for his past sins to be forgiven. He said to him:
“O ‘Amr, do you not know that Islam wipes away what came before it, that repentance wipes away what came before it, and that migration wipes away what came before it?”
It is well known that repentance brings forgiveness only for what one repents of; it does not bring forgiveness for all sins.
The Third Principle
A person may call particular sins to mind and repent of them, or he may repent in general terms without calling his sins to mind. If, however, his intention is comprehensive repentance, it encompasses everything he regards as sinful. For comprehensive repentance includes a general resolve to do what is commanded and abandon what is forbidden, as well as general remorse for every forbidden act.
As for “remorse”—whether it is classified among beliefs, volitions, or the pains that afflict the soul because it has done something harmful to itself—when the heart becomes conscious that it has done something harmful to itself, it comes to recognize that what it did was evil. This belongs to the category of beliefs. It also feels an aversion to what it did, which belongs to the category of volitions, and experiences distress and grief over what it did. This belongs to the category of pains, such as sorrow and sadness, just as joy and happiness belong to the category of pleasures, not to that of beliefs or volitions.
As for those philosophers and their followers who say that pleasure is the perception of what is congenial