Continuing the exegesis of Surat al-Hujurat, verse (12), and the discussion on repentance.

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment.
As for what follows:
So, we begin this year, 1417, in this gathering called "The Open Door," which takes place every Thursday of every week. And this Thursday is the fifth day, yes, it is the fifth day of the month of Muharram 1417, the fifth according to the legitimate sighting. Yes, we ask Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, to make it a year of good and blessing for us and for the Muslims, and to record therein honor, dignity, victory, and support for His believing servants.
We had reached in the exegesis the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He: Taqwa (mindfulness of Allah) is frequently commanded in the Noble Qur'an, and likewise in the Sunnah. What is the taqwa that is frequently mentioned in the Book of Allah and on the tongue of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)? It is a great word. It means protection from the punishment of Allah. By what is the protection from the punishment of Allah? The protection from the punishment of Allah is by two things:
The first thing: complying with the commands of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. That is, the one who speaks, the person, when he hears the command of Allah, says: This is the saying of the believers. Allah the Exalted said: So let there be no hesitation in your heart. Do not say: Why was such and such commanded? Say: Do not say: What is the difference between such and such? Meaning, why does Allah command such and such and not command such and such? For example, regarding the meat of camels, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded us to perform wudu' (ablution) from eating it. Therefore, eating camel meat invalidates the wudu' according to the stronger opinion among the scholars. So do not say: Why do we command wudu' from eating camel meat and not from eating cow meat, even though both are called "badanah" (a type of camel)? Do not say this.
The menstruating woman is commanded to make up the fast but not commanded to make up the prayer. Do not say: Why is she commanded to make up the fast and not the prayer? On the path of doubt. But say:
The second thing by which taqwa is realized: avoiding what Allah has forbidden. If Allah forbids something, say: and we avoided it. Do not say: Why? And reflect on the saying of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, regarding intoxicants, gambling, and the division of spoils, where He said: Look, meaning: After this detail and clarification, will you stop or not? And this interrogative is in the meaning of a command, meaning: So stop. Therefore, the Companions said: We have stopped, we have stopped. So taqwa is realized by what? By two things. The first:
The first: complying with the command of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, without hesitation.
And the second: avoiding the prohibition of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, without hesitation. Say: This is the saying of the believers.
Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says: These are two names of Allah. The first is al-Tawwab (the One who repeatedly accepts repentance) and the second is al-Rahim (the Merciful). Al-Tawwab here is a form of exaggeration, and the active participle from "taba" (to repent) is "tawwab." Al-Tawwab means the abundance of repentance, and He, Mighty and Majestic, is described with this attribute. And the reason the Lord, Mighty and Majestic, is abundant in repentance is because the servants are many. This is one reason.
And because the sins that a person commits are many. How many sins does a person commit and Allah repents to him? Therefore, He named Himself al-Tawwab. What is repentance? Repentance from the servant is that he transitions from the disobedience of Allah to His obedience.
And repentance from Allah is that Allah accepts from the servant, replacing his bad deeds with good deeds. So what is repentance from the servant? What is it?

The questioner : The transition.

The Shaykh : From what?

The questioner : From disobedience to obedience.

The Shaykh : Returning from disobedience to obedience. And repentance from Allah is the acceptance of this repentance from the servant and replacing his bad deeds with good deeds, as Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, said: until He said: And repentance from Allah may also be applied to His guiding the servant to repentance. So Allah, the Exalted, has two types of repentance for the servant: repentance in the sense of guiding to repentance, and repentance in the sense of accepting repentance. What is the evidence for this? The evidence is the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He: Read what comes after it: Meaning: He guided them to repentance, so they repented.
As for the other repentance, which is the acceptance of the servant's repentance, it is like the saying of Allah the Exalted: The servant's repentance requires conditions, for not every repentance is accepted. It is necessary, my brothers, for conditions:
The first: sincerity of intention.
And the second: regret for the sin, and the breaking of the heart, and its shame before Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and that the person feels that he is a sinner who needs repentance and a blessing from Allah, Mighty and Majestic.
The third: ceasing from the disobedience, either by performing the obligatory and making it up if possible, or by ceasing from the forbidden.
And the fourth: the resolve not to return to the sin again. If he ceases from it and regrets it, but in his intention he is that whenever the opportunity arises, he will return to the sin, then his repentance is not accepted.
The fifth condition: that it be in the time in which repentance is accepted, because repentance has a time in which it is accepted no matter how much the servant repents. And the time in which it is not accepted is of two types: specific.
And general. As for the specific, it is the arrival of the term. When death approaches, there is no acceptance of repentance no matter what. The evidence for that is the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He: O Abd al-Rahman, complete it. Yes, This is one for whom there is no repentance after he has seen and witnessed the punishment. He says: I repent. Do the limits (punishments) in this world benefit if a person is subjected to them and repents after being subjected to them? Does the limit (punishment) be lifted from him? No.
Because of His saying: Likewise, if a person is approached by death and sees and witnesses it, repentance does not benefit him, due to the noble verse, which is in Surat al-Nisa. And this actually happened when Pharaoh repented after drowning overtook him. Allah the Exalted said: What was said to him? Ah.

The questioner : He said: Now I believe, now, while I used to disbelieve.

The Shaykh : .

The questioner : .

The Shaykh : It was said to him: Meaning: Do you believe now in what the Children of Israel believed in? This does not benefit.
The second: the general time, which is for the general people, if it occurs or comes, then repentance is not accepted. And that is when the sun rises from the west. The sun now revolves since Allah, Mighty and Majestic, created it, coming from the east and setting in the west. If Allah the Exalted wills the end of the world, the situation is reversed, and the sun comes from the west. And when people see it, they all believe, because they know that this universe has a Manager. Otherwise, who can bring the sun from the west? Can anyone do it? No. Therefore, Ibrahim said to the one who debated with him: But if all people see the sun, after it has set, return from the west, they will believe. But is this belief compelled or voluntary? Ha, compelled, because they witnessed it. Therefore, Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said: And the meaning of "some of the signs" here is the rising of the sun from the west. So repentance requires five conditions. Brother:
The first: regret for committing the disobedience. Complete. And the second:

The questioner : Sincerity of intention for Allah, Mighty and Majestic.

The Shaykh : Sincerity of intention for Allah, Mighty and Majestic, by not intending by the repentance to attain a rank or to attain prestige or to be praised by people. For example, a person known for open sinfulness and dissolution announces a position as an imam of a mosque, and it is known that he will not be employed as an imam of a mosque unless he is what? Straight. He became straight for what? To be an imam in the mosque. This repentance does not benefit him because he did not make his intention sincere for Allah.
The third condition: not the one before the resolve, the stage of ceasing from the sin, and that is by performing the obligatory if it can be made up, or its substitute if it cannot be made up and it has a substitute, or ceasing from the forbidden if the sin was actually forbidden.
Now, if the sin is a right belonging to a person, such as when someone steals money from another person—stealing is forbidden—and the man repents, feels remorse, and resolves not to return to it, how is the repentance made complete? He must deliver this money to whom? To its owner. And repentance is not complete except by doing this. If he says, “I am afraid that if I go to this man and give him the money, harm will come to me regarding my reputation, and perhaps I will be imprisoned, and I have already repented to Allah before He could take me,” what is the situation? Is it permissible for him to give it in charity on behalf of its owner? The answer is: No, because its owner is known. But if the owner is unknown, and he says, “By Allah, I stole from people whom I have forgotten or do not know, and I do not know where they are,” then in that case he gives in charity what he stole from them. But if the owner is known, he must, he must deliver it to him. So what does he do? We say: It is possible for him to give it to a person he trusts and say, “O so-and-so, I stole this money from so-and-so, and I have repented and turned to Allah, so please give it to him on my behalf and tell him: ‘This is money from a person who owes it to you, and he is now offering it.’” This is possible if direct delivery is not feasible. He can also send it by mail, stating: “This is money from a person who owes it to you.” In this case, it is known that you will not write your name, is that not so? Also, it is not good to write it in your own handwriting, because perhaps a day will come when it is seen. Write it using a machine that prints, such as a computer or otherwise, and send it to him. This is if the right is financial, a right belonging to a person. But if the right is not financial, such as when a person backbites someone in a gathering or gatherings, how is the repentance from this? Regarding repentance, many scholars said: He must go to him and seek his forgiveness, otherwise he will take from his good deeds on the Day of Resurrection. Go to him and say, “O so-and-so, forgive me.” And some scholars said: It is not obligatory to seek his forgiveness, but rather you seek forgiveness from Allah for him and speak well of him in the gatherings where you used to backbite him, for good deeds erase bad deeds. And there is a hadith: But there is a third opinion, which is a middle path, and it is perhaps the correct one. It says: If the person you backbitten has become aware of it, then you must go to him and seek his forgiveness, because what is in his heart will not be removed until you seek his forgiveness. But if he was not aware, then it is sufficient to seek forgiveness from Allah for him and to speak well of him in the gatherings where you used to backbite him. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. It is incumbent upon the one to whom his brother comes to apologize that he should forgive him. But should he question him and say, “You are now asking me to forgive you, but what did you do to me?” That is, should he question him and see what happened, or should he say, “You are forgiven, and that is it”? It is better not to question him. It is better not to question him, because perhaps he will mention something major, and your companion’s soul will be unable to forgive him, is that not so? Perhaps if he says, “By Allah, forgive me,” the other says, “And what are you doing to me?” He says, “I did such and such and such,” and the thing is major, and his soul refuses to forgive, because the soul is inclined to evil. So it is better, it is better not to ask, not to say, “Yes, what did you do?” and rather to seek the reward from Allah and say, “This person came to apologize, and whoever forgives and makes amends, his reward is with Allah.” And if not for the fact that he is remorseful and repentant, and that it is hoped for in the future that this backbiting will turn into good praise, and he says, “You are forgiven by me,” and his reward is with whom? Answer, everyone: His reward is with Allah. His reward is with Allah. So now, regarding the one whose wrong was not financial, does he go and seek forgiveness or not? How many opinions are there in this issue? Three opinions.
The first is: He must go to him and seek his forgiveness.
The second option is that there is no need for it; rather, he should seek forgiveness for him and speak well of him in the places where he used to backbite him. The third option is the detailed ruling, and this detailed ruling is the choice of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him), and it is the truth. What is it? It is that if the person is aware of it, then it is necessary that you seek his forgiveness until what is in his heart is removed. But if he is not aware, then there is no need to seek his forgiveness. This is with regard to the one who backbites another. As for the one who was backbitten and asked for forgiveness, what we see is that the best and most complete thing is that he should forgive him, because he is his brother who came to him apologizing and repentant, so let him forgive him. And be assured that if he forgives him, it will be a great sin upon the person who sought his forgiveness; he will see, meaning, that he has given him the greatest gift, so the hatred that was there before will turn into what? Love and affection. And this is what is required of Muslims, that some of them should be affectionate and loving toward others, and if...
Allah the Mighty and Majestic says: He is Glorified and Exalted is He, Merciful, and He is the Most Merciful. And these two names have come together in the greatest surah in the Book of Allah. What is it? Al-Fatihah. The scholars said: If al-Rahman is mentioned alone, as in the saying of Allah the Exalted: and as in the saying of Allah the Exalted: or if al-Rahim becomes alone, as in this verse: then their meaning is one. Their meaning is one, meaning that al-Rahim is the One possessing vast, all-encompassing mercy, and al-Rahman, when mentioned alone, is likewise the One possessing vast, all-encompassing mercy. But if they are all gathered together, then al-Rahman is considered in terms of the attribute, and al-Rahim is considered in terms of the action. Pay attention: al-Rahman is considered in terms of what? The attribute, and al-Rahim is considered in terms of the action. This means that He, the Mighty and Majestic, possesses vast mercy, and He is also a Bestower of mercy who sends mercy to whom He wills of His servants, as Allah the Exalted said: I ask Allah the Exalted to include me and you in His mercy, and all our Muslim brothers, and to make us among the callers to good and reform. Indeed, He is Able to do all things. And now, to the questions. Note this for those who are from the people of this country, because the visiting brothers have the right of hospitality, so we start with the right side, from the people of the country. Please, go ahead.

The questioner : Peace be upon you, and Allah’s mercy and blessings.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace and Allah's mercy and blessings.