Understanding The Prophet's Life
From Issue: 585 [Read full issue]
True Mujahid
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, "The [true] mujahid is the one who strives against his own soul." [Tirmidhi]
The soul is not necessarily inherently evil. However, the soul has both propensities in it: it can turn toward good and it can turn toward evil. Hence, the individual has to work to extinguish or greatly weaken the evil propensities. This is a type of struggle and, hence, it is a kind of jihad.
In fact, there are various types of jihad. Unfortunately, many times people go to extremes by stressing one at the expense of others. Although all of those extremes are to be avoided, the overall importance of "victory" in the jihad against the soul needs to be emphasized. When one encounters the enemies on the physical battlefield, the most that can happen to a person is that he loses his life. His enemy cannot pry the faith from the believer's heart. His enemy can only put an end to the believer's worldly life. But if the believer loses his life while having faith and fighting for the sake of Allah, that is not a bad thing whatsoever. His worldly life may come to an end but he has gained an everlasting victory and happiness. On the other hand, if the believer loses in the battle against evil inclinations in one's soul, he will harm his own soul. In fact, if he does not strive against any of the evil inclinations in his soul, the result can be everlasting misery and punishment in the Hereafter.
Compiled From:
"Purification of the Soul: Concept, Process and Means" - Jamaal al-Din M. Zarabozo, p. 344