Arsalan
05-01-08, 07:51 PM
Higher Self vs. Lower Self By ABU HAMID AL-GHAZALI (D. 505 AH) Sunday, 04 March 2007
In the struggle against hawa (vain whims), people end up in one of the following three situations:
✍ The hawa triumphs over, and takes full control of the person such that one succumbs completely to its dictations. And in this category, most of Allah's creation belongs. In the Qur'an, occupants of this category are portrayed as worshippers of their own hawa: "Have you seen the one who takes as his god his own desire? Then would you be responsible for him?" [25:43] For obeisance and submission constitute the core of servanthood.
✍ The situation when there is a tug of war between the person and his hawa-at times, he triumphs over it and at others, it over him.The person in this condition is a mujahid, someone who struggles against his Lower Self and hawa. And if one is to pass away while engaged in this intense spiritual warfare, one will die a martyr-for he has met death while busy fighting his hawa.
✍ The case when one overcomes his hawa. And attaining this rank uplifts one to the pinnacles of power and freedom. The Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, said, "There is none amongst you with whom is not an attaché from amongst the jinn, a devil." The Companions said, "Allah's Messenger, is there a devil with you too." Thereupon he said, "Yes, but Allah helps me against him so I am safe from his mischief and he does not command me but for good."
(Muslim) In another hadeeth the Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, said to Umar ibnul Khattab: "When Satan meets you, it swerves to a different path." (Muslim) You might ask, though: given the immensely difficult, treacherous and doubt-ridden nature of the struggle against hawa, and man's vulnerability to Satan's mischievous machination, how could one distinguish between malevolent thoughts and benevolent ones?
Be advised that the daunting task of discriminating between the promptings of the Higher Self and those of the Lower Self is only possible through two things:
First, obtaining true knowledge, for it is really an indispensable tool when it comes to sorting out thoughts. One should know, when faced with a confusing thought, that most of the time the Higher Self beckons us to aspire to higher things-even though these beckons may, at the time, appear cumbersome; and that the Lower Self always drives one toward convenient options. So when you find yourself pulled between two thoughts and you do not know which one is better for your deen, opt for the one yourself hates most, for most of the good things are linked to inconvenience. The Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, said, "Paradise is ringed with inconveniences; and Hellfire is ringed with desirable things." (Muslim) And in the Qur'an, Allah alerts us, "But perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah knows, while you know not." [2:216] And, "Perhaps you dislike a thing and Allah makes therein much good." [4:19]
Second, practice istikharah (seeking divine directions on something through salah), and seek Allah's guidance when faced by whispers and suggestions even when you feel they are coming from your Higher Self, for only through divine light can darkness of doubts be dispelled. Allah says, "Allah is the ally of those who believe. He brings them out from darkness into the light. And those who disbelieve-their allies are taghut.They take them out of the light into darkness..." [2:257] And, "And if an evil suggestion comes to you from Satan, then seek refuge in Allah. Indeed, He is Hearing and Knowing." [7:200]
Change of conduct is possible
Some, who are not in their right minds, believe that man's conduct resembles his body organs in that it does not lend itself to change.They mistakenly assume that attempting to change conduct is tanta
mount to attempting to change Allah's creation. This belief of theirs betrays a lack of understanding of the meaning of the hadeeth in which the Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, instructs us saying:
"Ameliorate your conducts." For should changing conduct be unattainable, the Prophet's command in the above hadeeth-that we try changing it-would be meaningless. What is more, should that be the case, the entire body of the religious commands, admonitions and earnest advices, would become irreelevant.In fact, to claim that man is incapable of changing his conduct is to demote him to a lower level than that of the beasts, for the latter can be brought, through training and discipline, from wildness into a domesticated state.
In summation, things created by Allah fall in two types: one, things which we cannot interfere with or change such as our body organs; and the other, things which we can change or improve-via education and edification. It is true that man's nature varies a lot-some change fast while others change slowly. And there are two reasons behind this disparity.
The first one is related to the primacy in existence of each of the powers and qualities humans are endowed with, such as the power of lust, anger and thinking, among others. Of these powers, the one that resists change and control most is the faculty of lust for it is the oldest and most influential human faculty. Then comes anger and in the third place, the power of thinking. The second reason is related to people's attitudes toward good conduct, which can be classed in the following four groups:
✍ The gullible ones who do not distinguish right from wrong, or beautiful from ugly.They remain devoid of faith, and likewise, unoccupied by the urgings of desires.Those ones are the most receptive to reform, and all that they need to achieve this reform is a guide and an element of self-motivation. ✍ Those who know right from wrong but are not accustomed to doing righteous acts and are enchained by the fetters of desire. And those are more resistant to reform than the ones in the first class as the task before them is two-fold.They must first shed their corrupted ways; and in addition, they must turn themselves back to righteousness. Nevertheless, these people can reform if they put decent effort trying that.
✍ Those who view perversions as virtues. Sadly, reform of those is second to impossible and seldom do they let go of their perverted ways for they are completely entangled in the world of deviation.
✍ Those who, in addition to growing up in corruption and deviation, brag about their perverted ways, call, or even force, others to behave equally, and think that the more they commit evil, the more they achieve excellence. And this category is the most immune to reform.
Occupants of the first class are called ignorant; the second, deviated and ignorant; the third, deviated, ignorant, and fasiq (committers of major sins); and those in the fourth category are called ignorant, deviated, fasiq and evil.
http://www.aljumuah.com/content/view/19/19/
In the struggle against hawa (vain whims), people end up in one of the following three situations:
✍ The hawa triumphs over, and takes full control of the person such that one succumbs completely to its dictations. And in this category, most of Allah's creation belongs. In the Qur'an, occupants of this category are portrayed as worshippers of their own hawa: "Have you seen the one who takes as his god his own desire? Then would you be responsible for him?" [25:43] For obeisance and submission constitute the core of servanthood.
✍ The situation when there is a tug of war between the person and his hawa-at times, he triumphs over it and at others, it over him.The person in this condition is a mujahid, someone who struggles against his Lower Self and hawa. And if one is to pass away while engaged in this intense spiritual warfare, one will die a martyr-for he has met death while busy fighting his hawa.
✍ The case when one overcomes his hawa. And attaining this rank uplifts one to the pinnacles of power and freedom. The Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, said, "There is none amongst you with whom is not an attaché from amongst the jinn, a devil." The Companions said, "Allah's Messenger, is there a devil with you too." Thereupon he said, "Yes, but Allah helps me against him so I am safe from his mischief and he does not command me but for good."
(Muslim) In another hadeeth the Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, said to Umar ibnul Khattab: "When Satan meets you, it swerves to a different path." (Muslim) You might ask, though: given the immensely difficult, treacherous and doubt-ridden nature of the struggle against hawa, and man's vulnerability to Satan's mischievous machination, how could one distinguish between malevolent thoughts and benevolent ones?
Be advised that the daunting task of discriminating between the promptings of the Higher Self and those of the Lower Self is only possible through two things:
First, obtaining true knowledge, for it is really an indispensable tool when it comes to sorting out thoughts. One should know, when faced with a confusing thought, that most of the time the Higher Self beckons us to aspire to higher things-even though these beckons may, at the time, appear cumbersome; and that the Lower Self always drives one toward convenient options. So when you find yourself pulled between two thoughts and you do not know which one is better for your deen, opt for the one yourself hates most, for most of the good things are linked to inconvenience. The Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, said, "Paradise is ringed with inconveniences; and Hellfire is ringed with desirable things." (Muslim) And in the Qur'an, Allah alerts us, "But perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah knows, while you know not." [2:216] And, "Perhaps you dislike a thing and Allah makes therein much good." [4:19]
Second, practice istikharah (seeking divine directions on something through salah), and seek Allah's guidance when faced by whispers and suggestions even when you feel they are coming from your Higher Self, for only through divine light can darkness of doubts be dispelled. Allah says, "Allah is the ally of those who believe. He brings them out from darkness into the light. And those who disbelieve-their allies are taghut.They take them out of the light into darkness..." [2:257] And, "And if an evil suggestion comes to you from Satan, then seek refuge in Allah. Indeed, He is Hearing and Knowing." [7:200]
Change of conduct is possible
Some, who are not in their right minds, believe that man's conduct resembles his body organs in that it does not lend itself to change.They mistakenly assume that attempting to change conduct is tanta
mount to attempting to change Allah's creation. This belief of theirs betrays a lack of understanding of the meaning of the hadeeth in which the Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, instructs us saying:
"Ameliorate your conducts." For should changing conduct be unattainable, the Prophet's command in the above hadeeth-that we try changing it-would be meaningless. What is more, should that be the case, the entire body of the religious commands, admonitions and earnest advices, would become irreelevant.In fact, to claim that man is incapable of changing his conduct is to demote him to a lower level than that of the beasts, for the latter can be brought, through training and discipline, from wildness into a domesticated state.
In summation, things created by Allah fall in two types: one, things which we cannot interfere with or change such as our body organs; and the other, things which we can change or improve-via education and edification. It is true that man's nature varies a lot-some change fast while others change slowly. And there are two reasons behind this disparity.
The first one is related to the primacy in existence of each of the powers and qualities humans are endowed with, such as the power of lust, anger and thinking, among others. Of these powers, the one that resists change and control most is the faculty of lust for it is the oldest and most influential human faculty. Then comes anger and in the third place, the power of thinking. The second reason is related to people's attitudes toward good conduct, which can be classed in the following four groups:
✍ The gullible ones who do not distinguish right from wrong, or beautiful from ugly.They remain devoid of faith, and likewise, unoccupied by the urgings of desires.Those ones are the most receptive to reform, and all that they need to achieve this reform is a guide and an element of self-motivation. ✍ Those who know right from wrong but are not accustomed to doing righteous acts and are enchained by the fetters of desire. And those are more resistant to reform than the ones in the first class as the task before them is two-fold.They must first shed their corrupted ways; and in addition, they must turn themselves back to righteousness. Nevertheless, these people can reform if they put decent effort trying that.
✍ Those who view perversions as virtues. Sadly, reform of those is second to impossible and seldom do they let go of their perverted ways for they are completely entangled in the world of deviation.
✍ Those who, in addition to growing up in corruption and deviation, brag about their perverted ways, call, or even force, others to behave equally, and think that the more they commit evil, the more they achieve excellence. And this category is the most immune to reform.
Occupants of the first class are called ignorant; the second, deviated and ignorant; the third, deviated, ignorant, and fasiq (committers of major sins); and those in the fourth category are called ignorant, deviated, fasiq and evil.
http://www.aljumuah.com/content/view/19/19/