Allah’s affection for him after repentance is greater than His affection for him before repentance. How, then, can it be said, “Affection does not return”?

This also clarifies the answer to the misconception of those who say, “Allah sends as a prophet only someone who was protected from sin before prophethood,” as a group among the Rāfidah and others maintain. The same applies to those who say, “He sends as a prophet only someone who was a believer before prophethood.” These people mistakenly suppose that sins remain a deficiency even after a person repents of them. This is the source of their error. Whoever thinks that a person who has sinned remains deficient despite sincere repentance is gravely mistaken. None of the blame or punishment that befalls sinners befalls the repentant person. If he repents promptly, none of it befalls him; if he delays repentance, then, between his sins and his repentance, he may incur blame and punishment appropriate to his circumstances.

The prophets—Allah’s blessings and peace be upon them—did not delay repentance. Rather, they hastened and raced towards it. They neither delayed nor persisted in sin; indeed, they were protected from doing so. If any of them delayed repentance briefly, Allah expiated that through the trials He subjected him to, as He did with Jonah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. This is according to the well-known view that he was cast overboard after receiving prophethood. Those who hold that he was cast overboard before prophethood have no need of this explanation.