First: this condition is stated concerning obligatory acts, such as the five daily prayers, Friday prayer, and fasting the month of Ramadan. Allah Most High says:

“If you avoid the major sins you have been forbidden to commit, We will expiate your misdeeds.”

Thus, performing the obligatory acts while avoiding major sins brings about the expiation of misdeeds. Additional voluntary acts must therefore have a further reward, for Allah, glorified is He, says:

“So whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it, and whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see it.”

(Second): many hadiths explicitly state that forgiveness may occur even when major sins have been committed, as in the Prophet’s words (may Allah bless him and grant him peace):

“He will be forgiven, even if he has fled the battlefield.”

The Sunan collections also relate:

“We came to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) concerning a companion of ours who had committed a sin deserving of the Fire. He said: ‘Free a slave on his behalf; for every part of the slave’s body, Allah will free a corresponding part of his body from the Fire.’”

And in the two authentic collections, the hadith of Abū Dharr states:

“Even if he has committed adultery, and even if he has stolen.”

(Third): if the statement addressed to those who fought at Badr and others like them—“Do as you wish, for I have forgiven you”—were understood to concern only minor sins, or forgiveness accompanied by repentance, there would be no distinction between them and anyone else. Just as this hadith cannot be understood to include disbelief, since disbelief is known to be forgiven only through repentance, it cannot be restricted to minor sins that are expiated by avoiding major sins.

(Fourth): it is related in more than one hadith:

“The first thing for which a servant will be called to account among