The Greatest Jihad

As-Salāmu ‘Alaykum wa Raḥmatullāhi wa Barakātuh. A‘ūdhu Billāhi Minash-shayṭāni r-rajīm. Bismillāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm. Wa ṣ-Salātu wa s-Salāmu ‘alá Rasūlinā Muḥammadin Sayyidi l-Awwalīna wa l-Akhirīn. Madad yā RasūlAllāh, Madad yā Sādāti Aṣḥābi Rasūlillāh, Madad yā Mashāyikhinā, Dastūr Mawlana Shaykh Abdullāh al-Fā’iz ad-Dāghistāni, Shaykh Muḥammad Nāẓim al- Ḥaqqānī. Madad. Ṭarīqatunā aṣ-Suḥbah wa l-Khayru fi l-Jam‘iyyah.

Allah ﷻ created the ego within us. The ego has many illnesses. You cannot claim to have got rid of them. No matter how much you say that you are done with your ego, you will become complacent again. It will come up with tricks that you don’t know of. Therefore, there should always be a struggle and a fight against the ego.

The ego has many tricks. People can overcome them with the permission of Allah ﷻ. But it is wrong to say that you overcame them and it’s over. There are constant requests. If you give it one thing, you have to give it another thing. And one by one, you will be defeated then. Therefore, great ‘Awliya and great people always fight against their egos.

The biggest example for this is when Sayyidina Ali was about to hit a Kafir, he spit on Sayyidina Ali’s face. Then, Sayyidina Ali didn’t hit him but pushed him back. The man in front of him got surprised by why he did so. Sayyidina Ali said, “I was going to kill you for Allah ﷻ. When you did this, my ego became angry. If I had killed you, I would’ve killed you for my ego. That’s why I didn’t kill you”. It is the biggest example. In the battlefield, great people never gave a chance for their egos not for a minute, not for a second.

It is a big example and a big lesson for all of us. We have to weigh everything. Of course, people eat and drink, and do everything that is Halal. Yet, we have to guard our egos. We shouldn’t spoil our egos. With the Dhikr of Allah ﷻ, by remembering Allah ﷻ every minute, the ego is defeated with the permission of Allah ﷻ.

But as we said, fighting against the ego, our Holy Prophet ﷺ called it Jihad ulAkbar, The Greatest Jihad; it is more difficult than battles, wars and Jihad. It is more difficult than any enemy. People’s own egos are more difficult than everything.

www.hakkani.org Therefore, may Allah ﷻ help us, and may we always defeat our egos. Those who defeat their egos are great people. And those who are defeated by their egos cannot be great. Even if they own the whole world, it won’t bring any benefit. May Allah ﷻ protect us. May Allah ﷻ help us.

Wa min Allah at-Tawfiq. Al-Fatiha.

Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani 30 January 2022/27 Jumādā al-ʾĀkhir 1443 Fajr Prayer, Akbaba Dergah

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