Are major sins forgiven by virtue of Hajj as can be understood from the hadith “…will return (pure of sin) as on the day their mother gave birth to them.”? هل الحج يكفر الكبائر؟

All praise is due to Allah alone, and may the Salah and Salam of Allah be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family and his companions. To answer your question, we say while seeking all the success from Allah: The scholars differed concerning the ruling on this matter, and there are two opinions, in general: The first opinion states that this hadith and similar reports are applicable to the minor sins only, because major sins require repentance so they can be removed. The evidence used to support this view is the hadith that Imam Muslim reported in his Sahih (233): It was narrated by Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (may the Salah and Salam of Allah be upon him) said: “The five obligatory daily prayers, and from one Friday prayer to the next Friday prayer, and from Ramadan to Ramadan, are expiations for whatever sins were committed between them, provided that major sins are avoided.”   The rationale for this view is that if expiating the sins committed between these great acts of worship is conditional on avoiding the major sins, then it befits more that the same applies to other acts of worships. This is the view of the majority of scholars: al-Nawawi in his book ‘al-Majmoo’ (6/432) quoted al-Qadi Ibn ‘Ayyad commenting on this hadith saying, “the type of sins mentioned in these hadiths are minor sins (i.e. minors sins can be expiated by virtue of particular acts of worship), which is the view of Ahlu Al-Sunnah Wal Jama’ah.” Ibn ‘Abdil Bar supported this view in his book al-Tamheed (4/50) wherein he said: “This is supported by all the authentic reports from al-salaf and it is the view of the majority of scholars.” The second opinion states that this hadith and the similar reports mentioning that sins are expiated are general; therefore, the generality entails that both minor and major sins are included. Furthermore, the fact that the type of sins was specified in a report does not necessitate understanding the general text in reference to the specified text when the cause and ruling are different. This is the view of Ibn al-Mundhir (may Allah have mercy on him), Ibn Taymiyyah and a number of scholars from the four Madhabs. Not only do I not find any problem with the latter view, but I also believe that it is in line with the meaning indicated by the general reports.     And Allah knows best.