One to whom Allah is barr will be protected from committing what displeases Allah, and He,
in turn, will please him with many beautiful things; He will make his path in life full of
success; He will make his objectives always good. He will make him independent through
Favours from Him, and He will protect him against committing anything which He deems
unlawful.
- "Al-Tawwab"
The Glorified and Exalted One has said, ... except those who repent and amend and make (the
truth) manifest: to these do I turn (mercifully), and I am the oft-Returning (to mercy), the
Most Merciful. (2:160)
"Al-Tawwab" is an Attribute whose root word is tawbah, repentance, which means: returning
to Allah. It means that He accepts His servants' repentance, that is, He resumes bestowing His
grace upon them, enabling them to repent, making it easy for them to do so. Al-Tawwab, then,
accepts repentance. He says in the Holy Qura'n, "... then He turned to them (mercifully) so
that they might turn (to Him); surely Allah is oft-Returning (to mercy), the Most
Merciful" (Qura'n, 9:118). It is known, hence, that if Allah does not accept the repentance of
one of His servants, the latter is not considered repentant, for the initiation of repentance in all
reality is from Allah Who concludes it with His acceptance thereof.
Al-Tawwab facilitates repentance for His servants, time and over again, by the Signs which
He manifests for them, and the warning whereby He warns them; so, when they become
familiar with the penalty of their sins, they become frightened, and they return to repentance,
and Allah's favour returns to them when He accepts their repentance.
Al-Tawwab accepts the repentance of His servants and forgives their sins. He accepts the
repentance of one who disobeys Him then returns to obeying Him. And if he commits a sin
then returns to Him, He welcomes him back. He forgives the one who slips from the right
path then apologizes to Him and overlooks his sin. As long as the servant of Allah seeks
tawbah, the Lord remains Forgiving.
The light inspired by this Attribute is that one who accepts the apologies of criminals as well
as friends and relatives time and over again derives his conduct from this Attribute. So that
we may model our conduct after it, we ought to repent and seek His acceptance of our
repentance; we should go to Him in every circumstance. Also, repetition of repentance
prepares a servant of Allah for Allah's love for him, which is the greatest honour and status,
for repentance is admission of one's deficiency and shortcoming, and the standing at the
threshold of the Most Knowing most humbly. For this reason, the Messenger of Allah used to
repent quite often in order to show us the path to happiness. It is also one of the good manners
of a believer who repeats this Attribute quite often to forgive those who wrong him, to be
benevolent to those who mistreat him, and to accept the apologies of others.