Is One’s Repentance Valid If They Believe They Will Succumb to That Sin Again?
Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch
Question
Is one’s repentance valid if they believe they will succumb to that sin again?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.
The conditions for one’s repentance to be sound are as follows:
- One must be sincerely remorseful;
- One must cease doing the sin;
- One must resolve never to return to that sin. [Nawawi, Riyadh al-Salihin]
Regarding the last condition, resolving never to commit a sin means that one will try their utmost never to do that sin again.
If one does not believe they will fulfill that resolve, it does not nullify that condition – as long as they are dedicated to trying.
If one does end up returning to that sin, their initial repentance is valid, but a new repentance is required for the new sin.
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Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Yusuf Weltch teaches Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he completed four years at the Darul Uloom Seminary in New York, where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences.
He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he studied for three years in Dar al-Mustafa under some of the most outstanding scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib.
In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Quran and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Quranic exegesis, Islamic history, and several texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.
