to refrain from this desire; that restraint is distasteful to him, yet it is precisely what leads him to Paradise, for Paradise is hedged about by hardships.

Likewise, fighting in the path of Allah is something the soul dislikes: “Fighting has been prescribed for you, though it is hateful to you. Yet it may be that you dislike a thing while it is good for you, and it may be that you love a thing while it is bad for you. Allah knows, and you do not know” (al-Baqarah 2:216). Battle weighs heavily on one’s nature, but if a person tears down that screen, it becomes a means of entering Paradise. Listen to the words of Allah the Exalted: “Do not think that those who are slain in the path of Allah are dead. Rather, they are alive with their Lord, provided for, rejoicing in what Allah has bestowed upon them of His bounty, and glad for the sake of those who have not yet joined them, that no fear shall come upon them nor shall they grieve—rejoicing in a grace from Allah and a bounty, and Allah does not waste the reward of the believers” (Āl ʿImrān 3:169–171). So when a person overcomes that aversion, he reaches Paradise.

Commanding right and forbidding wrong is likewise heavy upon people, burdensome to their souls. Everyone tends to neglect it and dislikes doing it, saying, “Why should I concern myself with others? Must I tire myself out for them and weary them with me?” Yet if he breaks through that reluctance, enjoins what is right, and forbids what is wrong, that will be a cause for entering Paradise. And so it goes: every matter that Allah has commanded is disliked by the self, but force yourself to do it so that you may enter Paradise.

Shunning the forbidden is also loathsome to the self and hard upon it, especially when the urge is strong. If you compel yourself to abandon those prohibitions, that is among the causes of entering Paradise. Imagine a young, unmarried man living in a land of unbelief and unrestricted freedom