Blindspot!
From Issue: 604 [Read full issue]
Repentance
Adam, the father of all humanity, was the most discerning of creatures, their superior in wisdom, and the most steadfast. Yet the Foe kept after him until he made him fall into that which he fell. What then of someone with the reason of a moth, whose intelligence compared to that of his father [Adam] is like a spittle in the ocean? Still, the Foe of God obtains nothing from a faithful person except by robbing him in [a moment of] inattention and carelessness. And when he causes him to fall, the servant may think that he can never again face his Lord, that this fall has carried him away and destroyed him. Yet behind it all is God's grace, mercy, clemency and forgiveness.
For if God intends what is good for His servant, He will then open for him the doors of repentance and remorse, abasement and humility, dependence and need; the doors of the request for God's help and protection; the doors of perpetual humility, supplication and the approach towards Him by means of whatever good works he can manage - so that his wrong may become a means to God's mercy. For the Foe says, 'Alas, I left him without causing him to fall!'
Compiled From:
"The Invocation of God" - Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, p. 3