34إِلَّا الَّذينَ تابوا مِن قَبلِ أَن تَقدِروا عَلَيهِم ۖ فَاعلَموا أَنَّ اللَّهَ غَفورٌ رَحيمٌMuhammad Asadsave for such [of them] as repent ere you [O believers] become more powerful than they:1 for you must know that God is much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace.I.e. before belief in God and in the ethical principles decreed by Him becomes prevalent: for, in that event, repentance on the part of "those who make war on God and His apostle" would be no more than an act of conforming to the dominant trend and, therefore, of no moral value whatever. It is to be noted that the exemption from suffering relates to the hereafter.