Does Hajj remove all past sins

18/10/2009| IslamWeb

Question: Does hajj remove all past sins, even the kabaair?

Fatwa: 
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-Bukhari from Abu Hurayra ( may  Allah  be  pleased  with  him) he said that he heard the Prophet ( sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allah exalt his mention )) 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 delivered him the same day – i.e. (without any sins). It is established again that he said: “Umra to Umra is an expiation to what the person does between them. And the accepted Hajj has no reward but Paradise”. Reported by 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 Kabair (the major sins) included among these sins? Some scholars think so, taking the generality of the two Hadeeth above as evidence. Some of them believe, however, that the Kabair 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 Kabair were avoided”. Reported by Ahmad and Muslim. What I think is preponderant is the first opinion according to another Hadith of Amar Ibn Al-Aa’s (may Allah be pleased with him) when Prophet Muhammad ( sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allah exalt his mention )) told him: “Don’t you know that Hajj effaces what precedes it”. Muslim narrated this Hadeeth. And the grace of Allah is enormous. And Allah is He who owns the great grace.
Allah Knows best.

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