al-Amīr ʿAbd al-Qādir b. Muḥyī al-Dīn al-Jazāʾirī · Kitāb al-Mawāqif fī baʿḍ ishārāt al-Qurʾān ilā al-asrār wa-l-maʿārif
المواقف
The Book of Stations
Mawqif 241 · Repenting of repentance
See the print: Damascus 1966, p. 544, Damascus 1966, p. 545, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 501, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 502 (archive.org)
قَالَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى: «إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ التَّوَّابِينَ وَيُحِبُّ الْمُتَطَهِّرِينَ⁽¹⁾».
God, exalted is He, said: “God loves those who repent much, and He loves those who purify themselves” (Q 2:222).
التَّوْبَةُ أَنْوَاعٌ، بِاعْتِبَارِ مَا مِنْهُ الْمَتَابُ،
Repentance is of several kinds, according to that from which the repenting is made:
فَطَائِفَةٌ تَتُوبُ مِنَ الْمَعَاصِي، وَطَائِفَةٌ تَتُوبُ مِنَ الطَّاعَاتِ، أَيْ مِنْ نِسْبَتِهَا اِلَيْهَا مَعَ فِعْلِهَا، وَطَائِفَةٌ تَتُوبُ مِنْ طَلَبِ الْأَعْوَاضِ وَالْأُجُورِ، وَطَائِفَةٌ تَتُوبُ مِنَ التَّوْبَةِ•
one group repents of acts of disobedience; one group repents of acts of obedience, that is, of attributing them to itself while performing them; one group repents of seeking recompense and rewards; and one group repents of repentance.
قَالَ ابْنُ الْعَرِيفِ الصِّنْهَاجِيُّ– رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ–: قَــدْ تَابَ قَــوْمٌ كَـثِيـرٌ وَمَــا تَـابَ مِنَ التَّـوْبَـةِ اِلاَّ أَنَـا
Ibn al-ʿArīf al-Ṣinhājī, may God be pleased with him, said: Many people have repented, but none has repented of repentance except me.
فَالتَّائِبُونَ عَامٌّ وَخَاصٌّ، وَخَاصُّ الْخَاصَّةِ،
So those who repent are common, elite, and elite of the elite.
وَلَفْظُ التَّوْبَةِ يَعُمُّ الْجَمِيعَ لُغَةً،
The word “repentance” covers all of them linguistically,
وَلَكِنَّ اِشَارَةَ الْآيَةِ الْكَرِيمَةِ عَلَى مَا أَعْطَانَا الْاِلْهَامُ الْاِلَهِيُّ فَرَّقَتْ بَيْنَ تَوْبَةِ الْعُمُومِ، سَمَّتْهَا تَطْهِيراً، وَبَيْنَ تَوْبَةِ الْخُصُوصِ سَمَّتْهَا تَوْبَةً، اِذْ لَيْسَتْ أَدْنَاسُ مُخَالَفَاتٍ، وَأَوْضَارُ نِسَبِ طَاعَاتٍ،
but the allusion of the noble verse, according to what divine inspiration has given us, distinguishes between the repentance of the common, which it names purification, and the repentance of the elite, which it names repentance, since there are no defilements of transgressions there, nor the grime of attributing acts of obedience.
فَالْمَحْبُوبُونَ الْأَوَّلُونَ الْمُقَدَّمُونَ فِي الذِّكْرِ لِتَقَدُّمِهِمْ رُتْبَةً هُمُ الْخَاصَّةُ، وَخَاصَّةُ الْخَاصَّةِ التَّائِبُونَ مِنَ التَّوْبَةِ،
So the first beloved ones, placed first in the mention because they come first in rank, are the elite and the elite of the elite, those who repent of repentance.
فَالْخَاصَّةُ وَهُمُ الْعَارِفُونَ بِاللَّهِ؛ تَوْبَتُهُمُ الرُّجُوعُ مِنْهُ اِلَيْهِ– تَعَالَى–،
The elite, who are the knowers of God: their repentance is the return from Him to Him, exalted is He.
وَخَاصَّةُ الْخَاصَّةِ، وَهُمُ الْعُلَمَاءُ بِاللَّهِ– تَعَالَى–، تَوْبَتُهُمُ الرُّجُوعُ اِلَيْهِ مِنْ رُجُوعِهِمْ، أَيْ مِنْ نِسْبَةِ الرُّجُوعِ اِلَيْهِمْ، اِذْ لَايَرْجِعُ اِلَّا مَوْجُودٌ حَقِيقَةً•
The elite of the elite, who are the learned in God, exalted is He: their repentance is the return to Him from their own returning, that is, from attributing the return to themselves, since none returns except one who truly exists.
وَلَا وُجُودَ لَهُمْ، فَتَوْبَتُهُمْ مِنْ دَعْوَى الْوُجُودِ،
And they have no existence; so their repentance is from the claim to existence.
وَاِلَيْهِ يُشِيرُ قَائِلُهُمْ: اِذَا قُلْتُ مَا أَذْنَبْتُ قَالَتْ مُجِيبَةً وُجُودُكَ ذَنْبٌ لَايُقَاسُ بِهِ ذَنْبٌ
To this their poet alludes: When I said, “I have not sinned,” she said in answer: “Your existence is a sin to which no sin can be compared.”
فَلَيْسَ فِي الْحَقِيقَةِ اِلَّا هُوَ الرَّاجِعُ وَالْمَرْجُوعُ اِلَيْهِ، فَهُوَ التَّائِبُ كَمَا قَالَ: «تَابَ عَلَيْهِمْ»،
So in the Reality there is none but He, the one who returns and the one returned to; He is the one who repents, as He said: “He turned to them in repentance” (Q 9:118).
فَالتَّوْبَةُ فِعْلُهُ وَالْفِعْلُ قَائِمٌ بِالْفَاعِلِ
For repentance is His act, and the act subsists in the agent.
وَهَؤُلَاءِ التَّائِبُونَ هُمُ الْمُفَتَّنُونَ بِقَوْلِهِ– صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ–: «اِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ كُلَّ مُفَتَّنٍ تَوَّابٍ»•
These repenters are those meant by the “tried ones” in his saying, God bless him and give him peace: “God loves every one who is often tried and often repents.”
وَفِتْنَتُهُمْ اِنَّمَا هِيَ طُرُوءُ الْغَفْلَةِ عَلَيْهِمْ مِنْ هَذِهِ الْمُشَاهَدَةِ، لِمَا هُوَ لَازِمُ الْبَشَرِيَّةِ مِنَ الْغَفْلَةِ وَالنِّسْيَانِ،
Their trial is only the onset of heedlessness upon them, away from this beholding, because of the heedlessness and forgetfulness that necessarily go with human nature.
فَاِذَا تَذَكَّرُوا تَابُوا تَوْبَتَهُمُ الْخَاصَّةَ بِهِمْ، فَهُمْ أَحَقُّ وَأَوْلَى بِمَحَبَّةِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى لَهُمْ،
When they remember, they repent with the repentance proper to them; so they are more deserving and more fitting of God's love, exalted is He, for them.
وَأَمَّا الْمُتَطَهِّرُونَ فَهُمُ التَّائِبُونَ مِنَ الْعَامَّةِ، سَوَاءٌ التَّائِبُونَ مِنَ الْمُخَالَفَاتِ، وَمِنْ طَلَبِ الْأَعْوَاضِ عَلَى الطَّاعَاتِ وَنَحْوِهِمَا،
As for those who purify themselves, they are the repenters among the common, whether they repent of transgressions or of seeking recompense for acts of obedience, and the like.
وَمَحَبَّةُ اللَّهِ– تَعَالَى– لِلْمُتَطَهِّرِينَ، أَيِ التَّائِبِينَ مِنَ الْعَامَّةِ اِنَّمَا هِيَ بِبَرَكَةِ التَّائِبِينَ الْأَوَّلِينَ، وَبِالتَّبَعِ لَهُمْ لِاشْتِرَاكِهِمْ فِي الْمَعْنَى الَّذِي هُوَ الرُّجُوعُ، وَاِنْ كَانَ بَيْنَ الرُّجُوعَيْنِ فُرْقَانٌ بَعِيدٌ،
God's love, exalted is He, for those who purify themselves, that is, the repenters among the common, is only by the blessing of the first repenters, and by following on from them, because they share the meaning, which is return, even though between the two returns there is a vast difference.
اِذِ التَّوْبَةُ هِيَ الرُّجُوعُ الْحَقِيقِيُّ وَذَلِكَ بِالتَّبَرُّؤِ مِنْ نِسْبَةِ الرُّجُوعِ، الَّذِي هُوَ مَعْنَى التَّوْبَةِ، اِلَى الْعَدَمِ وَنِسْبَتِهِ اِلَى الْوُجُودِ، كَمَا هِيَ تَوْبَةُ خَاصَّةِ الْخَاصَّةِ، أَوِ الرُّجُوعِ بِهِ مِنْهُ اِلَيْهِ كَمَا هِيَ تَوْبَةُ الْخَاصَّةِ،
For repentance is the true return, and that is by disowning the attribution of the return (which is the meaning of repentance) to non-existence and attributing it to Existence, as is the repentance of the elite of the elite; or by returning by Him, from Him, to Him, as is the repentance of the elite.
وَمَا عَدَا هَذَيْنِ الصِّنْفَيْنِ فَتَوْبَتُهُمْ بِمَعْنَى رُجُوعِهِمْ تَطْهِيرٌ لَارُجُوعٌ، لِأَنَّهُمْ مَا رَجَعُوا بَعْدُ اِلَيْهِ وَاِنَّمَا رَجَعُوا مِنْ عَدَمٍ اِلَى عَدَمٍ، وَمِنْ كَوْنٍ اِلَى كَوْنٍ،
As for those other than these two kinds, their repentance, in the sense of their return, is purification, not return, because they have not yet returned to Him; they have only returned from one non-existence to another, from one created thing to another.
وَمَا تَابَ أَحَدٌ وَلَا تَطَهَّرَ بِمَعْنَى تَابَ اِلَّا بَعْدَ تَوْبَةِ اللَّهِ– تَعَالَى– عَلَيْهِ، كَمَا قَالَ:
No one has repented, nor purified himself in the sense of repenting, except after God, exalted is He, turned to him in repentance, as He said:
«ثُمَّ تَابَ عَلَيْهِمْ لِيَتُوبُوا».
“Then He turned towards them, that they might turn in repentance” (Q 9:118).
فَتَوْبَتُهُمْ اِلَيْهِ فَرْعُ تَوْبَتِهِ عَلَيْهِمْ، أَيْ فِيهِمْ، «فَعَلَى» بِمَعْنَى «فِي»، اِذْ هُمْ ظُرُوفُ التَّوْبَةِ وَهُوَ فَاعِلُهَا،
So their turning in repentance to Him is a branch of His turning towards them, that is, in them, the «ʿalā» having the sense of «fī», since they are the loci of repentance and He is its doer;
لِيَتُوبُوا، أَيْ لِتُنْسَبَ التَّوْبَةُ اِلَيْهِمْ حَيْثُ أَنَّهُمْ ظُرُوفٌ وَآلَاتٌ لِأَفْعَالِهِ،
“that they might turn in repentance”: that is, so that repentance may be ascribed to them, inasmuch as they are loci and instruments for His acts;
فَهُوَ الْفَاعِلُ حَقِيقَةً وَالنِّسْبَةُ اِلَيْهِمْ مَجَازاً•
so He is the doer in reality, and the ascription to them is figurative.
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