Repentance
[9:118]
And [He turned in His mercy, too,] towards the three [groups of believers] who had fallen prey to corruption, until in the end – after the earth, despite all its vastness, had become [too] narrow for them and their souls had become [utterly] constricted – they came to know with certainty that there is no refuge from God other than [a return] unto Him; and thereupon He turned again unto them in His mercy, so that they might repent: for, verily, God alone is an acceptor of repentance, a dispenser of grace.

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* v.118 : Or: “had been left behind,” i.e., at the time of the expedition to Tabūk. My rendering of alladhīna khullifū as “those who had fallen prey to corruption” is based on the tropical meaning of the verb khalufa or khullifa, “he was [or “became”] altered [for the worse],” or “he became corrupt” in the moral sense (see Asās, Nihāyah, Lisān al-‘Arab, Qāmūs, Tāj al-‘Arūs). This interpretation of alladhīna khullifū – applying, in the above context, to those who remained behind under false pretences – has the support of some of the most outstanding Arab philologists, e.g., ‘Abd al-Malik al-Asma‘ī (as quoted by Rāzī in his commentary on verse 83 of this sūrah). – As regards “the three who had fallen prey to corruption,” the classical commentators assume that it is a reference to three persons – namely, Ka‘b ibn Mālik, Marārah ibn ar-Rabī‘, and Hilāl ibn Umayyah (all of them from among the ansār) – who abstained from the campaign and were thereafter ostracized by the Prophet and his Companions until the revelation of the above verse. But while it is historically established that these three Companions were indeed among the believers who thus failed in their duty (the relevant Traditions will be found in extenso in Tabarī’s and Ibn Kathīr’s commentaries on this verse), it seems to me that the context does not warrant such a restriction of its meaning to three particular persons, and that by “the three” are meant three groups of erring believers: (1) those who had advanced equivocal excuses and were thereupon permitted by the Prophet to remain at home (as has been alluded to in verses 43-46 as well as in the first sentence of verse 90); (2) those who absented themselves without permission, but afterwards spontaneously repented their sin (verses 102-105); and (3) those whose cases were at first “deferred” (verse 106), and who repented shortly after the Prophet’s return from Tabūk (at which time verse 118 was revealed).
* In its wider implication – as contrasted with a purely historical allusion – the above verse relates to all believers who temporarily deviate from the right path and then, after having realized – either spontaneously or in consequence of outside reprobation – that they had “fallen prey to corruption,” sincerely repent their sin.