Nisbah Magazine Nisbah, Winter 2013 | Page 22

Doors of Acceptance Allah  accepts a few things and for some reason or another, He does not accept other things. This is something people often forget. There are people who study, pray tahajjud, give out in charity, pray one juz (chapter) of Quran every single day of their life; they do all of these things, and feel content with that. They feel they have done all of what they need to do, and in doing so, as if they have shown some favors to Allah . They forget that there is something on top of all of that and that is acceptance. If Allah  does not accept all of these actions, then they have all gone to waste. Attaullah Sikandri v was one of the very pious people of the past. He was from Egypt, and was also a teacher in Al-Azhar. He said that it may happen that Allah  opens for you the door of obedience. There are some people for whom He doesn’t open the doors of obedience; their lives are in total disobedience of Allah . A perfect example is Shaytaan. There was not even a single place that he had not done sajdah (prostration) on. He was such an obedient slave to Allah , but none of that was accepted by Allah I, and as a result he became Shaytaan. Entry into Jannah (Paradise) Just as our Mashaikh (spiritual masters) say that if you have a small little child, about four or five years old, and you send him to kindergarden. The first few days he learns how to write. So one day he comes home and says, ‘Baba, I learnt how to write ABC.’ He is very happy about it. You ask him to show you, and the child shows you his notebook. The way in which he has written ‘ABC’, you can’t even read it, but because he is happy about it, you also are happy. You show him that you appreciate it. You then hug him, kiss him, and say what