Conditions of Valid Repentance

Question:
He asks: Honorable Shaykh, this questioner from Riyadh says: In the hadith about the one who repents from a sin as if he had no sin, does the repentant person have to fulfill the conditions of repentance, or does this return to Allah happen simply by virtue of the repentance?

Answer:
Repentance is not called valid repentance unless its conditions are met. If one of them is missing, it is not repentance and is not accepted. The first is that he abandons the sin; he does not repent while still persisting in the sin, repenting only with his tongue. The second is that he resolves not to return to it; his repentance is not temporary, and he does not resolve that he will return to the sin in the future; his repentance is not accepted in that case. The third is regret for what he did, regret for his sins and his evil deeds; he regrets everything he mentioned, and he seeks forgiveness from his Lord, the Exalted and Majestic.