The turtle who came home

التَّوَّابُ

at-Tawwāb · The One who turns towards us, again and again

One warm night, on a sandy beach, a tiny turtle pokes her head out of the sand. She is a baby loggerhead turtle, small enough to sit in your hand. All around her, her brothers and sisters are hatching too.

She does not wait. She scrambles across the sand towards the shining sea, and splashes into the waves.

And then she is gone.

For years and years, she swims across the ocean. She travels thousands of kilometres. She eats jellyfish and crabs. She grows bigger and bigger, until she is as wide as a bike wheel. She is very, very far from home.

But one day, about twenty or thirty years later, something inside her says: it is time to go back.

And she finds her way home. Back across the whole ocean, to the very beach where she hatched, or one very near it. Then she climbs out onto the sand and lays her own eggs.

How does she find the way? Scientists have discovered that turtles can feel the Earth’s magnetism, a bit like having a compass inside their bodies. Each beach has its own magnetic “address”, and the baby turtle remembers it.

Sometimes people wander off too. Not across the ocean, but in other ways. We say unkind things. We take something that is not ours. We break a promise. We feel far away from God, and from the people we love.

But there is always a way back.

Muslims have a Name for God that is about coming back. It is at-Tawwāb. It comes from a word that means to turn back. At-Tawwāb is the One who turns towards people again and again. He turns whenever they turn back to Him. Not once, not twice, but every single time.

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (peace be upon him) passed on God’s words. “If someone comes to Me walking, I come to them running.”

Jewish people have a word for turning back: teshuvah, which means “return”. Every autumn, on Yom Kippur, they say sorry to God and to each other. The prophet Joel (peace be upon him) said: “turn unto the LORD your God; For He is gracious and compassionate.”

Christians remember a story that Jesus told. A shepherd left his ninety-nine sheep to look for the one that was lost. He kept looking until he found it.

So if you ever feel far away, remember the turtle. There is always a way home. And Someone is waiting to welcome you.

Watch together

▶Turtle Travel Tips: How Magnets Can Help Us Navigate | Magnetoreception · SciShow Kids

How turtles use the Earth’s magnetism to find their way, for young viewers.

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