Jurisprudential Analysis of the Whatness of “Corruption on Earth” from the Perspective of Imami Jurisprudence

Referring to the Islamic Sources, jurists have categorized sins into two main groups: minor sins and major sins. This division has different jurisprudential and moral consequences. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the nature of sins and to determine the criteria for identifying them. With an analytical-critical study of the related Qur’anic verses and hadiths, this article examines the issue. The main approach is to determine whether this categorization is absolute or relative. The results of this study show that there are four criteria for a sin to be identified as a major one: 1. Explicit mention of its magnitude in hadiths; 2. A warning of Hell fire to the perpetrator of it in the Quranic verses and hadiths; 3. To be considered greater than another major sin; 4. To be considered greater than another sin which is warned about of Hell fire.