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Is the particle "عن" (an) in the Almighty's saying: (And it is He who accepts repentance from His servants and pardons sins, and He knows what you do) (Ash-Shura 25) out of place, and is the original form "من عباده" (min 'ibadihi - from His servants) as mentioned by Al-Suyuti?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The argument of those who criticize the Book of Allah regarding "يَقْبَلُ" (accepts) being transitive with "عن" (from/on behalf of) is baseless. This is because "يَقْبَلُ" becomes transitive with "عن" to imply that acceptance carries the meaning of declaration or manifestation, as in His Almighty's saying: "وَهُوَ الَّذِي يَقْبَلُ التَّوْبَةَ عَنْ عِبَادِهِ" (And He is the One who accepts repentance from His servants). And it becomes transitive with "مِنْ" (from) to imply that acceptance carries the meaning of taking, as in His Almighty's saying: "وَمَا مَنَعَهُمْ أَنْ تُقْبَلَ مِنْهُمْ نَفَقَاتُهُمْ" (And what prevented their expenditures from being accepted from them). And it was said that there is no difference between "عن" and "من" in this context, or that "عن" is more eloquent here because it implies the good tidings of acceptance and facilitating its path, or that "عن" is for surpassing.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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