The Path is not Narrow

While finding obstacles in your path, never opt for the path of confrontation. Avoid the obstacles and find the solution in spite of the obstacle.

After the conquest of Makkah, the Prophet of Islam was going from Makkah to Taif along with his companions. On his way, he found a path through the mountains which was apparently narrow. When he reached it, he asked the people the name of this path. They told him that it was called the ‘narrow path’, the narrow path which was difficult to traverse. The Prophet said: “No, it is an easy path.” (Sirah Ibn Hisham, vol. 2, p. 482)

In saying so, he meant that, this path might indeed be narrow and difficult to negotiate if they went at it head on. But they could make it easier to traverse by finding a strategy to do so. In this way, the narrowness of the path would not remain an obstacle for them.

This shows how in prophetic vision a narrow path maybe seen as a wide path. Narrowness is narrowness. The rock is a rock at all events. But the crux of the matter is not the narrowness of the path or the rocky obstructions in it, but the adoption of the right method to circumvent these difficulties. The focus should be on positive possibilities rather than on the negative aspects of the situation.

One way to proceed is by direct confrontation. An alternative way is that of avoidance. In direct confrontation the narrowness or the rock will remain as it is, but the method of avoidance will render their existence practically ineffective.

Whenever you find any obstacle in your path, you should not think of opting for the path of confrontation. You should think rather of how to avoid the obstacles and of how to find the solution in spite of the obstacle’s existence. That is what should matter to you.

The truth is that every path is narrow. Narrowness and openness are both relative things. There is only one really important thing and that is strategy. And strategy is always totally in the hands of the wayfarer.