Repentance is from whom Allah accepts his repentance and forgives him. This means that acceptance and forgiveness are obligatory upon Allah, the Most High. [Mahamud said: "This means that acceptance and forgiveness are obligatory upon Allah... etc." Ahmad said: "It has been previously mentioned in various places that the expression of such a statement by someone: 'It is obligatory upon Allah to do such and such' is something we seek refuge from Allah—glorified and exalted is He—from imposing obligations on Him, the Lord of Lords. The principle of the people of the Sunnah is that whatever Allah bestows is not due to any prior entitlement. They say that the actions which the Qadarites assume the servant deserves from Allah are all creations of Allah. He is the one who created obedience for His servant and rewarded him for it. He created repentance for him and accepted it from him. He is the Benefactor, in the beginning and the end, in the hidden and the apparent, unlike the Qadarites who claim that the servant creates repentance for himself by his own power and ability, thus deserving from his Lord forgiveness based on their assumption of wisdom that necessitates—according to their claim—rewarding for actions as a rational obligation. Therefore, they boldly utter this expression. How ugly it is that Al-Zamakhshari affirmed this corrupt belief by saying: 'It is obligatory upon Allah to accept repentance, just as it is obligatory upon the servant to perform some acts of obedience.' He looked at the worshiped in relation to the worshiper and equated the Creator with the created. This is an expression that a rational person's tongue should refrain from, and his skin should shudder at hearing it, and the pen stumbles when trying to write it. Moreover, it is from Allah's grace that He did not make the imitator of disbelief a disbeliever, nor the imitator of innovation an innovator due to the necessity of rejecting it and warning against it. Al-Zamakhshari did not reach this expression except by seizing the opportunity to cling to its validity through the phrase 'upon,' which implies obligation, making it a pretext for permitting this expression, and Allah did not grant him any comfort in it. We, the people of the Sunnah, say that Allah has promised us the acceptance of repentance that meets the conditions of validity, and the occurrence of this promise is necessarily true due to the veracity of the report. Whatever is mentioned in terms of obligation is based on the obligation of the truth of the promise. The meaning of our saying 'the truth of the report is obligatory' is like our saying 'the existence of Allah is obligatory' because no one has any entitlement over Allah. May Allah inspire us with proper etiquette regarding His Majesty and protect us from the deviation of speech and its misguidance.] They act with ignorance in their current state, meaning they commit evil while being ignorant and foolish, for committing what is ugly is driven by foolishness and desire, not by wisdom and reason. And from Mujahid: Whoever disobeys Allah is ignorant until he removes his ignorance from a time close by. The close time is that which is before the moment of death. Do you not see His saying: (Until when death comes to one of them)? He indicated that the time of death is the time when repentance is not accepted, so what remains beyond that is considered close. And from Ibn Abbas: Before the dominion of death descends upon him. And from Al-Duhak: Every repentance before death is close. And from Al-Nakha'i: As long as he is not seized by his throat.

Abu Ayyub narrated from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, "Indeed, Allah, the Most High, accepts the repentance of the servant as long as he has not reached the point of gargling." [[I did not find this from the hadith of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari as it seems to be understood from this general statement. Rather, it was reported by al-Tabari through the route of Qatadah from al-'Ala' ibn Ziyad from Abu Ayyub Bashir ibn Ka'b, and he mentioned it. Bashir is a well-known Tabi'i, and his name is with the singular and the diminutive. Qatadah has another chain in this regard which al-Tabari also reported with the mentioned chain to him. He said from Qatadah from Ubadah ibn al-Samit, and from this route, it was reported by Ishaq ibn Rahwayh, which is disconnected between Qatadah and Ubadah. There is also a narration from Ibn Umar reported by al-Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, Ibn Hibban, al-Hakim, Ahmad, Abu Ya'la, and al-Tabarani, and in its chain is Abdul Rahman ibn Thabit ibn Thuban, who is disputed over. And from Abu Hurairah, it was reported by al-Bazzar, and in it is Yazid ibn Abdul Malik al-Nufali, who is weak, but there is another route reported by Ibn Mardawayh from a companion, and it was reported by Ahmad and al-Hakim from the narration of Abdul Rahman al-Sulami who said: Four companions gathered and mentioned the hadith, and the fourth said, "And I heard the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, say to me: Indeed, Allah accepts the repentance of the servant before he gargles his soul." ]] And from 'Ata: And not before his death by the time it takes to milk a she-camel. And from al-Hasan: Indeed, Iblis said when he was sent down to the earth: "By Your might, I will not part from the son of Adam as long as his soul is in his body." So Allah, the Most High, said: "By My might, I will not close the door of repentance for him as long as he has not gargled." [[Al-Thalabi reported it from the narration of 'Amr ibn 'Ubaid from al-Hasan who said the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, ... and mentioned it. I said, and it has a witness from the hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, and it was reported by Ahmad, Abu Ya'la, and al-Tabarani.]] If you say: What is the meaning of (MIN) in His saying: (MIN QARIB)? I say: Its meaning is partiality, meaning they will repent for some near time, as if he named the time between the existence of sin and the presence of death a near time. So in any part he repented from the parts of this time, he is a repenter from near, otherwise he is a repenter from afar. If you say: What is the benefit of His saying: So those are the ones whom Allah will accept their repentance after His saying: Indeed, repentance is only upon Allah for them? I say: His saying: (INNAMAA AT-TAWBA 'ALAA ALLAH) is an announcement of its obligation upon Him just as it is obligatory upon the servant for some acts of obedience. And His saying: (FA'ULAA'IKA ATUBU 'ALAYHIM) is a promise that He will fulfill what is obligatory upon Him, and an announcement that forgiveness is certainly occurring just as the servant is promised to fulfill the obligation. And those who die while committing sins are mentioned in relation to those who delay their repentance until the presence of death, and between those who die upon disbelief in that there is no repentance for them. For the presence of death is the first of the states of the Hereafter. Just as the one who dies upon disbelief has certainly missed repentance, so too the one who delays until the presence of death has missed it. Each of them has surpassed the obligation and choice. Those are the ones We have prepared for them in the warning, similar to His saying: (FA'ULAA'IKA YATUBU ALLAH 'ALAYHIM) in the promise to clarify that both matters are certainly occurring. If you say: Who is meant by those who commit sins? Are they the disobedient ones from the people of the Qiblah or the disbelievers? I say: There are two opinions: One is that the disbelievers are meant, due to the apparent meaning of His saying: (WA HUM KUFFAR). And the other is that the disobedient ones are meant, because the discussion is about the fornicators, and the disregard for them if they repent and rectify. And His saying: (WA HUM KUFFAR) is mentioned as a form of severity, like His saying: (WA MAN KAFARA FA INNA ALLAH GHANIYYUN 'AN AL-'AALAMEEN) and His saying: "Let him die if he wishes as a Jew or a Christian." [[This was mentioned in the discussion on the verse of Hajj in Al-Imran.]] "Whoever deliberately leaves the prayer has indeed disbelieved." [[This was mentioned in Al-Baqarah.]] For whoever was a believer and died without having thought of repentance, his state is close to that of the disbeliever, for only a hardened heart would dare to do that.