al-Zawajir an Iqtiraf al-Kabair
- Author died
- 974 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Fikr
al-Zawajir 'an Iqtiraf al-Kaba'ir (Deterrents from Committing Major Sins) is a comprehensive treatise on major sins in Islam, authored by the Shafi'i jurist and scholar Ibn Hajar al-Haytami (909–974 AH / 1504–1567 CE).
Background and Purpose
The idea of compiling the work occurred to Ibn Hajar al-Haytami over an extended period during the year 953 AH while residing in Mecca. He initially hesitated due to a lack of source materials available to him there, until he examined a treatise on major sins attributed to al-Dhahabi. Finding that work insufficiently rigorous—noting that it cited hadiths and anecdotes without referencing their sources, was overly lenient in presenting certain sins, and did not thoroughly survey the statements of earlier authorities—and observing a widespread indulgence in sins during his era, al-Haytami resolved to author an exhaustive guide that would provide a firm deterrent and moral admonition against major transgressions.
Structure and Scope
The book is organized into an introduction, two primary chapters, and an epilogue:
- Introduction (Muqaddimah): Discusses the definition of a major sin (kabirah), scholarly debates on whether sins can be defined strictly by boundary criteria (hadd) or by enumeration ('add), and conflicting views on their total count.
- Chapter One: Dedicated to inward sins (al-kaba'ir al-batinah), encompassing spiritual and theological offenses such as polytheism (shirk), ostentation (riya'), despair, and related internal states that do not correspond directly to standard legal headings.
- Chapter Two: Encompasses outward sins (al-kaba'ir al-zahirah), arranged according to the standard thematic order of Shafi'i jurisprudence to facilitate navigation for readers.
- Epilogue (Khatimah): Addresses the virtues and conditions of repentance (tawbah), followed by descriptions of the Day of Resurrection, the Reckoning (hisab), the Intercession (shafa'ah), the Basin (hawd), the Balance (mizan), the Bridge (sirat), and the realities of Hellfire and Paradise.
Through his independent legal reasoning (ijtihad) and comprehensive indexing of legal and scriptural texts, al-Haytami brought the total count of major sins identified in the work to 467 transgressions (cited in other summaries as approximately 400).
Method and Content
Under each entry, al-Haytami begins by naming the sin, establishing its prohibition through Quranic verses, and interpreting these verses with traditions from the Companions and Successors where required. He then provides an extensive corpus of prophetic hadiths conveying divine warnings and threats of punishment (tarhib).
Each entry frequently concludes with analytical notes (tanbihat) where al-Haytami examines legal ramifications, clarifies subtle conceptual distinctions, reconciles apparent contradictions between textual proofs, and cites juristic consensus across the four Sunni schools of law where applicable.
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