(17, 18) “Allah has undertaken to accept the repentance only of those who do evil out of ignorance and then repent soon afterward. It is they whose repentance Allah accepts. And Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. But repentance is not accepted from those who continue committing evil deeds until, when death comes to one of them, he says, ‘Now I repent,’ nor from those who die as disbelievers. For them We have prepared a painful punishment.”

Allah’s acceptance of His servants’ repentance takes two forms: His enabling them to repent, and His accepting their repentance after they have done so. He explains here that the acceptance of repentance which Allah has undertaken is a right He has imposed upon Himself, out of His generosity and munificence, for those who do evil—that is, commit sins—“out of ignorance.” This means ignorance of the consequences of those sins and of the fact that they incur Allah’s wrath and punishment; ignorance of Allah’s seeing and watching them; and ignorance of what those sins ultimately lead to, whether a deficiency in faith or its complete loss. Thus, everyone who disobeys Allah is ignorant in this respect, even if he knows that the act is prohibited. Indeed, knowing that it is prohibited is a condition for the act to constitute a punishable sin.

“And then ⦗172⦘ repent soon afterward” may mean that they repent before witnessing death, for Allah certainly accepts His servant’s repentance if he repents before witnessing death and punishment. Once death arrives, however, repentance is not accepted from sinners, nor is a disbeliever’s renunciation of disbelief, as Allah Most High said of Pharaoh: “Until, when drowning overtook him, he said, ‘I believe that there is no god except the One in whom the Children of Israel believe’”—to the end of the verse. Allah Most High also said: “Then, when they saw Our punishment, they said, ‘We believe in Allah alone and reject what we used to associate with Him.’ But their faith could not benefit them once they had seen Our punishment. This is Allah’s established way, which has already passed among His servants.”

He says here:

“But repentance is not accepted from those who continue committing evil deeds”—that is, sins falling short of disbelief—“until, when death comes to one of them, he says, ‘Now I repent,’ nor from those who die as disbelievers. For them We have prepared a painful punishment.” This is because repentance in such circumstances is compelled repentance and does not benefit the person. Only voluntary repentance is beneficial.

It is also possible (1) that “soon afterward” means soon after they commit the sin that necessitates repentance. The meaning would then be that whoever hastens to abandon the sin as soon as it occurs, turns back to Allah, and regrets it, Allah accepts his repentance. This is unlike one who persists in his sins (2) and remains fixed upon his faults until they become deeply rooted traits within him, for such a person finds it difficult to achieve complete repentance.

Usually, he is neither enabled to repent nor granted easy access to its means. He resembles one who commits evil with full knowledge (3) and certainty, while showing disregard (4) for Allah’s watching him; he has thereby closed (5) the door of mercy upon himself.

Allah may indeed enable His servant who knowingly and deliberately persists in sin to attain repentance (6) that is complete (7), [by which] He effaces his previous evil deeds and earlier offenses. Nevertheless, mercy and divine enabling are more readily granted to the former. For this reason, He concluded the first verse by saying, “And Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.”

His knowledge entails that He knows who is sincere in repentance and who is false, and in His wisdom He recompenses each as he deserves. His wisdom also entails that He enables to repent whomever His wisdom and mercy dictate should be enabled, and forsakes whomever His wisdom and justice dictate should not be enabled. And Allah knows best.