How many majors sins are there? Are there seven or seventy major sins?
2 Answers
Bismillah,
I think you are referring to the hadith about the seven sins that doom a person to hell (السبع الموبقات).
اجتنبوا السبع الموبقات، قالوا: وما هن يا رسول الله؟ قال: الشرك بالله، والسحر، وقتل النفس التي حرم الله إلا بالحق، وأكل الربا، وأكل مال اليتيم، والتولي يوم الزحف، وقذف المحصنات الغافلات المؤمنات.
“Avoid the seven sins that doom a person to Hell.” We said: What are they, O Messenger of Allah? He said: “Associating others with Allah (shirk); witchcraft; killing a soul whom Allah has forbidden us to kill, except in cases dictated by Islamic law; consuming orphans’ wealth; consuming riba; fleeing from the battlefield; and slandering chaste, innocent women.”
These 7 sins are not the only major sins, the Prophet (PBUH) referred to them as "sins that doom a person to hell" because they are so evil, and their evil is greater than other sins' (majors or minors).
Now, there is no consensus that the major sins are seven or seventy as you mentioned. Some scholars listed way more than seventy as major sins. However, the consensus is, a major sin is the sin that either has Hadd punishment in life (حد) OR a warning and a severe punishment in the Hereafter (وعيد)
Allah knows best!
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1Yes, because there are many other Hadith which also include adultery, disobedience to parents etc. in major sins. So, there could be many and your last suggestion helps. Feb 26, 2016 at 0:20
Wikipedia writes:
Scholars differ as to how many major sins there are. In contrasting major sins with minor sins (al-sagha'ir), the eighth-century Shafi'i scholar Al-Dhahabi found the hadith collections of Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj listed seven major sins, while the tradition from Abd Allah ibn Abbas stated that there were closer to seventy major sins.
The list of seventy major sins given by the Shafi'i (Sunni) scholar Al-Dhahabi (available as pdf), are as follows:
- Ascribing Associates To Allah, The Most High (Shirk)
- Killing A Human Being
- Sorcery
- Not Performing the Prayer
- Not Paying Zakat
- Breaking One's Fast During Ramadan Without an Excuse
- Not Performing the Hajj When Able to
- Showing Disrespect to One's Parents
- Severing the Ties of One's Relatives
- Adultery
- Sodomy
- Accepting Usurious Gain
- Wrong Consuming an Orphan's Property
- Lying About the Prophet
- Fleeing From the Battlefield
- The Leader Who Misleads His Followers, the Tyrant and the Oppressor
- Arrogance, Pride, Conceit, Vanity and Haughtiness
- Bearing False Witness
- Drinking Alcohol
- Gambling (Qimar)
- Accusing a Woman of Adultery
- Misappropriating Spoils of War, Muslim Funds or Zakat
- Theft
- Highwaymen Who Menace the Road
- The Engulfing Oath
- Taking People's Property Through Falsehood
- Collecting Taxes
- The Consumption of Haram
- Suicide
- Telling Lies
- The Dishonest Judge
- Bribery
- Women Imitating Men and Vice Versa
- The Pimp and the One Who Permits His Wife To Fornicate
- Marrying Solely to Return to the Previous Husband
- Not Freeing Oneself of All Traces of Urine
- Showing off in Good Work
- Learning Sacred Knowledge for the Sake of this World or Concealing It
- Breach of Faith
- Reminding Recipients of One's Charity to Them
- Disbelieving in Destiny
- Listening to the People's Private Conversations
- The Talebearer Who Stirs Up Enmity Between People
- Cursing Others
- Breaking One's Promise or Pledge
- Believing Fortunetellers and Astrologers
- A Wife's Rebellion Against Her Husband
- Picture-making
- Loudly Lamenting For the Dead or When Afflicted With an Adversity
- Excess Against Others
- Overburdening and Arrogance Against Others
- Hurting One's Neighbor
- Hurting or Reviling Muslims
- Harming the Servants of Allah
- Dragging the Hem of One's Garment Out of Conceit
- Men Wearing Silk or Gold
- Fleeing of the Slave
- Slaughtering in Other Than Allah's Name
- Falsely Claiming Someone is One's Father
- Arguing, Picking Apart Another's Words, and Quarreling
- Withholding Excess Water From Others
- Stinting When Weighing or Measuring Out Goods and Similar Merchandise
- Feeling Secure From Allah's Devising
- Despairing of the Mercy of Allah and Losing of Hope
- Forgoing the Congregational Prayer to Pray Alon e Without A Legal Excuse
- Constantly Missing the Friday and Congregational Prayer Without A Valid Excuse
- Bringing Loss to the Bequest
- Deception and Evil Schemes
- Spying on the Muslims and Revealing Their Weaknesses
- Disparaging the Companions of the Prophet
The text goes into the details as to why each individual sin is viewed as a major sin.