that the path he has been following is taking him farther away from
his real goal. If he is wise, he will not merely sit down and give
himself up to unrestrained grief. He will resolutely hasten back to
his starting point and when he has reached it, he will, after due
deliberation, choose a new path. Tauba, on the moral plane,
represents the same sensible way of acting. But tauba has in it an
ingredient of Divine help. The man who has realised his mistake
and is eager to rectify it, is not left to his own resources. Unstinted
Divine help is given to him in the shape of Divine guidance which
never errs. Otherwise, the sense of having wasted his time and the
feelings of uncertainty about the results of his further efforts will
weigh heavily on him and will hamper his efforts to regain the right
path. The Divine help, the concomitant of Tauba, refreshes and re-
invigorates him so that he acts with re-doubled energy. In short,
maghfirah assists a man in warding off the blows of sharr, but when
he is hit, tauba helps to repair the damage done. It should be noted
that tauba is not a passive act of regret; it is positive effort at
restoration of the lost position, with regeneration of energy born
out of hope and confidence. Tauba is not merely withdrawal from
what was destructive; it is the annulment of its consequences. Says
the Qur'an:
Lo! Good deeds annul ill deeds (11:114).
Tauba thus fortifies the constructive forces in man and enables
them to repair the damage to the self, which was caused by his
destructive deeds. The Qur'an assures man that if he does not
surrender himself to sharr on the big issues, his paltry lapses will not
be permitted to impede his progress to his goal:
And if ye avoid the great things which ye are forbidden, We will remit
from you your lapses and make you enter a noble gate (4:32),
Since the constructive results of your noble deeds outweigh the
destructive consequences of your lapses.
IV. ConclusionWe have since considered two different views of salvation. It will
be seen that the concept of salvation set forth in the Qur'an is a
positive achievement as against the negative and barren concept of
escapism favoured in certain quarters. The latter springs from a
Salvation^162