Sins in Islam

Islamic theologians have enumerated the following major sins: missing the Ramadan fast without a valid reason; organizing the commission of sin, for example, organizing brothels and the like; refusing to pay zakat; pimping; fraud in buying and selling transactions; giving a false oath; severing relations with parents and relatives; missing the prayer (namaz) without a valid excuse; deserting the front when a war is being fought in defense of Islam; the use of interest (usury), engaging in sorcery and magic, deception, extravagance, and so on.

The sins of unbelief

• Unbelief (kufr).
• Hypocrisy (nifaq).
• Polytheism (shirk).
• Apostasy (ridda).

Sins of the body

• Tattooing.
• Imitating the opposite sex.
• Altering the body.
• A man wearing gold items and silk.

In Islam, 7 kinds of human organs are distinguished that can commit sins. These include: the eyes, ears, tongue, hands, feet, stomach, and genitals.

Sins of the eyes

• A lustful gaze.
• Looking at the private parts of the body (awrah). For women the awrah is considered to be the entire body, except for the oval of the face and the hands; for men — from the navel to the knees inclusive.
• A contemptuous look at a person.
• Spying and peeping into someone else's house, through a keyhole, etc.

Sins of the ears

• Eavesdropping on people's conversations when they do not wish to be heard.
• Listening to forbidden music and sounds.
• Listening to slander, backbiting, gossip, and the like.

Sins of the tongue

• Cursing
• Deception
• Loud wailing, shrieking, and lamentation over the deceased
• False testimony and a false oath
• Malicious gloating (shamata)
• Mockery (sukhriyya)
• Reproach (mann)
• Idle talk (laghw)

Zihar

Zihar — is to say to one's wife: «You are to me like the back of my mother». Some use this expression (or words of similar meaning), meaning that he is comparing his wife to his own mother. Consequently, it is not permissible for him to approach his wife until he has atoned for this sin.

Foul language (baza)

Baza (from Arabic بَذَاء‎ — «indecency», «shamelessness», «foul language») — foul language, obscene talk. Giving a definition of the word baza, the medieval Islamic theologian Imam al-Ghazali said: «Foul language — is when a person speaks openly about indecent things» .

Gossip (namima)

Namima (from Arabic نَمِيمَة‎ — «slander», «gossip») — gossip, the passing of words from one person to another in order to set them at odds and spoil the relations between them. For such a transmission of words from one person to another to be considered namima, it is not necessary to deceive or convey false information; it is enough to say something untrue .

Lying

Ifk — slander directed at some person . This is an act forbidden by Islam, constituting a major sin. Slanderers will be subjected by Allah to a painful punishment. The greatest slander is polytheism (shirk), and belief in the power of anyone other than Allah is a lie. This kind of lie is spoken of in verse 50 of Surah Hud:

«We sent to the people of 'Ad their brother Hud.

He said: «O my people! Worship Allah, for you have no deity other than Him. You are but inventing a lie»

— 11:50

Zur (from Arabic زور‎ — «lie») — a lie .

Slander (Buhtan)

Buhtan (from Arabic بُهْتَان‎ — «untruth», «lie», «slander», «defamation») — this is gossip, calumny, unreliable information about a person.

Once the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) asked the people: «Do you know what backbiting is?»
They answered: «Allah and His Messenger know best».
He said: «It is your mentioning of your brother that which he would dislike».
Someone asked: «And what if my brother is indeed as I say?».

He said: «If he is indeed so, then you have committed ghiba, and if he is not so, then it is buhtan».

— the collection of hadiths of Muslim

Ghiba

Ma]in article: Ghiba

Ghibat, ghiba, gaybat (Arabic غِيبَةٌ — «backbiting», «defamation») — condemnation of a person behind their back, gossip directed at some person, the desire to find out a person's private secrets in order to make them public. Ghibat — «to speak of a third person in their absence in an unflattering way, to condemn them behind their back, to disparage them». This word shares the same root as the word «gayb — the unknown, the hidden»^[10]. In the Quran and in the hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad, the concept of ghibat is often compared to eating the flesh of a dead person .

Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother

— 49:12

Ghibat is also considered to be any talk about an absent person that they would dislike, even if it is true . Islam forbids these acts and regards them as among the most abhorrent to God.

Ghibat is permitted only in the following cases:

1. When giving testimony in court;
2. In the case where a person suffers from the injustice of some tyrant;
3. If the person being condemned commits sinful acts quite openly, without any embarrassment before society .

Accusation of sin (qadhf)

Qadhf (from Arabic قذف‎ — «reproach», «slander», «insult») — slander directed at some person regarding the commission of adultery by them. The Arabic word qadhf originally has the meaning «to throw», «to hurl something with all one's strength». Later this word acquired a new meaning — to accuse someone of committing some sin . In the Quran this is spoken of:

Indeed, those who accuse chaste, unwary, believing women [of adultery] are cursed in this world and the Hereafter!

For them is a great punishment

— 24:23

According to the Quran, one who has accused some woman of committing adultery and has failed to bring forth four witnesses in support of his words must be punished with 80 lashes:

Those who accuse chaste women [of adultery] but do not produce four witnesses, flog them with eighty [lashes] of the whip

and never accept their testimony afterward, for they are transgressors of the law

— 24:4

Sins of the hands

• Cheating on weight, cheating on measure, and theft.
• Robbery, banditry.
• Murder without right.
• Beating, maiming, cruelty to animals.
• Bribery.
• Gambling.
• Touching persons of the opposite sex with desire.
• Creating idols, sculptures of animate beings.
• Writing what is forbidden to utter (see Sins of the tongue above).

Sins of the feet

• A woman traveling without a close male relative (mahram) or husband.
• Passing in front of a person praying when the condition of a barrier (sutra) is met.
• The flight of a wife, a debtor, a slave, etc.
• A proud, haughty, or provocative gait.

Sins of the stomach

• Consuming what has been obtained by unlawful means (haram) as a result of usury, theft, etc.
• Consuming khamr: alcohol, intoxicating and mind-altering substances (drugs).
• Consuming impurities (najasa), the meat of animals forbidden by sharia (pork, carrion, the meat of predators and animals slaughtered without mentioning the name of Allah).

Sins of the genitals

• Adultery (zina).
• Homosexuality and bisexuality.
• Anal sex (liwat).
• Bestiality.
• Masturbation.
• Having sexual intercourse during menstruation or postpartum bleeding; or after their cessation and before the woman performs the ritual ablution (ghusl); or after she has performed it without the intention of removing the state of major ritual impurity, or in the absence of one of the conditions of the ritual ablution.
• Exposing the genitals in front of someone before whom this is forbidden.
• Relieving oneself on a grave, in the shade where people rest, in standing water, etc.

image: The prayer that erases 10 kinds of sins at once |

Moral sins

• Arrogance,
• Pride,
• Vanity (self-love),
• Hypocrisy (ostentatious deeds),
• Envy,
• Deceit,
• Greed (avarice, stinginess).

Repentance and forgiveness of sins

Tawba (Arabic توبة‎‎) — repentance, a prayer to Allah for the forgiveness of sins. Repentance performed often, after each sin, is called tawba al-istighfar. Repentance for some sin, performed together with the intention never to commit it again, is called tawba an-nasuh. Such repentance must be strictly adhered to. Repentance is an obligatory (fard) act after any sin committed, and it must not be delayed. Repentance is accomplished by fixing it in the heart and expressing it with the tongue. When all the conditions for performing repentance are fulfilled, a Muslim should hope that Allah will forgive him .

Good deeds in Islam include:

1. The right to enjoin what is good;
2. Forbidding evil;
3. Kindness to everyone else;
4. Planting trees and preserving the environment;
5. Not hunting animals except for food;
6. Never causing harm to an animal;
7. Benevolence toward parents; with special emphasis on kindness to the mother;
8. Forgiving grievances, apologizing, and asking forgiveness of those whom a Muslim has wronged;
9. Correcting one's mistakes;
10. Removing harmful things from the road so that they do not harm others;
11. Respecting the followers of all religions;
12. Raising an orphan and feeding the needy;