Traditions on jihad-e-akhbar (struggling against the self)

1. Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a) said, ‘The best jihad is performed by one who awakes in the morning with no intention to wrong anyone.’[al-Mahasin, v. 1, p. 456, no. 1053]

2. When someone addressed Imam Baqir (a.s), saying, ‘I am weak in my worship, praying and fasting but a little, though I strive to eat only that which is permissible, and be intimate with only those whom it is permissible’, the Imam replied, ‘What jihad is there better than restraint of the stomach and the private parts?!’[Ibid. v. 1, p. 455, no. 1052]

3. Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a) said: One who fights his own self in obedience to God is a (true) struggler in the way of Him. (Nahjul Fasaha)

4. Imam Ali (a.s.) said: The best Jihad is the struggle of the self against lustful desires, and its weaning away from the pleasures of this world. (Ghorar al-Hikam)

5. Imam Ali (a.s.) said: Verily struggling against the self restrains it from sins and protects it from destruction. (Ghorar al-Hikam)

6. Imam Ali (a.s) said: Indeed the one who struggles against his [lower] self, overcomes his anger and is careful in obeying [the commandments of] Allah, is raised by Allah, the Glorified, to the status of the one who fasts by day and stands in prayer by night, and is granted the rank of the patient soldier [who fights in His way]. (Ghorar al-Hikam)

7. Imam Ali (a.s) said: Struggle against your [lower] self and seek repentance, you will be successful in the obedience of your Lord. (Ghorar al-Hikam)

8. Imam Ali (a.s) said: Struggle against your vain desires, overcome your anger and resist your bad habits, [by this] your soul will become pure, your intellect will become perfect and the reward of your Lord will be complete. (Ghorar al-Hikam)

9. Imam Ali (a.s) said: Struggle against yourself and call it to account the way a partner would hold his partner accountable, and demand from it the right of Allah the way an adversary would demand from his foe, for verily the most felicitous of people is the one who undertakes to hold his self to account.(Ghorar al-Hikam)

10. Imam Ali (a.s) said: Struggling against the self with knowledge is a symbol of intelligence.

(Ghorar al-Hikam)