The Conditions of Sincere Repentance

Question:
The questioner asks: What are the conditions of sincere repentance, and how do we feel it?

Answer:
Repentance. Allah the Exalted said: He the Exalted said: .
That is, return; repent, meaning return to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) and to His obedience, and leave His disobedience and opposition to Him. This is correct and sincere repentance. "Sincere" means pure, pure repentance. It has three conditions mentioned by the scholars of Islamic jurisprudence. The first condition is ceasing the sin.
That is, leaving the sin. As for the one who repents but does not leave the sin, he is a liar; his repentance is not correct, not sincere, and not pure. This is because some people repeat repentance and seeking forgiveness, but they remain committed to their sins and do not turn away from them. They repent only with their tongues. This is not repentance. This is the first condition: to leave the sin permanently and stay away from it.
The second condition is that he resolves not to return to it. For his repentance to be permanent, if he repents at a specific time and intends to return to the sin after that time, his repentance is not correct because it is temporary. For example, the one who repents in Ramadan and strives in worship and obedience, but intends that when Ramadan ends, he will return to his previous state of abandoning prayer and committing forbidden acts. His repentance in Ramadan is not correct and not accepted, and it does not benefit him with Allah in any way, because he intends to return to sins after Ramadan or other specific times have passed. The third condition is that he regrets what happened from him. He must have regret, fear of Allah, and humility and lowliness before Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). As for the one who does not regret his sins, but rather boasts about them, his repentance is not correct because he did not regret what happened from him. He may mention these things and praise himself with them and be arrogant about them, thinking that they are forgiven for him.
So this is a great condition: regretting what happened from him. The sign of the truth of repentance is in the hadith: like a mountain fearing it will collapse on him. The believer sees his sin like a mountain fearing it will collapse on him, and the hypocrite sees his sin like a fly that lands on him and then flies away; he does not consider it anything. This is the difference between the believer and the hypocrite in how each feels about his sin. These are the conditions of repentance between the servant and Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). And there is a fourth condition if the sin is between the servant and people, meaning he wronged them, or encroached upon them, or took their rights. Along with these three conditions, the fourth condition is to return the injustices to their owners and ask them for forgiveness. He asks them for forgiveness, because the rights of creation are not dropped except by returning them to them or their forgiveness in them. Yes.