Episode 1In us
We forgive, and take people back. But we remember, we set limits, and we wait to be asked.
The 99 Names · Name 80 of 99 · Act
التَّوَّابُat-Tawwāb
The Ever-Accepting of repentance, who turns towards us
Recited as it sounds in the Qur'an, 2:37.
Heard together with: at-Tawwāb ar-Raḥīm (2:37)
Start with what we know
Then take away everything it needs. What is left is not a bigger version of us. It is the Name.
Episode 1
Episode 2In nature
Loggerhead turtles find their way back across oceans to the beach where they hatched, by a magnetic map they carry in their bodies (Brothers and Lohmann, 2015).
Episode 3At our best
In 2023, NASA lost contact with Voyager 2 and sent a “shout” across 19 billion kilometres to turn its antenna home. It worked. Returning needs a signal and a map.
Episode 4The Break
Take away the grudge, the condition, waiting to be asked. The turtle finds its way back by a map in its body. at-Tawwāb turns towards you before you turn (Qur'an 9:118), and says: “Do not despair of the mercy of God” (39:53).
From the tradition: Bukhari 6309 lost camel; Bukhari 7405 (qudsi) 'if he comes to Me walking, I go to him running'.
On screen
The bishop's mercy turns Valjean. at-Tawwāb turns first: (9:118).
Where it shows up
- In scripture
- Q 2:37; 9:118; 110:3; 39:53; Joel 2:13; Luke 15:20.
- The same thread in Jewish and Christian scripture
- Joel 2:13 'turn back to the ETERNAL your God'; Luke 15:20 'his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran'. Strong. (Tawwāb/tuv: C1 says likely loan, not cognate.)
- In the universe
- Voyager 2 return (JPL).
- In nature
- Turtles (EurekAlert 2015); Migration.
- In people
- Teshuvah (Judaism), confession (Christianity), tawba (Islam).
- In science
- Magnetoreception; homing.
Watch and listen
Films, documentaries and voices that reach towards this Name. Each links out to where you can watch it.
Sources for this page
gutenberg.org/files/135; eurekalert.org/news-releases/781133; hadith-api