LessonsForgiveness of Shirk and Other Sins; Threats and Divine MercyQuiz

إِنْ تَجْتَنِبُوا كَبَائِرَ مَا تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ نُكَفِّرْ عَنْكُمْ سَيِّئَاتِكُمْ
If you avoid the major sins you are forbidden, We shall remove your lesser misdeeds from you. (al-Nisāʾ 4:31)

Some Muʿtazilīs invoke this as evidence that minor sins cannot be punished where major sins have been avoided. The reply separates the divine promise of expiation from a much broader claim that punishment for any lesser sin would be intrinsically impossible.

The divine promise remains true where its conditions are fulfilled, but one should not infer an unrestricted rational impossibility beyond the text's exact meaning.

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The argument from avoiding major sins

Forgiveness of Shirk and Other Sins; Threats and Divine Mercy

إِنْ تَجْتَنِبُوا كَبَائِرَ مَا تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ نُكَفِّرْ عَنْكُمْ سَيِّئَاتِكُمْ
If you avoid the major sins you are forbidden, We shall remove your lesser misdeeds from you. (al-Nisāʾ 4:31)

Some Muʿtazilīs invoke this as evidence that minor sins cannot be punished where major sins have been avoided. The reply separates the divine promise of expiation from a much broader claim that punishment for any lesser sin would be intrinsically impossible.

The divine promise remains true where its conditions are fulfilled, but one should not infer an unrestricted rational impossibility beyond the text's exact meaning.