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Is the story of the mountain climber, who was commanded by a voice to cut the rope he was holding onto, a true story or an affront to the Divine Self?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The story is symbolic, aiming to deepen the meaning of reliance on Allah, and to show that the distance between a person and the realization of their goals is short if they have proper reliance. However, the story contains an erroneous indication concerning the disregard of means, similar to the approach of later Sufis. The correct understanding is that Allah's way is to act through means while relying on Him, as the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "Be keen on what benefits you, seek help from Allah, and do not be helpless." The reliance of the heart on Allah does not contradict taking the necessary means. The reality of reliance is the action and knowledge of the heart, which is depending on Allah and trusting Him, and knowing His Oneness in benefit and harm, and this influences the adoption of means.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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