How can a disbeliever believe after Allah has cursed him and expelled him from His mercy?

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> TL;DR: “Curse” (la‘na—divine distancing from special mercy) applies to those who persist in denial; the door of repentance (tawba—turning back to God with remorse and resolve) remains open until death’s onset or the final cosmic sign, and sincere return lifts the curse and brings guidance (hidaya—divinely granted right direction) [HAD3], [TAF5]. No one may despair, because mercy is vaster than sin, and repentance is accepted—even after grave wrongdoing or apostasy—so long as one repents and rectifies [HAD1], [HAD5], [TAF4].

## What revelation establishes about “curse” and the door of return

- “Allah extends His Hand by night so the sinner of the day may repent, and He extends His Hand by day so the sinner of the night may repent—until the sun rises from the West” [HAD3]. This prophetic statement explicitly keeps the door of tawba (repentance—returning to God with remorse and resolve) open throughout life, setting a clear time limit only at the eschatological sign [HAD3].  
- When people who had “excessively” murdered and committed adultery asked if there was any expiation, verses were revealed declaring that those who avoid shirk (worshiping others with Allah), murder, and adultery—and those who repent—are not to despair of Allah’s mercy: “O My servants who have transgressed against themselves, do not despair of the mercy of Allah” (Surah al-Furqan 25:68; Surah al-Zumar 39:53) [HAD1]. This directly answers the worry that mercy is unavailable after grievous sin; despair is prohibited because the door is open [HAD1].  
- The Prophet taught a balance: if believers fully grasped the punishment, they’d fear; if disbelievers fully grasped the mercy, none would despair [HAD2]. This frames divine “curse” (la‘na—expulsion from special mercy) as a moral reality for obstinate denial, without negating mercy’s ongoing availability through repentance [HAD2].  
- The Qur’an addresses apostasy (irtidad—renouncing faith). “How would God guide a people who disbelieved after faith…?” (Al ‘Imran 3:86) is clarified in the tafsir: this is not an absolute negation of future guidance, but a rhetorical censure of a crime that doesn’t merit “special treatment”; if they truly repent and reform, they are excepted—“Except those who repent thereafter and set matters right; indeed, Allah is Forgiving, Merciful” (Al ‘Imran 3:89) [TAF4], [TAF5].  
- The verse “their repentance shall not be accepted” for those who “increase in disbelief” (Al ‘Imran 3:90) is explained as the non-acceptance of “repentance from other sins while remaining in disbelief,” not a denial of repentance from disbelief itself; once they abandon disbelief and rectify, mercy is available [TAF1], [TAF5].  
- Another nuance: when denial is merely coerced while the heart remains tranquil with faith, the individual is not held as a willing disbeliever (Surah al-Nahl 16:106), showing the law’s precision regarding true inward stance versus compulsion [TAF6], [TAF9].  
- “Curse” in the Afterlife (

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How can a disbeliever believe after Allah has cursed him and expelled him from His mercy?

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