make up the zakah (obligatory alms) he has missed in the past. If he has fallen short in honoring his parents, he must now give them their due; if he has been negligent in maintaining family ties, he is required to restore those ties.

Should the sin consist of a prohibited act, he must abandon it immediately—without lingering over it for so much as a single moment.

Thus, if the wrongdoing is dealing in riba (usurious interest), he is duty-bound to rid himself of it at once: by giving it up, distancing himself from it entirely, and disposing of any profit earned through it. If the sin is cheating, lying to people, or betraying a trust, he must return the property to its rightful owner or seek that person’s pardon. If it is ghibah (backbiting), he must cease speaking about people’s honor altogether. To claim repentance while obstinately neglecting an obligation or persisting in a forbidden act is no repentance at all; rather, it is tantamount to mocking Allah. How can you seek Allah’s forgiveness while you remain intent on disobeying Him?

Picture dealing with another human being: you say, “I repent, I regret what I have done, and I shall never repeat it,” yet in your heart you plan to do it again—and then you do. That would be making a mockery of the man; how much graver is it to mock Allah, Lord of all worlds?

A person is truly repentant only when he abandons the sin itself.

What is astonishing is that you may sit with someone who moans about the spread of riba while he himself is involved in it—may Allah protect us—or who laments backbiting and the devouring of people’s honor