The path of Islam ✨

- The pious man and the fire.

All praise is due to Allah, The Most Beneficent and The Most Merciful. We praise Him, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of ourselves and the mischief of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides cannot be misguided and whomsoever Allah misguides cannot be guided. Peace and blessings be upon the final messenger, Muhammad (SAW), upon his family and his noble companions

- Ameen.

That's a story mentioned by Ibn Jawziyyah (RA) and he mentions that there was a pious man who use to fast throughout the day and he used to pray (Qiyam al layl) throughout the night. He never used to involve himself into anything that was haram. He knew that the people that were around him in his land were corrupt people so he didn't sit in their gatherings because all they used to do is to backbite and to slander. So he stayed away from any gatherings, he'd just stay in his house and never leave his house.

When he ran out of food, he'd leave his house and he'd store and buy enough food that'd last him as long as it can. And then he'd remain in his house just worshipping Allah (SWT).

The people of the land gathered together and they said "Look at this man, does he think that he is better than us? He doesn't come and sit in our gatherings; he doesn't walk around or talk to us; we just see him looking down on the floor, going to the shop, and he'd go back to his house. Never did this man look right or left, or even in front of him. He'd just look down and walk."

So the people became jealous of this man. See, Shaytaan doesn't attack you by himself; he inspires his haram into people and commands them to attack the believers. So what they did was they looked around the land until they found the most beautiful woman in that land.

And she was a chaste young woman. They approached her and said "We want you to seduce that man, and we want you to commit Zina with him." The woman replies "How can I do such a thing"?

That woman was amongst the poorest women in that land, so she found life very difficult to live. So they said to her "If you can do this, we'll give you the equivalent to your weight in gold ... and even more than this. And all this poverty you're facing today will end. All you have to do is to commit Zina with that man."

So the woman went home and she looked at her situation and thought "There's nothing left with me anyway... I'm going to die with poverty." So she accepted the task they gave her. She will go and commit Zina with that man.

So one cold night she went and knocked on the man's door. The man opens the door, sees the woman, and immediately closes the door. So that woman raised her voice and said to the man "please allow me to come into your house. I was travelling and I thought I would reach my destination before night but now the night has come and I don't know where I am. I don't know anyone in this land ... and if you don't accept me in your house, then I fear that something may happen to me outside"

The man replies "We have many neighbours around. Please go and knock on the house of these neighbours, In Sha Allah, they'll help you."

So the woman left. A little while later, she comes and knocks on his door again. "I went to the houses of the neighbours, but no one is at home and it is really cold outside, I fear I may die if you do not accept me in your house." She said.

So the man replies "Just go further, down the hills and you'll find there a few more houses over there and In Sha Allah, they will allow you to live with them." He continues. "There's no one in my house so it is not permissible for you to be with me."

So the woman left. A little while later, she came back again and knocked on his door. The man opened the door and saw the woman and the woman said "Wallahi, if you do not allow me to come into your house, and if any man puts his finger on me, and rapes me and takes me chastity away, then Wallahi, on Judgement day, I will blame it on you, I will stand in front of Allah (SWT) and say you were the one who caused me this."

And when he heard the name of Allah (SWT) he became really scared. Why? Because:

"The believers are only those who, when Allah is mentioned, their hearts become fearful." (Surah Al-Anfal 8:2)

So this man became really scared, and allowed her to enter. He said to her that he has two rooms in his house. He told her to come in one of those two rooms, but she shouldn't either knock on his door or say anything to him. He also tells her that as soon as the time of Fajr approaches, she leaves his house and continues with her journey. So he left her in the room and went into the second he had, he locked the door, and he continued with his recitation of the Qur'an.

Now the people of the land know that she has entered the house, so they started gathering around the house ... waiting to catch the two of them committing Zina. This pious man has never faced anything like this in his life. He was in his room, reciting the book of Allah (SWT) and the woman on her side, was ready to commit Zina with that man while the people of the land were gathered around the house waiting to catch them doing that awful sin.

So the man was calmly reciting when the woman began to scream, and she creamed, she screamed until the man opens his door and walks into the woman's room. Holding an oil lamp with him, he walks into the woman's room only to find that she's lying on the floor, without her clothes on... and she's calling him towards her.

For the first time in his life, this man is seeing something that he's never seen before, because his gaze has always been lowered. He's feeling something in his heart now ... he's never felt before. His mind is telling him things that it has never told him before.

He has the most beautiful woman in their land in front of him, calling him for Zina. Now what does he do? He has never seen anything like this in his life.

What should a person in this situation do?!

When the people heard the first scream of the woman, they knew that very soon they'd catch them doing Zina, so they came closer to the man's door. The woman now on her side, all of a sudden begins to scream, and she screams and screams again and again, the people of the land finally break down the man's door and as they entered they found the woman and the man on the floor.

But the woman is in one side of the room, and the man, in the other side of the room. And the woman continues to scream, so they look at the man and they see him crying, in the corner of the room, and his hand was in the fire of the lamp that he had. And he was crying and the woman was screaming, so they took her out of the house and she says "Take me away from this man because, Wallahi, his Imaan is killing me. I see something in front of me that I cannot describe and it has done something to my mind and to my heart, just take me away from him"!

On the other side, the man was crying in the corner of the room, because every single time he took a step towards her, he'd put his hand in the fire and he says to himself "remember the fire of Jahannam is hotter than the fire of this world." And the man would keep on going until he'd fall to the floor and when he was able to stand up again, he repeats the same scenario again. And for every single step taken towards that woman, his hand is put back in the fire and he'd say to himself "remember the fire of hell is more severe than the fire of this world." 

The man kept on doing it until his hand was left inside the fire. And as the woman was taken away, he turns to Allah (SWT) and says "Oh Allah Forgives me for the sin that I have committed."

What sin is he talking about? What did he do? He stayed away from the most beautiful woman in land. He controlled his hormones, so what sin did he commit then?

So he says "Oh Allah Forgives me for the footsteps I took towards that woman."

Look at the Imaan of this man! Look at the Imaan of the righteous people! Nothing will tempt them or take them away from Allah (SWT).

Please dear brothers and sisters, take this story as lesson in life. Ma Sha Allah may Allah Allows us to reach such piety InshAllah. 

This is what you call being a "Mu'min" not just a "Muslim". May Allah aid us to attain the level of Ihsan Allahumma Ameen!

As Salamu Aleykum.