bismillahi rahmani rahim.
my understanding of Sin as I gleaned from the holy Quran:
Sin is any action that draws you closer to hell. there are 2 different jurisdictions of sin, personal/private sin, and public sin/crime. there are 3 different modes or methods of sin, mindset, verbal and physical. there 5 rankings of sin severity, highest to lowest: akabir(literally meaning large), fawahish(sexual relations), 'udwaan(transgressing on the public), Rijs( filth), and lamam(minor sins)
if a person commits a private sin, that they were not verbally and thoroughly educated on by their parents, the sin falls squarely on the shoulders of the parent, assuming the parent is muslim or abrahamic. if not either, the blame falls on none. stigmatizing and passing remarks dont count as formal education. people are not prophets that receive revelation. al-'ilm bit ta'allum:knowledge is by teaching. it is imperative that one formally educates their children on the types of sins, the severity of sins, the consequences of sin, etc. before they reach 10years old. delegating that responsibility to a weekend qira'ah teacher, doesn't absolve the parent of that duty.
there are many phrases used in conjunction with actions to portray the sinful nature of those actions. this includes words like: dulm, ta'adi, ithm, qulubihim marad, kufr, fahisha, fitnah, fasad, khabith, mujrim, khasara, bi'sa, suu', seyiat, 'isyan, khizyi, la'nah, asxabu naar, ghadabullah, dalalah, munkar, rijs, haram, laa, najs and many others.
akabir- this literally means large. this is where you'll find Shirk, which is the highest of the akabir. you'll also find here blackmagic, kufr, nifaaq, lying about God's nature, etc
fawahish- this means Hideous. still very high a sin. heres where you'll find:taking lust to males, taking lust to any women your father married regardless if she's no longer your stepmom. taking lust to your mahram Family:mom/grandma, daughter/granddaughter, aunts/grandaunt, paternal or maternal, neice/grandneice, your wetnurse, a girl who wetnursed with you, your mother-inlaw, your daughter in-law, marrying two sisters. also in this ranking albeit less severe then the aforementioned is zina otherwise known as premarital sexual relations. zina is any sexual interaction of the farj(genitals) and anyone that is not your spouse or concubine.
'udwan-this means transgression of boundaries. you'll find here all of the public sins. the highest in this category is Forcing another to commit a sin or forcing another to adhere to your beliefs. also present here are Taking of a life(human or animal), injury, theft, destruction of property, defamation, public disturbance, here you'll also find discussing your sins or the sins of others (this does not include, someone filing a complaint with the authorities against a public sin/crime). this is the rank where the state and public are involved and can intervene appropriately @DR OSMAN, notice how the most severe sins and the lowest sins are personal matters, this is to test a person's freewill
rijs: This means filth. it deals with najaasat : pork, alcohol, and cultures that are remnants of Shirk and ignorance, such as idols. this is also where dahaarah is required. this is why it is understood that Being filthy and living in filth is haram. because all filth causes health issues and are thus a Haram or a sin. uncleanliness to the point of health risk is Haram.
lamam: this means minor sins or things that can lead to the above sins. as the quran says in 53:32 ". Such those that steer clear of the Akabirs of Sin and the Fahawish except for the lamams, verily god is magnanimous in forgiveness". lamam are frequent and unavoidable. this includes brief ill-mindsets, wrongful assumptions and many others.
The opposite of Sin is Hasanat/saalihat/dayibat/ma'cruuf/dahaarah/halal/ashabul jannah/kheyr etc. naturally as you would expect, hasanat or goodness, is actions that draw you nearer to heaven. but the inconsistency of their polar nature, is that not doing hasanat doesnt warrant Sin. for example actions that are saalihat such as Fasting are stipulated that the sick and wayfarer can be pardoned. this is because of the nature of ability and inability. hasanat is dependent on ability or istidaa'ah/daaqah/wus'. this where you'll find verses like 64:16 "worship what you have abiltiy for, listen obey and donate, that is best for you". hasanat are not a means of sin. what they are really, is a means of balancing out and washing away sin that you have committed. such as verse 11:114 " Pray salat at the two ends of the day and part of the night, verily hasanat does away with Sin, such is a reminder for the mindful"
also 29:45 " verirly salat guards against fahsha and evil, and the remembrance of Allah is even greater". essentially, hasanat is to do with physical and mental health and ability to perform an action where as Sin is never pardoned, because it is not to do with the ability to perform a task but rather simply not doing an action. you cant say i cant not not do something. hasanat= movement and energy. sin=lack of movement and lack of energy. so you see it makes no sense to say i do not have the energy to not have the energy. there are a few caveats, such as lust, and this is a topic that the ummah as failed miserably in resolving. and again, the blame falls on the parents shoulders. as you may or may not know, kids as young 5th grade become introduced to these urges and end up having unhealthy explicit material addictions, fornicting, pregnancy, disease, and worst yet the subsequent depression. between 5thgrade,10yrs old, and collge graduation ,22years old, is some 12years of Fahshaa, stigmatized and frankly outright ignored by the parents and ummah. parents rather than arranging their kids into educated and halal relationships they play ostrich and bury their heads in the ground. However, this is a discussion of its own all together.
verses regarding theist, that are not necessarily muslim.
2:62 "those that believed, jews,christians and sabeans, those that believed in God and the final day, and do saaliha, for them is the reward of their lord and there is no fear or despair upon them"
2:82" verily those that believe(God and the final day) and do saalihat, they are the dwellers of heaven and their shall they abide."
imran 113-115 "Theyre not all the same, of the people of the book are those that uphold and read the verses of God at night and prostrate. they believe in God and the Final day, and they enjoin goodness and discourage Evil, they hasten to kheyr/good and it it is they who are amongst the saalihin/gooddoers. and what they commit in kheyr will not be denied of them, and good is knower of the righteous."
imran 75-76 " and amongst people of the book are those that if entrusted with a loan of single silver coin, will reimburse you, and those if entrusted with loads of wealth, wil not reimburse you, because they say we have no obligations to the illiterates(arabs). they say against God a lie and they know it. rather whoever fullfills his contract and fears God, verily God allah Loves the pious." <----sounds like a lot of somalis who feel as though they have no obligation to respect non-muslims.
maida 44 "we have sent down the torah, in it are guidance, light. the prophets who submitted judged based on it, and so did the rabbis and the scholars, by that which they were entrusted with of the book of God...and whoever judges other than by what God sent down, verily they are the Kaafirs"
maida 46 "and The people of the Gospel should judge by what God has sent down, and whoever judges by other than what God has sent down, verily they are the sinners"
maida 48"and we have sent down upon you the Book, in truth, verifying what has come before it of scripture, and a criterion upon it. judge between them by what God has sent down...To each of you we have provided a doctrine and path, and had God willed he couldve made you all one Ummah, but rather he has chosen to test on what he has given each.."
as far as repentance is concerned, all sins are forgivable, except for dying as mushrik(attributing equals to God). personal sins are two types: intentional and unintentional/unaware. intentional sins require repentance.
public sins are also either intentional or unintentional. both still require you be judged by the state. but only the intentional requires you repent to God.
every public sin is also a personal sin, but every personal sin is not a public sin.
This is my General understanding of Sin
wallahu a'lam
my understanding of Sin as I gleaned from the holy Quran:
Sin is any action that draws you closer to hell. there are 2 different jurisdictions of sin, personal/private sin, and public sin/crime. there are 3 different modes or methods of sin, mindset, verbal and physical. there 5 rankings of sin severity, highest to lowest: akabir(literally meaning large), fawahish(sexual relations), 'udwaan(transgressing on the public), Rijs( filth), and lamam(minor sins)
if a person commits a private sin, that they were not verbally and thoroughly educated on by their parents, the sin falls squarely on the shoulders of the parent, assuming the parent is muslim or abrahamic. if not either, the blame falls on none. stigmatizing and passing remarks dont count as formal education. people are not prophets that receive revelation. al-'ilm bit ta'allum:knowledge is by teaching. it is imperative that one formally educates their children on the types of sins, the severity of sins, the consequences of sin, etc. before they reach 10years old. delegating that responsibility to a weekend qira'ah teacher, doesn't absolve the parent of that duty.
there are many phrases used in conjunction with actions to portray the sinful nature of those actions. this includes words like: dulm, ta'adi, ithm, qulubihim marad, kufr, fahisha, fitnah, fasad, khabith, mujrim, khasara, bi'sa, suu', seyiat, 'isyan, khizyi, la'nah, asxabu naar, ghadabullah, dalalah, munkar, rijs, haram, laa, najs and many others.
akabir- this literally means large. this is where you'll find Shirk, which is the highest of the akabir. you'll also find here blackmagic, kufr, nifaaq, lying about God's nature, etc
fawahish- this means Hideous. still very high a sin. heres where you'll find:taking lust to males, taking lust to any women your father married regardless if she's no longer your stepmom. taking lust to your mahram Family:mom/grandma, daughter/granddaughter, aunts/grandaunt, paternal or maternal, neice/grandneice, your wetnurse, a girl who wetnursed with you, your mother-inlaw, your daughter in-law, marrying two sisters. also in this ranking albeit less severe then the aforementioned is zina otherwise known as premarital sexual relations. zina is any sexual interaction of the farj(genitals) and anyone that is not your spouse or concubine.
'udwan-this means transgression of boundaries. you'll find here all of the public sins. the highest in this category is Forcing another to commit a sin or forcing another to adhere to your beliefs. also present here are Taking of a life(human or animal), injury, theft, destruction of property, defamation, public disturbance, here you'll also find discussing your sins or the sins of others (this does not include, someone filing a complaint with the authorities against a public sin/crime). this is the rank where the state and public are involved and can intervene appropriately @DR OSMAN, notice how the most severe sins and the lowest sins are personal matters, this is to test a person's freewill
rijs: This means filth. it deals with najaasat : pork, alcohol, and cultures that are remnants of Shirk and ignorance, such as idols. this is also where dahaarah is required. this is why it is understood that Being filthy and living in filth is haram. because all filth causes health issues and are thus a Haram or a sin. uncleanliness to the point of health risk is Haram.
lamam: this means minor sins or things that can lead to the above sins. as the quran says in 53:32 ". Such those that steer clear of the Akabirs of Sin and the Fahawish except for the lamams, verily god is magnanimous in forgiveness". lamam are frequent and unavoidable. this includes brief ill-mindsets, wrongful assumptions and many others.
The opposite of Sin is Hasanat/saalihat/dayibat/ma'cruuf/dahaarah/halal/ashabul jannah/kheyr etc. naturally as you would expect, hasanat or goodness, is actions that draw you nearer to heaven. but the inconsistency of their polar nature, is that not doing hasanat doesnt warrant Sin. for example actions that are saalihat such as Fasting are stipulated that the sick and wayfarer can be pardoned. this is because of the nature of ability and inability. hasanat is dependent on ability or istidaa'ah/daaqah/wus'. this where you'll find verses like 64:16 "worship what you have abiltiy for, listen obey and donate, that is best for you". hasanat are not a means of sin. what they are really, is a means of balancing out and washing away sin that you have committed. such as verse 11:114 " Pray salat at the two ends of the day and part of the night, verily hasanat does away with Sin, such is a reminder for the mindful"
also 29:45 " verirly salat guards against fahsha and evil, and the remembrance of Allah is even greater". essentially, hasanat is to do with physical and mental health and ability to perform an action where as Sin is never pardoned, because it is not to do with the ability to perform a task but rather simply not doing an action. you cant say i cant not not do something. hasanat= movement and energy. sin=lack of movement and lack of energy. so you see it makes no sense to say i do not have the energy to not have the energy. there are a few caveats, such as lust, and this is a topic that the ummah as failed miserably in resolving. and again, the blame falls on the parents shoulders. as you may or may not know, kids as young 5th grade become introduced to these urges and end up having unhealthy explicit material addictions, fornicting, pregnancy, disease, and worst yet the subsequent depression. between 5thgrade,10yrs old, and collge graduation ,22years old, is some 12years of Fahshaa, stigmatized and frankly outright ignored by the parents and ummah. parents rather than arranging their kids into educated and halal relationships they play ostrich and bury their heads in the ground. However, this is a discussion of its own all together.
verses regarding theist, that are not necessarily muslim.
2:62 "those that believed, jews,christians and sabeans, those that believed in God and the final day, and do saaliha, for them is the reward of their lord and there is no fear or despair upon them"
2:82" verily those that believe(God and the final day) and do saalihat, they are the dwellers of heaven and their shall they abide."
imran 113-115 "Theyre not all the same, of the people of the book are those that uphold and read the verses of God at night and prostrate. they believe in God and the Final day, and they enjoin goodness and discourage Evil, they hasten to kheyr/good and it it is they who are amongst the saalihin/gooddoers. and what they commit in kheyr will not be denied of them, and good is knower of the righteous."
imran 75-76 " and amongst people of the book are those that if entrusted with a loan of single silver coin, will reimburse you, and those if entrusted with loads of wealth, wil not reimburse you, because they say we have no obligations to the illiterates(arabs). they say against God a lie and they know it. rather whoever fullfills his contract and fears God, verily God allah Loves the pious." <----sounds like a lot of somalis who feel as though they have no obligation to respect non-muslims.
maida 44 "we have sent down the torah, in it are guidance, light. the prophets who submitted judged based on it, and so did the rabbis and the scholars, by that which they were entrusted with of the book of God...and whoever judges other than by what God sent down, verily they are the Kaafirs"
maida 46 "and The people of the Gospel should judge by what God has sent down, and whoever judges by other than what God has sent down, verily they are the sinners"
maida 48"and we have sent down upon you the Book, in truth, verifying what has come before it of scripture, and a criterion upon it. judge between them by what God has sent down...To each of you we have provided a doctrine and path, and had God willed he couldve made you all one Ummah, but rather he has chosen to test on what he has given each.."
as far as repentance is concerned, all sins are forgivable, except for dying as mushrik(attributing equals to God). personal sins are two types: intentional and unintentional/unaware. intentional sins require repentance.
public sins are also either intentional or unintentional. both still require you be judged by the state. but only the intentional requires you repent to God.
every public sin is also a personal sin, but every personal sin is not a public sin.
This is my General understanding of Sin
wallahu a'lam