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Ibrahim Adham
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A man went to Ibrahim ibn Adham (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: ‘O Abu Ishaq! I transgress against myself by committing sins. Inform me of a deterrent that will deliver my heart.’
Ibrahim (may Allah be pleased with him) said: ‘If you accept five practices and remain steadfast on hem, nothing will harm and no sinful pleasure will destroy you.:
If you want to disobey Allah, then don’t eat from His provisions
If you want to disobey Allah, then don’t live in a place that He owns.
And if you (are such an ingrate) and still wish to disobey Him, then find a place where you can do so inconspicuously.
When the Angel of Death arrives, ask him to delay taking your soul for awhile so that you are able to make a sincere repentance and perform some good deeds for Allah. The angel will not grant you your desire and will immediately dispatch your soul to the next world.
When the angels of Hell come to escort you to Hell, don’t follow them. You will not be able to resist.
The man said: ‘Enough, enough Ibrahim. I will make a sincere repentance right now.’ The man did so and stayed with Ibrahim until his death separated them. (Muwaqif Mushriqah Fi Hayatis Salaf:15)
Fudail ibn Ayad (may Allah be pleased with him) used to be a highway robber and was madly in love with a young woman. One night as he as scaling the walls of the young woman’s house, he heard someone reciting the following verse of 57:16) Is it not time for believers to subject their hearts to the remembrance of Allah.
Fudail was so taken in by that verse that he immediately repented and spent that night in a derelict place nearby. Later in the night, he heard a few travelers shout: ‘Beware! Fudail is ahead of you. He will rob you!’ Fudail shouted: ‘Fudail has repented!’ He promised the travelers safe passage. Fudail became a beacon of guidance and his sayings are still quoted today. (Muqawqif Mushriqah Fi Hayatis Salaf:24)
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Malik Deenar
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Malik ibn Dinar (may Allah be pleased with him) was asked about the reason behind his repentance. He said: ‘I use to be a policeman and an alcoholic. I then acquired a maid who was very good to me. She bore a daughter of ours to whom I became very attached. I became even fonder of her when she started to crawl. Whenever I used to serve myself wine, she would come and drag my tumbler away from me and spill everything over my clothes. Our daughter died when she turned 2 and I was devastated. The 15th of Shaban came along that year on a Friday. I went to sleep drunk and without offering my prayers. I saw in a dream that the Day of Judgment had come about; the Trumpet was blown; graves were resurrected about people were gathered and I was among them. I heard a hissing noise behind. I turned around and saw that I was being approached by a huge black and blue snake. I started to run away as fast as I could trembling with fear. I then encountered an old man who was well dressed and wore good perfume. I greeted him and asked him to help me. The old man cried and said that he was very weak and the snake was much stronger than he. However, he did tell me to keep on running in the hope that I would find something that would save me from the snake. I continued to run and climbed on top of an elevated area. I found myself on top of a valley of fire. The horror of the fire alone made me almost fall into it. Then, I heard someone shouting: ‘Get away from there. You don’t belong there.’ I found security in that shout and ran further with the snake still at my heels. I found the old man again and pleaded with him to help. Again, he started to cry and say that he was very weak and that the snake was far stronger than he. Then, the old man directed me towards a hill where he said I might find a deposit of mine that could help me. I looked at the hill, which was circular and made of silver. In the hill were pierced windows and hanging curtains. Every window had two golden panels and each panel was adorned with silk curtains. I quickly ran towards the hill. An angel then cried: ‘Raise the curtains. Open the panels and look. Perhaps this afflicted person has some sort of deposit here that can help him.’ I then saw faces of small children who were like small moons peeping out from the windows. Then one of them shouted: ‘What’s wrong with you all. Come quickly. His enemy has almost come upon him.’ So they came and looked from their windows – hundreds of them. Then, I saw the face of my daughter who had died. When she saw me, she cried and said, ‘By Allah! That is my father.’ She then shot out of the window like an arrow from a bow and jumped into a pool of light (nur). She then appeared in front of me and extended one of her hands to me. I grabbed and hung onto her. She put her other hand in front of the snake and drove it away. She then made me sit down and sat herself in my lap, stroked her right hand through my beard and said:
O father, Is it not time for believers to subject their hearts to the remembrance of Allah.
I started to cry and asked how she knew the Qur’an. She said they (the children) knew more than they (in the world) did. I then asked her about the snake that ran after me. She explained that it represented my bad deeds, which would drive me into Hell. I then inquired about the old man. She said he was my good deeds, which had become so weak that they were unable to defend me against my bad deeds. I then asked what they were doing inside this hill. She informed me that they were the deceased children of Muslims waiting for their parents on the Day of Judgment. Malik said: ‘I woke up in a fright. I smashed all my wine containers and repented. This was how I repented.’ (Ibid:49)
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