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qul li-lladhīna kafarū ʾin yantahū yughfar lahum mā qad salafa wa-ʾin yaʿūdū fa-qad maḍat sunnatu l-ʾawwalīna
Say to the faithless, if they cease [their belligerence against the Muslims], what is already past shall be forgiven them. But if they resume [their hostilities], then the precedent of the predecessors has already come to pass.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Al-Anfal – Verse 38
38 . “Tell those who disbelieve, if they desist (from corruptions) what has past will be forgiven for them, but if they return (thereto), then what happened to the ancients has already passed.”
In this verse, the Prophet (S) is commanded to tell the pagans if they repent and really leave corruptions, their former sins will be forgiven. The verse says:
And if they return to war again and persist on infidelity, Allah's way of treatment unto the former nations has been this that He has always helped the believers and has made the enemies of the religion confronted with disgrace and misfortune. The verse says:
When the holy verse says: /sunnat-ul-‘awwalin/ and refers ‘Allah's way of treatment’ to the ancient, it is for the reason that ‘Allah's way of treatment’ had always been executed upon them. In another occurrence, the Qur'an says:
Here, He attributes the way of treatment to His messengers, because Allah's way of treatment had been executed by them. Therefore, in the same verse, He continues saying:
Here, He attributes the way of treatment (course) to His Pure Essence, again, because, in fact, the real executor of ‘the way of treatment’ is Allah Himself.