15 — Abū Bakr ibn Abī Dāwūd also narrated to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Samad narrated to us, saying: Ādam ibn Abī Iyās narrated to us, saying: al-Laith ibn Sa‘d narrated to us, from Mu‘āwiya ibn Sālih, from ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Jubair, from his father, from al-Nawwās ibn Sam‘ān al-Ansārī, who said: The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said:

“Allah has set forth a parable: a straight path, with two walls along either side. Between them are open doors over which curtains have been lowered. At the entrance to the path is a caller who says, ‘O people, enter the path—all of you—and do not divide.’ Another caller calls from above the path. Whenever anyone wishes to open one of those doors, he says to him, ‘Woe to you! Do not open it, for if you open it, you will enter through it.’ The path is Islam; the curtains are the limits set by Allah; the doors are the things Allah Most High has forbidden; the caller at the head of the path is the Book of Allah; and the caller above the path is Allah’s admonisher in the heart of every Muslim.”