Al-Kalbi said: “Lesser lapses have two meanings. The first is every sin for which Allah has prescribed neither a fixed legal punishment in this world nor punishment in the Hereafter. These are the sins expiated by the prayers, so long as they do not reach the level of major sins and indecencies.” (1) The other meaning is a grave sin which a Muslim commits time after time, then repents from it. (2)
Sa‘id ibn al-Musayyib said: It is what touches the heart—that is, what merely crosses it. (3)
Al-Husayn ibn al-Fadl said: “A lesser lapse is an unintended glance, and it is forgiven. But if he repeats the glance, it is no longer a lesser lapse; rather, it is a sin.” (4)
“Indeed, your Lord is vast in forgiveness.” Ibn ‘Abbas said: This is for the one who does that and then repents. The statement ends here. Then He says: “He knows you best, from the time He brought you forth from the earth”—that is, when He created your father Adam from dust—“and when you were fetuses in your mothers’ wombs.” A fetus is so called because it is concealed within the womb. “So do not claim yourselves to be pure.” Ibn ‘Abbas said: Do not praise yourselves. Al-Hasan said: Allah knows what every soul will do and what it will become; so do not declare yourselves free of sins, nor praise yourselves for the goodness of your deeds. (5)
Al-Kalbi and Muqatil said: People would perform righteous deeds and then say, “Our prayer, our fasting, and our pilgrimage.” So Allah Most High revealed this verse: (6) “He knows best who is mindful of Him”—that is, who is dutiful, obedient, and sincere in his deeds for Allah Most High.
“Have you seen the one who turned away?” (33)
His saying, exalted is He, “Have you seen the one who turned away?” was revealed concerning al-Walid ibn al-Mughirah. He had followed the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, in his religion, but one of the polytheists reproached him, saying, “Have you abandoned the religion of the elders and declared them misguided?” He replied, “I fear Allah’s punishment.” The one who reproached him then guaranteed that, if he agreed with him (7), gave him such-and-such an amount of his wealth, and returned to his polytheism, he would bear