The First Groove: Keeping from the Forbidden

The key to Paradise is lā ilāha illallāh; and in the key, according to the scholars, there must be three conditions. Whoever wants to possess the key to Paradise must have three things with this kalimah. First, he must try his utmost to abstain from the things Allah has forbidden. If a person is committing all the prohibitions of Allah without any hindrance and without any care — he simply does not care, and continues in the forbidden — and says lā ilāha illallāh, this lā ilāha illallāh will not help him, because he is disobeying, disrespecting and defying the commandments of Allah (swt), and expecting Allah (swt) to forgive him. That is tamannī.

Arabic is a very particular language. English has only one word, hope; Arabic is more subtle. There is the word rajāʾ: hoping that something good is going to happen, hoping for good. A Muslim, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says, is bayna al-khawf wa al-rajāʾ, between fear and hope — and what kind of hope? A hope that is going to turn out well in the end; that is, he wants to enter Paradise. Then there is amal, the literal English "hope", which could be for good or for bad — hope is hope: hoping this will happen to me, hoping that will happen to me, whatever the hope. And then there is tamannī, yatamannā: doing nothing, fulfilling none of the conditions of a thing, and yet hoping that it will happen. This is the most foolish case of all. A Muslim who does not abstain from the things Allah has forbidden, who does not leave what Allah has prohibited, who does not practise the religion of Allah, and yet thinks that Allah is going to have mercy on him on the Day of Judgment — this is a really dangerous and foolish hope. It does not work.

So the person who is engaged in the dhikr of Allah, engaged constantly in lā ilāha illallāh, whose tongue is constantly moist with the remembrance of Allah (swt), has as one of his basic attributes, one of his basic characteristics, that he abstains from what Allah (swt) has forbidden. No ghībah. To the one who says he cannot help it: no ghībah, full stop. No fāḥishāt; full of adab. Impunity, profanity — a person needs to watch his words, and to be extremely careful with them; his words, his deeds, his thoughts, his eyes, his ears — constantly trying to keep the heart in a pure state, qalb salīm. This is the first duty, the first groove of the key, if the key is to work.