Save those who repent and make amends and hold fast to God and make their religion purely God's; those are with the believers; and God will certainly give the believers a great wage. Although not all of these conditions are ordinarily required to repent of one's sin they are necessary for hypocrites to renounce their hypocrisy because of the recalcitrant nature of their disbelief. For those who meet these conditions He said “those are with maʿa the believers.” He did not say “of ” min the believers. In this there is another allusion to the imperfection in their rank even though they have sincerely made amends for the evil they did in the past. Regarding its meaning they have recited: Apologies are easy. What a difference between apologies and thankfulness! [Others] say that the preposition “with” maʿa indicates accompani- ment so that when they were included with the believers they became deserving in the same way as the group of the believers. Here repentance tawba means that they renounce their hypocrisy and make amends in the sincerity ṣidq of their faith and hold fast to God in absolving themselves of their own power and strength and bearing witness to the blessing of God toward them in guiding them and delivering them from their hypocrisy and make their religion purely God's. They regard their deliverance as being by the grace of God not by their newfound faith nor by the renouncement of their past hypocrisy. It is said that they make their religion purely God's means [that they] perpetually seek God's help in strengthening them in faith and protecting them from reverting to their past hypocrisy. It is said that they repent from hypocrisy and make amends through the purification of belief and hold fast to God by asking for His favor and make their religion purely God's in that their deliverance is by the grace and kindness of God not by their having done anything to make it happen.
