Debra Aisha Alobeidy

Ibn Qayyim al-Jazzilyya said; If Allah, azza wa jall, intends what is good for His servant, He will then open for him the doors of repentance [al-tawba] and remorse, abasement and humility, dependence and need; the doors of the request for God’s help and protection; the doors perpetual humility, supplication and approach towards Him by means of whatever good works he can manage - so that his wrong may become a means to God’s mercy. For the shaytan says, ‘without regret, I left him without causing him to fall!’ This is what one of the early believers [salaf] meant when he said, ’A person may commit a sin by which he goes to heaven and a good deed by which he goes to hell.’ ’How?’ someone asked. He replied, ’Having committed the sin, he is ever watchful in fear, regretful, timorous, lamenting, shamed before his Lord, his head in his hands and his heart rent. The sin that brings him all that we have mentioned, wherein lie his happiness and salvation, is more beneficial to him than numerous devotional acts. Indeed, it becomes the means by which he enters Heaven. [On the other hand], he may perform a goodly deed and constantly laud it before his Lord, wax proud, boast, become vain and haughty with it, as he says, ’I did this, I did that.’ His self-importance, pride and arrogance provide him only with the means for his own ruin. If God intends then what is good for this miserable person, He will try him through something that breaks [his pride], abases him and reduces his self-importance. But if He intends otherwise, He will leave him to his self-importance and pride, and this misfortune is what leads him to his ruin.’ ( source: Ibn Qayyim al-Jazzilyya “The invocation of God”)