Tafsir of Al-Baqarah 2:37

Surah Al-Baqarah (2): Verse 37

فَتَلَقَّىٰ آدَمُ مِن رَّبِّهِ كَلِمَاتٍ فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ ۚ إِنَّهُ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ (Then Adam received from his Lord words, and He accepted his repentance. Indeed, He is the Accepting of Repentance, the Merciful.)

The root meaning of talaqqī is to present oneself for an encounter, then it is used to mean receiving something coming toward oneself, and finally, it means acceptance and taking hold.

• Evidence: Allah says: $\text{{وَإِنَّكَ لَتُلَقَّى الْقُرْآنَ مِن لَّدُنْ حَكِيمٍ عَلِيمٍ}} (An-Naml: 6), meaning He is taught it. It is also said: Talaqqaynā al-Ḥujjāj (We received the pilgrims), meaning we met them. And: Talaqqaytu hādhihi al-kalimah min fulān (I received this saying from so-and-so), meaning I took it from him.
• Linguistic Implication: If the origin of the word implies mutual encounter (if two people talaqqā, they meet each other), then the description of meeting can apply to both parties. Thus, it is valid to say: Adam talaqqā words, meaning he took them, comprehended them, and received them with acceptance.
• Alternative Reading: It is also valid to interpret it as: Words came to Adam (passive sense), similar to the reading by Ibn Mas'ud of \text{{لَا يَنَالُ عَهْدِي الظَّالِمِينَ}} (Al-Baqarah: 124) as al-Ẓālimūn (the wrongdoers, nominative case).

It is not permissible to interpret this as Allah merely informing Adam of the reality of repentance, because any accountable person (mukallaf) must already know the essence of repentance, be able to perform it to rectify sins, and distinguish it from other acts—especially since Adam was a Prophet. Therefore, the meaning must be one of the following:

1. A Warning/Reminder: It was a reminder concerning the sin he committed, which immediately placed Adam among the repentant and returning ones.
2. Assurance of Acceptance: Allah informed him of the obligation of repentance and that it would inevitably be accepted—meaning, whoever sins, small or large, then regrets it and resolves never to return to it, Allah will accept his repentance. Thus, \text{{فَتَلَقَّىٰ آدَمُ مِن رَّبِّهِ كَلِمَاتٍ}} means he took, accepted, and acted upon these words.
3. Incentive through Grace: Allah reminded him of His great favors upon him, which served as a powerful impetus toward repentance.
4. Means to Perfection: Allah taught him specific words, the inclusion of repentance with which would lead to the perfection of his state of repentance.

There are differing reports regarding what these words were:

1. Ibn Abbas (via Sa'id ibn Jubayr): Adam asked: "O Lord, did You not create me with Your Hand without an intermediary?" (Yes). "Did You not breathe into me from Your Spirit?" (Yes). "Did You not settle me in Your Paradise?" (Yes). "Did You not precede Your Mercy over Your Wrath?" (Yes). "O Lord, if I repent and reform, will You return me to Paradise?" (Yes). These are the words. Al-Saddi added: "O Lord, did You decree a sin upon me?" (Yes).
2. Al-Nakha'i (via Ibn Abbas): Allah taught Adam and Eve the rites of Hajj, and they performed Hajj. These were the words recited during Hajj. Upon completing Hajj, Allah revealed to them that He had accepted their repentance.
3. Mujahid and Qatadah (one narration): The words were: \text{{رَبَّنَا ظَلَمْنَا أَنفُسَنَا وَإِن لَّمْ تَغْفِرْ لَنَا وَتَرْحَمْنَا لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ}} (Al-A'raf: 23).
4. Ibn Abbas (via Sa'id ibn Jubayr): The words were: "There is no god but You, Glorified are You and Praised, I have done evil and wronged myself, so forgive me, for You are the best of forgivers. There is no god but You, Glorified are You and Praised, I have done evil and wronged myself, so have mercy on me, for You are the most merciful. There is no god but You, Glorified are You and Praised, I have done evil and wronged myself, so accept my repentance, for You are the Acceptor of Repentance, the Merciful."
5. 'A'ishah (RA): When Allah intended to accept Adam's repentance, he circumambulated the House seven times (which was then a reddish mound). After praying two rak'ahs, he faced the House and supplicated: "O Allah, You know my secret and my manifest; accept my excuse. You know my need; grant me my request. You know what is in my heart; forgive my sins. O Allah, I ask You for faith that penetrates my heart and true certainty so that I know nothing will befall me except what You have decreed for me, and I am content with what You have apportioned for me." Allah then revealed to Adam: "O Adam, I have forgiven your sin. No one from your progeny will supplicate to Me with this supplication except that I will forgive his sin, remove his distress and sorrow, remove poverty from his sight, and the world will come to him even though he does not seek it."

Al-Ghazali's View: Repentance is realized through three sequential matters: Knowledge ('Ilm), State (Ḥāl), and Action ('Amal). Knowledge is first, State is second, and Action is third. The first necessitates the second, and the second necessitates the third, by the established law of God in the seen and unseen realms.

• Knowledge: Recognizing the harm in sin and how it acts as a veil between the servant and the Lord's Mercy.
• State (Regret/Remorse): True knowledge causes the heart to ache due to the loss of the Beloved (Allah). When the heart feels the loss of the Beloved, it suffers pain. If this loss is due to one's own actions, one feels regret over the action that caused the loss—this regret is called Nadama (remorse).
• Action (Resolution): When this pain is confirmed, it generates a firm will (Irādah Jāzima) connected to the present, the future, and the past:
  • Present: Abandoning the sin currently being committed.
  • Future: Resolving to abandon that sin forever.
  • Past: Rectifying what was missed, through compensation or restitution, if possible.

Thus, Knowledge is the beginning, the light that necessitates the fire of remorse. This remorse causes the heart to ache upon realizing it is veiled from the Beloved. This fire of love prompts the will to rise up and rectify the situation. Knowledge, Remorse, and the Intention to cease in the present/future and rectify the past are three interconnected components of repentance.

Often, the term Tawbah is used to refer only to Remorse, with prior Knowledge being the prerequisite and subsequent cessation being the fruit. This is why the Prophet (PBUH) said: "Remorse is repentance," because remorse is never separated from the knowledge that caused it and the resolution that follows it, meaning remorse is bracketed by its cause and its effect.

Al-Qaffal's View: Repentance requires four things:

1. Cessation (ترك): If one does not cease, they are still committing the sin and are not repentant.
2. Remorse (ندم): If one does not regret it, they are content with having done it, and one content with an act cannot be repentant of it.
3. Resolution not to return: Since committing the sin is disobedience, resolving to commit disobedience is itself disobedience.
4. Fear/Apprehension (إشفاق): Since one is commanded to repent, one cannot be certain they have fulfilled the repentance as required, so one remains fearful (like those described in \text{{وَالَّذِينَ يُؤْتُونَ مَا آتَوا وَّقُلُوبُهُمْ وَجِلَةٌ}} [Al-Mu'minun: 60]).

Critique of Al-Ghazali's Sequential Necessity: If Knowledge necessarily leads to Remorse, which necessarily leads to Resolution, then these steps are not under one's power (qudrah), making it impossible to be commanded to perform them. The only thing within one's capacity is acquiring the initial Knowledge.

• Counter-Argument: Acquiring even the initial Knowledge might not be within one's power, as it often requires prior knowledge. If the prior knowledge necessarily implies the subsequent knowledge, it is not chosen. If it doesn't imply it, the connection (the method of deduction) must be present. If the method of deduction is self-evident (badīhī), it is not chosen. If it is acquired (kasbī), the same problem arises regarding the acquisition of the method, leading to an infinite regress or the conclusion that the entire sequence is necessary and thus not subject to choice.

Al-Qadi 'Abd al-Jabbar's Question: Why is repentance obligatory for minor sins?

• Abu 'Ali's Answer: It is obligatory because once the accountable person knows they have sinned, they should not persist in that sin while remaining free to choose. While one could remain regretful or insistent, insistence is ugly, and only repentance allows one to leave that ugliness. Thus, repentance is obligatory for all sins, major or minor, whether the person mentions the sin or not.
• Abu Hashim's View: It is possible for a sinner to be free from both repentance and insistence. Repentance cannot be obligatory for Prophets for the sake of regaining lost reward (as rewards are merely benefits, and obligations are not established merely to gain benefits, like voluntary acts). Rather, it must be obligatory for one of two reasons:
  1. A minor sin reduces their reward, and repentance restores that reduction.
  2. Repentance takes the place of cessation. If cessation is obligatory when possible, repentance becomes obligatory when cessation is impossible (though this is weak).
  3. The Strongest View: It is obligatory upon them based on textual transmission (Sam'iy). Since God has protected the Prophets from sin ('iṣmah), one aspect of this protection is imposing strictness upon them regarding repentance, even for minor slips.

Al-Qaffal's View: The root of Tawbah is returning, like Awbah.

• The servant who repents (tāba) returns to his Lord, as every sinner is metaphorically fleeing his Lord.
• The Lord, when He accepts repentance (tawba), returns to His servant with Mercy and Grace. This explains the difference in prepositions: the servant repents to his Lord (إلى), and the Lord accepts repentance upon His servant (على).

Acceptance of Repentance occurs in two ways:

1. Granting great reward, similar to how obedience is accepted.
2. Forgiving the sins due to the repentance.

Describing Allah as Al-Tawwāb implies an exaggeration in accepting repentance, based on two points:

1. Contrast with Rulers: A worldly ruler might accept an apology once, but if the offense is repeated, he will not accept it again due to his nature. Allah, however, accepts repentance not due to softness of disposition, or to gain benefit or repel harm, but purely out of grace and favor. Even if a servant sins every hour, repents, and continues this cycle for a long life, Allah forgives the past and accepts the repentance. Thus, Allah deserves the superlative description Tawwāb.
2. Frequency of Repenters: The number of those who repent to Allah is vast. Accepting the repentance of all of them necessitates the superlative description. Since accepting repentance and removing punishment implies the granting of reward, and reward from Him is a grace and mercy, He couples the description Tawwāb with Raḥīm (Merciful).

Benefit 1: Constant Engagement in Repentance The servant must always be engaged in repentance, based on numerous narrations:

• On Ali (RA): When asked about one who sins, seeks forgiveness, sins again, seeks forgiveness, and repeats this, he said: "He should seek forgiveness perpetually until the Devil is the loser, saying, 'I have no strength against him.'" He added: "Whenever you are able to throw him into a predicament and escape it, do so."
• On the Prophet (PBUH): "He who seeks forgiveness, even if he repeats it seventy times in a day, is not considered persistent in sin."
• On the Prophet (PBUH): "I repent to my Lord one hundred times every day."
• On the Prophet (PBUH) (after the revelation of \text{{وَأَنذِرْ عَشِيرَتَكَ الْأَقْرَبِينَ}}): He warned the Quraysh, his relatives, and even his aunt and daughter, that nothing could save them from Allah.
• On the Prophet (PBUH): "Indeed, a veil is cast over my heart, so I seek forgiveness from Allah one hundred times a day."
  • Interpretation of the Veil (Ghayn): It is a light covering, like thin clouds that obscure the full brightness of the sun. Interpretations include: (1) Foreknowledge of the strife in his Ummah, causing him grief for them. (2) Transitioning between ascending spiritual states. (3) The intoxication of love (sukr al-maḥabbah) leading to annihilation of the self (fana'), and the seeking of forgiveness upon returning to sobriety. (4) The heart is never free from fleeting thoughts, desires, and inclinations, so he sought God's help to repel them.
• On 'Umar (RA) regarding \text{{تُوبُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ تَوْبَةً نَّصُوحًا}} (At-Taḥrīm: 8): It means a man commits a sin, then repents, and does not intend to repeat it or return to it. Ibn Mas'ud said: It is abandoning the sin and resolving never to return to it.
• On God's statement to Angels: "If My servant intends a good deed, write it for him as one; if he performs it, write it as ten. If he intends an evil deed and performs it, write it as one; but if he abandons it, write it as one good deed for him." (Muslim)
• On Abraham (AS): Gabriel heard him say, "O Generous Forgiver." Gabriel asked if he knew the meaning of "Generous Forgiver." Abraham said no. Gabriel replied: "It is to forgive an evil deed and write it as a good deed."
• On the Prophet (PBUH): "Whoever begins his day with good and ends it with good, Allah tells the angels: 'Do not record any sins my servant committed between those two points.'"
• Story of the Man who Killed 99 (then 100): The angels of Mercy and Punishment disputed over him. An angel appeared and decreed that they measure the distance to the two lands. He was found closer to the land of the righteous, and the angels of Mercy took him.
• On Iblis's Request: Iblis asked for power over Adam's progeny. God granted him that every son born to Adam would have ten sins for every good deed, and Iblis would flow through them like blood. Adam complained, and God granted him protection by assigning two angels to guard every newborn from evil companions, and that good deeds would be multiplied tenfold. Finally, God said: "I will not withhold repentance from any of your progeny until the breath catches in the throat (i.e., death)."
• On God's Hand: "Allah extends His Hand at night to accept the sins of the day, and by day to accept the sins of the night, until the sun rises from the West." (Muslim)
• On Ali (RA) and Abu Bakr (RA): "No servant commits a sin, performs ablution perfectly, prays two rak'ahs, and seeks forgiveness from Allah, except that Allah forgives him." (Followed by reciting \text{{وَالَّذِينَ إِذَا فَعَلُوا فَاحِشَةً أَوْ ظَلَمُوا أَنفُسَهُمْ}}).
• On the Man who Committed a Statutory Crime: The Prophet (PBUH) turned away from him, but when the man insisted after prayer, the Prophet asked if he had performed ablution and prayed. When the man confirmed, the Prophet said: "Allah has forgiven your crime (or sin)." (Muslim)
• On the Man who Committed an Act Short of Adultery: The Prophet recited \text{{وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ طَرَفَيِ النَّهَارِ وَزُلَفًا مِّنَ اللَّيْلِ إِنَّ الْحَسَنَاتِ يُذْهِبْنَ السَّيِّئَاتِ}} (Hud: 114), and confirmed it was for all people, not just him. (Muslim)
• On the Servant who Repeated Sins: God tells the angels: "My servant knew he has a Lord who forgives sins and takes account. I have forgiven My servant; let him do as he wills [i.e., continue to repent]." (Agreed upon)
• On the Prophet (PBUH): "He who seeks forgiveness, even if he repeats it seventy times in a day, is not considered persistent."
• On the Prophet (PBUH): "If you did not commit sins, Allah would have created creatures who would commit sins, seek forgiveness, and He would forgive them." (Muslim)
• Story of the Bird's Chicks: The Prophet showed compassion for the mother bird, saying Allah is more compassionate to His servants than the mother bird is to her chicks.
• Divine Hadith Qudsi: "O My servants, I have forbidden injustice for Myself and made it forbidden among you, so do not wrong one another... O My servants, you err by night and day, and I am the one who forgives sins and does not care. So ask Me for forgiveness, and I will forgive you... O My servants, if your first and last, humans and jinn, were on the heart of the most pious man among you, it would not increase My dominion in the least... If they were on the heart of the most wicked man among you, it would not decrease My dominion in the least... If they all gathered in one place and asked Me, and I gave every person what he asked, it would not diminish My dominion except as a needle dipping into the sea diminishes it. O My servants, it is only your deeds that I keep count of for you. Whoever finds good, let him praise Allah, and whoever finds otherwise, let him blame no one but himself."

Narrations (Athār):

• Dhū al-Nūn: Repentance is a comprehensive term for six meanings: (1) Regret for the past. (2) Resolution to abandon sins in the future. (3) Fulfilling every obligatory duty neglected between oneself and God. (4) Restoring rights to creatures regarding their wealth and honor. (5) Dissolving any flesh or blood nourished by unlawful means. (6) Making the body taste the pain of obedience, just as it tasted the sweetness of disobedience.

Benefit 2: Adam's Example Since Adam (AS), despite his high station, did not dispense with repentance, we are even more deserving of it.

Benefit 3: The Extent of Adam's Weeping Adam's weeping over his slip serves as a warning to us, as we are more deserving of weeping than he was. It is narrated that if the weeping of the world were gathered with David's weeping, David's would be greater. If that were gathered with Noah's, Noah's would be greater. If all that were gathered with Adam's weeping over his mistake, Adam's weeping would be the greatest.

Allah sufficed with mentioning Adam's repentance because Eve was subordinate to him in this matter, just as women's mention is often omitted in the Qur'an and Sunnah. However, Eve's participation is confirmed in His statement: \text{{قَالَا رَبَّنَا ظَلَمْنَا أَنفُسَنَا}}$ (Al-A'raf: 23).

Verse 38

قُلْنَا اهْبِطُوا مِنْهَا جَمِيعًا ۖ فَإِمَّا يَأْتِيَنَّكُم مِّنِّي هُدًى فَمَن تَبِعَ هُدَايَ فَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ (We said, "Get down from it, all of you. And whenever guidance comes to you from Me, then whoever follows My guidance - no fear will come upon them, nor will they grieve.")