Will God not forgive on the Day of Judgment those who openly committed sins, whereas He may forgive sins that were not openly committed?
Openly committing sins is forbidden and violates Allah's command for a servant to conceal himself, as the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "All of my Ummah are pardoned except for the open sinners," and his saying: "Whoever commits any of these sins should conceal himself with the concealment of Allah Almighty." "Pardoned" means Allah's forgiveness for the sin, the servant's safety from the punishment of this world and the Hereafter, and from people speaking ill of him. The open sinner may be punished in this world with prescribed penalties (hudud) and discretionary punishments (ta'zeer). Scholars have unanimously agreed that open sinning is a disrespect to the right of Allah, His Messenger, and the righteous believers. Displaying a sin is an act of ingratitude for Allah's blessing and His concealment of the servant. Open sinning does not mean that the repentance of the open sinner is not accepted; Allah accepts sincere repentance and forgives all sins, as Allah Almighty says: "And He is the One who accepts repentance from His servants and pardons evil deeds," and in the Qudsi Hadith: "O son of Adam, as long as you invoke Me and hope in Me, I will forgive you for what you have done, and I do not care." However, if the open sinner does not repent, if the sins are minor, they are expiated by good deeds and by avoiding major sins, as Allah Almighty says: "If you avoid the major sins which you are forbidden, We will remove from you your minor evil deeds." If they are major sins, their forgiveness is subject to Allah's will, as long as their perpetrator is a monotheist, as Allah Almighty says: "Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills."
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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