The ways of educating the desires of the lower self - 1

“Nor do I absolve my own self (of blame): the (human) soul is certainly prone to evil, unless my Lord do bestow His Mercy” (Surah Yusuf, 53 )

One of the greatest enemies of man in the trial of the life of this world is his lower-self. It is quite thought provoking that this greatest enemy is within oneself. One of the beings a person has to wage the fiercest struggle until the end of his life is not far in the distance but exactly within the being we call, “Me”; that is, it is a “part of the self.”

Man has the tendency to protect himself more than any material or spiritual thing in the world. He is prone to think and protect himself and love himself more than anyone else.

Surely this situation contains a very important secret of trial Allah creates with a lot of goodness and wisdom. Allah could have created the lower-self as one of the people or things we see around. In such a situation it could be possible for a person to consider his lower-self as an unfamiliar being that does not belong to him. This would enable him to approach himself more objectively. Just as how a person does not protect a stranger, undertake to advocate him under all circumstances and does not accept him as himself, in such a situation, it would also be very ordinary and easy to oppose his lower-self.

However, our All-Mighty Allah has created the lower-self in a form that only those who believe sincerely can overcome. No matter how, like any other created being, the lower-self may seem to be a being appertaining to oneself, people of faith are aware that the lower-self is also an image created in their minds. Similar to the lower-self, Allah creates information pertaining to thousands of other things in one’s mind. A person’s adoption of only one of these and saying, “Whether it is good or bad, I will appropriate and protect everything of this perception.” is utterly irrational when one considers it with a sincere conscience and a clear mind.

If a person needs to absolutely choose one of the images within the whole of images shown to Him, this should only be “Allah’s good pleasure, the Qur’an and the interests of Islam.”

This is what a person who wants to free himself from appropriating his lower-self and be rescued from its drifting him into wickedness should do. He should regard his own wisdom as non-existent and replace it with “the morality of the Qur’an.”  He will also give up appropriating his body but  accept the Muslims’ bodies as his own body and appropriate them.

For this end one may think as follows: let’s assume that there are two people in a room. Allah shows the images of these two different people in one’s brain. The image that the person in question can not see its head is the person himself. He, on the other hand, sees every part of the other one, as a whole. Between these two images, a person always appropriates the one pertaining to himself and decides to advocate the lower-self of this body. The fact is however, if the person decides to appropriate the lower-self of the other person which he sees as a whole, the person would get rid of all the afflictions sourcing from all the incidents, conversations and people in that environment. He would not appropriate the evil of his lower-self and not be deceived by its inculcations. Under all circumstances will he be able to give just and honest decisions and talk in compliance with the Qur’an. Furthermore, he will be open to all the righteous calls of others  and put them efficiently into use to correct his behaviours.

A person who gets rid of appropriating his lower-self will also be rescued from all forms of material and spiritual wickedness. When he thinks that his lower-self is being attack, he would not get excited and display a distrustful attitude towards Allah which is incompatible with the Qur’an. This way, his body will also not be shaken by the greed of advocating himself and become feeble. He will not feel pity for himself and never experience an unwise moment in which he will draw distant to what is right and not be grabbed by unjust and insincere ideas. He will never lose the light Allah grants to one’s face as a result of being a Muslim, abiding by the Qur’an and living to earn His good pleasure and never experience a corporal or spiritual impurity. By Allah’s leave, a believer who acts in compliance with this conscious will both  be strong in body and attain a clarity of conscience that will enable him to live by the Qur’an flawlessly.