Mishkat al-Masabih

Hadith Commentary:
(1)
Allah Almighty has likened the worship of idols to filth, as He said:
“Avoid the filth of idols.” ()
That is, avoid the impurity of shrines and the worship of idols just as a person avoids a heap of filth, and even feels disgust at coming near such filth.
In another place, the gravity of shirk (associating partners with Allah) is described in these words:
“And whoever associates anything with Allah, it is as though he has fallen from the sky, then the birds snatch him away or the wind blows him off to a far distant place.” ()
(2)
Allah Almighty has made man the noblest of all creatures (ashraf al-makhluqat). Now, if he bows before anyone other than Allah Almighty, it is as if a higher creature has bowed before a lesser one, and whoever commits shirk, it is as though he has fallen from the heights of tawhid (monotheism). Now he has no firm foundation left; now he will tumble after his own base desires or after other polytheists like himself, who will sometimes advise him to go to one shrine, sometimes to another, until these predatory birds will not leave him until they have completely misled him and rendered him faithless.
A‘adhana Allah minhu (May Allah protect us from it).

Hadith Commentary:
These are all major sins (kabirah) for which dying without repentance leads to entry into Hellfire.
The correspondence between the chapter and the hadiths is evident.

Hadith Commentary:
Kabā’ir is the plural of kabīrah (major sin).
In the mentioned hadith, four major sins have been mentioned, although in some narrations seven and in some ten are stated.
This is not a contradiction because the mention of one number does not negate the mention of another.
(2)
It should be noted that in this category there is no expiation (kaffārah); one should only repent and seek forgiveness from Allah.
If someone’s right has been usurped, it should be returned.
It is narrated from Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud radi Allahu anhu that we used to consider the false oath (yameen ghamus) as such a sin that even expiation (kaffārah) could not cleanse it.
Yameen ghamus is when a person swears a false oath in order to unlawfully consume another’s wealth.
In this matter, none of the Companions radi Allahu anhum opposed him.
(Fath al-Bari: 11/679)

Urdu footnote:
“Swearing a false oath”—in Arabic, the term “al-yamin al-ghamus” is used for this, meaning an oath that immerses one in sin or an oath that leads to the Fire. It is evident that the oath whose outcome is such must be a false oath, and this is the kind of oath by which someone’s wealth is wrongfully acquired, or someone is wrongfully harmed, or through which someone is given an unlawful benefit, etc. And Allah knows best.

Urdu marginal note:
“False oath”: In Arabic, the term *yamin ghamus* is used, meaning such an oath that plunges the one who swears it into sin. Obviously, it refers to a false oath by which someone’s wealth is wrongfully acquired. On the Day of Resurrection, such an oath will plunge the person into the Fire itself.