The Straight Path to God

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful...the Best Knower.

I was thinking about the "Straight Path" last night, and something that had occurred to me months ago, came back to the forefront; and I thought I would share it with the Family.

The Straight Path to God is beset with many Gates - one after another. Every Student who seeks to answer the Call of God to come out of the world and find the Face of God must walk this Path. As we approach the Path and Its Gates, we bring with us all that we have acquired during our time in the world. When we get to the Path, we find it beset with many Gates, with an Angel at each gate. The duty of the Angel at each Gate is to make sure no one passes through his Gate without making the stated sacrifice.

For the Student, getting through the first few Gates is relatively easy, since the things he or she is asked to give up, or sacrifice, are things that he or she usually only recently acquired, and thus did not have any real connection to. However, at each successive Gate, the Angel thereat demands greater sacrifice than the one before.

Eventually, the Student finds himself in a real struggle - torn between his/her stated desire to walk the Path, and the desire to hold on to something that he/she holds dear, but is now being asked to give up as admission through the Gate.

"But, you don't understand...I have had this with me all my life," complains the Student. The Angel replies, "I know...but if you want to get throught THIS Gate, you have to give THAT up."

Suffice it to say that along this Path are plenty of people who are stuck at each gate, frozen in fear, unable to relinquish that which the Angel at the Gate demands. And at each successive Gate, the number of those halted is greater and greater.

Only a few are willing and able to complete the Journey, passing through all the Gates, having made all the Sacrifices demanded of them, - the Last Sacrifice being the Greatest - until they stand at the End of the Path, in the Presence of God, naked as the day they were born, partly afraid...partly exhausted...partly relieved. It is THEN that God reveals Himself to the Student, and says, "Well done, thou good and faithful Servant", and begins clothing the Student in his or her Rightful Garments - Knowledge, Wisdom, Understanding...and bestows upon the Student his or her Rightful Possessions - the Heavens and the Earth, by God's Permission.

It is at that moment that the Student realizes that all the while he or she thought his or her life was being diminished, he or she was actually being PREPARED for the True Life, which he or she could never enjoy while laden with the cares of the world.

"Come unto Me, all ye that Labor and are heavy laden...and I will give you rest."

"O Allah, Guide us on the Straight Path...the Path of those upon whom You have Bestowed Favors; not those upon whom Your Wrath is brought down, nor of those who go astray."

May Allah Bless us all to complete the Journey.

RM