Striving Against the Evil Inclinations of the Soul (1/2)

Allah says, “And strive for the sake of Allah as you ought to strive” (Surat al-Hajj: 78)

Al-Raazi has quoted the great mujaahid and scholar Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak as interpreting, “strive as you ought to strive” as meaning, “Struggling against the soul and desires.” [Al-Raazi, vol.23 pg. 72]

The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said,

“The [true] Mujaahid is the one who strives against his own soul.” [Recorded by al-Tirmidhi and ibn Hibaan. According to al-albaani, it is sahih]

As was noted earlier, the soul is not necessarily inherently evil. However, the soul has both propensities in it: it can turn toward good and it can turn toward evil. Hence, the individual has to work to extinguish or greatly weaken the evil propensities. This is a type of struggle and, hence, it is a kind of jihad.

In fact, there are various types of jihad. Unfortunately, many times people go to extremes by stressing one at the expense of the others. For example, there are many in this world today, given the current plight of Muslims, who stress jihad against the disbelievers. At the same time, they fail to recognize the importance of jihad against any evil inclinations in the soul, which probably lie at the root of the matter leading to the current plight of the Muslims. On the other hand, some stress jihad against the soul and ignore, downplay or deny the validity of any other form of jihad.

Although both of these extremes are to be avoided, the overall importance of “victory” in the jihad against the soul needs to be emphasized. When one encounters the enemies on the physical battlefield, the most that can happen to a person is that he loses his life.

His enemy cannot pry the faith from the believer’s heart. His enemy can only put an end to the believer’s worldly life. But if the believer loses his life while having faith and fighting for the sake of Allah, is not a bad thing whatsoever. His worldly life may come to an end but he has gained an everlasting victory of happiness. On the other hand, if the believer loses in the battle against evil inclinations in one’s soul, he will harm his own soul.

In fact, if he does not strive against any of the evil inclinations in his soul, the result can be everlasting misery and punishment in the hereafter. In other words, instead of purifying his soul, his soul will be completely soiled and corrupted, leading to Allah’s displeasure.

In essence, what is meant by “Jihad against any evil inclination in the soul” is that sometimes the soul may desire or long after something that is harmful for the soul itself. Allah has described this occurrence in a couple places in the Qur’an. For example, concerning the son of Adam (alayhissalam) who killed his brother and was the first to commit murder, Allah says,

“The (selfish) soul of the other led him to the murder of his brother: he murdered him, and became (himself) one of the lost ones.” (Surat al-Maaidah: 30).

Allah also clearly points out the importance of forbidding one’s soul from following such vain desires when they occur. For example, Allah says,

“And for such as had entertained the fear of standing before their Lord’s (tribunal) and had restrained (their) soul from lower desires, their abode will be the Garden.” (Surat al-Naaziaat: 40-41)

Ibn Hazm once stated a very precise golden rule concerning this matter, he said, “There are two things that if you do them you will attain the good of this world and the Hereafter…[They are] that you bear what you dislike if it is beloved to Allah and you leave what you like if it is disliked by Allah.” [Quoted in al-Bilaali, p128-129]

Not always, especially as one is beginning along the path of purification are the acts of worship pleasing and easy upon the soul. Similarly, refraining from what Allah dislikes may also not be that easy in the early stages of one’s spiritual growth. However, the person must always keep in mind that the key to his purification and the key to his reaching his goal is to do what is pleasing to Allah and to refrain from what is displeasing to Allah, regardless of whether the soul is ready and easily accepted of that.

Therefore, whenever one’s soul prompts a Muslim to perform an evil deed, he should first recognize in his mind that such is an evil deed. Unfortunately, though, when an inclination to sin exists in the soul, Satan will try to pounce on this opportunity to urge the person to perform that harmful act. If the person has evil friends, they may also encourage him to do such evil. Now the individual himself must decide what to do. He has contradictory pressures within his own being. He may give in to his soul’s temporary lust and longing and do something that he knows is not correct and not beneficial. On the other hand, he may strive against this feeling or lust. He may restrain himself, correctly convincing himself that to forego that at is better than to perform it. This restraint is a type of patience and striving, patience in the face of what the soul is longing for and striving against its harmful demands.

(Continued)