An-Nisa · Madani · ayah 31 of 176

An-Nisa 4:31

إِن تَجْتَنِبُوا۟ كَبَآئِرَ مَا تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ نُكَفِّرْ عَنكُمْ سَيِّـَٔاتِكُمْ وَنُدْخِلْكُم مُّدْخَلًا كَرِيمًا

“If you avoid the major sins which you are forbidden, We will remove from you your lesser sins and admit you to a noble entrance [into Paradise].”

Saheeh International

Essence

Keep the gravest sins at a distance, and Allah Himself covers the smaller ones and brings you in through a noble door.

A reflection

The same 'We' that warned now covers

The previous ayah ended in fire: fa-sawfa nuṣlīhi nārā, We shall expose him to a Fire. This ayah opens with the same voice, the same 'We' of majesty. But now it says something else entirely. Nukaffir ʿankum sayyiʾātikum wa-nudkhilkum mudkhalan karīmā. We will cover your misdeeds, and We will bring you in through a noble entrance.

One classical theologian notes the order. Having given the warning, Allah immediately sets out what it involves, and the way out of it. The power that makes punishment easy (4:30) is the same power that makes forgiveness easy.

One classical scholar of the heart draws a beautiful proportion from this ayah. Avoiding the major sins covers the minor ones. In the same way, he says, avoiding every form of associating partners with Allah covers what is greater. He points to a hadith in Sahih Muslim. Whoever meets Allah with sins nearly filling the earth, without associating anything with Him, is met with forgiveness of the same size.

This is majesty that breaks the ego's two favourite postures. One is presumption: I am fine, my sins are small, nothing will come of them. The other is despair: I am beyond help, nothing can cover what I have done. The ayah answers both. The warning before it humbles the presumptuous. The promise inside it lifts the despairing.

Is the royal 'We' a sign of pride, as if Allah needed to stress His own grandeur? He is the Free of need (35:15). The 'We' tells the listener who stands behind the promise. A covering offered by someone weak would be worth little. A covering offered by the One who holds every record is worth everything.

Pride wants to cover its own faults, by excuse, by comparison, by forgetting. Humility hands them to the One who can actually cover them, and then keeps away from what would make things worse.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.