Abd al-Wahid al-Mulayhi informed us; Ahmad ibn Abdullah al-Nu'aymi informed us; Muhammad ibn Yusuf informed us; Muhammad ibn Ismail informed us; Abd al-Aziz ibn Abdullah informed us; Sulayman narrated to me, from Thawr ibn Zayd, from Abu al-Ghayth, from Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Avoid the seven destructive sins.” They asked, “O Messenger of Allah, what are they?” He said: “Associating partners with Allah, sorcery, unlawfully killing a soul whom Allah has forbidden to be killed, consuming usury, consuming the property of an orphan, turning one’s back on the day of battle, and slandering chaste, believing, unsuspecting women.” (1)

Abdullah ibn Masud, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “The gravest of the major sins are associating partners with Allah, feeling secure from Allah’s plan, despairing of Allah’s mercy, and losing hope of Allah’s relief.” (2)

Abd al-Wahid al-Mulayhi informed us; Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Shurayh informed us; Abu al-Qasim Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Baghawi informed us; Ali ibn al-Ja'd informed us; Shubah informed us, from Said ibn Ibrahim, who said: I heard Humayd ibn Abd al-Rahman narrating from Abdullah ibn Amr that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Among the major sins is for a man to insult his parents.” They asked, “How can a man insult his parents?” He said: “He insults another man’s father, who then insults his father and his mother.” (3)

It is reported from Said ibn Jubayr that a man asked Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, about the major sins: “Are they seven?” He replied: “They are closer to seven hundred than to seven. Yet no sin remains major when accompanied by seeking forgiveness, and no sin remains minor when one persists in it.” He also said: “Everything through which Allah is disobeyed is a major sin. Whoever commits any of them should seek Allah’s forgiveness, for Allah will not make anyone from this community abide eternally in the Fire, except one who turns away from Islam, denies an obligatory duty, or rejects the divine decree.” (4)

Abdullah ibn Masud said: “Everything which Allah, exalted is He, has forbidden in this surah, up to His statement, ‘If you avoid the grave sins you are forbidden to commit,’ is a major sin.”

Ali ibn Abi Talhah said: “They are every sin which Allah has concluded with mention of the Fire, wrath, curse, or punishment.”