Moreover, although someone who calls others to disbelief and religious innovation has led others astray, those others are punished for their own sins, because they accepted his call and followed him. He bears his own burden of sin and the burden of those who follow him until the Day of Resurrection, while their burdens remain upon them. If he repents of his sin, neither his own burden nor the burden he incurred by leading them astray remains upon him. As for them, their situation is unchanged whether he repents or not. His repentance, however, first requires him to reverse his former course by calling others to guidance, just as many disbelievers and adherents of religious innovation have repented and become callers to Islam and the Sunnah. Pharaoh’s magicians were leaders in disbelief; then they embraced Islam, and Allah granted them a good end.

Another instance is the repentance of someone who has committed murder. The majority hold that it is accepted, whereas Ibn ‘Abbās said that it is not. Two positions are reported from Ahmad.

The hadith in the Sahīhs of al-Bukhārī and Muslim about the man who killed ninety-nine people is evidence that a murderer’s repentance is accepted. This verse also indicates that. The verse in Sūrat al-Nisā’ merely contains a Quranic threat of punishment, like His words:

“Indeed, those who unjustly consume the property of orphans consume nothing but fire into their bellies, and they will burn in a blazing Fire.”

Yet this applies only if the person does not repent. By unanimous agreement, every threat of punishment in the Quran is conditional upon the absence of repentance. On what grounds, then, would the threat against a murderer still apply to him even if he repents? This is an exceedingly weak position.

It may, however, be said that his repentance is not accepted in the sense that it does not extinguish the right of the person wrongfully killed. Rather, repentance extinguishes Allah’s claim, while the victim will still demand his right from the murderer. This holds true for all rights owed to other people, even debts, for in the Sahīhs of al-Bukhārī and Muslim it is reported from the Prophet