When my heart hardened and my ways narrowed, I made my hope a ladder to Your forgiveness.
Imam al-Shafii (Diwan)
“When my heart hardened and my ways narrowed, I made my hope a ladder to Your forgiveness.”
What does Imam al-Shafii (Diwan) mean?
From the Diwan attributed to al-Shafi‘i, in verses of repentance. The image is a deliberate reversal: the hardness of the heart and the narrowing of the ways are what would ordinarily close a door, and here they are what the ladder is set against.
Written from Written from Al-Mukhtasar fi at-Tafsir and Tafsir Ibn Kathir.