3. 07. THE OTHER JIHAD

God says

Say: “My Sustainer has [but] enjoined the doing what is right; and [He desires you to] put your whole being into every act of worship, and to call unto Him, sincere in your faith in Him alone. As it was he who brought you into being in the first instance, so also [unto Him] you will return: some [of you] He will have graced with His guidance, whereas for some a straying from the right path will have become unavoidable:* for, behold, they will have taken [their own] evil impulses for their masters in preference to God, thinking all the while that they have found the right path!” -- Q. 7:29,30
* Lit., “will have becomeincumbent upon them”(haqqa ‘alayhim), implying that this straying was an inevitable consequence of their doings and attitudes.

Indeed, man’s inner self does incite him to evil, … Q.12:53

And [on the Day of Judgment] when everything will have been decided, Satan will say [to the sinners]: “Behold, God promised you something that was bound to come true!* I, too, held out [all manner of] promises to you – but I deceived you. Yet I had no power at all over you: I but called you – and you responded unto me. Hence, blame not me, blame yourselves.** It is not for me to respond to your cries [for help now], nor for you to respond to mine***: for, behold, I have [always] refused to admit that there was any truth in your erstwhile belief that I had a share in God’s divinity.**** -- Q.14:22
* Promise of resurrection and last judgment
** In his commentary on this passage, Razi remarks: “This verse shows that the real Satan is [man’s own] complex of desires (an-nafs): for, Satan makes it clear [in the above] that it was only by means of insinuations (waswasah) that he was able to reach [the sinner’s soul]; and had it not been for an already-existing [evil] disposition due to lusts, anger, superstition or fanciful ideas, these [satanic] insinuations would have had no effect whatsoever.”
*** I.e., “I cannot respond to your call for help, just as you should not have, in your lifetime, responded to my call.”


Prophet said

The Holy Prophet said to the people who returned from war: “Welcome to you all; you have come from the smaller fight to the greatest one.” They enquired about the greatest one. He said, “Fighting against (baser instincts of) the self” – H: Baihaqi. N: Jaber