Allah repents? Really? Muslim apologists would sometimes use the argument that the Biblical depiction of God is often anthropomorphic and unbefitting of His Majesty. Therefore the Bible is wrong and theologically inappropriate. One such instance occurs in Genesis 6:6 which reads, “And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” Any thinking person reading the verse would pause and wonder, “How exactly does God repent? Is repentance not exclusively excercised by the creation rather than the Creator?” The Muslim apologist will argue that Genesis 6:6 makes God out to be a weak and human like caricature with human like nature who committed a mistake and then had to repent for it which is obviously not the Almighty God that any of us would believe in. He would further add that the verse suggests that there is a higher being than God to receive His repentance or that God repents to Himself which paints a rather unpalatably strange picture (perhaps likened to a schizophrenic who speaks to himself). In retaliation to this line of argumentation from the Muslim side, the Christians committing non sequitur and red herring fallacies turn to the Qur’an and point out places that in their view depict Allah as repenting as well. In this article we shall carefully analyse the Christian proposition and determine once and for all if there is any merit to it. Undoubtedly one of the most notorious Christian apologists in the eyes of Muslims who are familiar with the field of Christian-Muslim apologetics is none other than Sam Shamoun, the ring leader of Answering Islam. Unveiling Christianity does not make it a habit to produce direct rebuttals to responses produced by the Answering Islam team against articles published here for the simple reason that it is a complete and total waste of time to directly address their authors and the shoddy “research” that they bring forth. Giving them undue attention will only do disservice to one’s limited time and energy. Thus the purpose of Unveiling Christianity is not to get entangled in a ping-pong match of going back and forth with the likes of Shamoun who has never learned his lessons for the past ten years or so. Rather, it is to clarify specific issues bolstered by academically sound research for the benefit of the aspirant Muslim propagator or one who simply requires some scholarly information that are lacking in many other Islamic websites. Shamoun in his article entitled ‘Allah repenting and Changing His Mind’ quotes some five verses(of which only two will be reproduced here which are sufficient for our discussion as the verb forms and nouns are either similar or identical in all five verses) that he thinks prove that Allah in the Qur’an repents like the Biblical God: Then Adam received commandments from his Lord, and his Lord repented (fataba) towards him; for He is Oft-Repenting (huwa al-tawwabu), Most Merciful. S. 2:37 Our Lord! And make us submissive unto you and of our seed a nation submissive unto you, and show us our ways of worship, and repent (watub) toward us. Lo! You are the Repenting (anta al-tawwabu), the merciful. S. 2:128 After citing all five verses he concludes that, “The above references clearly present Allah as a deity who turns towards his creatures by repenting or changing his mind or the course of action he intended to take against them.” Any person who is familiar with translations of the Qur’an will be quick to notice that the translations given by Shamoun are virtually non-existent in the corpus of Qur’anic translations available. Where exactly did he conjure up those verses from? Evidently they were conjured up out of thin air. It should be noted that Shamoun has had no training in the Arabic language in his entire life. This shows that the given translations are the result of a presumptuously dastardly mind that is willing to do anything to score a cheap point. Any person with a scintilla of academic erudition would not dream of presumptuously translating the sacred book of another without some academic backing or resource. There is simply not a single translation of the Qur’an on the face of the earth which understands the verse as Shamoun would have his audience understand. Let us refer to some of the major translations of the Qur’an and compare them to the deceptive Shamounian translation: The notable Muslim scholar and translator of the Qur’an Muhammad Asad translates as follows: “Thereupon Adam received words [of guidance] from his Sustainer, and He accepted his repentance: for, verily, He alone is the Acceptor of Repentance, the Dispenser of Grace.” (2:37) [1] “…And thereupon He accepted your repentance: for, behold, He alone is the Acceptor of Repentance, the Dispenser of Grace.” (2:54) [2] Dr. M. M. Khatib whose translation was authorised by Al-Azhar University, an institution that commands the highest Sunni authority translates the relevant verses as follows: “Then Adam received from his Lord words. Thus He relented toward him. Truly He is the Relenting, the Merciful.” (2:37) [3] “…Then He relented toward you, for He is the Relenting, the Merciful.” (2:54) [4] The Ahmadi Sir Muhammad Zafrulla Khan in his translation renders 2:37 as follows: “Thereafter Adam learnt certain words of prayer from his Lord, and began to pray as he was taught. So He turned towards him with mercy; surely He is Oft-returning with compassion towards His creatures and is Ever Merciful.” (2:37) [5] Thomas Bellantine Irving or al-Hajj Ta’lim ‘Ali in the first American translation of the Qur’an translates the verses as follows: “Adam received words [of inspiration] from his Lord and he turned towards Him. He is the Relenting, the Merciful.” (2:37) [6] “…He will (then) relent towards you, since He is the Relenting, the Merciful.” (2:54) [7] Mahmud Y. Zayid along with a committee of Muslim scholars and approved by both Sunni and Shi’a Supreme Councils of Lebanon translates the verses as follows: “Then Adam received commandments from his Lord, and his Lord relented towards him. He is the Forgiving One, the Merciful.” (2:37) [8] “…And He relented towards you. He is the Forgiving One, the Merciful.” (2:54) [9] Jewish born Nessim Joseph Dawood in his once best-selling The Koran translates the verses as follows: “Then Adam received commandments from his Lord, and his Lord relented towards him. He is the Forgiving One, the Merciful.” (2:37) [10] “…And He relented towards you. He is the Forgiving One, the Merciful.” (2:54) [11] The British convert to Islam and translator of the Qur’an Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall translates the verses as follows: “Then Adam received from His Lord words (of revelation), and He relented toward him. Lo! He is the Relenting, the Merciful.” (2:37) [12] “…and He will relent toward you. Lo! He is the Relenting, the Merciful.” (2:54) [13] The British orientalist Edward Henry Palmer translates the verses as follows: “And Adam caught certain words from his Lord and he turned towards him, for He is compassionate one easily turned.” (2:37) [14] “…and He turned unto you, for He is the compassionate one easily turned.” (2:54) [15] Translator Thomas Cleary translates 2:37 as follows: “Then Adam received instruction from his Lord, and God relented toward him, for God is most relenting, most merciful.” (2:37) [16] The Islamic scholar Maulana Abdul Majid Daryabadi translates 2:37 as follows: “Then Adam learnt certain words from his Lord, and he relented towards Him. Surely it is He Who is Relenting, Merciful.” (2:37) [17] Majid Fakhry in his translation of the Qur’an translates as follows: “Then Adam received words from his Lord, Who forgave him. He is indeed the All-Forgiving, the Merciful.” (2:37) [18] “…Then He forgave you. He is the All-Forgiving, the Merciful.” (2:54) [19] The foremost orientalist William Montgommery Watt in his Companion to the Qur’an which is based on Arberry’s translation approves the following rendering for 2:37: “37/5 turned towards him : relenting.” [20] M. A. S. Abdel Haleem in his translation of the Qur’an translates as follows: “Then Adam received some words from his Lord and He accepted his repentance: He is the Ever Relenting, the Most Merciful.” (2:37) [21] “…He accepted your repentance: He is the Ever Relenting and the Most Merciful.” (2:54) [22] The Christian missionary and orientalist George Sale in his first English translation of the Qur’an translates the verses as follows: “And Adam learned words of prayer from his Lord, and God turned unto him, for he is easy to be reconciled and merciful.” (2:37) [23] “…and thereupon he turned unto you, for he is easy to be reconciled, and merciful.” (2:54) [24] The Christian translator and minister Reverend John Meadows Rodwell in his translation translates the verses as follows: “And words of prayer learned Adam from his Lord: and God turned to Him; for He loveth to turn, the Merciful.” (2:37) [25] “…Then turned He unto you, for He is the one who turneth, the Merciful.” (2:54) [26] The eminent scholar of Islam Dr. Tahirul Qadri translates the verses as follows: “Then Adam learnt some words (of humility and repentance) from his Lord. So Allah accepted his repentance. Surely, He is the One Who is Most Relenting, Ever-Merciful.” (2:37) [27] “Then He accepted your repentance. Surely, He is Most Relenting, Ever-Merciful.” (2:54) [28] Mufti Taqi Usmani in his translation of the Qur’an translates the verses as follows: “Then ’Ādam learned certain words (to pray with) from his Lord; so, Allah accepted his repentance. No doubt, He is the Most-Relenting, the Very-Merciful.” (2:37) [29] “…Then, He accepted your repentance. Indeed He is the Most-Relenting, the Very-Merciful.” (2:54) [30] We may continue citing dozens of other translations but the point is resoundingly clear; None of the translators of the Qur’an have ever understood the verb فتاب or the noun التواب to mean ‘repent’ or ‘the One who repents’(or Oft-Repenting) when they are attached to Allah. Herein lies the crux of the problem, that is, a profound lack of understanding of the nuances and intricacies of the Arabic language specifically regarding a phenomenon known as al-naza’ir or polysemy which we have explored in Does Allah pray? If yes, then who does He pray to?. This linguistic feature is by no means an exclusively Arabic phenomenon. Rather, it is easily seen in English as well. For example, the word ‘bank’ in English can be used in multiple different ways in different contexts to exude contrastive semantic features. Al-Mu’jam al-‘Arabi bil Asasi which is a standard dictionary of the Arabic language put together by over 19 scholars of the Arabic language defines التواب (al-tawwab) when used of God as follows: [تواب: ٢ قابل التوبة، من صفات الله {إن الله كان تواب رحيما} [قرآن] [31 “Forgiver (tawwab): 2. Acceptor of repentance is from one of the attributes of Allah {Verily Allah is most Forgiving and Merciful} [Qur’an]” Ibn Mazur al-Afriqi in his Lisan al-Arab which is the most sought after Arabic dictionary for learners of Arabic defines the relevant vocabulary items as follows: و الله تواب: يتوب على عبده. وقوله تعالى: غافر الذنب و قابل التوب وتاب الله عليه أي عاد عليه بالمغفرة (emphasis added)[32] والله التواب :يتوب على عبده بفضله إذا تاب إليه من ذنبه “And Allah is the Forgiver (tawwab): He forgives His servant. And Allah the Most High says: (I am) Forgiver of sins and acceptor of repentance. And Allah forgives/turns to him, that is, He returns to him(the servant) with forgiveness. And Allah is the Most Forgiving(al-Tawwab): He forgives His servant with His greatness when he repents from his sin.” The great Arabic scholar Abi Mansur Muhammad bin Ahmad al-Azhari in his Tahdhib al-Lughah defines the relevant lexical items as follows: (والله التواب يتوب على عبده، والعبد تائب إلى الله، وقال الله جل وعز: (وقابل التواب (emphasis added)[33] والله التواب يتوب على عبده بفضله إذا تاب إليه من ذنبه “And Allah is the Forgiver (al-tawwab) who forgives His servants, and the servant returns(in repentance) to Allah, and Allah Most High says: (Acceptor of repentance). And Allah is the Most Forgiving(al-Tawwab): He forgives His servant with His greatness when he repents from his sin.” The Christian scholar of the Arabic language Edward William Lane in his lexical entry has the following comprehensive explanation: “(M.)- تاب الله عليه God returned to forgiveness towards him; became again forgiving to him: (T: ) or disposed, or adapted, him to repentance, or returning from sin or disobedience: (S, K: ) or reverted from severity to mildness towards him: or returned to him with his favour, or grace, and his acceptance, or approbation; became again propitious to him: (A, K: ) all these meanings are correct: (TA: ) or God forgave him, and saved him from acts of disobedience: (Msb: ) or accepted his repentance: (Jel in ii. 35&c. : ) or returned towards him with mercy, and acceptance of repentance. (Bd ibid.) … تواب, applied to a man, [One who repents much or often;] returning from disobedience to obedience [to God] (M, K, TA) much or often. (TA.) – And applied to God, One who returns [much or often] to forgiveness towards his servant who returns unto Him: (T: ) or who [often] disposes, or adapts, to repentance, or returning from sin or disobedience; or reverts from severity to mildness; or returns with his favour or grace, &c. : (A, K : [see 1, last sentence: ]) or who forgives much, and saves from acts of disobedience. (Msb.)” [34] Notice that Lane successfully distinguishes the application of the word between man and God above. When will the Christians learn from their own Christian scholars? The foremost German Arabic scholar Hahns Wehr has the following definition: “(توب) تاب taba u (توب taub, توبة tauba, متاب matab) to repent, be penitent, do penance; with عن: to turn from (sin), be converted from, renounce, forswear s.th.; (said of God) to restore to His grace, forgive (على s.o.) |…” [35] (bold emphasis added) Notice that Hahns Wehr is careful to make the same distinction as Lane does in his lexicon. The great exegete of the Qur’an from al-Azhar , Ahmad Mustafa al-Maraghi in his commentary on Surah al-Baqarah, verse 37 (2:37) specifically on the epithet التواب (al-tawwab ) used of Allah writes: [36] إنه هو التواب الرحيم) التواب هو الذى يقبل التوبة عن عباده كثيرا، فمهما اقترف العبد من الذنوب وندم على ما فرط منه وتاب تاب الله عليه “(Verily He is the most Forgiving and the Most Merciful) al-tawwab means that He exceedingly accepts the repentance of His servant even though the servant commits many sins, then he realises the error of his ways and repents no doubt Allah will accept his repentance.” The great classical commentator of the Qur’an Imam al-Tabari in his commentary on 2:37 writes: قال أبو جعفر: وقوله (فتاب عليه)، يعني : على آدم. والهاء التي في (عليه) عائدة على آدم. وقوله: (فتاب عليه)، يعني رزقه التوبه من خطيئته.” [37] قال أبو جعفر وتأويل قوله : { إنه هو التواب الرحيم } أن الله جل ثناؤه هو التواب على من تاب إليه من عباده المذنبين من ذنوبه التارك مجازاته بإنابته إلى طاعته بعد معصيته بما سلف من ذنبه . وقد ذكرنا أن معنى التوبة من العبد إلى ربه : إنابته إلى طاعته , وأوبته إلى ما يرضيه بتركه ما يسخطه من الأمور التي كان عليها مقيما مما يكرهه ربه , فكذلك توبة الله على عبده هو أن يرزقه ذلك , ويتوب من غضبه عليه إلى الرضا عنه , ومن العقوبة إلى العفو والصفح عنه Abu Ja’far said: Allah says (Allah accepts his repentance/forgives him), that is: upon Adam. The pronoun ‘ha’ in ‘alaih(عليه) refers to Adam. And Allah says: (Allah accepts his repentance/forgives him), that is, He accepts Adam’s repentance for his mistake. Abu Ja’far said regarding the explanation of Allah’s saying (Indeed He is Most Forgiving and Most Merciful) means that Allah is the God who is Most Forgiving to those who wish to repent to Him by giving full obedience to Him and avoid rebellion against Him. This is the meaning of the tawbah of a servant to his Lord. Whilst the meaning of Allah’s tawbah upon His servant is that He forgives him and protects/preserves him from His wrath/punishment.” The experts of the language and the major experts of the Qur’an have all spoken and they are in complete unison that Allah does not repent, rather He is the One who accepts repentance and grants forgiveness. Every single one of the translators of the Qur’an cited above including Muslims, Christians and others wholeheartedly concur with our position and sound understanding that Allah does not in any way repent, but rather He lovingly turns towards His creatures and servants granting them forgiveness. However, there may be some who might be wondering why several translators opt to translate the relevant verbs and nouns as ‘relent’ and ‘relenting’ rather than simply as ‘forgive’ and ‘forgiving’. The reason is because relent is one of the acceptable meanings of the word when applied to God (cf. E. W. Lane above), that is, He relents (stops/softens) from punishing His servants when they choose repentance over persistent rebellion. At the same time relents in English besides carrying the meaning of ‘ceasing to punish; be severe’ it also means ‘to forgive’. The American heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines ‘relent’ as, “To become more lenient, compassionate, or forgiving.” [38] Thus as a footnote to the phrase ‘He relented towards Him’ Mawlana Daryabadi in his commentary on verse 2:37 writes, “(and accepted his repentance)”. [39] This shows that Mawlana Daryabadi who has a perfect grasp of the English language uses the verb ‘relented’ to mean ‘forgive’. Similarly in his footnote to the description of Allah in the verse “Surely it is He Who is Relenting” he writes: “The Prophet ‘was never tired of telling people how God was Very-Forgiving, that His love for men was more tender than of the mother-bird for her young.’ (LSK. Intro. P. LXXX).” [40] Likewise, all the other translators who choose ‘relent’ for the verb taba and ‘the relenting’ for the noun al-tawwab without a doubt refer to the fact that Allah forgives and is the Most Forgiving. Although the proposition that the Bible depicts God repenting, hence weak as seen in Genesis 6:6 may not be that great of an argument against Christianity at least it is based on the fact that the Bible certainly does say that “God repented” (without appealing to an invented uninitiated Muslim translation). The King James Version, the American Standard Version, the Douay-Rheims Bible, Young’s Literal Translation, Webster’s Bible Translation and several other Bible translations all have the verse saying “God repented”. Other versions substitute “repented” for “sorry”, that is, “the Lord was sorry that He made man”. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary commenting on Genesis 6:6 states, “now he looks on human wickedness and regrets that he made the world.” [41] To recap according to Muslim scholars, Christian scholars, and others the Qur’an does not say that Allah repents, but rather that He is Most Forgiving. The Bible on the other hand does indeed according to several reputed translations specifically say that “God repents”. What’s happening here is a classic case of comparing apples and oranges. In conclusion, the preponderance of evidence from multiple different sources(both Muslims and non-Muslims) overwhelmingly substantiates our position. The allegation that the Qur’an conveys the ridiculous idea that Allah repents is nothing but hot air. Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds who is ever Beneficent and Forgiving.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Aug 2013 10:30:50 +0000
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