In His name the most High and by the remembrance of His last Deputy (a.t.f.s)

JEHAD-AL-AKBAR 

... By the soul and (by) Him who made it perfect, and then inspired it to understand what is wrong and what is right for it. Truly is successful the one who purifies (his soul). (Holy Qur'an, 91: 7-9)

In a very well-known and inspiring hadith, we read that once, Holy Prophet (sawa) was welcoming his companions returning from a war in which he (sawa) had not participated. Hazrat Imam Sadiq (as) relates the words of Holy Prophet (sawa) thus :

عَلِيُّ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ عَنْ أَبِيهِ عَنِ النَّوْفَلِيِّ عَنِ السَّكُونِيِّ عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع‏ أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ ص بَعَثَ بِسَرِيَّةٍ «6» فَلَمَّا رَجَعُوا قَالَ مَرْحَباً بِقَوْمٍ قَضَوُا الْجِهَادَ الْأَصْغَرَ وَ بَقِيَ الْجِهَادُ الْأَكْبَرُ قِيلَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ص وَ مَا الْجِهَادُ الْأَكْبَرُ قَالَ جِهَادُ النَّفْسِ.

“Well done! Welcome to those people who have completed the minor struggle and on whom the greater  struggle is still incumbent.”  The Apostle of Allah (as) was  asked: “What is the greater struggle?” He (sawa) replied: “To fight one’s own self.” (Uusul Kafi Vol 5 pg 12, tradition no 3)

In a well-known hadith Abu Dharr asked the Prophet Muhammad:‘Which struggle is the best?’ The Holy Prophet replied:

أفضل الجهاد أن يجاهد الرّجل‏ نفسه‏ و هواه‏

“To struggle against one’s own self and desires (Nahjul Fasaha, page 230, tradition no 397)

A human’s soul is the scene of a struggle of two competing powers. Divine power attracts him towards heavenly spheres, and inspires him to acts of goodness. Satanic power tempts him towards realms of darkness and shame, and invites him to acts of evil. When the divine forces are victorious, a person emerges as a virtuous and blessed being, in the company of prophets, saints, and the pious. When, however, the satanic forces dominate, the person becomes rebellious and vicious and is grouped with infidels, oppressors, wrongdoers and those who are cursed.

Why Jehad-al-Nafs is Jehad-al-Akbar ?

It is much more difficult to expel someone who has occupied our house than to repel someone who is only outside it. If our enemy is inside us then he knows all our secrets. He knows our weak points and our strong points and he knows exactly how to ‘play’ with us. An internal enemy is always with us and allows us no rest. And unfortunately we love and admire this enemy because it is our own Soul. He has done so many bad things to us and yet we still love him. So this is a very difficult and complex battle. We should be really determined and fully alert. Indeed, God should have mercy  upon us if we are to win this battle.

The steps to fight against the Nafs

• Step 1: Reflection: We must devote some time every day to contemplate about our duties towards God, Who brought us into this world, bestowed us with a sound body and brain, and equipped us with intellect and capabilities, all of which are sources of pleasure and joy in our life. The aim of this life and purpose of all these blessings is nobler than to follow desires and evil tendencies that are short lived and temporary. We should then begin our struggle to rise

above this state of wretchedness and ask God for help to bless us with hope, sincerity, and strength to fight against satanic tendencies and evil traits of character, and to rise beyond material pleasures and worldly gains.

• Step 2: Will and resolve: Firm resolve is the essence of humanity and basic requirement to attain freedom from the domination of evil desires. The warrior in this battle of the self should purge himself from sins, perform all obligatory (wajib) acts, make an intention to compensate for the days lost (in sinfulness), and finally, resolve to behave as a rational religious person and a real human being. Our manners should be an imitation of Masoomeen (as)’s life, and we should follow Ahlulbayt (as) in all our abstinences and choices.

• Step 3: Self-examination, evaluation and criticism: After making a vow to be a person of strong will‑power and resolution, we must understand that the hereafter is the place where our secrets will be exposed. Thus we should evaluate ourself on a daily basis to get rid of evil habits and desires, to acquire more noble human character, and to perform better actions than before. We must realize that committing sin takes away from us noble essence of humanity and we must pray to God for His assistance and for the intercession of the Prophet (saww) and the members of his Household (as).

• Step 4: Self conditioning: The resolve and self-evaluation from the previous steps should form themselves into specific commitments to self-conditioning. For example, one who has an evil habit of lustful eyes, backbiting tongue, or inflated ego should say to himself, “I will not violate the Law of God today” and consciously avoid such habits for one day. By performing such an experiment with sincerity and resolve, we will realize how easy this task is. We should ignore Satan and the evil ideas that will magnify this small task as being difficult or even impossible. Thus, gradually, We can extend this period by experiment and see how easy it is to get rid of an evil habit or to acquire a positive merit.

• Step 5: Guarding against evil: A person struggling against his own self should constantly concentrate upon his intentions. If any time the idea of violating divine commands occurs to him, he should know that this idea has been instilled into his mind by Satan and his allies, who want to deter him from his good resolution. He should curse them, seek God's compassionate protection, and banish those evil ideas from the realm of his heart. He, should reply to Satan that this day also he has to abide by the condition imposed upon his, own self that he will not go against God's commands. Thus with the help of God, Satan will be driven away. One must remain in this same state of mind until night ‑ the time for self-examination and evaluation of his deeds of the whole day. This is the time to see whether he has been, honest to his Creator. If he has been faithful to God, he should be thankful to Him. Such a person has gone a step forward in His direction and became an object of His attention. God will thus continue to help him in performing all worldly and religious duties, and will diminish his pains of struggle in the next day.

• Step 6 : Service to Imam Of the Time ( a.t.f.s ):  Of all the above step, this is the most important step to get closer to our creator and drive away shaytaan from us. With sincere intention, if we are helping our Imam Of the Time (atfs), this gives us abundant spiritual pleasure. God forbid, if there are any lapses on this part, we must seek forgiveness from Hazrat (atfs) and sincerely beg him that we will be more careful in future. Our Beloved Imam (atfs) will throw open the doors of grace and compassion to us, and will guide us to the straight path.

In order to introspect on Daily basis, a self assessment chart is given below, this chart will help us to check our spiritual trajectory and help us to grow our Nafs closer to Allah and drive it away

from Shaytaan so that we are more eligible in the list of Servants Of Imam Of The Time (a.t.f.s) Inshallah.

WAJIB:                                          Y  N Namaz-e-SUBH            ….…………..     Namaz ZOHAR and ASR….…………..    Namaze MAGARIB ….………............        Meeting PARENTS/Obedient….…….    SILE RAHMI                 ….…………..     NEIGHBOURS Rights     ….…………     Wifes / Childrens Rights….………….   

MUSTAHAB AMAAL:                        Y  N Taqibaat after Namaz        ….…………       100 SALAWAT                     ….………       QURAN 50 Ayat daily       ….………….        MOSQUE visit/ Namaze Jamaat….             WUZU before Sleeping    ….………             Ayat Al-Kursi/ 4 Qul Recited  ….……        Duae Komail                             ….…..      Duae Nudba                             ….……     

AKHLAQ:                                     Y   N SPOKEN SOFTLY at Home   ………     RESPECTED ELDERS        ….……      CRIED for Imam (a.s.)    ….………        Eating Drinking Ethics    ….………     Baitul khala  Rules        ….………       Salam on I. Husain (a.s)    while drinking Water       ….…..........         MUSAFEHA with Momeneen  …                   SALAM to Momeneen       …………..     CLASS WORK:                              Y   N Islamic Book Reading      ………           Writing notes                   ………          Surah listening                …….……     

SINS:                                             Y  N PARENTS DISOBEDIENCE  ……         Had NAJIS FOOD            ………          Seen NAMAHRAM          ………           Made FUN of MOMIN       ………          TIME WASTED                ………          HURTED OTHERS          ………           Done QATE RAHMI         ………          CHEATED Muslim/ Non-Muslim          Spoken BAD WORD        ………            Showed ANGER                ………         BEATING or FIGHTING    ………        LIE/ Jealousy/ Envy         ………         Done/ Listened GHEEBAT  ………      SUE ZAN                         ………          Listened MUSIC                ………         SHAVED BEARD             ………       