The unlawful (haram) is what the Lawgiver strictly forbids. Someone who commits an unlawful act deserves punishment, while one who refrains from it out of obedience to the command of Allah is rewarded.
(n: Scholars distinguish between three levels of the unlawful:
(1) minor sins (saghira, pI. sagha'ir), which may be forgiven from prayer to prayer, from one Friday prayer Uumu'a) to another, and so forth, as is mentioned in hadith;
(2) enormities (kabira, pI. kaba'ir), those which appear by name in the Koran or hadith as the subject of an explicit threat, prescribed legal penalty, or curse, as listed below at book p;
(3) and unbelief(kufr), sins which put one beyond the pale of Islam (as discussed at 08.7) and necessitate stating the Testification of Faith (Shahada) to reenter it.
Repentance (def: p77) is obligatory for all three (al-Zawajir 'an iqtiraf alkaba'ir( y49),1.5-9).) - Fiqh Umdat c2.5 (islam)