Allah the Exalted said: << فأما من تاب وءامن وعمل صالحا فعسى أن يكون من المفلحين >

He said: It is a conditional, and its answer is His saying: His saying: We have previously explained that repentance is returning to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) from His disobedience to His obedience, and that it has five conditions: regret, ceasing the sin, resolving not to return to it, that it be before death, and before the sun rises from the west. Yes?
The student: And sincerity.

The Shaykh : And sincerity, and that it be in a time in which it is possible, namely before death, before the sun rises from the west. And his saying: "from shirk" perhaps the author required that he qualify the repentance here as repentance from shirk in his saying: because faith after shirk [is possible], for the sinner is a believer even if he is a sinner. This is what required the author to qualify the repentance from shirk. And his saying: "he believed in the oneness of Allah" this is a deficiency in his explanation of faith, because faith in the Shari'ah is not merely affirmation. It is true that in the language, faith means affirmation, but in the Shari'ah it is: affirmation with the condition that it includes acceptance and submission. So acceptance and submission are necessary, otherwise one is not a believer who is affirmed as such. For example, Abu Talib affirmed the message of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and yet he was a disbeliever, because he did not accept and did not submit. And the author's saying: "he believed in the oneness of Allah" also has a deficiency, because faith is not that you affirm the oneness of Allah, but that you affirm everything that must be believed in. And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) explained that faith is to believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and the divine decree, its good and its evil. So these six pillars of faith are necessary. And his saying:

and did a righteous deed

وعمل صالحا

The author said: "he performed the obligatory acts" and in this there is also a shortcoming, for the intended meaning is: he did a righteous deed, meaning he performed a righteous deed that includes the obligatory acts and the voluntary ones. And the righteous deed is that which combines two things: sincerity and following [the Prophet], due to His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He):

And they were not commanded except to worship Allah, [being] sincere to Him in religion, inclining to truth

وَمَا أُمِرُوا إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ الدِّينَ حُنَفَاءَ

[al-Bayyinah:5]

sincere to Him in religion

مخلصين له الدين

this is the sincerity, and

inclining to truth

حنفاء

this is the following, because the one who is Hanif is not one who deviates, so whoever departs from following is one who deviates. So the righteous deed, then, is every deed that includes sincerity and following. Its opposite is the defective deed, which is that which includes shirk or bid'ah, so this is not a righteous deed. Whoever gathers these three descriptions

Perhaps he will be among the successful

فعسى أن يكون من المفلحين

then perhaps

perhaps

عسى

"perhaps" is from the verbs of hope, but with regard to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), it is not for hope but for causation. For this reason, Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) said:

"Perhaps" from Allah is obligatory

عسى من الله واجبة

So the cause of success is repentance, faith, and righteous deeds. If these are found, success is found.

Perhaps he will be

فعسى أن يكون

that he be—namely, the one who repented, believed, and did righteous deeds—among the successful. The author said: "the saved by the promise of Allah," meaning the saved by the promise of Allah, namely by what Allah promised them. But success is not, as the author said, merely salvation; rather, it is salvation from what is feared and attaining what is desired. This is success: that a person be saved from what he flees from and obtain what he loves. And his saying: if we said that it is for hope, for example, it would include a benefit, which is that a person, even if he performs this deed, should be hopeful, not certain. Let him be hopeful for success, not certain of it, because he does not know; there may be obstacles or defects that prevent success from occurring. If we say that the verses guide, and if we say that is for hope... for hope with regard to the doer, not with regard to the determiner, then the benefit of it being for hope is that a person, even if he acts, should not be certain, but should be hopeful. Allah the Exalted said: [al-Mu'minun:60] So here the situation is not one of certainty, but one of hope, so let him be hopeful. Yes.