« Return, Repentance, Amendment, Reform, Reconversion. A contribution to the study of Tawba in the Context of Islamic Ethics »
SUMMARY: The present essay aims to explore, within the general framework of Islamic ethics, the complex notion of tawba, whose immediate peculiarity lies in its double meaning, being akin to “repentance” in the case of man, and “forgiveness” in the case of God. Our investigation will begin with the Koranic use of the root twb, observing its explicit content as established by the earliest lexicographers (in particular the work of Ibn Manẓūr), and identifying its presence in the Koran itself and in classical, modern and contemporary exegesis, as well as in the principal didactic literature, again including modern contributions.