Repentance Many Times
Fatwa No: 84677

Question

How many times can I repent after committing sins?

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Whenever a person commits a sin and then repents fulfilling the conditions of a sincere repentance, such as feeling deep sorrow for what one has committed, taking a firm decision not to return to such an evil, and giving up the sin, then if all the above conditions are met, the repentance is valid. Otherwise, it is not valid. If he returns to a sin and then makes repentance fulfilling the above conditions, then his repentance is valid and so on. Allah Says (what means): {And He it is Who accepts repentance from His slaves, and forgives sins.} [Quran 42: 25]

Ibn ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the Prophet said: “Allah accepts the repentance of a slave as long as he is not facing the agony of death.” [Al-Tirmithi who graded it as Hasan]

Besides, Abu Hurayrah narrated that the Prophet said: “A slave committed a sin and then said, 'O my Lord! I have sinned, please forgive me!' so Almighty Allah said, 'My slave committed a sin and he knows that he has a Lord Who forgives sins and punishes because of them.' Then he (the slave) again committed another sin and said, 'O my Lord, I have committed another sin, please forgive me,' and Allah said, 'My slave committed a sin and he knows that he has a Lord Who forgives sins and punishes because of them.' Then he committed another sin again (for the third time) and said, 'O my Lord, I have committed another sin, please forgive me,' and Allah said, 'My slave committed a sin and he knows that he has a Lord Who forgives sins and punishes because of them; I therefore have forgiven My slave (his sins), he can do whatever he likes.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

The Hadeeth means that as long as a person sincerely repents and fulfills all the conditions of sincere repentance, while there are no impediments that prevent it from being accepted, then his repentance is valid.

However, a person should know that the way to avoid committing sin is to be away from Satan's enticement.

Allah Says (what means): {O you who have believed, do not follow the footsteps of Satan. And whoever follows the footsteps of Satan - indeed, he enjoins immorality and wrongdoing.} [Quran 24: 21]

Moreover, one should avoid befriending evil people or visiting bad places; rather, he should become busy with the worship of Allah and perform good deeds that are useful in this life and the Hereafter, and keep company with righteous and pious people.

Notice that every repentance should be made sincerely fulfilling the above conditions; otherwise, it would be playing with the Sharee’ah.

Allah knows best.

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