Explanation and clarification of the hadith: “The prayer is an expiation for what comes between it and the next prayer, provided that major sins are avoided.”

The questioner : ... May Allah reward you, O Shaykh. I asked you a question by phone, but I want you to clarify it. May Allah reward you. I will start, if Allah wills, with the first one, then the next: clarifying the abrogated hadith by the hadith of the river and the dirt. So, please clarify it. May Allah reward you?

The Shaykh : Yes, the answer, may Allah reward you, is that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) bestows upon His servants whatever He wills. The first hadith explicitly states that the prayer expiates the sins that occurred before it—and peace be upon you—and that this expiation was conditional upon the worshipper avoiding major sins, as it says: That is, as long as the worshipper avoids major sins, the prayer expiates the sins between it and the next prayer. If this hadith were the only one, it would not be permissible for us to add to it. But when Allah (Mighty and Majestic) increases the favor for His servants, we say, praise be to Allah, for He has blessed His servants with a greater reward than before. There are many examples of this in the Sunnah, for Allah (Mighty and Majestic) increases His servants in favor, reward, and relief, and the like. There are two hadiths regarding the congregational prayer; one says: and another says: So do not contradict one with the other, for the lesser reward is included in the greater reward. What we should believe is that the virtue of the congregational prayer is twenty-seven degrees, not just twenty-five, because the increase has been established in the authentic hadith. For example, there is the noble verse at the end of Surat al-Baqarah: up to the last verses mentioned at the end of the surah. The point is that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in this verse—or perhaps I mentioned it earlier and did not articulate it—and it is: Then, when He holds them accountable, He punishes whom He wills and forgives whom He wills. When this verse was revealed, a group of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) were concerned about the ruling of this verse, because if you imagine the reality, meaning if its ruling had remained, few of the servants would have been saved from the Reckoning and the punishment, for Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says: How many and how many are the whispers that revolve in people’s minds and settle in their hearts, and then Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in this verse will hold them accountable for them? So this ruling became great and immense to the Companions of the Messenger (peace be upon him), and they came crawling and sat on their knees, saying: “O Messenger of Allah, here we are; we were commanded to pray and we prayed, to fast and we fasted, and to perform the other rulings and we did so. But that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) should hold us accountable for what is in our hearts—that is something we cannot bear.” So he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So they began to say it with their tongues until their hearts became humble and submissive to it. Then Allah (Mighty and Majestic) revealed the verse that abrogated this severe ruling: That is, [He will not hold them accountable for] a deed. So the accountability for what is in the souls, which was mentioned in the previous verse, was lifted. Then the hadith of the Messenger (peace be upon him) came to confirm the establishment of the ruling of no accountability for what is in the souls, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So what is in the souls is not subject to accountability. This is an example of many examples. Once we know this, we return directly to the answer to the question. We say that the previous ruling in the first hadith was that the prayers are expiations for what is between them, provided that major sins are avoided. Then the hadith—indeed, many hadiths, and very many—came to confirm that the obligatory prayers expiate sins, even major sins. That is his (peace and blessings be upon him) statement in the second hadith you referred to in your question, which is: “Do you think that if a river were in front of the house of one of you, and he bathed in it seven times a day, that any of his dirt would remain on his body?” They said: “No, O Messenger of Allah.” He said: “So that is the example of the five prayers; Allah expiates all sins through them.” And it is very clear that this hadith does not accept the interpretation known among scholars in general, who say that the acts of worship for which texts have repeatedly come stating that they are expiations for sins expiate minor sins but not major sins. We do not hesitate to state explicitly that this is a false statement, for it contradicts many, and very many, texts. This text is one of them, for the example given by the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is of a dirty, filthy person. If he immerses himself every day in a flowing river that covers him, do you think the large dirt remains and only the small dirt is wiped away? Or if something remains, it is the opposite: the large dirt goes away and the small dirt remains? So this example given by the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) fully confirms that the prayers are expiations for all sins. Similarly, for example, the hadith regarding Hajj, and some of you may have come from Hajj asking the Master, exalted and glorified, to have included them in his (peace and blessings be upon him) statement: من حجّ فلم يرفث و لم يفسق خرج من ذنوبه كيوم ولدته أمه Whoever performs Hajj and does not commit lewdness or transgression will emerge from his sins as on the day his mother bore him. Is there anyone who understands that when a newborn falls from his mother’s womb, he falls filled with major sins but not minor ones? Or is the comparison one of the most creative things, that he is clean from all sins, both large and small? And the hadiths on this issue are many, and very many. Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (may Allah have mercy on him) has a special treatise on the characteristics that expiate sins; whoever wants to expand on it should refer to it. But I want to point out two things. The first thing is that it confirms that these expiations are expiations for major sins, for the expiation of minor sins is explicitly stated in the Noble Qur’an. The reason that expiates minor sins is His saying, the Exalted: إن تجتنبوا كبائر ما تنهون عنه نكفر عنكم سيئاتكم If you avoid the major sins which you are forbidden, We will remove from you your lesser sins[An-Nisa 4:31] So if one avoids major sins, they themselves remove the minor sins and expiate them. Therefore, such acts of worship as prayer and Hajj, and the like, and Ramadan, must necessarily have an effect greater than the effect of avoiding major sins. Avoiding major sins expiates minor sins. Good. What does performing the obligatory duties do? It also expiates minor sins. Minor sins are wiped away by avoiding major sins. So this confirms that the previous hadiths are to be taken at their apparent meaning. This is the first of two matters. As for the second and final matter, many people may imagine that the statement that these acts of worship, such as prayer and fasting, also expiate major sins would lead people to be lax and commit major sins, such as stealing, committing zina, and drinking intoxicants, and so on, under the claim that the prayers, for example, expiate major sins. So we say now, in order to understand the issue well from this angle, we mention that the prayer that expiates major sins—we cannot say that it is our prayer. And this is a reality we must know so that we are saved from getting entangled in this great encouragement mentioned in these hadiths. And as they say in our Syria: “We put our feet in cold water.” Every day we pray the five prayers, so whatever major sins we commit, they are expiated because of these prayers of ours. We say: Who says that he is the one who prays the complete prayer? For the complete prayer is the one that has these good effects. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) says in the well-known hadith: إن الرجل ليصلي الصلاة ولا يكتب إلا عشرها , إلا تسعها , ثمنها , سبعها ... A man may pray a prayer, but only a tenth of it is recorded for him, or a ninth, or an eighth, or a seventh... up to where he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ربعها , نصفها ... ... a quarter of it, or half of it... So we cannot say that there is a complete prayer such that we can say that these prayers we pray are expiations for major sins. All we can say is that we hope that we pray and that Allah forgives us from these prayers whatever He wills of sins, whether they are major or minor. This is what I wanted to clarify at the end of the answer to this question. Yes.