the Wise, the Knowing that ye serve worship none other than God, verily I (come) to you from Him charged with warnings and announcements that ye seek pardon of your Lord and then be turned unto Him.' ¹

Repentance is repentance towards God. It is not merely a turning over a new leaf, but a conscious acknowledgement of sin, requiring and involving confession of wrong-doing without which there can be no seeking of pardon and a turning to God. It is not merely a regret that the line of action which has been followed was wrong or mistaken, but an actual turning to God, with renewed purpose of mind and heart to serve Him.

Regret without repentance towards God is spoken of in several passages in the Qur'an. Some of these passages refer to regret in this life, as 'He (God) said, yet a little while, and they will soon repent them (literally regret their obstinacy). Then did the shout (of the destroying angel) in justice surprise them, and we made them like leaves swept down by a torrent.²

Other passages refer to the regret and remorse of the unbelievers on the last day when they realize without avail the terrors of the punishment which has come upon them.³

True repentance includes a turning to God. It may therefore, be said that the Qur'an teaches the necessity of conversion.

Again, the fact that repentance and amendment are closely united in several passages shows that, according to the teaching of the Qur'an, true repentance implies

a turning away from the evil repented of. Thus we find the following, 'Those who repent and amend, and lay fast hold on God, and approve the sincerity of their religion to God, these shall be (numbered) with the faithful; and God will at last bestow on the faithful a great reward.' ¹ 'Your Lord hath laid down for Himself a law of mercy; so that if any one of you commit a fault through ignorance, and afterwards turn and amend, He surely will be Gracious, Merciful'.²

The Qur'an knows nothing of continuing in sin that grace may abound. It holds out the hope of a ready forgiveness for even the inveterate sinner, that is, the sinner who falls again and yet again from grace; but it holds out no hope for him who continues in a course of sin without endeavouring to amend. All repentance must be accompanied by a resolve to amend, and must be followed by a genuine attempt at amendment and righteous living. Hence death-bed repentance cannot be accepted.

The Qur'an does not appear, however, to distinguish between the repentance and conversion which occurs at the beginning of one's religious life, and that repentance and conversion which is the constant duty of the believer who finds himself ever failing or coming short in his attempts to please God. There may be a trace of this distinction in the use in some passages of the words aba and awwab instead of taba. In this connexion it may be noted that Job, David and Solomon are held up as examples of believers who set forth a true and noble example of repentance or turning