It is obligatory and necessary for a person to repent from all major and minor sins. However, if someone persists in committing sins but repents from a specific sin, then God willing, their repentance will be accepted regarding that particular sin, even if they continue to commit other sins. For example, if someone repents from usury but continues to drink alcohol and is persistent in usury, then their repentance regarding usury will be accepted. But if they are repenting from one type of usury while continuing to engage in another type or category of usury, or if they repent from one sin but start committing other similar sins, then their repentance will not be accepted.

In summary, specific repentance for each sin is what is obligatory and necessary in relation to that sin. Its connection with other sins is not relevant; that’s why scholars call this “specific repentance.” The ruling is that repentance is valid provided that one’s state of faith remains intact. One necessary point is that since sin is of a specific nature, repentance must also be from that specific nature.

Similarly, it is obligatory for a person that when they repent from any sin, they should also try to stay away from other similar sins that might come their way. This is because one sin leads to another and sometimes another sin becomes the cause of the first sin, just as sometimes evil companions cause other evils.