Exegesis of the verse: “And the two who commit it among you, then harm them. But if they repent and make amendment, then turn away from them. Indeed, Allah is Accepting of repentance, Merciful.”

How should you harm them? By cursing, blaming, beating, and turning away from them, by way of discretionary punishment, boycotting, and the like. The important thing is to do what causes them pain. If they repent from what occurred between them and amend their conduct in the future, “Accepting of repentance” is a form of exaggeration, indicating the abundance of His acceptance of repentance and the abundance of those He accepts repentance from. Those whom Allah accepts in repentance are too many to count, and His acceptance of repentance is beyond count. Therefore, the form of exaggeration was used. And from whom does the one who repents repent? Allah’s acceptance of a servant’s repentance is of two types: acceptance before the act of repentance, and acceptance after it. The acceptance before the act of repentance means guidance; it means guidance to repent, as the Exalted said: And the acceptance after the repentance is the acceptance of the repentance, as the Exalted said: And Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, is “Accepting of repentance” in this sense and in this sense. He is “Accepting of repentance” meaning He prepares for repentance whom He wills among His servants, and “Accepting of repentance” meaning He is able to accept repentance, and “Merciful” means He possesses mercy which He bestows upon whom He wills among His servants, as the Exalted said: .
In this verse there is a point of difficulty, which is His saying: It is known that “was” indicates the past, and it is understood from it that this attribute existed and then ceased, just as if you said: “So-and-so was a student of knowledge,” meaning in the past. The scholars answered this difficulty by saying that “was” may be stripped of its indication of time, and the intended meaning is the realization of the attribute described by its predicate. Whenever this construction is attributed to Allah, this is what is intended by it: and the like. The intended meaning is that He is attributed with it eternally and forever, but “was” was used to affirm His attribution with this attribute.