The Battle With Two Wolves
From: "DDN" <dominedirigenos@access.inet.co.th>
This is a story about an old man who explained to
his young grandson one evening after Magrib prayers, about a battle that was
going on inside himself.
The grandfather said, "My child, the battle
inside me is between two wolves, one of whom is so evil, full of anger, envy,
sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, hypocrisy, self-pity, guilt, resentment,
inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.
The other is so good, full of rememberance of
Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta'aala, faith, taqwaa, joy, peace, love, compassion, hope,
serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, and
truthfulness."
The grandson pondered for a minute and then
asked: "Grandfather, which wolf will win the battle?"
The grandfather replied simply, "The one I
feed"
~ What the grandfather said is certainly food for
thought ~
I have attached below, a short essay for you to
read written by Imam Ibn ul-Qayyim al Jawziyyah, entitled "The Ways of
Shaytaan in Leading Humans Astray." It explains that one of the ways
in which the Shaytaan leads human beings astray is by 'feeding' them with
impressions of evil looking good. On this point, Imam ibn ul-Qayyim wrote the
following:
Quote: "From his strategem is that he always
bewitches the mind until he can deceive the person. No one is safe from his
bewitching except whomsoever Allaah wills. He makes good looking to him what
harms him the most, until he imagines that it is the most beneficial act for
himself. And he makes him flee from the most beneficial act until he thinks it
is something harmful to him. Certainly, there is no god but Allaah.
How many humans have been tested by such sorcery?
How many hearts have been kept from Islam, faith and goodness (by such sorcery)?
And how many support and present falsehood in the best form and hate truth and
present it in the worst form (because of his deception)? And how much falseness
is adorned and shown in a desirious manner to the alert? And how much falseness
is spread among the wise?
Shaytaan is the one who bewitches the mind until
it follows different desires and various evil opinions. He makes them follow
every path of misguidance. He leads them to actions, one after another, that
cause their destruction. He makes appealing to them the worship of idols, the
breaking of familial relationships, the killing of daughters, marrying one's
mother and so on. And he promises them the victory of paradise with their
infidelity, wickedness and acts of disobedience. He presents to them polytheism
in the most honorable fashion. And he presents rejection of Allaah's attributes,
of His transcendence and of His speech in the guise of anti-anthropomorphism of
Allaah. He presents abandoning ordering good and eradicating evil in the guise
of having mercy for others, behaving with others in a good manner, and applying
the verse, "O believers, you are in charge of your own souls" (al-Maidah
5:105). And he presents turning away from what has come from the Messenger in
the guise of blindly following the Imams (taqleed) and the sufficiency of
following one who is more knowledgeable. And he presents hypocrisy and
compromising with respect to Allaah's religion in the guise of being flexible
and mixing admirably with the people." - unquote.
In another of Imam Ibn ul-Qayyim al Jawziyyah's
essays "Perfecting One's Character from "The Magnificent
Journey," he explains three conditions needed to acquire good
manners/character, i.e. proper nature, controlling one's nafs and sound
knowledge. He wrote:
Quote: "The Prophet Sall Allaahu `alayhi wa
sallam used to make a number of supplications related to good character.
"O Allaah, guide me to good character, none
guides to good character but You..." (Muslim)
"O Allaah, I seek refuge in you from bad
character, deeds and desires." (at-Tirmidhee)
"O Allaah, You perfectly created me, so
perfect my character." (Ahmad)
"O Allaah, I seek refuge in you from
disability and laziness; from cowardice and avarice; from decrepitude and
harshness; from negligence and impoverishment, from lowness and humiliation. And
I seek refuge in You from poverty and disbelief; from sinfulness, disunity and
hypocrisy; from notability and riyaa' (show off)..." (Ahmad, Maalik,
Bazaar, Haithami and ibn `Abd al-Barr authenticated it).
Three Conditions to Acquire Excellent Manners
This is one example of the excellent manners with
which Allaah (ta`aala) has equipped his Messenger (sallaallaahu `alayhi wa
sallam). He described him as,
"Verily, You (Muhammad) are on an exalted
standard on character." (Al Qalam 68:4 - interpretation of the meaning)
`Aa'ishah, radhiallaahu `anha, described him as,
"His character was just (a reflection of) the Qur'aan." (Muslim, Aboo
Daawood, Ahmad).
Such excellent character cannot be attained
without three conditions:
1. The foundation must be good. If one has a
rough and dry nature, it will be hard for him to submit to this (excellence of
character) through knowledge, will, or practice. On the other hand, a mild and
smooth nature will be ready and willing to receive the plowing and the seeds (to
prepare it for character excellence).
2. The soul must be strong and capable of
conquering calls of laziness, transgression, and desire. Those matters
contradict perfection, and souls which cannot defeat them will always be
defeated and conquered.
3. (One must possess) a discerning knowledge of
the truth of matters, enabling one to put them in the rightful position, and to
distinguish between flesh and cancer - between glass and jewels.
If these three qualities are present in a man,
and Allaah's facilitation helps him, then he will be among those whom the best (husnaa)
has been decreed and for whom Allah's care has been secured" - unquote.
http://www.islaam.com/Article.asp?id=94
Now that you've finished reading these excellent
and beneficial advice,
Which wolf would you feed?
Fi Amman Allaah
K a r i m a
Karima-DDN-DDN