If Allah Almighty created human beings to worship Him, and Islam is based on submission and obedience to Allah, why is a Muslim who neglects some acts of worship or persists in certain sins not considered a disbeliever, since he has not achieved complete submission to Allah? And does a person sin if he limits himself to the obligatory acts and spends the rest of his time doing permissible things without intending through them to draw closer to Allah?
Answer
Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. To proceed:
Islam means submitting to Allah Almighty through monotheism and obeying Him through acts of obedience. Worshipping Allah is the purpose for which Allah created mankind. However, this does not mean that every sin or shortcoming in worship takes a Muslim out of Islam, because faith has a foundation, branches, and degrees; it increases through obedience and decreases through sin.
First: Worshipping Allah is the purpose of human creation
Allah Almighty says:
“And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.”
[Adh-Dhariyat: 56]
Worship includes everything that Allah loves and is pleased with, including outward and inward words and deeds. Among the greatest forms of worship are affirming the Oneness of Allah, believing in Him, obeying Him, and following His Messenger ﷺ.
Allah says:
“And this is a blessed Book which We have revealed, so follow it and fear Allah that you may receive mercy.”
[Al-An‘am: 155]
And He says:
“Say, ‘Obey Allah and obey the Messenger’ … ‘And if you obey him, you will be guided.’”
[An-Nur: 54]
Therefore, complete submission to Allah is achieved by obeying Him and following what has been revealed in the Quran and Sunnah.
Second: Not every sin or abandonment of an act of worship is disbelief
There is a difference between abandoning Islam and its foundation and falling into a sin or neglecting some obligations.
The Quran indicates that sins below shirk are not all forms of disbelief that take a person out of Islam. Allah Almighty says:
“Indeed, Allah does not forgive associating partners with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills.”
[An-Nisa’: 48]
The verse distinguishes between shirk and sins that are less serious than it.
Allah also says regarding people who combined good deeds with sins:
“And there are others who have acknowledged their sins. They have mixed a righteous deed with another that was bad. Perhaps Allah will turn to them in forgiveness. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.”
[At-Tawbah: 102]
A person may therefore be a Muslim who affirms the Oneness of Allah while still committing some sins or falling short in certain obligations. His faith is deficient because of his disobedience, but this does not necessarily mean that the foundation of his faith has disappeared entirely.
This applies to sins and acts of disobedience that are not themselves major disbelief. As for matters that Islamic teachings establish as disbelief that takes a person out of Islam, they have a different ruling.
Third: Muslims are not all at the same level of obedience
Allah Almighty says:
“Then We granted the Book to those We have chosen from Our servants. Some of them wrong themselves, some follow a middle course, and some are foremost in good deeds by Allah’s permission.”
[Fatir: 32]
People have different levels of obedience to Allah:
This demonstrates that a Muslim’s shortcomings do not necessarily mean that he has left Islam.
Fourth: Faith increases and decreases
One of the principles of Ahl as-Sunnah is that faith is not a single fixed level shared equally by all Muslims. Rather, it increases through obedience and decreases through sin.
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“Faith has over seventy—or over sixty—branches. The best of them is the statement, ‘There is no god worthy of worship except Allah,’ the lowest of them is removing something harmful from the road, and modesty is a branch of faith.”
[Narrated by Muslim]
The hadith shows that faith has branches and levels and that people differ in their deeds of faith.
Therefore, it is incorrect to say that if a person abandons one part of obedience, all of his faith necessarily disappears. Rather, some of the completeness of his faith may be lost while its foundation remains.
Fifth: What is the ruling on a Muslim who commits major sins?
If a person dies upon monotheism without committing anything that takes him out of Islam, but dies while having major sins for which he did not repent, he is subject to the will of Allah Almighty.
Allah says:
“And He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills.”
[An-Nisa’: 48]
Allah may forgive him, or He may punish him for some of his sins. However, he will not remain eternally in Hell as a disbeliever does if he dies upon the foundation of monotheism and faith.
This does not mean that sins should be taken lightly. Sins may lead to punishment and deprive a person of much good. The point here is simply to clarify the distinction between sin and disbelief that takes a person out of Islam.
Sixth: Does a Muslim sin if he limits himself to the obligatory acts?
If a Muslim fulfills what Allah has made obligatory and avoids what He has prohibited, he does not sin merely because he does not perform many voluntary acts of worship.
Voluntary acts are a means of increasing one’s reward and closeness to Allah, but they do not have the same ruling as obligatory acts.
A man once came to the Prophet ﷺ and asked him about the obligatory duties. After the Prophet informed him of them, the man said that he would neither add to them nor subtract from them. The Prophet ﷺ said:
“He will succeed if he is truthful.”
[Agreed upon]
This shows that whoever fulfills the obligatory duties and avoids prohibited matters has fulfilled what is required of him, although the person who performs additional voluntary worship and good deeds has a higher rank and greater reward.
Seventh: Must every permissible action be turned into worship through intention?
Permissible activities such as eating, sleeping, working, trading, and lawful recreation do not become sinful merely because a person does them without a specific intention of drawing closer to Allah.
However, a Muslim can turn many ordinary permissible habits into acts of worship by having a righteous intention. He may eat to gain strength for obedience, work to earn lawful income and provide for his family, and rest so that he can regain his energy to fulfill his responsibilities.
This is more complete and brings greater reward, but it does not mean that every permissible act done without an intention of worship becomes sinful.
This does not contradict the words of Allah Almighty:
“Say, ‘Indeed, my prayer, my sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allah, Lord of all worlds.’”
[Al-An‘am: 162]
Allah Himself has permitted His servants wholesome things and worldly benefits. Benefiting from what Allah has permitted is therefore within His law, as long as a person does not neglect an obligation or commit something prohibited because of it.
Conclusion
Islam and the worship of Allah are closely connected, but obedience has different levels and faith increases and decreases. Therefore, a Muslim does not become a disbeliever merely by committing a sin or falling short in acts of worship whose abandonment is not itself disbelief.
A person who preserves the foundation of monotheism and faith, while having both good deeds and sins, does not leave Islam merely because of those sins, although his faith decreases and he is required to repent.
Likewise, a person who fulfills the obligatory duties, avoids prohibited matters, and then spends his remaining time in permissible activities does not sin merely because he leaves voluntary acts or does not consciously intend worship in every permissible activity. Nevertheless, performing more voluntary acts and transforming ordinary habits into worship through righteous intentions is more complete and brings greater reward.
And Allah knows best.