Repentance of One Who Does Not Pray or Fast

Question:
May Allah reward you with good and do you well. A message from Riyadh, from a listener who indicated his name with the letters M and 'Ayn. He says: I am a man in my fifties. I used to not know about prayer, nor even fasting. Ramadan would come and I would not fast a single day. Praise be to Allah, I repented to Allah with a sincere repentance, and that was about seven years ago. I repented and began praying all the prayers in the mosque and fasting. Will my repentance be accepted? And what is required of me regarding the fasting I did not perform during my past years? Please inform us, may Allah reward you, and may Allah reward you with good.

Answer:
Praise be to Allah who granted you repentance. You must adhere to this repentance and remain steadfast in it, maintaining the prayer, the pillars of Islam, doing acts of obedience, and leaving off what is forbidden and sins. Allah accepts the repentance of whoever repents. He, Glorified and Exalted is He, said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Repentance wipes out what came before it." And whoever repents, Allah accepts his repentance. As long as you have repented with a valid repentance, and you have become one who maintains the prayers in congregation, and praise be to Allah, you fast Ramadan, you perform the other pillars of Islam, you do acts of obedience, and you leave off what is forbidden, then Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, accepts the repentance of whoever repents. As for making up the missed fasts, you do not have to make up what was before the repentance, because before the repentance, as long as you were not praying, you were not on the religion of Islam. But after you repented and committed to performing the prayer, fasting, and the other obligations, you entered Islam, and Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, forgives what came before that. Yes.