Inner and Outer Struggle

 Importance of Fighting for the Cause of Allah

 

Alhamdulillah-ir-Rabbil Aalameen – Praise be to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds, the One Who has set order in creation and the One Who has given life to everything.

 

In an era filled with confusion and disorder, it is essential to remember that the noblest struggle for a sincere believing Muslim is against his own Nafs, against his own ego and passions – such a Nafs that seeks to divert him from the path of Allah. The Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) said after an expedition: “We have returned from the lesser Jihad to the greater Jihad” (Bayhaqi); that is, the struggle against oneself, against desires that lead to disorder/ chaos (fitna).

 

Allah tells us in the Qur’an: “And as for the one who fears to stand before his Lord and restrains his soul from passions, Paradise will be his refuge.” (An-Nazi’at 79: 41-42). This shows that the first duty is inner discipline, that is, to set a barrier against temptation and arrogance.