Is the open sinner the one who commits major sins?
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The questioner : Is the open sinner the one who commits major sins?
The Shaykh : The scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) say that the open sinner is the one who commits a major sin and does not repent from it, or the one who persists in a minor sin. They explained this by saying that persisting in a minor sin makes it a major sin. Perhaps their evidence for this is the statement of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He):[An-Nur 24:4-5] So Allah ruled that those who falsely accuse are open sinners, even though they did not commit an act of disbelief, but they committed a major sin from among the major sins. Yes.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : The scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) say that the open sinner is the one who commits a major sin and does not repent from it, or the one who persists in a minor sin. They explained this by saying that persisting in a minor sin makes it a major sin. Perhaps their evidence for this is the statement of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He):
(4) And those who accuse chaste women and then do not produce four witnesses - lash them with eighty lashes and do not accept from them testimony ever after. And those are the defiantly disobedient, (5) Except for those who repent thereafter and reform, for indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.
وَالَّذينَ يَرمونَ المُحصَناتِ ثُمَّ لَم يَأتوا بِأَربَعَةِ شُهَداءَ فَاجلِدوهُم ثَمانينَ جَلدَةً وَلا تَقبَلوا لَهُم شَهادَةً أَبَدًا وَأُولئِكَ هُمُ الفاسِقونَ * إِلَّا الَّذينَ تابوا مِن بَعدِ ذلِكَ وَأَصلَحوا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفورٌ رَحيمٌThe questioner : May Allah reward you with good.