Bismillaah ir Rahmaan ir Rahiim
In the name of Allah, The Merciful, The Compassionate
PEACE AND THE INNER JIHAD
By Fleur Nassery Bonnin
The Meaning of Peace
As we experience and witness the turmoil, unrest, war and
devastation in the world, the absence of peace and the need
for peaceful living becomes abundantly clear. But in order
to have peace in the world, we need to have peace in our communities,
and in order to have peace in our communities, we need to
have peaceful people in those communities. Societies reflect
the state of the people within that society. Peace cannot
exist in a society unless the individuals within that society
change and experience peace within themselves.
Our current political environment is derived from the idea
of peace as a product of war; that is, there appears to be
a justification for war as a means of achieving peace. This
mentality not only necessitates the questioning of its logic,
but also the questioning of its effectiveness. The world news,
as being broadcasted through our television sets and newspapers,
testifies to the fact that this widely accepted doctrine does
not work, and in fact, will never work. On a fundamental level,
it is a mistake to conceive of peace as the absence of war.
This type of peace is merely the result of negotiations and
peace treaties between factions and/or nations, in an effort
to ward off war and unrest. This shallow perception of peace
serves only as a mental exercise, derived from assemblies
of man enforcing and implementing positions of power. The
end result is marked by win-lose situations and delivers only
temporary solutions to looming dissatisfactions and potential
uprisings. The point has been lost.
Peace is a Spiritual State
For a person to be at peace, he needs to go beyond his pre-occupations
with the ego-driven self and move towards the virtues. He
needs to transform his ego-personality which is the hub of
all his conflicts and negative attributes and shed his associated
jealousy, selfishness, greed, anger, lust etc by transcending
to a higher level, where the demanding ego is no longer the
dominating force. This is the meaning of the internal jihad,
and this process is by no means an easy one, but indeed a
necessary one.
It is reported that during the early formation of Islam,
when the army of Islam returned from a huge battle with the
enemy, the Prophet of Islam, peace and blessing be upon him,
said:
“You have returned from a smaller jihad (battle),
and now it is incumbent upon you to perform your greater jihad.”
When the astonished people asked what could be a greater jihad
than the one they had returned from, the Prophet, peace and
blessings be upon him, said:
“The battle with ones nafs (ego-personality).”
This Hadith (saying of the Prophet, peace and blessings be
upon him) emphasises two fundamentally important issues. The
first, points to the difficult task of our internal jihad
and in doing so, prepares us for it. The second, establishes
the necessity of the battle we must wage against our nafs
(our ego-personality). The Prophet (pbuh) is letting us know
that victory in the outer jihad is not enough for mankind
to live in peace and harmony. It only provides the necessary
space to do our most important work which is the jihad against
our nafs.
The words of the prophets, (particularly those words that
have been recorded and whose authenticity is undisputed),
afford us and future generations the keys to unlocking the
doors to our inner and outer truth and reality. We need to
contemplate them, understand them, be guided by them and most
importantly put them into practice.
The Human Predicament
Human beings are in a difficult predicament in this journey
of life. The soul comes into this life given a cloak of personality,
shrouding his God-consciousness. Therefore he sees himself
only as his ego-personality and is blindly ruled by it. He
has only a short period of life on earth to fight and overcome
this domination so that he may know his Creator in spite of
all the ego-attachments and distractions. It is a challenging
task, but this task is what we have been created for. However
we are not left entirely on our own and are not without help.
God sends us prophets, scriptures, saints and guides, not
to mention events that shape our lives and provide us with
lessons to be learned.
Denial of Our Spiritual Aspect
When God is taken out of the equation of ‘man and God’,
man is then left on his own, and therefore becomes conscious
of his self instead of being conscious of God. This marks
the breeding ground for ego development. Life then becomes
the pursuit and fulfillment of ego desires, and truth and
reality become subservient to ego domination. This is in opposition
to spiritual unfoldment. The spiritual aspect is where one
can be in peace and harmony. The ego aspect is where one is
in conflict and disharmony. Therefore an ego-dominated society
is obviously filled with conflicts and disharmony. In order
to function in such a state, it would be necessary to be forgetful
and in denial of our spiritual aspect. This is what we see
today in our secular society.
In order to live in a state of denial about one’s spirituality
and consciousness of God, the secular life must create material
distractions and engagements. This means that any secular
society requires upheaval and unrest in order for its dysfunction
to function. There are constant issues to be resolved, needs
to be met, greeds to be fulfilled and the illusive state of
inner peace remains out of reach. Most modern societies not
only support and promote this mentality, which has become
a way of life, but these societies also teach people to become
skilled and creative participants. People’s talents,
intellects and abilities are used in order to sustain this
theatrical version of reality. The better one is at it, the
more successful and respected one becomes in the eyes of such
a society.
At a certain point, one cannot even distinguish truth and
reality in and amongst the lies and justifications being presented
as truth. This is what we are facing in the world today. From
the perspective of modernity, it is engaging, challenging
and exciting. From the perspective of the Truth and God-consciousness,
peace and harmony, it is disastrous. And it keeps getting
worse, because the trend of making the unreal appear real,
forever gathers momentum.
“While those who are determined in denying the
truth harboured a stubborn disdain of ignorance in their hearts
– Allah bestowed from on high His inner peace upon His
apostle and the believers and bound them to the spirit of
God-consciousness, for they were most worthy of this (divine
gift) and deserved it well.” - Qur’an 48:26
Man and the Truth
Man’s relationship to the truth, especially in our
modern society, is worthy of reflection. Al Haqq, one of the
Names (attributes) of Allah (swt) means the Truth, the Reality.
While Al Haqq, the Truth with capital “T” means
the ultimate truth, the only truth and the only reality, man’s
version of the truth is different and so is his perceived
reality within that truth. Truth has become personalised or
individualised, which allows it to continually change according
to the perspective and benefit of the individual. Therefore
it can easily be twisted, politicised and nationalised. The
universality of the truth is thus lost and substituted by
the individual’s personal or communal truth. This creates
a situation in which no two people or two communities can
experience the same version of truth because neither is the
reflection of the Truth. For instance these days the Palestinian’s
truth is different from the Israeli’s truth and America’s
truth is different from that of the Middle East.
In addition, being conscious of the Truth (which is the result
of being God-conscious), mandates certain ways of life and
certain moral conducts such as following God’s laws
(Shariah), which protect all humanity equally since God is
the God of all humanity. Allah (swt) says in the Qur’an:
“And say: ‘Truth has arrived, and falsehood
perished: For falsehood is bound to perish.’
We sent down in the Qur’an that which is a healing and
mercy to those who believe: To the unjust it causes nothing
but loss after loss.” - Qur’an 17:81-82
The Purpose of Life – to Know and Love God
In Sufism, the purpose of life is described in a Hadith Qudsi
(when God speaks to the prophets) regarding the question of
creation. Allah (swt) says:
“I was a hidden treasure and I loved that I be
known, so I created the creation so that I can be known.”
The purpose of our life, the goal of coming into this world
is to know God (Irfan), in spite of all the smoke screens,
veils and distractions - the most powerful of which lies in
the veil of one’s self.
It is always very difficult to fight one’s ego-self.
In fact according to Sufi teaching if it is not difficult,
one is not doing the real work. What makes the struggle against
the ego possible is the desire to know and love God, since
He has placed this desire in the heart of mankind, whether
man knows it or not. When this desire is moved from the state
of potentiality to expression in life, one is considered in
Sufism, a traveller (salek), on the journey to God-consciousness.
The soul comes to this world for the purpose of moving through
the various tests and obstacles set in his way, and insha’llah,
(with the will of God), he will fend off temptations and not
stray too far from the path, remaining focused on the true
purpose of his journey, and his eventual return to a state
of unity with God. Allah (swt) points this out repeatedly
throughout the Qur’an, for example:
“To Him is our return.” - Qur’an 2:156
"Unto Him you will return." - Qur’an 2:245
To fulfil the purpose of life we need to turn to the spiritual
teachings of our religions and harness the inner meanings
of the teachings of our prophets. While the outer dimension
of religion is concerned with salvation from the fire of hell,
or with securing a place in paradise, the inner dimension
of religion is concerned with knowing God and loving God,
because being God-conscious (taqwa) and being present with
God (hozour), is the highest level of perfection of the soul.
It is in utilising the inner dimensions of our religions,
that we face the possibility of transforming our ego domination
and achieving peace and tranquillity, both internally and
therefore externally. It is for this reason that the Prophet
Mohammad, peace and blessings be upon him, conveyed a message
relevant for any time and any place. The inner jihad is the
most fundamental challenge for man, and it is a challenge
that must be endured by man.
And to those who are on the path of fulfilling the ego desire
instead of the inner jihad, Allah (swt) says in the Qur’an:
“And who could be more astray than he who follows
his own desires without any guidance from Allah? Verily, Allah
does not grace with His guidance people who are given to their
wrong-doing.” - Qur’an 28:50
And to those who endure the inner jihad and squirm free of
the grip of their nafs, Allah (swt) says:
“O’ you the nafs that has attained inner
peace – return unto thy Sustainer, well-pleased and
pleasing Him.”- Qur’an 89:27-28
The Return to God-consciousness
The human being is designed for the return to the state of
God-consciousness. To reach such a station and proximity to
God, one needs to be steadfast and not be side tracked by
distractions in his pursuit.
Jesus, peace and blessings be upon him, says in the Gospel
of Thomas in verse 8:
“Humankind is like a wise fisherman who cast his
net into the sea and drew it up from the sea full of little
fish. Among them the wise fisherman discovered a fine large
fish. He threw all the little fish back into the sea and with
no difficulty chose the large fish. Whoever has ears to hear
should hear.”
Jesus, peace and blessings be upon him, also says in John
3:3:
“Unless a man is born a second time, he cannot
behold the kingdom of God.”
Mullah Sadra, the revered Persian Sufi master of the 17th
century, explains the above saying as:
The first birth is from the womb of a woman, the second
birth is from the womb of the ego-senses.
To be born again requires the transformation of the ego-personality
and according to the Islamic and Sufi teaching, breaking free
from the commanding self (al-nafs al-ammara), which is the
general state of human beings, passing through the state of
the accusing self (al-nafs al-lawwama) and then reaching the
state of the self at peace (al nafs al-mutmainna).
This is the true state of being and it is only possible by
discarding layers of one’s ego identity and one’s
preoccupation with the ego senses. When one starts confronting
any aspect of one’s personality-fixation and begins
to dig beneath the surface, one will eventually find God-consciousness.
Allah (swt) says in the Qur’an:
“We shall show them Our signs, in the universe
and within themselves so they know that this is The Reality
(Al Haqq).” - Qur’an 41:53
The Way to Peace
The absence of God-consciousness prevents one from following
God’s laws, and therefore prevents His protection of
the earth and its inhabitants. God has made it clear to us
through the teachings of His prophets, that there will be
no inner peace as long as one forgets God and follows one’s
own ego.
“Be not like those who forgot Allah and He made
them to forget their own souls! Such are those who are wrong
doers (having wasted their spiritual potential).
Not equal are the companions of the fire and the
companions of the garden. It is the companions of the garden
who will achieve peace and felicity.” - Qur’an 59:19-20
We can now reformulate our equation to propose that an absence
of God-consciousness results in war, and that peace, rather
than being the absence of war, is the state of God-consciousness.
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