Continuation of the explanation of the statement of Imam al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) regarding what he quoted: "."

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets and the Imam of the Pious, and upon his family and his Companions, and those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment. As for what follows:
We have previously mentioned the conditions of repentance, and that they are five: sincerity for Allah, regret for committing the sin, and abandoning it. Abandoning it means leaving the forbidden if the sin was committing a forbidden act, and performing the obligatory if the sin was leaving an obligatory act. Abandoning the sin: either it is abandoning a sin that pertains to the right of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), in which case it is sufficient to repent between you and your Lord. It is not permissible, indeed we may say: it is not permissible, to inform people of what you did of the forbidden or what you left of the obligatory, because this is between you and Allah. If Allah has bestowed upon you the favor of concealing it and concealed it from the people, do not inform anyone of what you did when you repent to Allah. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . And among the acts of openly committing sins is for a person to commit a sin, as came in the hadith, that he commits the sin and then in the morning informs people of it, saying: I did such and such, and so on. However, some scholars said: if a person commits a sin that carries a hadd, there is no harm in going to the imam who enforces the hadd, such as the ruler, and saying: I committed such and such a sin, and I want to purify myself from it. Nevertheless, the best is to conceal it from oneself; this is the best. That is, it is permissible for him to go to the one in authority if he commits a sin that carries a hadd, such as zina, for example, and say: I did such and such, seeking the enforcement of the hadd upon him, because the hadd is an expiation for the sin. As for the other sins, conceal them from yourself, as Allah concealed them. Likewise, zina and its like, conceal it from yourself regarding anyone other than the one in authority. Do not expose yourself as long as you have repented between you and Allah, for Allah the Exalted accepts repentance from His servants and forgives sins.
As for when the sin is between you and the creation: if it is money, you must deliver it to its owner, and repentance is not accepted except by delivering it. For example, if you stole money from a person and repented from it, you must deliver the stolen money to the one from whom it was stolen. If you denied a right of a person, meaning you had a debt in your trust to a person and denied it, then repented, you must go to the owner of the debt that you denied and acknowledge it and confess until he takes his right. If he has died, you give it to his heirs. If you do not know them, or if this man is absent from you and you do not know his location, give it in charity on his behalf, give it in charity on his behalf to be rid of it. Allah, Glorified and Exalted, knows it and will give it to him and deliver it to him. As for if the sin you committed with people was a beating or something similar, go to him and enable him to beat you as you beat him. If it was on the back, then on the back; if it was on the head, then on the head; wherever you hit him, let him take retaliation from you. By the saying of Allah the Exalted: and by His saying: . This is two. And if it was by speech, harm by speech, such as if you insulted him in front of people and rebuked him and shamed him, you must go to him and seek his pardon for what you agree upon with him. Even if he says: I do not permit you except for such and such amount of money, give it to him.
The fourth: that the right is backbiting, meaning: you spoke about him in his absence and defamed him among the people while he was absent. The scholars differed on this. Some said: you must go to him and say to him: O so-and-so, I spoke about you among the people, so I ask you to be lenient with me and forgive me. And some scholars said: No, do not go to him, but there is a detail: if he has become aware of this backbiting, you must go to him and seek his pardon. If he has not become aware, do not go to him, but seek forgiveness for him and mention his good qualities in the gatherings where you used to backbite him, for good deeds erase bad deeds. And this opinion is more correct, which is that if the owner of the backbiting has not become aware that you backbit him, it is sufficient to mention his good qualities in the gatherings where you backbit him, and to seek forgiveness for him. Say: O Allah, forgive him, as came in the hadith: . So in repentance, it is necessary that the rights be delivered to their owners.
As for the fourth condition: it is the resolve not to return to it in the future. Among the conditions of repentance is that you resolve that you will not return to this act in the future. If you intend to return to it when the opportunity arises, then the repentance is not valid. For example, a man, may Allah protect us, used to use money to commit sins against Allah, buying intoxicants with it, going to countries to commit zina, may Allah protect us, and to get drunk, and he was afflicted with poverty and became poor. He said: O Allah, I repent to You, and he is a liar, saying: I repent to You, but in his intention, if things return to their original course, he will do his first act. This is the repentance of the incapable. This is whether you repented or not, you are not capable, because there are some people who are afflicted with poverty and say: I have left the sins, but in his heart, his heart tells him that if he returned to what he lacked, he would return to the sin a second time. So his repentance is not accepted, because it is the repentance of the incapable, and the repentance of the incapable does not benefit him. And the fifth condition remains, we will speak about it, if Allah wills, in the next lesson.
The reader: Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and prayers and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
He said -may Allah have mercy on him-: "And one must repent from all sins. If one repents from some of them, his repentance is valid according to the people of truth regarding that sin, and the rest remains upon him."
And the proofs of the Book and the Sunnah and the consensus of the Ummah have converged on the obligation of repentance. Allah the Exalted said:

And turn to Allah in repentance, all of you, O believers, that you might succeed.

وتوبوا إلى الله جميعا أيه المؤمنون لعلكم تفلحون

[An-Nur 24:31]

, and He said the Exalted:

Seek forgiveness of your Lord and repent to Him

استغفروا ربكم ثم توبوا إليه

[Hud 11:3]

, and He said the Exalted:

O you who have believed, repent to Allah with sincere repentance.

يا أيها الذين آمنوا توبوا إلى الله توبة نصوحا

[At-Tahrim 66:8]

".

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:
We have previously spoken about the conditions of repentance, and that a person must repent to Allah, Glorified and Exalted, from every sin according to the conditions that preceded, and which were four: sincerity for Allah, regret for what was done, abandoning it, and the resolve not to return to it.
As for the fifth condition: it is that one repents in a time in which repentance is accepted. If one repents in a time in which repentance is not accepted, the repentance does not benefit him. And this is of two types: the first type is with regard to each person according to his case, and the second type is with regard to the general.
As for the first: it is necessary that the repentance be before the arrival of the term, before the arrival of the term means death. If it is after the arrival of the term, then the repentance does not benefit the one who repents, by the saying of Allah the Exalted: : these do not have repentance. And He said the Exalted: : so when a person witnesses death and his term arrives, this means that he has despaired of life, so his repentance is not in its place, after he has despaired of life and known that he has no remaining life, he goes and repents. This is the repentance of necessity, so it does not benefit him and is not accepted from him. It must be that the repentance precedes. As for the second type, which is the general, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed: : so when the sun rises from the west, the repentance of no one will benefit. Allah the Exalted said: : and this part is the rising of the sun from the west, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) interpreted it.
So it is necessary that the repentance be in a time in which repentance is accepted. If it is not so, there is no repentance for the person.
Then the scholars, may Allah have mercy on them, differed: is repentance accepted from a sin while persisting in another, or not?
In this, there are three opinions from the people of knowledge: some said: the repentance from the sin is valid even if he is persisting in another sin, so his repentance is accepted from this sin, and the sin remains upon him in the other sin, in all cases.
And some said: repentance is not accepted from a sin while persisting in another sin.
Some of them distinguished and said: If the sin he is persisting in is of the same type as the sin he repented from, then his repentance is not accepted; otherwise, it is accepted. For example, a man repented from riba (usury or interest) but he commits zina (unlawful sexual intercourse), may Allah protect us, or he drinks khamr (intoxicants). Let us say he drinks khamr. He repented from riba but he is persisting in drinking khamr. Here, some scholars said: His repentance from riba is not accepted. How can he be a repentant person to Allah while he is persisting in his disobedience?
Some scholars said: Rather, it is accepted, because riba is one thing and drinking khamr is another. This is the position the author (may Allah have mercy on him) followed, and he said: Repentance from a sin is accepted while persisting in another, according to the people of truth. So there is disagreement in this matter: some say it is accepted, and some say it is not accepted.
As for when it is of the same type, such as a person, may Allah protect us, being afflicted with zina, and also being afflicted with looking at women and gazing at them with desire, and the like, is his repentance from zina accepted while he is persisting in looking at women for desire, or vice versa? There is also disagreement in this matter. Some say it is valid, and some say the repentance is not valid. But the correct view in this issue is that repentance is valid; that repentance from a sin is valid while persisting in another. However, the person is not given the title of "repentant" in an absolute sense, nor does he deserve the praise given to those who repent, because this person has not repented a complete repentance. He has repented an incomplete repentance. He repented from this sin, so the sin of this sin is lifted from him, but he does not deserve to be described as repentant in an absolute sense. Rather, it is said: His repentance is incomplete and deficient. This is the view that the soul finds peace in: that he is not given the description in an absolute sense, but he is not deprived of the repentance he repented with from this sin. And Allah is the One who grants success.