And He it is Who accepts repentance from His servants and pardons evil deeds those from which repentance has been made and knows what they do yaf‘alūna may also be read taf‘alūna ‘you do’.
Allah accepts Repentance and responds to Supplications
Here Allah reminds His servants that He accepts repentance. If they turn to Him and come back to Him, then by His kindness and generosity He forgives, overlooks and conceals (their sins), as He says:
(And whoever does evil or wrongs himself but afterwards seeks Allah's forgiveness, he will find Allah Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.) (4:110) It was reported in Sahih Muslim that Anas bin Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "The Messenger of Allah said:
(Allah is more pleased with the repentance of His servant than anyone of you who loses his riding beast in a barren land, and it was carrying his food and drink; he despairs of ever finding it, so he comes to a tree and lies down in its shade, having given up all hope of finding his riding beast; then whilst he is there like that, suddenly he sees it standing near him, so he takes hold of its reins and because of his great joy he says, "O Allah,You are my slave and I am Your Lord!'' -- i.e,. he makes a mistake because of his great joy. )'' A similar report was also narrated in the Sahih from `Abdullah bin Mas`ud, may Allah be pleased with him.
(And He it is Who accepts repentance from His servants,) It was reported that Az-Zuhri said, concerning this Ayah, that Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "The Messenger of Allah said:
(Allah rejoices more over the repentance of His servant than one of you feels when he finds his lost camel in a place where he had feared that he would die of thirst.)'' Hammam bin Al-Harith said, "Ibn Mas`ud was asked about a man who commits immoral sins with a woman and then marries her. He said, `There is nothing wrong with that,' and recited:
(And He answers those who believe and do righteous good deeds,) As-Suddi said, "This means, He responds to them.'' This was also the view of Ibn Jarir: "It means that He answers their supplication for themselves, their companions and their brothers.''
وَيَزِيدَهُم مِّن فَضْلِهِ
(and gives them increase of His bounty.) means, He answers their supplications and gives them more besides. Qatadah said, narrating from Ibrahim An-Nakha`i Al-Lakhmi about the Ayah:
(And He answers those who believe and do righteous good deeds,) -- (this means) they intercede for their brothers; r
وَيَزِيدَهُم مِّن فَضْلِهِ
(and gives them increase of His bounty.) -- (this means) they intercede for their brothers' brothers.
وَالْكَـفِرُونَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ
(And as for the disbelievers, theirs will be a severe torment.) -- having mentioned the believers and the great reward that is theirs, Allah then mentions the disbelievers and the severe, painful, agonizing torment that they will find with Him on the Day of Resurrection, the Day when they are brought to account.
(And if Allah were to extend the provision for His servants, they would surely rebel in the earth,) means, `if We gave them more provision than they need, this would make them rebel and transgress against one another in an arrogant and insolent manner.'
(but He sends down by measure as He wills. Verily, He is, in respect of His servants, the Well-Aware, the All-Seer.) means, but He gives them provision according to what is in their best interests, and He knows best about that. So He makes rich those who deserve to be rich, and He makes poor those who deserve to be poor.
(And He it is Who sends down the rain after they have despaired,) means, after the people have given up hope that rain will fall, He sends it down upon them at their time of need. This is like the Ayah:
(And verily, before that (rain) -- just before it was sent down upon them -- they were in despair!) (30:49)
وَيَنشُرُ رَحْمَتَهُ
(and spreads His mercy. ) means, He bestows it upon all the people who live in that region. Qatadah said, "We were told that a man said to `Umar bin Al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, `O Commander of the faithful, no rain has come and the people are in despair.' `Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said, `Rain will be sent upon you,' and he recited:
(And He it is Who sends down the rain after they have despaired, and spreads His mercy. And He is the Protector, Worthy of all praise).'' Meaning He is the One Who is in control of His creation, taking care of what will benefit them in this world and the Hereafter, and the consequences of all His decrees and actions are good, for which He is worthy of all praise.
42.24-26
Maududi - Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi - Tafhim al-Qur'an
In this interrogative sentence the style is of severe reproach. It means: "O Prophet: Have these people become so bold and fearless that they do not feel any shame in accusing you of inventing a lie, and that too of a heinous sin against Allah? They calumniate you that you are forging the Qur'an yourself and then falsely attributing to Allah. "
That is, "Such big lies are only uttered by those whose hearts have been sealed up. If Allah wills, He may include you also among them, but it is His mercy that He has kept you away from them. This answer contains a seven satire against the people who were so accusing the Holy Prophet. It means this: "O Prophet, they think that you are a man like them. Just as they are in the habit of uttering any big lie only for the sake of a selfish motive, so they thought you also must have forged a lie for selfish ends. But it is Allah's mercy that He has not sealed up your heart as He has sealed up theirs."
That is, "It is Allah's way that He does not grant stability to falsehood, and in the long run proves the truth to be true. Therefore, O Prophet, you should go on doing your mission, without paying any attention to their false accusations. A time will come when this whole falsehood will vanish like dust, and the truth of that which you are presenting will become visible and manifest."
That is, "He knows why you are being thus falsely accused and what are the actual motives that are working behind all this struggle that is being made to frustrate and defeat you. "
Calling the people's attention to repentance immediately after the preceding verse by itself gives the meaning, as if to say: "O wicked people: Why are you making yourselves still more worthy of God's punishment by falsely accusing the true Prophet? If you desist from your misdeeds even now, and offer true repentance Allah will forgive you." Repentance means that one should feel remorse for the evil one has done, and should refrain and desist from it in the future. Moreover, it is also an inevitable demand of true repentance that one should try one's utmost to compensate for the evil one has done in the past, and wherever compensation is not possible, one should seek Allah's forgiveness and should do more and more good to wipe off the blot from oneself. But no repentance can be true repentance unless it is offered with the intention of pleasing Allah. Giving up an evil for some other reason or intention is no repentance at All."
