Appearance
Must God Accept Repentance?
فَتَلَقَّىٰٓ ءَادَمُ مِن رَّبِّهِۦ كَلِمَٰتٍ فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِۚ إِنَّهُۥ هُوَ ٱلتَّوَّابُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ
Then Adam received from his Lord [some] words, and He accepted his repentance. Indeed, it is He who is the Accepting of repentance, the Merciful. (2:37)
The question
When repentance is complete and sincere, must God accept it, or is His acceptance a pure favour?
Views answered: the Ashʿarites (as reported by Fakhr al-Rāzī), the Muʿtazilites, al-Ṭabrisī, Ṣadr al-Mutaʾallihīn, Shaykh al-Mufīd and Shaykh al-Ṭūsī, al-Ālūsī
Jawādī Āmulī’s argument
Those who deny that reason can judge good and bad make acceptance a pure favour; the Muʿtazilites make it obligatory upon God; al-Ṭabrisī, though he accepts reason’s judgement, calls it a grace, because the angels pray for the repentant (40:7) and no one prays for what is bound to happen; Ṣadr al-Mutaʾallihīn answers him that one may pray out of doubt about the conditions, or for the sake of humility. Shaykh al-Mufīd and Shaykh al-Ṭūsī held it to be grace. Āyatullāh Jawādī Āmulī settles the matter with a distinction he traces to Ibn Sīnā through Ṣadr al-Mutaʾallihīn: acceptance is necessary from God, not obligatory upon God. No law rules over Him, as the Muʿtazilites imply, yet complete repentance is a complete cause of its acceptance, as justice necessarily comes from Him.
Views compared
Each view is given as al-Tasnim reports it. Each point opens al-Tasnim at that place.
Pure favour Read →
The Ashʿarites, as reported by Fakhr al-Rāzī
Reason cannot judge good and bad; revelation has only promised acceptance, so it is pure grace.Jawādī Āmulī
They deny the order of cause and effect between things, which reliable revelation itself affirms.Obligatory upon God Read →
The Muʿtazilites
God must accept repentance; not to would be wrong of Him.Jawādī Āmulī
No law, however fitting, has power over the Infinite Being; every other being is His creation.Grace, from 40:7 Read →
al-Ṭabrisī
The angels pray for the repentant, and one does not pray for what is bound to happen.Jawādī Āmulī
Answered by Ṣadr al-Mutaʾallihīn: one prays from doubt that the conditions were met, or for the sake of humility before God.“Merciful” beside “Accepting of repentance” Read →
al-Ālūsī
The pairing shows acceptance is a grace.Jawādī Āmulī
It fits the principle of grace but does not settle the question, since elsewhere the pairing is “Wise”.Necessary from God, not upon God Read →
Ibn Sīnā, through Ṣadr al-Mutaʾallihīn
Distinguish what is obligatory upon God from what necessarily comes from God.Jawādī Āmulī
His answer: sincere, complete repentance will certainly be accepted by God, as justice necessarily comes from Him, but not because He is bound.Reading guide
Each step opens al-Tasnim at that point.