** (Series of Answers by the Eminent Scholar Ata bin Khalil Abu al-Rashtah, Ameer of Hizb ut Tahrir, to Questions from Visitors to his Facebook Page "Fiqhi")**
Answer to a Question
Regarding Minor and Major Sins to Abu Abdullah Khalaf
Question:
Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings,
Our virtuous Sheikh, I have a question regarding a phrase mentioned in the book The Islamic Personality, Vol. 1, p. 46: "And there will enter the Fire whoever Allah (swt) wills of the Muslims whose major sins and bad deeds outweigh their minor sins and their good deeds." What is meant by "their minor sins"? And why were they placed with "good deeds" if the meaning is minor sins? For your information, I am not a member of the Party because the Party does not operate in our region.
Answer:
Wa Alaikum Assalam wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh...
Minor sins (Sagha’ir) are those sins for which there is a light punishment, and major sins (Kaba’ir) are those sins for which there is a severe punishment... For example:
Lying is Haram... but if you say to your son: "Come, let me give you something in my hand," and when the boy comes, there is nothing in your hand to give him, then you have lied. This is a disobedience, but its impact is light; thus, it is among the minor sins. Ahmad narrated from Abu Hurayrah, from the Messenger of Allah (saw) that he said:
مَنْ قَالَ لِصَبِيٍّ: تَعَالَ هَاكَ، ثُمَّ لم يُعْطِهِ فَهِيَ كَذْبَةٌ
"Whoever says to a child: 'Come, take this,' then does not give it to him, it is a lie." (Narrated by Ahmad)
However, if the army commander sends you to scout the enemy behind the mountain, and you return telling him there is no enemy behind the mountain, while the enemy is actually there, you would have lied. This is a disobedience, but its impact is great, its sin is immense, and its punishment is large; therefore, it is considered among the major sins... and so on.
As for why minor sins were placed with good deeds, they were not placed with them in the sense that they and the good deeds are on the same side of the scale. Rather, this is a style in the Arabic language known as the style of correspondence (Al-Muqabalah). This involves mentioning two categories and following them with another two categories, such that the third category corresponds to the first, and the fourth category corresponds to the second. For example, He (swt) says:
وَإِنَّا أَوْ إِيَّاكُمْ لَعَلَى هُدًى أَوْ فِي ضَلَالٍ مُبِينٍ
"And indeed, we or you are either upon guidance or in clear error." (QS. Saba [34]: 24)
It is structured as follows: ﴿وَإِنَّا﴾ corresponds to ﴿لَعَلَى هُدًى﴾, and ﴿إِيَّاكُمْ﴾ corresponds to ﴿فِي ضَلَالٍ مُبِينٍ﴾. This does not mean that ﴿وَإِنَّا أَوْ إِيَّاكُمْ﴾ are similar on one side, or that ﴿لَعَلَى هُدًى أَوْ فِي ضَلَالٍ مُبِينٍ﴾ are similar on one side. Rather, as we said, the first corresponds to the third and the second corresponds to the fourth...
In this way, the meaning—through the style of correspondence—for the sentence "their major sins and bad deeds outweigh their minor sins and their good deeds..." is: their major sins outweigh their minor sins... and their bad deeds outweigh their good deeds. Minor sins and good deeds are not on the same side as if they were similar. To confirm this, the preposition "على" (on/over) was repeated before "minor sins" and before "good deeds" to show that they are two different categories. He did not settle for just the conjunction "waw" (and) by saying: "over their minor sins and good deeds," but rather, to remove any ambiguity, he said "over their minor sins and over their good deeds."
As for how you concluded your question, "For your information, I am not a member of the Party because the Party does not operate in our region," if you would like to carry this goodness that we call to, we can help you if you wish...
In conclusion, I send you my greetings and pray for your well-being.
Your brother, Ata bin Khalil Abu al-Rashtah
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