willpower in keeping away from sins. If one must spend
his/her whole life in doing this, then they must do it. Even
if one fails on occasions, he/she should renew their effort
with willpower.
Maulana Thanawi has said that we should observe how a
child learns to walk. At first, he steps and stumbles. If he
were to give up at the first stumbling and think that it is
beyond his capacity to do it then he would never be able
to learn to walk. However, if he tries and stumbles and
continues to keep trying, then the child will soon learn how
to walk without falling.
Similarly, we must keep moving forward with our goals
relentlessly. If we stumble on our way, we should keep
trying. Soon, we will be able to achieve a steady state of
obedience. It’s through willpower and perseverance that
one moves forward and without it nothing can be achieved
in this world.
Suppressing Habits
Maulana Thanawi says, “ A hadith tells us that if you hear
that a mountain has moved from its place then you may
believe it, but do not believe hearing that someone has
changed his manners and habits. This shows that inherent
habits and manners are not completely changed though
they can be suppressed” ( Anfas-e-esa: p. 139). The above
hadith is a well-known hadith: a mountain may move but
someone’s inherent, deep rooted manners and habits cannot.
This is corroborated by a Persian proverb:
Earth can move, time can change;
the one that cannot change is Gul
Mohammed.
Hazrat Thanawi is citing this hadith as evidence that the
inherent nature of a person cannot completely be obliterated
though it can be suppressed to the extent that the nafs
becomes too weak to cause any harm.
In other words, a bad-tempered person cannot eliminate
the inherent anger in him completely. However, with mujahada
(using willpower to overcome his anger) and the company
of pious people he/she may be able to make it weak
and harmless. This “reformed” person would then be able
to utilize his trait of anger judiciously and use it only where
it is called for by the Shari‘a. He/she does not get angry at
the wrong occasion and is able to control his /her anger.
Hazrat Thanawi explained this hadith perfectly that although
the innate temptations of the nafs do not change,
but they can be weakened to a point that the person is
able to refrain from sins. The hadith does not mean that a
person cannot change and should give up his/her efforts to
hadith is maymove correct his/her nafs.
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