one word that secures Allah’s good pleasure—never imagining that it would carry such weight—yet that very utterance delivers him into the Garden of Bliss.

Still, the ḥadith is broader than that single example, for an abundance of acts of obedience and the avoidance of what Allah has forbidden are among the main avenues to Paradise. All this is easy for the one to whom Allah grants ease. You will see the believer whose breast Allah has opened to Islam performing the prayer with comfort, serenity, and love; giving zakah with the same ease; fasting likewise; performing the pilgrimage likewise; and engaging in every form of good, all of it light and accessible to him. You will also find him steering clear of the words and deeds Allah has forbidden, and that too is effortless for him.

By contrast—and we seek Allah’s refuge—the person who feels constricted by Islam and regards it as burdensome finds every act of worship heavy and the avoidance of sin equally onerous. For such a one, Paradise is no nearer than the strap of his sandal.

The same applies to the Fire, which is the second clause of the ḥadith and the clause of warning. The Prophet ﷺ said, “and so is the Fire,” meaning that it, too, is closer to any one of us than the strap of his sandal. A person may utter a single word, paying it no heed, yet it incurs Allah’s wrath, and he plummets into the Fire for countless years without realizing it. How many words are spoken casually, with no concern for their meaning, only to hurl a person headlong into Hell. We ask Allah for safety.

Have you not considered the incident of the hypocrites who accompanied the Prophet ﷺ on the expedition to Tabuk? They whispered among themselves, saying, “We have never seen the likes of these reciters of ours—more gluttonous bellies, more lying tongues, or more cowardly in battle.” By that they meant the Prophet ﷺ.