Abū ʿAlī al-Daqqāq said, “Repentance has three stages: the first is repenting, the second is turning toward God, and the final part is returning to God. Therefore, repenting is the beginning, turning is the middle, and returning is the end. Thus one who repents out of fear of retribution has repented, and one who repents for a reward has turned to God. As for the one who turns out of deference to the divine command, neither out of desire or out of fear, he has returned.” This is a summary of what the master Abū l-Qāsim al-Qushayrī relates.22
1.14
وقال ذُو النُون المصريّ: توبة العامّة من الذنوب وتوبة الخاصّة من الغفلة وتوبة الأنبياء من رؤية عجز غيرهم عن بلوغ ما نالوه. وقال إبراهيم الدَقّاق: التوبة أن تكون لله وجهًا بِلا قفا كما كنت له قفا بلا وجه. معناها أنْ تكون مقبلاً عليه معرضًا عمّا سواه.
Dhū l-Nūn al-Miṣrī said, “The repentance of the common people is for sin. The repentance of the people of spiritual distinction is for heedlessness, and the repentance of the prophets is for regarding the weakness of others who fail to attain what they did.” Ibrāhīm al-Daqqāq said, “Repentance is that you face God without turning your back on Him, whereas before, you used to turn your back on Him and never faced Him.”23 This means that you devote yourself to Him, shunning everything but Him.
1.15
وقيل التوبة الندم على ما مضى والعكوف على ما صفا وقيل التوبة النقلة ممّا نهى الله إلى ما أمر الله وقيل التوبة الإقبال على الحقّ والإعراض عن الخلق وقيل التوبة الصدق واللَجأ والكَدّ على الرجاء وقيل التوبة استشعار الخَجَل لما عمل من الزلَل وقيل التوبة الأسف على ما سلَف وقيل التوبة الرجوع إلى الله تعالى في كلّ لحظة وخطرة ولَمْحة وقيل التوبة الحياء العاصم والبكاء الدائم وقيل التوبة خلع لباس الجفاء ونشر لباس الوفاء وقيل التوبة الرجوع من الأوصاف المذمومة إلى الأوصاف المحمودة ولا يتمّ ذلك إلّا بالخلوة والصمت عن كلّ كلام لا خير فيه وأكل الحلال وقيل التوبة نار في القلب تلتهب وصَدْع لا ينشعب.
It has been said that repentance is remorse for what has passed and clinging to what is pure. Some say that repentance is moving away from what God has forbidden toward what God has commanded. It has been said that repentance is devotion to the True Reality and shunning created things, and that repentance is sincerity, seeking refuge, and striving persistently with hope. It has been said that repentance is feeling shame when one makes a mistake, and that repentance is sorrow for what has passed. Some say that repentance is the return to God the Exalted in every instant, thought, and glance, and that repentance is shame that restrains one from sin, and constant tears of remorse. It has been said that repentance is removing the garment of estrangement and donning the garment of fidelity. Some say that repentance is the return from blameworthy attributes to praiseworthy attributes, which can only be brought about by seclusion, by holding one’s tongue from useless talk, and by eating lawful food. It has been said that repentance is a fire in the heart that flares up, and a rift that never mends.24
1.16
وروى الأستاذ أَبو القاسم القشيريّ عن الجُنيد بسنده قال: دخلتُ على السَري يومًا فرأيتُه متغيّرًا فقلتُ: ما لَك؟ قال: دخل عليّ شابّ فسألني عن التوبة فقلت له أنْ لا تنسى ذنبك فعارضني وقال أنْ تنسى ذنبك. قال الجنيد: فقلت له: إنَّ الأمر عندي ما قاله الشابّ فقال: ولِمَ ذلك؟ فقلت لأنَّني إذا كنتُ في حال الجَفاء ونقلني إلى حال الصَفاء فذكر الجفاء في حال الصفاء جفاء. قال أَبو نصر السرّاج: أشارالسري إلى توبة المريدين تارةً لهم وتارةً عليهم وأشار الجنيد إلى توبة المحقّقين لا يذكرون ذنوبهم لما غلب على قلوبهم من عظمة الله ودوام ذكره.
The master Abū l-Qāsim al-Qushayrī relates the following, with his chain of authority from al-Junayd who said,
I met al-Sarī one day, and I saw that he was upset. “What’s wrong?” I asked, and he replied, “A young man came to me and asked about repentance. So, I said to him, ‘It is that you do not forget your sins.’ But he disagreed with me and said, ‘It is that you do forget your sins!’” I replied to al-Sarī, “As I see it, the young man spoke the truth,” and al-Sarī said, “How so?” and I replied, “If I am in the mystical state of estrangement, and He moves me to the state of purity, then memory of estrangement in the state of purity would be estrangement.”
Abū Naṣr al-Sarrāj said, “Al-Sarī alluded to the repentance of the novices, which is in a state of flux, while al-Junayd alluded to the repentance of the spiritually realized ones; they do not recollect their sins because their hearts are overwhelmed by the majesty of God and the constant remembrance of Him.”25
1.17
ويقال أَمَرَ الكافّة بالتوبة: العاصين بالرجوع إلى الطاعة والمطيعين من رؤية الطاعة إلى رؤية التوفيق وخاصّ الخاصّ من رؤية التوفيق إلى مشاهدة المُوَفِّق. ويقال أَمَرَ الكلَّ بالتوبة لئلّا يخجل العاصي في الرجوع بانفراده فقال تعالى {وَتُوبُوۤاْ إِلَى ٱللهِ جَمِيعًا أَيُّهَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ}. أَمرهم سبحانه بالتوبة لينتفعوا بها لا ليكون للحقّ سبحانه بطاعتهم تجمّل.
It is said that God ordered a type of repentance for every kind of person: the disobedient are to return to obedience, and obedient persons are to turn away from concern for obedience and toward seeing success. For the chosen elite, however, repentance is to turn away from seeing success to contemplate Him who gives success. It is also said that He ordered all to repent lest a penitent person should feel ashamed of