If a man decides after a life of sinfulness to come to God and promise to reform his life, I understand that Islam says that he will be forgiven and therefore inherit the promises etc.
My question though is what has happened to the weight of this man's sin, as in sinning he has offended God and therefore this sin has to be atoned for; who is going to atone for his sin, if God is just going to forgive him on the promise of his being good and faithful? Surely as we saw with Adam there has to be a consequence for sin...

A brother of ours has recently become Muslim. During his days of Jaahiliyyah (ignorance – i.e., before he became Muslim), he earned a lot of money by dealing in drugs. He brought this money with him and opened a big bookstore and got married using this money. Recently he has been told that it is not permissible for him to give this money in charity, because Allaah is Good and only accepts that which is good, Our question is, what should he do with this money, and how sound is what he has been told?.

What are the most important rights that are respected in Islam?

I hope that you can explain the virtue of the Sahaabah and what distinguishes them from others?

I would like to ask you about my friends who claim they can call spirits. Is it possibly true? If it is, what is really going on?

I want to serve my Religion, what should I do?

How sound is this hadeeth: “The ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr”?

I have embraced Islam – praise be to Allah – and I have three children; I come from a Christian family that is tolerant of my being Muslim. My question is: how can I introduce Islam to my children, one of whom is eleven years old, the other is eight years old, and my daughter is five years old, without forcing them?

In our country we have been affected by war and we were expelled from our land 23 years ago. Praise be to Allah, my father and I are settled now and we have a business. We borrowed money in order to settle and start a business, the value of which was 1 million. When we worked out the value of zakaah that we owe on the property and trade goods that we have in our possession, it was estimated to be 7 million, and the trade goods on which zakaah is due are worth 5 or 6 million. 
My questions are: 
1. Are we required to pay zakaah, as we have not paid it all these years because we were not able to pay off the debt of 1 million? Was it correct for us not to pay zakaah?
2. We do not have any cash now, if we are required to pay zakaah. We helped a brother of ours to pay off a debt he owed, so that he could pay off the borrowed amount without paying the interest that had been agreed upon. Is it possible for us to waive this debt and thus pay off the zakaah that we owe?
3. We own some property in the country where the war was, that we took possession of after the war ended, and we are planning to sell this property in order to pay off debts and so that we can buy a house in the place where we live now. Is this property subject to zakaah?.

I read your answer about prayer whilst doing surgery or afterwards. I work as a doctor and the day is very short in Canada during the winter; Maghrib comes at 5 p.m. Hence the time between the prayers is very short and I do not know how the surgeon can do his work when this time is very short. Hence I think it is better to make the prayers up afterwards. What is your opinion on that?

How does participating in Hajj affect the life of a Muslim?