Prohibited things differ from one another

Question

Are all haram things equal, or are there greater and lesser among them? For example, one person drinks wine or eats pork, and another, along with that, also listens to qawwali (devotional songs) with musical instruments (ma‘azif, mazamir): is there a difference between their sins or are they equal?

Answer

That which has been declared haram in the Noble Qur’an and whose prohibition is intrinsic (li-‘aynihi) is grave in respect of its prohibition, to the extent that takfir (declaring someone an unbeliever) is pronounced for believing it to be lawful, as is mentioned in Sharh al-‘Aqa’id, Tahtawi, al-Bahr and elsewhere.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

Preview. The full text opens with JavaScript enabled.