whoever neglects prayer intentionally, he goes out from the protection of God and the protection of His Messenger’’;

‘‘ ‘And breaking a promise and misbehaving with relatives, because God says (about these): (As for) those, upon them shall be curse and they shall have the evil (issue) of the abode [].’ ’’

(Imām al-Kāzim,) said: ‘‘Then ʿAmr b. ʿUbayd went away crying out loudly, and he was saying: ‘Perished he who spoke by his own opinion and contended with you in virtue and knowledge.’ ’’ (Majmaʿ al-Bayān)

Author’s comments: A hadīth of nearly the same meaning has been narrated from Ibn ʿAbbās through Sunnī chains. This tradition makes two things clear:

First: The great sins are those which have been very strongly prohibited, either by using forceful language or by threatening with the fire, in the Qur’an or the tradition (as may be seen in the proofs put forward by the Imām). It clarifies the meaning of al-Kāfī’s hadīth, ‘‘Great (sins) are those for which God has imposed (the punishment of) the fire’’; and also that of Man lā yahduruh al-faqīh and al-Tafsīr of al-ʿAyyāshī, that great sins are those which God has threatened (to punish) with fire. The imposition and the threat mentioned in these traditions are general; they may be explicit or implied, in the Book of God or in the hadīth of the Prophet.

I think that the same is the import of the interpretation ascribed to Ibn ʿAbbās; and when he speaks about threat with fire he uses it in general terms which covers explicit as well as implicit threat, whether it is found in the Qur’an or the tradition. It is supported by another tradition found in al-Tafsīr of al-Ṭabarī, and attributed to Ibn ʿAbbās in which he says: ‘‘Great are those sins which God ends with (the threat of) fire, or (His) wrath or curse or chastisement.’’ This also makes it clear that what has been narrated from him in al-Tafsīr of al-Ṭabarī and other books that, ‘‘Every sin prohibited by God is great’’, does not give a different meaning of great sins; it merely says that every sin is great when looked at in the perspective of man’s insignificance vis-a-vis the majesty of his Lord, as was explained earlier.

Second: Some of the preceding and the following traditions give the number of the great sins as eight or nine (as some Sunnī traditions narrated from the Prophet do), or twenty (as seen in this tradition), or seventy (vide some other narrations). This difference reflects the difference in degrees of greatness of sins, as may be seen in the Imām’s words in this very tradition, ‘‘the greatest of the great is to ascribe a partner to God’’.

5. al-Bukhārī, Muslim, Abū Dāwūd, al-Nasāʾī and Ibn Abī Hātim have narrated from Abū Hurayrah that he said: ‘‘The Messenger of God has said: ‘Keep away from seven mortal sins.’ They said: ‘And what are they? O Messenger of God!’ He said: ‘Ascribing a partner to God; slaying the soul that God has forbidden except by right; sorcery; devouring usury; devouring the property of an orphan; turning back (from the enemy) on the day of marching (to battle); and accusing the married believing women (of adultery) while they are unaware (of such false accusation).’ ’’ (al-Durr al-Manthūr)
6. Ibn Hibbān and Ibn Marduwayh have narrated from Abū Bakr b. Muḥammad b. ʿAmr b. Hazm, from his father, from his grandfather that he said: ‘‘The Messenger of God wrote a letter to the people of Yemen, which listed obligatory and recommended deeds and indemnity for bodily injuries; and sent it with ʿAmr b. Hazm, who said: ‘It was written in the letter, inter alia, that the greatest of the great sins near God on the Day of Resurrection is associating someone/something with God; killing the soul of a believer without right; fleeing (from war) on the day of marching (to battle); disobeying the parents; slandering a married woman; learning sorcery, devouring interest; and devouring the property of an orphan.’ ’’ (ibid.)
7. ʿAbdullāh b. Ahmad has narrated in Zawāʾid al-zuhd, from Anas that he said: ‘‘I heard the Prophet saying: ‘Well, surely my intercession is for those of my ummah who might have done great sins.’ Then he recited the verse, If you avoid the great sins which you are forbidden, We will expiate from you your (small) sins ...’’ (ibid.)