Imam Ali (as)'s sayings:

● "O son of Adam, when you see that your Lord, the Glorified, bestows His Favors on you while you disobey Him, you should fear Him (take warning that His Wrath may turn those blessings into misfortunes)."

● "Take warning! Allah has not exposed so many of your sinful activities, that it appears as if He has forgiven you (it may be that He has given you time to repent)."

● "One has to account in the next world for the deeds that he has done in this world."

● "One who assents or subscribes to the actions of a group or a party is as good as having committed the deed himself.

A man who joins a sinful deed makes himself responsible for two-fold punishments, one for doing the deed and the other for assenting and subscribing to it."

The Definition of a Major Sins (Greater sins).

1) Sins are of two types- The greater and the Lesser. The major sins have been specifically termed as Greater (major sins) in the Holy Quran and the traditions.

2) All those sins are major about which the Quran and Hadith explicitly state that those who commit these sins will enter Hell. For example the tradition of the Holy Prophet (saw):

"Certainly the Almighty Allah and His messenger disown such a person who willfully neglects prayers."

In this tradition the punishment of Hell is not named specifically but it amounts to the same thing. Another report corroborates this assertion. Imam Muhammad Baqir (as) and Imam Jafar Sadiq (as) said,

"All those sins are Greater (the doer of which) is promised the fire (Hell)."

3) Any sin, which is clearly Greater than a sin specified as a Greater one in the Quran and hadith; is also Greater.

For example the killing of a person is a sin and it is clear from the Qur'an and hadith. Thus the tradition from Ibne Mahboob clearly states that the killing of a 'soul' is a Greater sin.

The Quran has promised Divine punishment for murder. Then if any other sin is proved to be more than the killing of a person, by the verses of Quran or authentic reports then this sin will also be considered as a Greater sin.

For example the Holy Quran says that to spread corruption in the world is worse than murder:

"And the (spreading of) mischief is Greater than murder."

Hence we can conclude that the spreading of disturbance must also be counted among the Greater Sins.

4) Any sin which has all along been regarded as a Greater one by the scholars and the jurists should also be considered as 'Greater'.

But it should be ascertained that such a sin has been regarded as Greater from the present time right up to the time of the Masoomeen (as).

How do we perform the Repentance Prayer?

First take a shower, then perform 2 rakat, In each rakat, after Surah Al Fatiha read Surah Al Ikhlas for 3 times, Surah Al Falaq and Surah An Nas for once. After your prayer is finished.

Say:

أستغفر الله ربي وأتوب إليه

for 70 times.

Then say:

« لا حَولَ وَ لا قُوَّهَ إلّا بِالله العَلِیِّ العَظیمِ»

After that say:

« یا عَزیزُ یا غَفّارُ إغفِر لِی ذُنُوبِی وَ ذُنُـوبَ جَمیعِ المؤمِنینَ وَ المُؤمِناتِ فَإنَّهُ لا یَغفِرُ الذُّنوبَ إلّا أنتَ»

Prophet Muhammad (saw) said, "Any believer who performs this prayer, they'll be told, 'O Servant of Allah! Your repentance have been accepted and your sins have been forgiven; now begin your work from the beginning.

Some Of The Major Sins

1. Polytheism and hypocrisy.

2. Despair of Allah's Mercy.

3. Distrusting Allah.

4. Not fearing Allah's wrath.

5. Murder.

6. Disrespecting and hurting your parents.

7. Cutting ties with your family.

8. Usurping the Property of the Orphans.

9. Usury.

10. Adultery.

11. Sodomy.

12. Drinking alcoholic beverages or any foods containing alcohol.

13. Gambling.

14. Entertaining with musical instruments.

15. Singing.

16. Lying.

17. Perjury.

18. Breaking a promise.

19. Betrayal of trust.

20. Short weighing and Cheating (in Business).

21. Consuming Haram.

22. Fleeing from Jihad.

23. Helping the Oppressors.

24. Not helping the oppressed.

25. Sorcery.

26. Profusion.

27. Pride or Arrogance.

28. War against other Muslims.

29. Consuming carrion.

30. Leaving the obligatory prayer intentionally.

31. Non-payment of Zakat.

32. Not fulfilling all obligations.

33. Harassing a Believer.

34. Guile and deceit.

35. Abusing your neighbour.

36. Duplicity.

37. Speculation.

38. Jealousy.

39. Homosexuality.

40. Enmity towards a Believer.

41. Degrading a Believer.

42. Accusing a Believer.

43. Making fun of a Believer.

44. Wrongful execution.

45. Waging war in Muharram.

46. Deterring people from the path of Allah.

47. Ingratitude to Allah

Instigation.

48. Selling weapons to unbelievers.

49. Vilification and Suspicion.

50. Disrespect to the soil of Imam al-Hussain's grave.

51. Affronting Quran.

52. Affronting Kaaba.

53. Affronting Mosques.

54. Belittling any sins.

55. Persisting in sins.

56. Gossiping.

Why is Gossiping considered a major sin?

• It promotes sins.

• It makes people distrustful towards each other.

• It prevents people from fixing their own faults.

• It ruins people's privacy.

Imam Ali (as) said, "To render relief to the distressed and to help the oppressed make amends for great sins."

•••

After reading the complete book of Greater Sins people may ask, whether there were any other greater sins, apart from those mentioned in this book? Religious scholars have compiled hundreds of books on Islamic jurisprudence that deal with laws classified under, Prayers, Fast, Hajj, Zakat, Khums, Jihad … Business transaction… marriage etc.

Shaykh Hurre Amili has written a book, Bidayatun Nihaya. In it he has dealt with every kind of legal problems. At the end of the book he says that the total number of obligations in the book are 1535 and total prohibitions are 1448, they add up to 2983.

So there are several other greater sins over and above the fifty mentioned in this book because anything done against any of the rules of Shariah, is considered to be a greater sin.

The best practice for an individual to adapt is to exercise caution and not do anything against the rules of Shariah in all areas of activity, be they religious, personal, social or business etc.

The following sins are possibly Greater Sins:

(1) Consuming Najis (dirty) things

(2) Revealing ones nudity before those who can distinguish right and wrong.

(3) Looking at the sexual organs of the same or the opposite sex.

(4) Men dressing like women / women dressing like men.

(5) Looking at Non-mahram.

(6) Reading letters addressed to others.

(7) Preserving books that lead to deviation in religion, destroying them is obligatory.

(8) Making idols.

(9) Touching the body of a stranger.

(10) Praising an oppressor except for Taqaiyyah.

(11) Staying in an assembly of sin.

(12) Eating from gold and silver utensils.

(13) Not participating in congregation prayer and considering it unimportant.

(14) Acting against any of the rules mentioned in Tauzihul Masael.

•••

It is forbidden for anyone to commit sins openly where people can see them or even talking about their sins. Those who commit sins openly are encouraging and teaching others to do the same.

•••

Whoever reveals a hidden sin of anyone to people is like the one who committed it!

If the curtains were to be lifted and you would see the truth behind people's masks. You wouldn't even bury each other, when one of you passes away.

It is Allah's mercy and kindness that has prevented such thing from happening since Allah conceals your faults and no one finds out.

•••

Whoever leaves sins and decide not to commit them again for the sake of Allah (swt) is actually crossing a spiritual path that would take 100 years for a human to cross.

Allah has created you and even knows the moment where you're under so much pressure that you can barely control yourself! Allah knows the difficulty of when you avoid looking at haram, that its like moving mountains from one place to another. Therefore, Allah (swt) really loves his Servant who despite all the hardships still fights with all of their wrong desires and sins.

If anyone says with themselves, O Allah I will not do these sins that they might be tempted to do, for your sake only. At that moment a light will shine upon their heart and they'll gain some special spiritual abilities. But they might not be able to figure it out themselves.

•••

Sometimes a person who had their property stolen commits more sin than the actual thief!

It's because they unrightfully accuse others of stealing or hurt an innocent person's feelings.

•••

Prophet (saw) said to one of his Sahaba, "Don't let the love of your wife and children force you to commit sins and fall into comitting haram."