Two paths leading to Allah

Allamah Isfaraini (Rahimahullah), the teacher of Imam Ghazali (Rahimahullah) supplicated for thirty years to Allah to make him sinless. He wanted to be completely free from all types of sin. This was a special status he sought. Only the one who does not want to displease Allah can make such a dua. One day he thought that although he had been supplicating for thirty years, Allah had not accepted his dua despite being Karim (generous in giving).

A voice emanated from the sky saying, “O Isfaraini, you want to become sinless when I have made two paths for becoming a wali. One is the path of piety and the other the path of repentance. Have you not recited the verse in the Qur’an wherein Allah says that He loves those who repent. When there are two windows, why are you specifying one? If due to human weakness, you commit a sin, come in close proximity to Me by repenting. Do not commit sins intentionally. When there is excessive mud, even an elephant can slip. Therefore, if you commit a sin, repent and become My beloved. Why do you only want to come via the route of piety when I have opened the door of repentance as well? When I have opened two doors, why are you appointing only one for yourself? Become My beloved via the path of repentance. Supplicate for protection from sin, not for becoming sinless.”

If you commit a sin, do not delay in repenting. Go all out in refraining from sin.

From the book A life of piety by Maulana Hakeem Akhtar (db)

11 Comments

  • Ali

    Superb! Great!. Indeed Allah swt is ‘Ghafoor-ur-Rahim’.

  • ABDULLA K

    WELL DONE . VERY USEFUL MESSAGE

    • Jazakallah for the comment.
      I have removed the link you have been leaving on your comments. After visiting the link I have found some very unislamic stuff there. Please refrain from passing on that link to others in error.

      Jazakallah

  • ABDULLA K

    WELL DONE . VERY USEFUL MESSAGE

  • mervat

    ‘How perfect Allah is!’ ‘How perfect Allah is!’ …really ‘Allaah is the greatest.’
    barak allaah feek ..

    but:
    who is Allamah Isfaraini (Rahimahullah)?

  • mohmad ahmed ali

    repenting pays the path to the almighty

  • muslima

    may Allah grant us jannah and make us the best of muslims.

  • Murad

    Assalamualaikum warahmatullah,

    Jazak Allah khairan.

    A few years ago I attended to a Qadiri meeting, there the sheikh asked his students to write a paper one of the names of Allah which attracted themselves the most in the order of importance out of 6 names (can’t remember exactly). Students wrote the name and the papers are collected. Then sheikh asked the students the question of with what the Quran starts. “Bismillah-ar rahman-ar raheem”. It was great to look from this perspective as many of us missed this important point.

  • The sinner

    I have lost my way to Allah i feel as a great sinner i wish someone can guide me to my lord i need him i really do i fear do die as a non muslim where i was born to be one and now i lost my way! Please help me it hurts me everyday to sleep without having to do anything to get me close to him … May Allah bless you all i hope non have this feeling its life dieing everyday!!!

  • Mohammed Muddassir

    Assalaamualaikum

    My Brother in Islam,

    Firstly, I would like to congratulate you on the fact that you consider yourself to be sick (you know that you have a problem within) cause there are not many like you. Most of them are those who have a soul that is sick but consider themselves to be healthy and sense no defect in their Iman/Islam.

    This is a more dangerous state to be in (than yours) cause why would he who considers himself to be healthy go to a Doctor or pay interest in doing anything to fix the problem?

    Alhamdulillah, it is by the grace of Allah that, the realization has dawned upon you and you are able to feel the heaviness of the sins which is not the case with everyone though each one of us sins.

    However, one has to be very careful here, Shaitaan does not succeed 100% if a servant of Allah repents soon after committing a shameful act. So, in order to avoid that, Shaitaan whispers to this servant of Allah that, he has gone too far for Allah to forgive him and if one starts paying heed to his whisper and starts delaying repentance then, Shaitaan punches the air in congratulations.

    Say, “O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful.” (V 53 Az-Zumar)

    In order to make things better, there are a few things you would needs to do.

    1) Avoid bad company (A bad friend is worse than Shaitaan, for Shaitan just whispers to commit a sin but a Bad friend would catch your hand and make you do it)
    2) Be in the company of those who are pious.

    Allah Says “O you who believe! Be afraid of Allah, and be with those who are true (in words and deeds) (V 119 At-Toubah)

    In shaa Allah by being in the company of those who are true in words and deeds it would become easy for you to lead your life having the Love and Fear of Allah.
    No matter how dire the situation is never despair of Allah’s mercy.
    May Allah make things easy for you.

    Allah knows best

  • Muhammad Usman

    Asalam u alaikum,

    Take a hand of a real Wali Allah. He will help you to get Allah, Insha Allah.

    Do you already have a sheik? have you already taken baya yet or not?

    Jazak Allah Khayr.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.