What is the ruling on a man who repeatedly commits sins and repeatedly repents?

The questioner: A continuation of the discussion on repentance.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner: If you could be brief—may Allah bless you—the second and third points are that a person repeats his repentance and repeats falling into sin.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner: Sometimes this way, sometimes that way; so what can be said about such a person and this...?

The Shaykh: Here we can say that one who breaks his repentance is in one of two states:
Either his previous repentance was not a sincere repentance, in which case he has not broken his repentance because there was no repentance to begin with.

The questioner: He is a persistent sinner, still as he was.

The Shaykh: He remains as he is, but they used to say in our region in Syria: "the cat's repentance," meaning you chase it away, but as soon as it sees the target, it runs to it, and so on. Either his case is like this, or he truly repented to Allah and turned back, but his soul, which incites to evil, overpowered him, and this can happen. In this case, we say: as long as his previous repentance was a sincere repentance, his breaking it does not invalidate it for him; rather, he must pursue himself with another repentance, and so on.
And this actually reminds me of a doubt we hear from some unruly, non-committal young men, for example one who abandons prayer. When you advise him, he says to you: "My brother, there are two things you should not approach: shirk (associating partners with Allah) and harming people. And I have not harmed anyone, not by cheating, not by hurting, not by... and so on." Do you see how well-organized his state is? The fact that he does not pray for Allah, he does not count it as a big deal. The important thing is he says to you: "Hey, so-and-so, my brother, prays and does such and such, steals, commits zina (unlawful sexual intercourse), and cheats, and so on." What does this statement mean? We put him on the spot and say to him: "You have taken the person who contradicts you in your morals. Your morals—as you say—are good, and Zayd among the people prays but his morals are bad. What do you think? Let's make an exchange: you take his prayer and complete your good morals with your prayer, and he takes your morals and adopts your steps, so his morals become good, and his prayer is already there. Do you think it is better for you to remain as you are and him as he is, or for there to be a person whose morals are righteous and who fulfills his obligations toward his Lord as they should be? Is this not the best? Without a doubt, this is better. Moreover, there is another thing: you do not pray, and he prays; , and in the hadiths, prayer is a very great matter, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in "Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim": . They said: "No, O Messenger of Allah." He said: ; so you do not perform the means of purification, while that criminal, as you call him, is actually engaging in the means of purification and sterilization. So your state is worse than his. This is what I wanted to clarify, which is what we were discussing.
A person repents with a sincere repentance, then relapses, then repents, then relapses; until when? By Allah, the best thing is for him to do what? An open sinner, do you think this is better or the one who repents with a sincere repentance, then his soul overpowers him, then he repents with such a sincere repentance, then his soul overpowers him, and so on? This is better than the one who no longer repents to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). And here it is good to remind you of a hadith for two reasons: First: because it is not authentic with his repentance. Second: because its meaning is correct, like the hadith: . We said: this is not established from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), but its meaning is correct. There is one who did not persist. From what?

Another questioner : .

The Shaykh : .

Another questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh: The important thing is if a person repents and his soul overpowers him, he must overpower his soul by returning and repenting to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and seeking His forgiveness; because repentance erases the sin. Therefore, we do not find among some of the Companions—I think that Companion at the time of the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah was Abu Muhajir, Abu Muhajir, a mujahid in the cause of Allah and a hero among heroes—and I want to remind some of the brothers not to forget to eat with the left hand, change to eat with the right hand; because it is not permissible to eat with the left hand, but with the right hand—this man Abu Muhajir was fighting like a hero in the expedition or the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah. Nevertheless, it reached the commander, who was Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, that he was drinking khamr (intoxicants), so he took him and flogged him once, twice, and three times, until what? He was shackled and bound with chains, and the battle was at its most intense between the Muslims and the Persians, and he was burning with desire to strive in the cause of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). So he sought intercession with Sa'd's wife, I think she released his bonds, and he was... that the Muslims were being killed, may Allah will it, and he was a prisoner there. So she released him, and he mounted a horse and went to strive... After that, he returned to where he had been in prison, so the commander pardoned him; because he noticed that he was overcome by his affair when he returned to drinking khamr; as long as he was striving this striving in the cause of Allah (Mighty and Majestic).
So, the one who breaks his repentance, if he truly repented, this is better than the one who does not repent, and it may be that he did not repent in reality.
What remains finally?