The Difference Between Major and Minor Shirk
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, what is the evidence for distinguishing between major shirk (associating partners with Allah) and minor shirk, given that the verse is general:[An-Nisa 4:48]? It has been reported from Shaykh al-Islam that he did not distinguish between major shirk and minor shirk in the fact that Allah does not forgive it for its perpetrator.
Answer:
Yes, this is a well-known opinion held by some scholars that there is no difference between major shirk and minor shirk regarding the fact that it is not forgiven.
However, there is a difference between them in that major shirk causes its perpetrator to remain in the Fire forever, whereas minor shirk does not cause him to remain in the Fire forever. The meaning of the statement that minor shirk is not forgiven is that if he has good deeds, the amount of good deeds equivalent to the minor shirk is nullified. If his bad deeds outweigh his good deeds, he will be punished for this shirk and then exit the Fire; he will not remain in it forever.
Only major shirk causes one to remain in the Fire forever. Other scholars have said that the ruling of minor shirk is the same as that of major sins, and that it falls under Allah’s will. However, the first group said that one should be respectful toward the Qur’an, for Allah the Exalted has informed us that shirk is not forgiven. This encompasses both major and minor shirk, despite the difference between them: major shirk causes its perpetrator to remain in the Fire forever and nullifies his deeds, while minor shirk does not cause him to remain in the Fire forever and does not nullify all his deeds, but only nullifies the deed that was accompanied by it. It enters into the balance between good and bad deeds. Accordingly, it falls under the verse without any contradiction, in the sense that he must be punished for this shirk. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, what is the evidence for distinguishing between major shirk (associating partners with Allah) and minor shirk, given that the verse is general:
Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills
إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَغْفِرُ أَن يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَٰلِكَ لِمَن يَشَاءُAnswer:
Yes, this is a well-known opinion held by some scholars that there is no difference between major shirk and minor shirk regarding the fact that it is not forgiven.
However, there is a difference between them in that major shirk causes its perpetrator to remain in the Fire forever, whereas minor shirk does not cause him to remain in the Fire forever. The meaning of the statement that minor shirk is not forgiven is that if he has good deeds, the amount of good deeds equivalent to the minor shirk is nullified. If his bad deeds outweigh his good deeds, he will be punished for this shirk and then exit the Fire; he will not remain in it forever.
Only major shirk causes one to remain in the Fire forever. Other scholars have said that the ruling of minor shirk is the same as that of major sins, and that it falls under Allah’s will. However, the first group said that one should be respectful toward the Qur’an, for Allah the Exalted has informed us that shirk is not forgiven. This encompasses both major and minor shirk, despite the difference between them: major shirk causes its perpetrator to remain in the Fire forever and nullifies his deeds, while minor shirk does not cause him to remain in the Fire forever and does not nullify all his deeds, but only nullifies the deed that was accompanied by it. It enters into the balance between good and bad deeds. Accordingly, it falls under the verse without any contradiction, in the sense that he must be punished for this shirk. Yes.
Source
شرح الدروس المهمة لعامة الأمة لابن باز [ مجموعة من المشايخ ]، فتاوى الشيخ عبد العزيز الراجحي — islamhouse.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.