Fatwa ID: 02013

Answered by Maulana Muhammad Adnan

Question:

Salam alaykum,
If Allah punishes someone in this life with woes and griefs because of his sins. Can He removed from him these griefs and woes while this person continues to make the same sins and did not repent for them ? Thank you for your answer.

Answer:

Imaam An-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in Riyaad us Saaliheen under the conditions of tawbah: 

Repentance is essential from every sin, even if it is something between a person and Allaah and has nothing to do with the rights of another person. There are three conditions of repentance:

1-     You should give up the sin

2-     You should regret having done it

3-     You should resolve never to go back to it.

If one of these three is missing, then your repentance is not sincere. If the sin has to do with the rights of another person, then there are four conditions: the three mentioned above and restoring the rights of that person. If it is money or property, etc, it must be returned to him; if it had to do with slandering him etc, then you should allow him to insult him in return, or ask for his forgiveness; if it had to do with backbiting about him, then you have to ask for his pardon. It is essential to repent from all sins; if a person repents from some, his repentance from the sins from which he repented is valid – according to the scholars who follow the right path – but he must still repent from the rest as well.

And Allah Ta'ala knows best

Written by Maulana Muhammad Adnan

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham