The Zoroastrian and the Good Pleasure of Allah ﷻ

… another example there to clarify that the ma‘rūf, even something minimal, directs the servant—even if he is an unbeliever — to faith, and from wretchedness to bliss. It is related that there was in Baghdad a Zoroastrian who worshipped fire. In one of the days of Ramadān he saw one of his small children eating a piece of bread so he disciplined him, saying, “Are you not ashamed to eat during the day of Ramadān while the Muslims are fasting?” This is what he happened to do. After the man died, he was seen in Paradise and he was asked, “How did you enter Paradise when you used to be a Zoroastrian?” He said, “Allah honored me with faith because I prevented my child from eating on one of the days of Ramadān and I even disciplined him although he was not legally tasked, and I did that out of respect for Islam, and that was accepted in the presence of my nurturing Lord, so He guided me to Islam.”

Translated from the Arabic by Shaykh Gibril Fouad Haddad ﵀