Assalamo alaikum,
(Islamweb)
Someone raised this question to me after a Friday salah (prayer), he
said that during the performance of his Hajj that year, after the
first stage of going out of ritual consecration, having already cast
the stones at the Aqaba stoning pillar he went into a store to buy
something. However, he did not intend to pay the storekeeper for it,
and he left without paying.
Later, he regretted what he had done, because he heard a person
quoting the hadeeth of Allah’s Messenger, sallallahu alayhe wa
sallam, in which he said, “A person who performs Hajj and neither
acts immorally nor commits any obscenity will be restored to the
same condition as when his mother gave birth to him.” He felt guilty
and was afraid to lose the reward for his Hajj, so he went back to
pay the storekeeper, but he could not find the store he had stolen
the item from. The man asked me, “What am I to do now?”
The question was saddening and painful to me. I realized that there
are four major issues of which many Muslims seem to be unaware, and
I decided to write this essay to point them out.
In general, these issues are that a Hajj does not atone for sins of
which the sinner has not repented, that committing an offense while
performing an act of piety cancels the credit for that act, that
sins motivated by mean-spiritedness are among the worst cardinal
sins, and that punishment for an offense committed in the Sacred
House is multiplied in the same way that the reward of a good deed
is multiplied many times.
Sins of Which the Sinner Has Not Repented:
It should be realized that pilgrimage does not atone for sins of
which the sinner has not repented. A person who persists in
committing a frequent sin and fails to repent will not have that sin
atoned through the performance of a Hajj. The Hajj results in
atonement and reward only for a person who repents to Allah, turns
to Him, and hopes for His mercy and forgiveness, having ceased, once
and for all, to commit any cardinal sins he habitually used to
commit.
The evidence for this is a hadeeth cited by Muslim quoting Abdullah
Ibn Masoud who says: Some people addressed Allah’s Messenger,
sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, saying, “O Messenger of Allah, are we
going to be blamed for what we have done before Islam?” He,
sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, said, “Anyone of you who does well in
Islam will not be blamed for it, and anyone who does wrong will be
blamed for his deeds before Islam and after it.”
It should be pointed out here that the Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa
sallam, states clearly that embracing Islam cancels what happened
before it.
Although Islam cancels what has gone before it, a person who does
wrong in Islam will be punished for his wrongdoing both in Islam and
before it. A person, being an infidel, who drinks alcoholic
beverages and commits adultery before he embraces Islam, will have
his earlier sins erased and pardoned by Allah when he becomes a
Muslim. If, however, he goes back to his habit of committing
adultery and drinking, he will be punished for both his early and
his late actions.
Sins, moreover, are divided into cardinal and minor. We are told
that minor sins are forgiven by Allah as long as cardinal ones are
avoided; this is because Allah says, “If you avoid the cardinal
things forbidden to you, We will forgive your sins and allow you a
noble entrance” (3:31).
Atonement for minor sins can be had by merely avoiding cardinal sins
out of fear of, and obedience to Allah. Allah also forgives offenses
and minor sins when a Muslim is constant in his compliance and
obedience, as evidenced by a verified hadeeth which says, “The five
prayers, two consecutive Fridays, and two consecutive Ramadhans -
all atone for what takes place between them, as long as cardinal
sins are avoided.” (Muslim).
This is proof that Allah pardons all minor sins that are committed
in the interval between two acts of piety, as long as the person
concerned stays away from cardinal sins.
Undoubtedly, on the surface, the hadeeth which says that " a blessed
Hajj has no reward other than Paradise," and the one in which the
Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, says, “a person who performs a
Hajj and neither acts immorally nor commits any obscenity will be
restored to the same condition as when his mother gave birth to
him,” indicate that a Hajj atones for all sins, cardinal and minor.
But other verses and ahadeeth show that that is case only when a
pilgrim repents and quits all cardinal sins, determined not to
commit them again.
A person who believes that Hajj atones for cardinal sins, which the
sinner persists in committing, makes a very grave mistake and he
misunder-stands the meaning of the above quoted hadeeth.
An evidence for that is in words of Allah at the conclusion of the
Hajj verses in the surah of Al-Baqarah, where he says, “Invoke
Allah’s name on numbered, appointed days. A person who hastens and
finishes in two days incurs no sins, and a person who delays incurs
no sin. That is for a person who fears Allah. Fear Allah and knows
that you will be gathered unto Him,”.
In sayings " for a person who fears Allah ," Allah indicates that a
person who is pious and fear Allah that will have his sins forgive
once a Hajj is completed, whether he hastens to depart within two
days or delays till the third. The words “for a person who fears
Allah” apply to both cases. It is clear, on the other hand, that a
person who persists in sinning is not one who fears Allah.
As to whether a Hajj cancels unrepeated sins, even if the sinner has
not stopped committing them, the correct answer is, hopefully, that
if this is a case that involves the right of other people, they will
not be forgiven, as suggested by the hadeeth which says, "Martyrdom
for Allah’s cause atones for all sins other than debt. This is
because a debt involves the rights of others. The same rule applies
here; Hajj does not atone for what is due to other people.
A person who has an unpaid debt, or is entrusted with something or
some money to keep for someone else, should know that a Hajj, like
all other acts of compliance and good deeds which atone for
misdeeds, does not atone for any wrongdoing involving the rights of
someone else. Unless the rights of human beings are restored ,these
rights relinquish them either in this life on earth or in the
hereafter, or the owners of these rights will have to be arbitrated
on the Day of Resurrection.
The prophet ,sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, says: O people , any
person who has a complaint against him by a brother of his , whether
a matter of honor or money , let him relieve himself of it
now ,before the time when there is no cash or currency. It is a
matter of good points and bad points.
When a person has enough good points, an amount of them will be
deducted that equals the grievance against him. Otherwise, some of
the bad points of the aggrieved party will be removed and added to
the wrongdoer’s account. Then he will be cast in Hellfire." It is
wrong, therefore, to believe that a Hajj cancels the right of other
people.
Summarized from: Al-Jumuah Vol. 13 - Issue: 12