Breaking repentance a thousand times

Question: It is claimed, "According to the Qur'an al-karim, if a Muslim renounces Islam and becomes an apostate and afterwards makes repentance and returns to Islam and then renounces Islam again, it is not possible for him to be pardoned even if he repents of it." Is it true?

ANSWERNo, it is not true. The meaning of the Qur'anic verse mentioned is as follows:
(Allah will not forgive or guide to the right path those who believe and then reject, and then again believe and then reject, and thereafter increase their disbelief.) [An-Nisa' 137]

It is not said in this verse that those who make repentance after rejection will not be forgiven. What is said is that those who increase their disbelief, that is, those who continue to disbelieve, will not be forgiven. No matter how many times a person becomes an apostate, he will become a Muslim if he repents of it after each. In other words, even if he has broken his repentance a thousand times, what counts is his last status. Judgment is made according to final result. Hadrat Imam-I Qurtubi stated, “According to this verse, Allah does not forgive those who believed in Musa ‘alaihis-salam and then who became disbelievers because of disbelieving in Uzayr ‘alaihis-salam, and then who believed in Uzayr ‘alaihis-salam and afterwards who became disbelievers because of disbelieving in ‘Isa ‘alaihis-salam, and thereafter who increased their disbelief by rejecting Muhammad ‘alaihis-salam. The meaning of Allahu ta’ala’s statement “… and thereafter [who] increase their disbelief” refers to those who insist on disbelief” (Tafsir al-Qurtubi).