Do we accept the repentance of the fornicator before the matter reaches the authority?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : It is obligatory to establish the hadd punishment upon him so that his repentance becomes apparent.
The Shaykh : No, if he repented before confessing to the judge, before he repented to...
The questioner : We know that if he did not confess, we know it through another means.
The Shaykh : Whatever contradicts this, but it became clear that the man repented, like this man whom we know travels abroad and commits zina (unlawful sexual intercourse) there, and it is well known about him, but we saw that the man became moderate and upright, and this happens often when one repents from zina.
The Shaykh : No, if he repented before confessing to the judge, before he repented to...
The questioner : We know that if he did not confess, we know it through another means.
The Shaykh : Whatever contradicts this, but it became clear that the man repented, like this man whom we know travels abroad and commits zina (unlawful sexual intercourse) there, and it is well known about him, but we saw that the man became moderate and upright, and this happens often when one repents from zina.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 1942 - 4600 هل نقبل توبة الزاني قبل أن تبلغ السلطان؟ ابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.