Previous sins such as unlawful sexual intercourse, drinking intoxicants, breaking the fast in Ramadan, and delaying the prayer beyond its time, among others; is repentance from them sufficient?

The questioner : ... Regarding the repentant, it is assumed that the expiation for previous sins, such as breaking the fast during the day of ... Ramadan, drinking intoxicants, and unlawful sexual intercourse, 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, except that 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 the prayers for the one who neglected them. I cannot imagine a person who breaks the fast in Ramadan but maintains the prayers; the two matters are linked, one with the other. So, the 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 owes, or the past prayers he owes. But we advise everyone who was ever afflicted with committing such sins with two things:
The first thing: that he should cover up his own faults, and not announce his previous actions after Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) has granted him repentance.
And the other thing—which we advise these repentant people—that their repentance be sincere repentance, so that it is accepted by Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). It will not be so unless the following conditions are met in his repentance—peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you:
The first condition is that he regrets what has passed, that he regrets the harms that came from him, and that he resolves not to return to them, 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 has passed, for making up what has passed 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 is not valid, neither as an obligation nor as a voluntary act; because the month of 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 any other month of the year, he has legislated for himself—from himself—a law for which Allah has not sent down any authority—and peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you—and 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, but the one who legislates something that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has not legislated, that is shirk (associating partners with Allah), as He (Mighty and Majestic) 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 ... And as for the one who was a transgressor against 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 he finally returned.
Likewise, the one who missed many prayers, he is not able to make them up. What has passed has passed, and what is coming is coming. But we said that he missed the reward of these prayers ...—and peace be upon you—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, does he have any voluntary prayer? Then complete his obligatory prayer with it."
So, if a Muslim has a deficiency in his prayer, whether this deficiency is in quantity or quality. Whether it is in quantity, meaning: he missed some prayers and they were lost, or he did not miss any prayers, but he does not know how to pray, he 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, in order to compensate for this qualitative or quantitative deficiency, he must increase in voluntary acts. Let him increase in fasting other than the month of Ramadan. After he has repented and turned back, he must, of course, maintain the fast of Ramadan with all its days. He must also 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.
Our Lord (Mighty and Majestic), when He mentioned the obligation of fasting, said (Blessed and Exalted is He): meaning: that the wisdom of legislating fasting is that perhaps these fasting people will increase in taqwa (mindfulness of Allah) (Blessed and Exalted is He) and 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": , . Likewise, he said regarding the prayer. He (Mighty and Majestic) said: . So, if a Muslim persists for a long time until he grows old—and peace be upon you—and becomes elderly, and he has not advanced to righteous work 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 for him 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 half; why? Because the 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 humbled by its owner in his prayer, due to the saying of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) 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, it will be deficient in its inner reality and the humility of its owner if he is not humble to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in it. So 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. Likewise, 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 transgressions—as I mentioned earlier in the authentic hadith: . So, it can be said of him that he fasted and did not fast. Just as the praying person who prayed with all its pillars and obligations but did not be humble to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) in it, we say: he prayed but he did not pray. He prayed a visible prayer that is acceptable in the ruling of the Shari'ah that we know, but he did not pray that complete prayer with which the perfect believers were described in the previous verse, which is His saying (Mighty and Majestic): .
And in summary—answering that question—that the 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 that he neglected, whether they were fasting or prayer or otherwise. And this is the end of the answer.

Another questioner : Even if the repentant person knows, O Shaykh, the number of days he broke the fast?

The Shaykh : Even if he knows; because the issue is not an issue of knowing or not knowing. The issue is that he prays the prayer or fasts the month in a month other than its month.