Exegesis of the verse: ((And repentance is not for those who do evil deeds until death comes to one of them...)).
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Then Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, said: [An-Nisa 4:18] Here He said: and He did not say: "upon Allah," because this repentance is negated by the Shari'ah, so it is not a reality. [An-Nisa 4:18] "Evil deeds" may refer to the generic category, which is the most apparent, or to the plural, because that is the apparent meaning of the word. [An-Nisa 4:18] These people have no repentance, because their repentance is a repentance of necessity, like one who is coerced into an action; the coerced person's action has no ruling, as is well known: one who is coerced into disbelief while his heart is at peace with faith is not judged a disbeliever. Similarly, this person who repents after he has lost hope in this world and is certain that he is departing: this repentance does not benefit him. [An-Nisa 4:18] Now, when he sees death, he repents; that is, a sincere repentance for a person who knows he has left the world. This is analogous in some respects to His saying (peace and blessings be upon him): "Consider the one who is healthy; the healthy person expects to live, and he fears poverty because he is stingy." This means he delays. Sahih al-Bukhari 1419 From whom? From the one who had it? The heir. And this happens often: when a person loses hope in his life, he goes to make a will or write for righteous deeds, charity for the poor, printing books, building mosques. Why did he not make a will ten days ago? Because now he has lost hope in his life and knows he is inevitably departing. He said: [An-Nisa 4:18] "The waw" is a conjunction, and "la" is an extra letter for emphasis, and is conjoined to His saying: meaning that repentance is also not for those who die while they are disbelievers. Those who die while they are disbelievers have no repentance. The apparent meaning of the verse is problematic, because when a person dies, his deeds are cut off, so how can it say: [An-Nisa 4:18]? We say: The intended meaning is their regret on the Day of Resurrection, where they will regret and say: [Al-An'am 6:27] Allah the Exalted said: [Al-An'am 6:28] So the repentance of the disbeliever after death refers to his regret that he will display on the Day of Resurrection, and that does not benefit him, because the time for action has ended, and only the time for retribution remains, so it does not benefit them. [An-Nisa 4:18] The ones referred to are the disbelievers who died upon disbelief; Allah has prepared for them a painful punishment. As for one who dies upon something less than disbelief, his case is up to Allah: if He wills, He will punish him, and if He wills, He will forgive him. So the preparation of the Fire is only for the disbelievers, whereas the sinners may be pardoned and not enter the Fire at all.
