How can one respond, from the Quran and Sunnah, to those who justify cheating by claiming that society imposes it, that Allah is Forgiving and Merciful, and that one must make mistakes to learn, and to those who claim they will repent after cheating?

Your friend’s questions and arguments, such as his justification for cheating due to societal pressure or the vastness of Allah’s forgiveness, are not questions that require answers. Rather, they are desires aimed at persisting in cheating. He is not ignorant of the prohibition of cheating; instead, he resorts to pretexts and stubbornness so as not to abandon it. All these justifications are self-deceptions of the ignorant. Ibn al-Qayyim says: “Good expectation (husn al-dhann) is only valid when the means of salvation are established. As for when the means of destruction are established, good expectation is not possible.” Thus, good expectation benefits one who repents, regrets, desists, replaces bad deeds with good ones, and then has good expectation—this is true good expectation. The former is delusion. Many ignorant people have relied on Allah’s mercy and generosity, disregarding His commands and prohibitions, and forgetting that He is severe in punishment. Ma’ruf al-Karkhi says: “Your hope for the mercy of one whom you disobey is a sign of abandonment and foolishness.” Al-Hasan al-Basri said: “Indeed, a people were distracted by hopes of forgiveness until they departed from the world without repentance. One of them would say: ‘Because I have good expectation of my Lord,’ and he lied. If he had good expectation, he would have done good deeds.”