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Sister Kuru Tulayin from Birmingham asks what is the definition of a major sin and what are some of the differences between major and minor sins?

So this is a very deep and very interesting and very necessary question and it is very clear from the Quran and from the Sunnah that Allah Zawajal has categorized acts of disobedience into two large categories

major sins and minor sins. The Arabic term is Kabira and Salira and the Quran mentions this distinction very explicitly in multiple verses. In fact, there are at least three verses in the Quran that are explicit in this regard.

So for example, Surat Al-Kahaf, Allah says when they see the book, those who rejected Allah will say, what is the matter with this book, where is this book coming from?

Neither a Salira or Kabira that I have done except that it has recorded it. And Allah says in the Quran, if you avoid the Kabahir of what we had forbidden,

we shall cause the other ones to be forgiven and allow you to enter Jannah. So this is a promise from Allah that if we maintain a level of religiosity

and we say the five prayers and we worship Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala and we avoid the Kabahir that that which is the Sahir, Allah will not punish us in Jannah.

The punishments might be otherwise but not in Jannah, the Sahir will not be punished in Jannah for those who turned to Allah and those who lived righteous lives.

And our Prophet ﷺ said that each prayer to the next prayer and Ramadhan to the next Ramadhan and the Umrah to the next Umrah shall be a kafarah for the Sahir as long as the Kabahir are avoided.

So your five daily prayers and you're doing Ramadhan every single year fasting the month of Ramadhan that when you maintain this lifestyle of piety, the bare minimum piety,

then the minor sins shall be forgiven by your generic good deeds. It's not an excuse to commit minor sins but it is a Bushra good news that when you live a religious lifestyle and you avoid the major sins,

that that which is lesser than the major, they shall not be punished in the worst punishment which is the punishment of Jannah.

So it is very clear therefore that our religion differentiates between Salira and Kabira but we have to understand before we get to the distinction between the two, the technical distinction.

There is a number, there are a number of points which we were first and foremost that the Kabira and the Salira, the Kabah and the Sahir even though there are two binary categories,

there are two categories, still within the Kabahir and within the Sahir there is a hierarchy.

So just because a Kabira is a Kabira, there is no question that within the Kabahir there are far bigger than other Kabahir, this is relative to the other Kabahir.

So for example there is no question that drinking alcohol is a Kabira but murder is also a Kabira and the sin of murder is much much much more than the sin of drinking.

So just because we categorize something as Kabira or Salira, it doesn't mean they're all exactly the same.

No, within each there is a hierarchy and that which you transgress upon the rights of others and that which you hurt and harm other people after the sin of shirk,

because that is the volume done to Allah, after that the volume done to other people is a far greater category than that which you do between you and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.

So the point is, even Kabahir have a hierarchy and Salira also have a hierarchy.

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