[4:146] 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 desist from their hypocrisy because of the recalcitrance of the state of their disbelief. After their meeting these conditions, He said to them: those are with (maʿa) the believers. He did not say "among" (min) the believers, and in this is an allusion as well to the weakness of 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!
It is said [by others] that the preposition "with" (maʿa) indicates accompaniment, so that when they were included with the believers, they became deserving in the same way as the group of the believers. Repentance (tawba) here means they renounce their hypocrisy and make amends in the sincerity 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 towards them in guiding them and delivering them from their hypocrisy, and make their religion purely God's. They perceive that their deliverance is by the grace of God, not by their states of faith in the present, nor by the renouncement of their past hypocrisy.
It is said they make their religion purely God's means perpetually seeking God's help in strengthening them in faith and holding them fast from reverting to their past hypocrisy.
It is said they repent from hypocrisy, and make amends through the purification of belief, and hold fast to God in asking for His favor, and make their religion purely God's in their deliverance by the grace and kindness of God, not by their having done anything to make it happen.