Chapter Two

The Concept of Jihad in Islam customs, are hurdles in God’s path. Overcoming them all and abiding by the commandments of God is the real jihad, and this is what jihad’s essential meaning is. There are many references to jihad in the sayings attributed to the Prophet. For instance, in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad, there are several traditions, such as: 1. A mujahid is he who engages in jihad against his own self (nafs) for God’s sake. (6/20) 2. A mujahid is he who engages in jihad against his own self in God’s path. (6/22) 3. A mujahid is he who engages in jihad against his own self for the sake of obedience to God. (6/22) The world we live in is a testing ground. It has been fashioned in such a way that human beings are constantly in a state of being tested. In the course of this test, people have to face numerous hurdles. So, for instance, you might face a situation where you are faced with a truth, but you feel that acknowledging it would lower your status. You might have in your possession a thing that belongs to someone else and you feel that returning it to its rightful owner would cause you a loss. Or, you might feel that leading a modest life is tantamount to suppressing your desires. At times, you might think that not giving vent to feelings of anger and revenge is tantamount to negating yourself. You might hesitate to uphold justice for fear of losing your popularity. You might feel that if you act in a principled manner, instead of selfishly, you may lose certain facilities. And so on. In this way, on different occasions one has to repeatedly suppress one’s desires. Sometimes, you might feel that you will have to sacrifice your ego totally, surmounting all hurdles and facing all sorts of difficulties and losses, but still remaining firmly established on the Truth. This is the real jihad. Those who remain steadfast in this jihad will be given the right to enter paradise in the Hereafter.