﴿ فَلَا ٱقْتَحَمَ ٱلْعَقَبَةَ ﴾

“But he would not try to ascend the steep uphill road...”

Yet why does he not attempt the obstacle?He said:That is, �Will he not cross the Traverse (ṣirāṭ) and the obstacle (ʿaqaba) which is before it?� In its inner meaning there are two obstacles. One of them is the sins that he has committed, which stand before him like a mountain and which he can only traverse by setting a slave free, or feeding someone who is either destitute (miskīn), or totally abject from exertion (jahd) and deprivation (fāqa), or an orphan who is related to him, on a day of hunger (majāʿa) and hardship (shidda). The other obstacle is gnosis (maʿrifa), which the mystic is incapable of attaining, unless it be that, with [the assistance of] the power (ḥawl) and strength (quwwa) of God, he emancipates the slave of his soul from desire.