Moses, while his attributes were subsistent, said, “_I repent towards Thee_” (Kor. vii, 140), but the Apostle, while his attributes were annihilated, said, “I cannot tell Thy praise.” Inasmuch as it behoves the penitent not to remember his own selfhood, how should he remember his sin? Indeed, remembrance of sin is a sin, for sin is an occasion of turning away from God, and so is the remembrance of it or the forgetting of it, since both remembrance and forgetfulness are connected with one’s self. Junayd says: “I have read many books, but I have never found anything so instructive as this verse:— ‘_Idhá qultu má adhnabtu qálat mujíbat^{an} ḥayátuka dhanb^{un} lá yuqásu bihi dhanbu._’ When I say: ‘What is my sin?’ she says in reply: ‘Thy existence is a sin with which no other sin can be compared.’“ In short, repentance is a Divine strengthening and sin is a corporeal act: when contrition (_nadámat_) enters the heart the body has no means of expelling it; and as in the beginning no human act can expel repentance, so in the end no human act can maintain it. God hath said: ”_And He turned_ (tába) _unto him_ (Adam), _for He is the Disposer towards repentance_ (al—tawwáb), _the Merciful_” (Kor. ii, 35). The Koran contains many texts to the same effect, which are too well known to require citation. Footnote 147: Cf. Kor. lxvi, 8. Footnote 148: Cf. Kor. l, 32. Footnote 149: Cf. Kor. xxxviii, 44. Footnote 150: Text, قهشميان. See Shahristání, Haarbrücker’s translation, i, 80. Repentance is of three kinds: (1) from what is wrong to what is right, (2) from what is right to what is more right, (3) from selfhood to God. The first kind is the repentance of ordinary men; the second kind is the repentance of the elect; and the third kind of repentance belongs to the degree of Divine love (_maḥabbat_). As regards the elect, it is impossible that they should repent of sin. Do not you perceive that all the world feel regret for having lost the vision of God? Moses desired that vision and repented (Kor. vii, 140), because he asked for it with his own volition (_ikhtiyár_), for in love personal volition is a taint. The people thought he had renounced the vision of God, but what he really renounced was his personal volition. As regards those who love God, they repent not only of the imperfection of a station below the station to which they have attained, but also of being conscious of any “station” or “state” whatsoever. SECTION.