Illa allatheena taboo min qabli an taqdiroo AAalayhim faiAAlamoo anna Allaha ghafoorun raheemun
English
Ahmed Ali
But those who repent before they are subdued should know that God is forgiving and kind.
34
Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : allah then showed that he pardons those who repent, saying: (save those who repent) from disbelief and idolatry (before ye overpower them) i.e. before you capture them. (for know that allah is forgiving) he pardons, (merciful) towards him who repents.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : except for such, warmongers and waylayers, as repent before you overpower them; for know that god is forgiving, to them of what they have done, merciful, to them. this [proviso] is expressed without any statement to the effect ‘do not submit them to prescribed legal punishment’, to point out that when such a person repents only god’s prescribed punishments (hudūd) — and not those deriving from the rights of human beings — are waived. this is how i see it. i do not know of any that have tackled this [topic], and god knows best. if, then, a person has killed and stolen property, he should be killed and have his limbs cut off [on opposite sides], but not crucified — this is the more sound of two opinions held by al-shāfi‘ī. however, his repentance is of no avail, once he has been overpowered [by the authorities] — this is also the more sound of two opinions held by him.
