Islamic views on sin

Sin is an important concept in Islamic ethics that Muslims view as being anything that goes against the commands of God or breaching the laws and norms laid down by religion. Islam teaches that sin is an act and not a state of being. It is believed that God weighs an individual's good deeds against their sins on the Day of Judgement and punishes those individuals whose evil deeds outweigh their good deeds.

The Quran describes these sins throughout the texts and demonstrates that some sins are more punishable than others in the hereafter. A clear distinction is made between major sins (al-Kabirah) and minor sins (al-Sagha'ir) (Q53:31–32), indicating that if an individual stays away from the major sins then they will be forgiven of the minor sins. Sources differ on the exact meanings of the different terms for sin used in the Islamic tradition.