(31) “If you avoid the major sins that you are forbidden, We shall absolve you of your misdeeds and admit you through a noble entrance.”

This is part of Allah’s grace and benevolence toward His believing servants. He promises them that if they avoid the major prohibitions, He will forgive all their sins and misdeeds and admit them through a noble entrance abounding in good—namely, Paradise, which contains what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has ever conceived.

Avoiding major sins also includes performing the obligatory duties whose abandonment constitutes a major sin, such as the five daily prayers, the Friday prayer, and fasting Ramadan. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “The five daily prayers, one Friday prayer to the next, and one Ramadan to the next expiate whatever sins come between them, provided the major sins are avoided.”

The best definition given for major sins is that a major sin is any offense for which there is a prescribed legal penalty in this world, a threat of punishment in the Hereafter, a negation of faith, or the pronouncement of a curse or wrath upon its perpetrator.