Does hajj remove all past sins, even the grave major sins?

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

It is established from the Sound Hadeeth narrated by both Muslim and Al-Bukhaari from Abu Hurayrah who said that he heard the Prophet saying:

“Whoever performs Hajj (pilgrimage to Makkah) and does not have sexual relations (and all matters that lead to it) with his wife and doesn’t do evil or sins, returns after Hajj as if his mother gave birth to him the same day – i.e. (without any sins).”

It also confirmed that the Prophet said: “An ‘Umrah to an ‘Umrah is an expiation to what the person does between them. And the accepted Hajj has no reward but Paradise”. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Hajj as it is well known is one of the good deeds. If it is done according to the legal procedure and is done only for the sake of Allah, this could be a reason for the expiation of all the sins of the person who performs it. But are the major sins included among these sins?

Some scholars hold this view, taking the generality of the two Ahadeeth above as evidence. Some of them believe; however, that the major sins need a particular repentance, taking the following Hadeeth as evidence: “The five payers, Friday to Friday, Ramadan to Ramadan are expiation for what was committed between them if the major sins were avoided.” [Ahmad and Muslim]

We are of the view that the preponderant opinion is the first opinion according to another Hadeeth of ‘Amr Ibn Al-Aa’s that Prophet Muhammad told him: “Don’t you know that Hajj wipes out the previous sins.” [Muslim]

The grace of Allah is enormous. Allah is He who owns the great grace.

Allah knows best.