The light of guidance

I was coming back from a long journey, and Allâh decreed that my seat in the airplane should be beside a group of carefree young men whose loud laughter and voices were too much, and the air was filled with clouds of smoke from their cigarettes. By the wisdom of Allâh, the plane was completely full and I could not change my seat.

I tried to escape from the problem by sleeping, but it was impossible… When I got fed up of their noise, I took out my Mus-haf (copy of the Qur’ân), and started to read what I could of the Qur’ân in a soft voice. Soon after that these young men started to quieten down. Some of them started to read newspapers, and some of them fell asleep.

Suddenly one of them said in a loud voice, even though he was sitting right next to me, “Enough! Enough!”

I thought that I had disturbed him because my voice was too loud, so I apologized to him and carried on reading in a whisper that only I could hear. I saw him holding his head in his hands, then fidgeting in his seat, moving a lot. Then he raised his head and said to me angrily,“Please, stop it, I can’t stand it!!”

Then he got up from his seat and went away for a while, then he came back, greeted me with salâms, and apologized. He fell silent, and I did not know what was going on. But after a while he turned to me with his eyes full of tears and said to me in a whisper,

I spoke to him in general terms about tawbah (repentance) and turning back to Allâh, then he fell silent.

When the plane landed, he stopped me, and it seemed that he wanted to keep away from his companions. He asked me, with a serious expression on his face, “Do you think that Allâh will accept my repentance?” I said, “If you are sincere and serious in your repentance, then Allâh will forgive all your sins.”

He said, “But I have done terrible things, very terrible.”

I said,“Have you not heard what Allâh says (interpretation of the meaning):

I saw him smiling with joy, with his eyes filled with tears, then he bade me farewell and left. Subhân Allâh al-‘Azîm!

No matter how great a man’s evil and sin, in his heart there is a seed of goodness. If only we can reach it and make it grow, it will bear fruit, in sha Allâh.

This seed of goodness is always fighting in man’s heart, even when it is covered by layers of whims and desires. When Allâh wills good for His slave, He causes the light of guidance to shine in his heart and guides him to the path of those who are guided. Allâh says (interpretation of the meaning):

From al-Bayân magazine, issue # 152, Rabî’ al-Âkhir 1421, pp. 66-67

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