Repentance and the Return to God: Tawba in Early Sufism PB

Atif Khalil

Paperback, 272 pages

9781438469126

The first major study of the idea of repentance, or tawba, in Islam

Conventionally translated as "repentance," tawba includes the broader sense of returning to God. Khalil examines this wider notion in the early period of Sufism with a particular focus on the formative years of the tradition between Muhasibi and Abu Talib al-Makki.

Beginning with an extensive survey of the semantic field of the term as outlined in Arabic lexicography, Khalil offers a detailed analysis of the concept in Muslim scripture. He then examines tawba as a complex psychological process involving interior conversion and a complete, unwavering commitment to the spiritual life. The ideas of a number of prominent figures from the first few centuries of Islam are used to illuminate the historical development of tawba and its role in early praxis-oriented Sufism.

Contents

Part I. The Semantics of Tawba  

1. Is Tawba “Repentance”? A Lexical and Semantic Survey  

2. The Internal Structure and Semantic Field of Tawba in the Qur’ān

Part II. Early Sufi Approaches to Tawba

3. Tawba as Interior Conversion 

4. The States, Stations and Early Sufi Apothegmata

5. Four Approaches to Tawba

6. Tawba in the Writings of al-Ḥārith al-Muḥāsibī 

7. Tawba in the Nourishment of Hearts of Abū Ṭālib al-Makkī