5 Conditions of Sincere Repentance to Allaah

In the Name of Allaah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.

There are five conditions of repentance, which are as follows: 

1 – Being sincere towards Allah in repentance, i.e., the motive for repentance should not be a desire to show off, or fear of another person, or the hope for some worldly gain to be made by repenting. If a person’s repentance is sincerely for the sake of Allah alone, and the motive for it is fear of Allah and fear of His punishment and hope for His reward, then it is sincerely for Allah alone. 

2 – He must regret what he has done of sin, by feeling remorse and sorrow for what has happened in the past, and he should regard it as a serious matter that he has to give up. 

3 – He must give up the sin and stop persisting in it. If his sin was omission of an obligatory duty, he must start doing it and make it up if he can. If his sin was commission of a forbidden action he must give it up and keep away from it. If his sin had to do with other people, then he must restore their rights to them or ask for their pardon. 

4 – He must resolve not to go back to it in the future, by having the determination in his heart not to go back to the sin from which he has repented. 

5 – His repentance must come at the time when it will be accepted. If it comes after that time it will not be accepted. The time of acceptance is general and specific.  

The general time is when the sun rises from the west; repentance that comes after the sun rises from the west will not be accepted, because Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

“The day that some of the signs of your Lord do come, no good will it do to a person to believe then, if he believed not before, nor earned good (by performing deeds of righteousness) through his faith. Say: Wait you! We (too) are waiting.” [6:158] 

The specific time is when death is imminent. When death is imminent repentance will be of no benefit, because Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

“And of no effect is the repentance of those who continue to do evil deeds until death faces one of them and he says: ‘Now I repent;’ nor of those who die while they are disbelievers.” [4:18] 

[REF: IslamQA.info – 42505]