Does the return of a repentant person to sin invalidate his first repentance?
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The questioner:
If a murderer repents with a sincere repentance and then returns to killing, does that invalidate his first repentance and do his sins return to him?
The Shaykh:
If a person commits a sin, then repents, then returns to the sin, then repents again, Allah accepts his repentance. Every time he sins, he repeats the repentance and does not despair of the mercy of Allah, Mighty and Majestic.
The questioner:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, if a murderer repents with a sincere repentance and then returns to killing, does that invalidate his first repentance and do his sins return to him?
The Shaykh:
As we mentioned, he repeats the repentance; every time he sins, he repeats the repentance. Allah accepts the repentance of whoever repents, and one does not despair of the mercy of Allah. He says, "I sinned and repented, then I returned." He does not despair of the mercy of Allah; he repeats the repentance. But as mentioned before, repentance does not drop the right of the created being. However, it drops the sin between him and Allah. As for the right of the created being, the created being must either take what is due to him or forgive it. Yes.
If a murderer repents with a sincere repentance and then returns to killing, does that invalidate his first repentance and do his sins return to him?
The Shaykh:
If a person commits a sin, then repents, then returns to the sin, then repents again, Allah accepts his repentance. Every time he sins, he repeats the repentance and does not despair of the mercy of Allah, Mighty and Majestic.
The questioner:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, if a murderer repents with a sincere repentance and then returns to killing, does that invalidate his first repentance and do his sins return to him?
The Shaykh:
As we mentioned, he repeats the repentance; every time he sins, he repeats the repentance. Allah accepts the repentance of whoever repents, and one does not despair of the mercy of Allah. He says, "I sinned and repented, then I returned." He does not despair of the mercy of Allah; he repeats the repentance. But as mentioned before, repentance does not drop the right of the created being. However, it drops the sin between him and Allah. As for the right of the created being, the created being must either take what is due to him or forgive it. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، هل عودة التائب للمعصية تبطل توبته الأولى؟ للشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.