Once upon a time in Egypt, there was a muadzin who used to call the adzan the masjid.
One day, he ascended the minaret to call the prayer. When he looked down into a house down below, he saw an attractive lady: the daughter of the house's Christian owner.
It was "love at first sight". He was instantly attracted to her, and went down to meet her.
"What do you want?" she asked.
He replied, "I want you."
She said, "I will not marry you unless you become a Christian."
Drunk with infatuation - or, as the young people put it, "crazy in love" - he apostasized from Islam and embraced Christianity to be with her.
He then met her and said, "I have done so."
He entered the house to marry her, then climbed to the roof of the house, fell from it, and died on the spot.
فَلَمْ يَتَمَتَّعْ بِهَا، وَفَاتَهُ دِينُهُ.
Thus, he did not enjoy her, and he lost his religion.
(Narrated by Ibn al-Jawzi in Al-Muntazam and Dhamm al-Hawa, and Ibn al-Qayyim in Al-Da' wa al-Dawa')
This simple story reminds us a profound lesson on:
1. Suu Al-Khatimah vs. Husnul Khatimah; don't judge a person by their current state. What matters is the ending. The Prophet ﷺ said, "Verily, every actions are judged based on their endings"
الدُّنْيَا سَاعَةٌ، فَاجْعَلْهَا طَاعَةً
"The world (this life) is but an hour, so make it an hour of obedience." (Ibn Al-Jawzi, Sayd Al-Khatir)
2. The trap of temptation: how one gaze - one spark - if not extinguished, can grow to become a fire that consumes oneself
