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political islam 373human beings will commit or avoid such grave sins since this issubject to their free choice. If they choose to obey they will avoidheinous crimes; if, however, they choose to disobey they will committhem.Secondly, we notice the Arabic term kab§"ir for ‘grave sins’, literallymeaning ‘great’ or ‘major’ in contrast to ‘small’ or ‘minor’ sins(ßagh§"ir). The Book refers to major sins three times, and only once tominor sins—by using the term lamam :If you (but) eschew the most heinous of the things [kab§"ir] which youare forbidden to do, We shall expel out of you all the evil in you, andadmit you to a gate of great honour. ( Al-Nis§" 4:31)Those who avoid great sins [kab§"ir] and shameful deeds [ al-ithmwa’l-faw§Èish], only (falling into) small faults [lamam]… ( Al-Najm53:32)Those who avoid the greater crimes [kab§"ir] and shameful deeds[ al-ithm wa’l-faw§Èish], and, when they are angry even then forgive.( Al-Shår§ 42:37)These verses introduce a very relevant terminological clarificationthat is vital for our discussion on prescription versus proscription.The implicit distinction between major and minor sins in 4:31 issupported by 53:32 where ‘great sins’ are explicitly distinguishedfrom ‘shameful deeds’ ( al-ithm wa’l-faw§Èish), as we also find in 42:37.In order to establish their proper meaning against the meaning thatthese terms have acquired in Islamic fiqh, we need to distinguishbetween four different stages (of interpretation): a) the qur"§n, b) theProphet (ß), c) the companions, and d) the second and third generationafter the companions, of which only the first two encapsulatethe terms’ true meaning.Major sins in the qurA. "§nAll heavenly messages in general, and also MuÈammad’s (ß) messagein particular, distinguish between two categories of divine commands:orders (Gebote) and prohibitions (Verbote). Orders are meant to guidehuman behaviour to concrete actions by issuing a (positive) command‘Do it!’, while prohibitions restrict human behaviour by askingpeople to avoid certain actions with a (negative) order ‘Do not!’. Asseen above, prohibited acts are classified as major or minor sins, theprohibition of idolatry being on top of the list of major sins.Commands also come in the categories major and minor: to havefaith in the existence of God is a major command (kab§"ir), and the