Previous sins such as zina, drinking intoxicants, breaking the fast in Ramadan, and praying outside their prescribed times, among others: is repentance from them sufficient, or are there expiations for them?

The questioner : Regarding the expiation for previous sins, such as breaking the fast in ... Ramadan, drinking intoxicants, and zina, among others: does repentance wipe out what came before, or is an expiation required?

The Shaykh : All these sins that you mentioned have no expiation except sincere repentance. This includes breaking the fast in Ramadan, although some scholars make it obligatory to make up the fast for the one who broke it in Ramadan, just as they make it obligatory to make up prayers for the one who neglected them. I cannot imagine a person who breaks the fast in Ramadan yet maintains the prayers; the two matters are linked, one with the other. So, one who does not fast in Ramadan does not pray, naturally. However, there is no evidence in the Shari'ah for the one who intentionally broke the fast in Ramadan or intentionally delayed one of the five prayers from its time. There is nothing in the Shari'ah that obligates him to make up the months of Ramadan he missed or the past prayers he missed. But we advise everyone who was ever afflicted with committing such sins of two things: The first is that he should cover himself and not announce his previous actions after Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, has granted him repentance. The other thing we advise these repentant people is that their repentance should be sincere. And for it to be accepted by Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, the following conditions must be present in his repentance—peace be upon you, and Allah's mercy and blessings—the first condition: that he regrets what has passed, that he regrets the harms that came from him, and that he resolves not to return to it, and that he increases in righteous deeds, because these righteous deeds are what will compensate him for the rewards and good deeds he missed. It is not making up what was missed, for making up what was missed is not accepted by Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. And we must know that the one who prays the prayer after its time is like the one who prays it before its time, because the one who fasts Ramadan in a month other than Ramadan, his fasting does not count as either obligatory or voluntary, because Ramadan is the month that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, obligated upon people to fast. So, whoever fasts the month of Ramadan in Shawwal or in other months of the year has legislated for himself, from himself, a law for which Allah has not sent down any authority. And ... that he should repent to Allah, Mighty and Majestic, from all sins. If he returns to another sin, it may be worse than the previous sin, because the one who did not fast the month of Ramadan is a sinner, whereas the one who legislates something that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has not legislated is committing shirk (associating partners with Allah), as He, the Exalted, said: Therefore, if a month of Ramadan or months of Ramadans have passed for someone, there is no way to make them up except if it was due to illness or ... But if he was wronging himself ... not caring about his sin, then he repented to Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and turned back, then at that time, part of the completion of repentance is to increase in righteous deeds, as He, the Exalted, said: meaning, persist in this guidance to which you finally returned. Similarly, the one who missed many prayers cannot make them up, for what has passed has passed, and what is to come is to come. But we said that he has missed the reward of these prayers ... so he must compensate for what he missed by increasing in voluntary acts. This is what came in the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), in which he said: And he, peace be upon him, said in another hadith: Look to see if he has any voluntary acts to complete his obligatory prayer with. So, if a Muslim has a deficiency in his prayer, whether this deficiency is in quality or quantity—whether it is quantity, meaning some prayers were missed and lost, or he did not miss any prayers but he does not know how to pray, does not know how to perform it in the manner commanded by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)—then his prayer in this case is deficient. So, to compensate for this qualitative or quantitative deficiency, he must increase in voluntary acts. He must increase in fasting other than Ramadan after he has repented and turned back. Naturally, he must maintain the fast of Ramadan with all its days, and he must maintain all the prayers in their times and in congregation. And he should not be content with this, but he must add to that voluntary fasting or prayer to complete for him that deficiency that occurred in his fasting or in his prayer, whether, as we said earlier, the deficiency was in quantity or in quality. The deficiency in quantity is clear, but the deficiency in quality needs some explanation. So, when our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, mentioned the obligation of fasting, He, Blessed and Exalted is He, said: meaning, one of the wisdoms of legislating fasting is that these fasting people may increase in taqwa (mindfulness of Allah) to Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, and in turning back to Him. So, if the fasting person fasts and his state does not change from what it was before fasting, then this fasting is deficient, without doubt. Because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to say, as in Sahih al-Bukhari: Similarly, he said regarding prayer. He, the Exalted, said: So, if a Muslim persists for a long time until he grows old and becomes elderly, and he has not advanced to righteous deeds except this formal, superficial prayer that he prays, then he has not realized in his prayer the previous verse, which is His saying, the Exalted: And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) pointed to this qualitative deficiency that may occur in the prayer of some people when he, peace and blessings be upon him, said: People are in degrees. The best of the degrees is the one who is written half of the prayer. Because the Messenger, peace be upon him, did not mention anything higher than that; he started with one-tenth and ended with one-half. Why? Because prayer is not just recitation, standing, bowing, and prostration like a rigid, automatic machine, but it is a person with a heart. So this heart must be humble in his prayer, due to the saying of Allah, the Exalted, in His Book: And because most people are turned away from and heedless of khushu' (humility) in prayer, therefore, no matter how complete the prayer is in its appearance and form, if its inner reality and the humility of its performer are not present—if he is not humble to Allah, Mighty and Majestic, in it—then this prayer is deficient, even if it is valid in the ruling of the Shari'ah, because he has come with all the pillars and all the obligations, so it is a valid prayer. Similarly, the fasting person who fasted from all the material things that break the fast, but he did not fast from the spiritual things that break the fast, which are sins and disobedience, as I mentioned earlier in the authentic hadith: So, it can be said of him that he fasted and did not fast, like that praying person who prayed with all its pillars and obligations but did not be humble in it to Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. We say that he prayed but did not pray; he prayed a prayer that is acceptable in appearance in the ruling of the Shari'ah that we know, but he did not pray that complete prayer described for the perfect believers in the previous verse, which is His saying, the Exalted: And in summary, in answer to that question, that repentant person must combine the previous conditions: that he regrets what has passed, that he resolves not to return, and that he increases in righteous deeds. And among that is increasing in voluntary acts and making up the obligatory acts he neglected, whether they were fasting or prayer or otherwise. It is clear, and this is the end of the answer.
Another questioner: Even if the repentant person knows the number of days he fasted ...?

The Shaykh : Even if he knows, because the issue is not one of knowing or not knowing; the issue is that he prays the prayer or fasts the month in a month other than its time.
Another questioner: Even if the reason for breaking the fast was intercourse.