Tafseer of Consultation · Ash-Shura · 42:25
And it is He who accepts repentance from his servants and pardons misdeeds, and He knows what you do.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The discourse on the explanation of His statement, the Exalted: وَهُوَ الَّذِي يَقْبَلُ التَّوْبَةَ عَنْ عِبَادِهِ وَيَعْفُو عَنِ السَّيِّئَاتِ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا تَفْعَلُونَ (42:25) (And He it is Who accepts repentance from His servants and pardons evil deeds, and He knows what you do. (25))
The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: And Allāh it is Who accepts the servant's return when he returns to the confession of the oneness of Allāh and to His obedience, after his unbelief. وَيَعْفُو عَنِ السَّيِّئَاتِ (and pardons evil deeds), He says: and He refrains from punishing him for his evil deeds, namely his sins of disobedience of which he has repented. وَيَعْلَمُ مَا تَفْعَلُونَ (and He knows what you do). The reciters differed in the recitation of this: most of the reciters of Medina and Basra recited it as "yafʿalūn" with the yāʾ, with the meaning: and He knows what His servants do; and most of the reciters of Kūfa recited it تَفْعَلُونَ (tafʿalūn) with the tāʾ, in the manner of direct address.
And the correct view concerning this, in my opinion, is that they are two well-known recitations in the recitation of the regions, closely related in meaning; with whichever of the two the reciter recites, he is correct. Except that the yāʾ is more pleasing to me, because the word before it proceeds as a report (in the third person), namely His statement: وَهُوَ الَّذِي يَقْبَلُ التَّوْبَةَ عَنْ عِبَادِهِ (And He it is Who accepts repentance from His servants). And He, praised be His laud, means by His statement: وَيَعْلَمُ مَا تَفْعَلُونَ (and He knows what you do): and your Lord knows, O people, what you do of good and evil; nothing of that is hidden from Him, and He is the One who will requite you for all of this with its due requital. So fear Allāh regarding yourselves, and beware of committing that whereby you would deserve punishment from Him.
Tamīm ibn al-Muntaṣir related to us, saying: Isḥāq ibn Yūsuf informed us, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of Ibrāhīm ibn Muhājir, on the authority of Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī, on the authority of Hammām ibn al-Ḥārith, who said: We came to ʿAbd Allāh (ibn Masʿūd) to ask him about this verse: وَهُوَ الَّذِي يَقْبَلُ التَّوْبَةَ عَنْ عِبَادِهِ وَيَعْفُو عَنِ السَّيِّئَاتِ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا تَفْعَلُونَ (And He it is Who accepts repentance from His servants and pardons evil deeds, and He knows what you do). He said: And we found with him people — or men — who were asking him about a man who had had unlawful (ḥarām) intercourse with a woman and then married her; whereupon he recited this verse: وَهُوَ الَّذِي يَقْبَلُ التَّوْبَةَ عَنْ عِبَادِهِ وَيَعْفُو عَنِ السَّيِّئَاتِ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا تَفْعَلُونَ (And He it is Who accepts repentance from His servants and pardons evil deeds, and He knows what you do).
