Severity of Sins And Interaction with Women

There are definitely ways to know the seriousness of many crimes but not necessarily all. In most cases, this is judged by seeing the seriousness of crime in the eyes of God, judging it by the language used by God for those who disobey. It is primarily this principle that is used to understand how big a crime is.

So for instance, the punishment for someone who kills a soul deliberately is that they will be thrown into the Hell-Fire forever. Similarly shirk, or associating partners with God, is a crime which God has declared will not be forgiven in the Hereafter.1 Of course, sincere repentance after a crime can definitely help and it can be hoped that it may avert the punishment.

Eating food on which God's name has not been taken has been called "Fisq", approximately translating to disbelief, and those who consume food on which God's name has not been taken have been addressed as "amongst the Mushrikeen." It is apparent how seriously has this been taken by the the Almighty.

As stated previously, Quran does not give out a direct list of the seriousness of all the crimes. However, issues that have been directly mentioned in the Quran shall be taken as binding nonetheless for their being direct commandments of God. This is because Quran makes clear the fate of those who disobey God's laws and the punishments they shall bear because of their such mishandling of the law of God. God says,

And,

Looking at this understanding, one must realize that the prohibition of drinking is a direct prohibition of the Almighty in the Quran and, as a result, must be avoided at all costs. Quran does not give a direct fate of those who indulge in drinking and neither does it prescribe a punishment for those who drink. However, its intensity can be understood by the following verse:

It is clear that drinking has been called as "unclean and Satan's work" and shall suffice for its seriousness in the eyes of the Almighty.

Talking to ladies and dating for me are two completely different things.

Dating, as known today, is against Islam and completely violates the modest social structure of an ideal society that Islam promulgates. Islam lays immense importance on a family as a basic building block of the society with respect, dignity and honor as its basic values, and attempts to cleanse individuals morally as well as intellectually. The rules of interaction between men and women are directly addressed in the Quran by the Almighty2 and they are directed towards refraining from actions that may eventually lead into disasters in the society. It is precisely for this reason that Prophet (pbuh) has mentioned in one of his Ahadith that a non-Mahram man and woman should never be together alone, for when they are alone, Satan is the third one with them; the implication being that the Satan may cause them to transgress the limits of God.

Talking to ladies, on the other hand, could be for many reasons and can be undertaken if necessary. It is for this reason that we find instances where Prophet (pbuh) interacted with and answered the queries of women. However, it must be understood that this interaction is not in terms of leisure talk and fun time as seen in 'dating', rather due to conditions that required such interaction, for instance in the case of a woman who ran to the prophet after having been forcefully married against her will.3 In addition this interaction with women shall be according to the social etiquette prescribed directly by Quran and, in my opinion, the interaction between the opposite sexes should be minimized and should ideally take place only when needed.4