All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger, may Allaah exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.
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Praise be to Allah, the One Whom we ask for assistance and forgiveness. We ask for Allah\u2019s refuge to secure us from our own evil selves, our wrong doings, and misdeeds; for whomever Allah, His Almighty guides and leads will never go astray, and whomever Allah, His Almighty misleads will never find the right path. I, also, testify that there is no God but Allah, the Only, who has no partner, and I testify that Muhammad is His prophet and His slave
I was on the first steps of the path, the path of Islam, which was at my early youth, gratitude and praise be to Allah. I used to consider paradise as the place that I should be working for. Probably, not only my hope, but also my feelings were that I deserved it! I had the feeling that the mere idea of hell and the thought of escaping from it was not applicable to a person of my hard work and prayers, for such a person as I am does not belong there, by Allah\u2019s will, and will not enter it. Therefore, such a person does not have to fear it or to keep on asking Allah to save him from it. However, If he does so, then he is only following prophet
Muhammad, Allah\u2019s peace and blessings be on him, and imitating him, who himself asks to be saved from Hell, with the assurance that he is not one of its inhabitants. I have often felt, when I used to ask for Allah\u2019s forgiveness, that I haven\u2019t committed deeds that call for a so long regret, or a so much sorrow; Allah has enabled me to give up, and apologize for the sin that I have committed. This is repentance enough
I have continued thinking in such a way for quite a period of my religious life. Then, when I began comprehending The Holly Quran, realizing the true meaning of faith, the true meaning of sin, and started studying the morals of the prophets, the virtuous men, and the men of faith, the previous feeling of security started to disappear slowly. My prime and final worry circulated totally around escaping hell, and escaping what comes before it of painful torture. As for heaven, the whole heaven, namely paradise, there are other measures, and efforts that my will, power, and devotion were way below. Moreover, if I cry over the sins that I have committed, from this day until I die, my sorrows will not be enough, and if Allah\u2019s mercy does not over shadow me with His forgiveness, then I will be one of the losers. So how did that happen
A number of items caused me to go over my previous thoughts and look at the subject from a new perspective. The first reason that awakened my awareness of my previous perceptions concerning heaven and hell, at the start of my path, was my understanding of the meaning of sin, and that disobeying Allah was an enormous matter. One of the reasons of triggering such an understanding was a sentence by a virtuous man that says: \u201cDo not think of how small the sin is, but think of whom you have disobeyed
I have found the proof of the previous sentence in the qualities of the references and holly names of Allah, indicating His perfection, His gifts, and His generosity upon His creatures. His right, also, to be truly feared, obeyed and not revolted against, thanked and not denied the right to be worshipped, and to be remembered and not forgotten. Who could
