Jihad nafs - 1

أَرَأَيْتَ مَنِ اتَّخَذَ إِلَٰهَهُ هَوَاهُ أَفَأَنْتَ تَكُونُ عَلَيْهِ وَكِيلًا {25:43

"Have you seen the one who chooseth for his god his own lust?" (25:43) 

وَلَوْ شِئْنَا لَرَفَعْنَاهُ بِهَا وَلَٰكِنَّهُ أَخْلَدَ إِلَى الْأَرْضِ وَاتَّبَعَ هَوَاهُ ۚ فَمَثَلُهُ كَمَثَلِ الْكَلْبِ إِنْ تَحْمِلْ عَلَيْهِ يَلْهَثْ أَوْ تَتْرُكْهُ يَلْهَثْ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ مَثَلُ الْقَوْمِ الَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا ۚ فَاقْصُصِ الْقَصَصَ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ {7:176

"He followed his own lust. Therefor his likeness is as the likeness of a dog; if thou attackest him he panteth with his tongue out, and if thou leavest him he panteth with his tongue out" (7:176) 

وَأَمَّا مَنْ خَافَ مَقَامَ رَبِّهِ وَنَهَى النَّفْسَ عَنِ الْهَوَىٰ {79:40

فَإِنَّ الْجَنَّةَ هِيَ الْمَأْوَىٰ {79:41

"But as for him who feared to stand before his Lord and restrained his soul from lust, Lo! The garden will be his home" (79:40-41).

Rasulullah s.a.w said: "Al-Mujahidu man jahada nafsahu fi ta`at Allah `azza wa jall - The fighter is he who fights against his ego in obeying Allah `azza wa jall" (Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, Ibn Hibban, Tabarani, Hakim)

Umar ibn al-Khattab r.a said: "Call your souls to account before you are called to account and weigh your souls (i.e. your actions) before you are weighed for it will make the accountability easier for you tomorrow if you call your selves to account today" (Reported by Ahmad in his Musnad)

Al-Hasan r.a said: “A believer is a guardian over his soul. He calls his soul to account for the sake of Allah. The reckoning on the Day of Judgement will be light upon a people who call themselves to account in the world and the reckoning on the Day of Judgement will be hard on a people who take this matter lightly.”

Yahya ibn Mu`adh al-Razi rah. said: "Fight against your ego with the four swords of training: eat little, sleep little, speak little, and be patient when people harm you... then the ego will walk the paths of obedience, like a fleeing horseman in the field of battle." 

Hasan al-Basri rah. said: "Two thoughts roam over the soul, one from God, one from the enemy. God shows mercy on a servant who settles at the thought that comes from Him. He embraces the thought that comes from God, while he fights against the one from his enemy. To illustrate the heart's mutual attraction between these two powers the Prophet s.a.w said: "The heart of a believer lies between two fingers of the Merciful" If man follows the dictates of anger and appetite, the dominion of shaytan appears in him through idle passions (hawa) and his heart becomes the nesting-place and container of shaytan, who feeds on hawa. If he does battle with his passions and does not let them dominate his nafs, imitating in this the character of the angels, at that time his heart becomes the resting-place of angels and they alight upon it.

Al-Junayd rah. said: "Those who have striven against their desires and repented for our sake, we shall guide them to the ways of sincerity, and one cannot struggle against his enemy outwardly (i.e. with the sword) except he who struggles against these enemies inwardly. Then whoever is given victory over them will be victorious over his enemy. And whoever is defeated by them, his enemy defeats him."

Sufyan al-Thawri rah. said: "I never dealt with anything stronger against me than my own ego; it was one time with me, and one time against me"