(… إِلَّا الَّذِينَ تَابُوا مِن قَبْلِ أَن تَقْدِرُوا عَلَيْهِمْ ) (Except for those who return [repenting] before you apprehend them.…): Before they fall into your power, if they repent, then Allah (swt) is the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful. The Prophet (saws) said:

“There is none whose deeds alone would entitle him to get into Paradise. It was said to him: And, Allah’s Messenger, not even you? Thereupon he said: Not even I, but that my Lord wraps me in Mercy.”[1]

[1] al-Mu’jam al-Kabeer of Tabarani: Chapter of the letter (sheen)<Hadith No. 7221.