# Ep. 4: What Are Sins? | Road to Return

**Author:** Yahya Ibrahim
**Series:** Road to Return | How to Come Back from Sin
**Published:** 2021-06-17
**YouTube:** https://youtu.be/_rxveMelwlU
**URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-4-what-are-sins-road-to-return
**Topics:** Acts of Worship, Sharia

## Description
What makes something a sin? Sh. Yahya Ibrahim introduces the two categories of sin under which all major and minor transgressions fall.

## Transcript
**[0:00]** Transgressions, the mistakes we make, the lines we cross, the places we go that we shouldn't, the feelings that we have that we need to restrict, hold back, and take charge of, the self-control that we want to develop. How do we define transgressions? How do we define

**[0:20]** the trespassing against the orders and the laws that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala has sent?

**[0:38]** I want you to know initially as Muslims that we believe sin is not inherited and it's not through heredity. So there are other faiths that believe in a concept called the original sin, meaning that Adam and Hawwa, Adam and Eve, they made that mistake which meant that every mistake

**[0:59]** thereafter is inherited because of it. That a human being had no choice, that from the moment you were born you were already a sinner. For us as Muslims we don't believe that. We don't believe in the original sin concept. Our belief is that we all begin on a clean slate and that clean slate

**[1:18]** can be wiped clean again and that you can have many many opportunities in your life to clear it every day, every hour you can clear it if you remain connected to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And that is something we're going to study later on when we speak about the psychology of redemption,

**[1:36]** how to think about making ourself return to Allah and fixing what we have made as errors between us and other people and between us and our creator Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. There are two important ways that you and I need to understand sins in Islam. The first is that one

**[1:58]** of the great categories of sin is called shahwat. Shahwat in Arabic means desires, things that we want and it's a part of our animalistic nature. See you as a human being Allah says,

**[2:17]** we made Adam a noble honorable person, a noble honorable creation. Allah separated between us and other creations who came before us, those that walked the earth, those that crawled on the earth,

**[2:32]** other animals that were there and other species and types of things like the jinn that were here previously. But Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala said mankind are insan, those who have an understanding although they forget at times, yansa, so we are insan, we forget our place with

**[2:51]** Allah but we are also bashar, we are also the furless ones, we're not like the other animals and mammals on the earth. Meaning human beings have a central dignity that is a result of the soul that is within our body and that soul makes us accountable but our bodies and our minds and

**[3:10]** our soul at times still craves that which is haram and whenever we cross the boundary of that which is decent, that which is good into that which is haram, that which is wrong, that which is in the sunnah, then we are fulfilling an animalistic urge that we are ordered and have been given the

**[3:30]** ability to restrict because of our humanness. So Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us to lower our gaze from looking at something that is inappropriate. Why? Because you are different to other animals. You are able to restrict yourself from something that isn't just an

**[3:50]** urge that I can do whatever I want whenever I want, right? The Prophet ﷺ, you know, he tells us that before the day of judgment there will come a time where people will lose that sense of shame, that sense of morality and it will be as if they will commit sin and vulgar actions in the middle

**[4:09]** of public streets the way animals do, the way dogs do, the way other animals do. May Allah protect us. So the first type of category of sins that we're going to look at are the sins of desire where we are ordered and have been given tools to restrict ourself and have been taught how to

**[4:29]** have and develop self-control. The second type of sins is not of actions in a physical nature, it's that of the mind and the intellect, it's that of thoughts and that is called shubuhat, doubts. There are certain things that we say, I'm not really sure. We doubt Jannah. A person might

**[4:49]** doubt hellfire. A person might not understand why something is haram and therefore say, well, I don't understand it so I'm not going to do it. Or a person might have in their heart, well, you know, they doubt why everybody else is doing it. Why can't I be like them? So they doubt the

**[5:07]** scripture that was sent to the Prophet ﷺ. And those two main branches, the desires and the doubts are the two types of sins that any human being can perform. Any sin that you think of is

**[5:22]** going to be in one of them. Some of them are in both, right? And all of the major sins, all of the minor sins, and we'll talk about the difference between the two shortly, all of them come under these two branches. Islam was sent to protect five important things for us. It was sent to protect

**[5:43]** our faithfulness in God, that we don't worship anything but Allah. So Islam taught us how to pray and who not to pray to, who is Allah, who is not Allah, and what are the things that make us knowing of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. And you can go back to the series, Me, Myself, and Allah,

**[6:02]** to understand this more about our Tawheed. Number two, Islam was sent to protect the sanctity of life. And it's for that reason that assault is wrong, harming others is wrong, murder is wrong. The third category is to protect property and other people's belongings. And under that,

**[6:23]** you will find that there's stealing is wrong, and you know, using things without permission is wrong, all of those things that relate to other people's property. Number four, Islam was sent to protect the mind and the clarity of thought. And for that reason, anything that intoxicates, anything that

**[6:42]** clouds the mind and makes you think in a way that is less than what you would normally think, in amount that is sinful, is deemed haram. And fifth and finally, Islam was sent to protect our lineages and our family structures, because family is very, very important. So that a father

**[7:02]** knows who their children are, and children know who their mother and fathers are, that there is complete openness and that society is built on a strong foundation of families, because families are one of the indicators of a healthy society. This is what science tells us. So Islam was sent

**[7:20]** to protect those five things, all of the laws of Islam that make things haram, that which is haram falls under one of those five things. And anything that's haram is going to be one of those two things, the desires or the doubts. May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la protect us from crossing

**[7:38]** any boundaries due to our desires that we're not self-controlling or due to doubts that we haven't clarified through increasing our knowledge.

## Other Episodes in "Road to Return | How to Come Back from Sin"
- [Ep. 40: Fake News | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-40-fake-news-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 39: It's Just a Joke | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-39-its-just-a-joke-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 38: Friday Prayer Is Not Practical | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-38-friday-prayer-is-not-practical-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 37: What Happens Online Stays Online | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-37-what-happens-online-stays-online-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 36: I'm Not A Racist, But... | Road To Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-36-im-not-a-racist-but-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 35: I Will Never Forgive Them | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-35-i-will-never-forgive-them-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 34: Isn't Zakat Like Sadaqah? | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-34-isnt-zakat-like-sadaqah-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 33: The Most Important Thing is Love | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-33-the-most-important-thing-is-love-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 32: Everyone is Doing It | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-32-everyone-is-doing-it-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 31: It’s Just a Video | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-31-its-just-a-video-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep: 30 Always Put Yourself First | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-30-always-put-yourself-first-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep 29: Marijuana is Not a Drug | Road To Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-29-marijuana-is-not-a-drug-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 28: God Knows my Intention | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-28-god-knows-my-intention-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 27: I Do Pray...Just Not Often | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-27-i-do-pray-just-not-often-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 26: Did You Hear? | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-26-did-you-hear-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 25: Does God Really Care? | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-25-does-god-really-care-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 24: Just say Bismillah | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-24-just-say-bismillah-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 23: Parents Just Don't Understand | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-23-parents-just-dont-understand-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 22: Why Do They Have It So Easy? | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-22-why-do-they-have-it-so-easy-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 21: Going Against The Flow | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-21-going-against-the-flow-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 20: Hoping For The Best Without Doing Your Best | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-20-hoping-for-the-best-without-doing-your-best-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 19: Good Intentions With Wrong Actions | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-19-good-intentions-with-wrong-actions-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 18: Good Actions With The Wrong Intention | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-18-good-actions-with-the-wrong-intention-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 17:  Letting The Qur'an Slip | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-17-letting-the-quran-slip-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 16: Resisting the Teachings of Muhammad ﷺ | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-16-resisting-the-teachings-of-muhammad-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 15: Deprioritizing God | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-15-deprioritizing-god-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 14: Resistance & Resilience | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-14-resistance-resilience-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 13: Shaytan's 6-Step Plan  | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-13-shaytans-6-step-plan-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 12: No Good Without Evil | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/no-good-without-evil-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 11: Mastering Self-Control | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-11-mastering-self-control-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 10: The World And Its Splendor | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-10-the-world-and-its-splendor-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 9: An Enemy Within | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-9-an-enemy-within-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 8: Your Inner Voice | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-8-your-inner-voice-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 7: Four Dangers: Causes of Sin | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-7-four-dangers-causes-of-sin-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 6: Different Types of Sin | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-6-different-types-of-sin-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 5: Are All Sins Equal? | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-5-are-all-sins-equal-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 3: Content with God | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-3-content-with-god-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 2: Finding Peace | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-2-finding-peace-road-to-return.md)
- [Ep. 1: Submitting to God | Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/ep-1-submitting-to-god-road-to-return.md)
- [Trailer: Road to Return](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/road-to-return/road-to-return-trailer.md)