The 365 · Verses · Day 51 · Repentance
The first tawbah in human history. Allah taught Ādam the words. They still work.
Qur'an Q 7:23
قَالَا رَبَّنَا ظَلَمْنَآ أَنفُسَنَا وَإِن لَّمْ تَغْفِرْ لَنَا وَتَرْحَمْنَا لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ ٱلْخَـٰسِرِينَ
“They replied, 'Our Lord, we have wronged our souls: if You do not forgive us and have mercy, we shall be lost.' (Abdel Haleem)”
Svenska: De svarade: 'Herre! Vi har gjort oss själva orätt. Om Du inte ger oss Din förlåtelse och förbarmar Dig över oss är vi helt visst [för alltid] förlorade.' (Knut Bernström)
The story
Ibn Kathir cites ad-Dahhāk ibn Muzāhim on this verse: 'These are the words that Ādam received from his Lord' (the words referenced in Q 2:37, which says Ādam received words from his Lord and Allah accepted his tawbah). 7:23 is therefore not just a sentence in the Quran; it is the original tawbah of the human race, taught to our father Ādam by Allah Himself in the moment after the slip. Ibn Kathir also reports Qatādah's narration: 'Ādam said: O Lord, what if I repented and sought forgiveness? Allah said: Then I will admit you into Paradise. As for Shaytān, he did not ask for forgiveness, but for respite. Each one of them was given what he asked for.' Two creatures fell. One asked for forgiveness and was promised Paradise. One asked for time to mislead and was given time. The contrast is the founding moment of human spiritual history.
In the language
ظَلَمْنَا أَنفُسَنَا (zalamnā anfusanā, 'we have wronged our souls') is the Quranic grammar of tawbah, again. Ādam and Hawwa' use the dual/plural form. The conditional 'if You do not forgive us and have mercy, we shall be of the losers' is the language of dependence: not bargaining, not demanding, simply naming the truth. لَنَكُونَنَّ (la-nakunanna) is the emphatic Arabic future construction (lām of emphasis + nūn of intensification): 'we will most certainly be' lost without it. The grammar is the prayer.
Why this verse
Q 7:23 is, per ad-Dahhāk ibn Muzāhim cited by Ibn Kathir, the very 'words Ādam received from his Lord' referenced in Q 2:37. The first tawbah in human history was a verbal one, given by Allah Himself to our father Ādam, after the first sin. The words are still in the Book, available to be used as is.
Bring it into today
Memorize Q 7:23 in Arabic. Recite it as a personal du'a' in tahajjud or after fard prayers. The words came from Allah Himself; they are guaranteed to be the right ones.
A reflection to carry
Two creatures fell that day. One was Ādam, who said 'we have wronged our souls' and asked for forgiveness. The other was Iblīs, who said 'give me time' and asked for respite. Each received what he asked for. Iblīs received the time. Ādam received the path back. The lesson is so clean it almost reads as a parable: what you ask for is what you get. Iblīs asked for an extension of the lifespan in which to refuse Allah; he got it. Ādam asked for the door back to Allah; he got it. We are sons of one of these two. Choose which by the words you use.
Read the longer reflection
Q 2:37 says 'Ādam received words from his Lord, and He accepted his tawbah.' 7:23 is those words, transcribed. Allah did not just forgive Ādam; He taught him the syllables. Read this carefully. The first lesson the human race ever received in tawbah was a verbal one, given directly by Allah, after the first sin in human history. The structure is: 1) name yourself ('our Lord'), 2) name the wrong ('we have wronged our souls'), 3) name the dependence ('if You do not forgive us and have mercy'), 4) name the cost ('we shall be lost'). Four moves. Anyone who follows them is following the original Prophetic template, transmitted through the first man to all his children. The mercy is that Allah did not leave Ādam to figure it out alone; He gave him the words. The same words sit in the Book today, available to be used as is, by any of his children who need them.
Sources: Ibn Kathir. The Qur'an and its translation are verified; the scholarship is retold faithfully in our own words and credited to its sources, never reproduced verbatim.
A verse, a healing, and a Sunnah, every morning.
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