What is meant
This meaning states that sins related to God’s right can be forgiven if God so wills, unlike shirk, which if its perpetrator persists in it, is not forgiven. Here, the criterion is the relation of the sin to God’s right and the person’s stance of insistence upon it.
The atom’s structure in the atlas
- Type of argument: value-based
- Movement of the argument: distinguishing sins tied to God’s right from shirk in the matter of forgiveness.
- Key terms: sins, God’s right, forgiveness, shirk, insistence.
- Degree of centrality: subsidiary.
It establishes a principle in moral responsibility to the effect that the door of forgiveness is open with respect to God’s right according to divine will, whereas persistence in shirk remains outside this door, thereby regulating the conception of sin and pardon.
Reading aids
Reliance
- Supporting text: “He states that sins related to God’s right are susceptible to forgiveness, and that shirk is the sin that is not forgiven if its perpetrator persists in it.”
Place of reliance in the book
- Book: Islam and Man.
- Location: in the middle section of the book
- Type of reliance: close witness.
- Marker for verification: all sins committed against Him are susceptible to forgiveness
- Reading note: This passage is suitable as evidence because it explicitly states that all sins against God are susceptible to forgiveness, with shirk excluded.
Degree of documentation
- Level: directly documented
- Meaning of level: the atom rests on an explicit witness close to the wording of the claim.
- Limits of reading: the formulation above is an analytical summary and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is quoted exactly.
Its function in the book
Its function here is declarative; it establishes a result on which what follows in the course of the argument depends.
Editorial note
This atom operates within the field of religious responsibility, not within practical legislation.