أَعُوذُ بِٱللَّهِ مِنَ ٱلشَّيۡطَٰنِ ٱلرَّجِيمِ، بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
Among the trials of the Last Day is that of the Siraat, the bridge over Jahannam. Among its descriptions, one aspect stood out to me: that of it being thin as a strand of hair and sharp as a knife. Of course everyone wants to get across as quickly as they can, avoid the pitfalls below and around it, find sanctuary on the other side.
While the quality of one's iman determines the speed by which one can cross, I realized that something else can be of great help too: when there's a tight space with little or no room to move, then if a person can shrink themselves, say to the size of an atom or even less, then what was once a tiny strip of bridge now becomes vastly wider and thus easier to cross.
How could that be done, for one to become smaller? The answer is by reining in the nafs and ego with humility and submission, so that notions of pride and arrogance vanish from within and guidance can find its place to call home inside the heart.
It's no coincidence that one of the etymological connotations of kibr (pride) in Arabic is to be 'puffed up', and it also happens that kibr is one of the attributes most hated by Allah in people, for Pride belongs to Him and Him alone. Therefore, finding Allah's pleasure is encompassed by being the opposite of 'puffed up', ie made smaller.
The best time to be so is in this life, that we bring ourselves to humility in front of our Creator, before a Day comes whereby we are brought low and made humble forcibly.
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