I first read this story in a footer of a translation of the Quran I bought on an overseas trip. It’s quite a popular translation. It seems like a rather straight-forward story at first but the more I think about it the stranger I realise it actually is.
There was once a man who was so busy one evening he that forgot the time for evening prayers was upon him and only remembered when he heard the call to prayer from a nearby mosque. In a rush to get to the mosque on time he grabbed the first clean clothing he could find and started to make his way to the mosque in the rapidly approaching darkness.
Along the road to the mosque he encountered a shallow ditch and wanting to save time thought he could jump across it. In the haste of his action he misjudged his step and while not completely falling into the ditch he did make a mess upon his clothing. Fearing that his clothes were now too dirty to pray in, he quickly ran back home to change garments remaining firm in his intent to offer his prayers in congregation.
On his way to the mosque the second time once again in his haste and because of the darkness he slipped on a stone and fell flat on his back injuring himself slightly but not enough to give up attempting to get the mosque.
As starting his journey for the third time he met a man carrying a lamp. The man with the lamp told the first man that he too was on his way to the mosque and suggested that the two of them should walk together, the one leading the other by the light of the lamp.
When they reached the mosque the man with the lamp told the other to go before him, and to the other’s surprise said that he would not be entering the mosque after all.
The first man, astonished, enquired why.
The man with the lamp informed him that he was in fact The Devil who had noticed the man facing many obstacles which did not deter him from wanting to offer his prayers in the mosque. The Devil told the man that he knew that if the man had fallen one more time then Allah would surely have granted the man Heaven and that’s why he decided to make an appearance with a lamp.
The Devil was not going to be one to allow the man enter Heaven because of his struggles.