LINGERING DOUBTS

LINGERING DOUBTS In the struggle in God’s path that takes place in the political field, success was seen to require going beyond the legal limits of what is prohibited and permissible, and adopting the path of sacrifice. But in the struggle in God’s path that takes place within the self, merely avoiding prohibitions was regarded as sufficient. What was considered so essential in the campaign for reforming society was deemed unnecessary in the campaign for reforming the self. In the first case, apart from unavoidable economic needs, there appeared no hope of attaining anything else; but in the second case, worldly prosperity was also secured in full measure. To the extent that, in order to validate this perspective, you even went so far as to wrongly pull the Messenger of God to your side—whereas it is an established fact that the Messenger of God deliberately chose for himself a simple and austere life. This fact is so evident that it requires no proof. Nevertheless, I will cite a brief reference below: “The Prophet œ was the most abstinent of all people in regard to worldly possessions, despite having full ability to acquire them.” (Tafsir Ibn Kathir, vol. 5, p. 327) In other words, although the Prophet œ had the means jihad.” (Tareekh Baghdad by Al-Khateeb, Hadith No. 7297)