38قُل لِلَّذينَ كَفَروا إِن يَنتَهوا يُغفَر لَهُم ما قَد سَلَفَ وَإِن يَعودوا فَقَد مَضَت سُنَّتُ الأَوَّلينَMuhammad AsadTell those who are bent on denying the truth that if they desist,1 all that is past shall be forgiven them; but if they revert [to their wrongdoing], let them remember what happened to the like of them in times gone by.2I.e., from their endeavour to turn others away from the path of God and from waging war against the believers.Lit., "the example (sunnah) of the people of old times has already come to pass": an allusion to the disasters that have overtaken, and are bound to overtake, those who persistently deny moral truths.