Surat An-Naml (The Ant)
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إِلَّا مَن ظَلَمَ ثُمَّ بَدَّلَ حُسْنًا بَعْدَ سُوءٍ فَإِنِّي غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
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Illa man thalama thummabaddala husnan baAAda soo-in fa-innee ghafoorun raheem
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Otherwise, he who wrongs, then substitutes good after evil - indeed, I am Forgiving and Merciful.
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This exception can be contiguous as well as remote. In the first case it will imply that there can be a genuine cause of fear if the Messenger has committed an offense; in the second case it will mean: "None should have any cause of fear in My Presence, unless, of course, someone has committed an offense."
That is, "If even an offender repents and reforms himself and does good instead of evil, I will pardon him. ¦ This implied both a warning and a good news. The Prophet Moses had killed a Copt inadvertently and fled from Egypt. This was an offense to which a subtle reference was made. When this offense was committed un-intentionally by the Prophet Moses, he had immediately offered repentance to Allah, saying, "O my Lord! I have sinned against myself, so forgive me." So, "Allah forgave him" there and then. (Al-Qasas: 16). Here the good news of the same forgiveness has been given him, as if to say, "O Moses, there could be a genuine cause for you to feel afraid in My Presence, because you had committed an offense, but when you have changed the evil into good, I have nothing but forgiveness and mercy for you. I have not called you here at this time to punish you, but I am going to send you on a great mission with wonderful miracles."
- filter_vintage﴿إَلاَّ مَن ظَلَمَ ثُمَّ بَدَّلَ حُسْناً بَعْدَ سُوءٍ فَإِنِّى غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ ﴾(Except him who has done wrong and afterwards has changed evil for good; then surely, I am Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.) This is an exception of the exclusionary type. This is good news for mankind, for whoever does an evil deed then gives it up and repents and turns to Allah, Allah will accept his repentance, as He says:﴿وَإِنِّى لَغَفَّارٌ لِّمَن تَابَ وَآمَنَ وَعَمِلَ صَـلِحَاً ثُمَّ اهْتَدَى ﴾(And verily, I am indeed forgiving to him who repents, believes and does righteous good deeds, and then Ahtada.) (20:82)﴿وَمَن يَعْمَلْ سُوءاً أَوْ يَظْلِمْ نَفْسَهُ﴾(And whoever does evil or wrongs himself...) (4:110). And there are many other Ayat which say the same.