Prayer Request:
Aslamu’Alaikum
Can I ask you to make dua for me to be able to kill me ego. Is there anything I can Recite so that I can win over my ego?
JazakAllah khayr
Answer:
Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu,
Our master Bayazid al-Bistami, one of the masters in the Naqshbandi Golden Chain, was told by Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, “Leave yourself and come!” He is also narrated to have said, “I tried to discipline my ego for 40 years and it disobeyed me, so I left it behind me and traveled to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala!”
Our lady Rabia al-‘Adawiya also passed by a group of Muslims who were spending their time cursing dunya and their egos, she said to them, “If it had not already occupied your hearts and minds, you wouldn’t have spent all this time talking and worrying about it.”
Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala says in the Qur’an, “And a soul how He formed it, He inspired it with its fujūruhā (its dawn, the rising place of the sun) and its piety.” (Surat ash-Shams, 91: 7-8) And one of the foundational narrations amongst the people of tasawwuf is, “whoever knows himself/herself, they will know their lord.” In some narrations it is, “whoever knows himself/herself, they have already known their lord.”
The problem of the ego is expounded when one thinks they can defeat it by their own volition and power. We have no power to begin with, nor did we ever have an atom weight of power to resist or desist. This is one of the secrets that our masters Rabi’a al-Adawiya and Bayazid al-Bistami have realized, so they left the affairs of their egos behind them and drowned in the Ocean of Love. That is the only solution: to fall in love with Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, the Prophet Muhammad, salawat rabbi wa salamuhu ‘alayhi wa ‘ala alih and the awliyaa, who carry his secrets and tajalliyyat (manifestations).
Indeed, this is the Path of Shukr, Gratitude: to come to the realization that one has no power independently and is unable to control their ego and so they bring themselves like a humble ‘abd before their lord and ask Him to purify them, as He subhanahu wa ta’ala said, “And do not proclaim yourselves pure, for He knows best who is pious!” (Surat an-Najm, 53:32)
In this regard, our mission and objective should not be to think that we can control our egos by ourselves, but rather to reach the presence of those who have already been purified and they can take care of us like a mother takes care of her infant child. The best formula of remembrance to help with this is salawat upon the Beloved Prophet Muhammad allahumma salli ‘alayhi wa ‘ala alih.
This is the reality witnessed by all awliyaullah. Consider this statement by sultaan al-awliyaa ʿAbd al-Qadir al-Jilani in al-Fath ar-Rabbani, “Know that Rasoolullah, sall Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallim, is the only one who can admit you into the Divine Presence. So be in his hands like a dead body and let him clean you and prepare you for admittance into the Divine Hadhra.” And we can say that awliyaullah are the only ones who can admit you into the presence of the Prophet, sall Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallim, so also be in their hands like a dead body.
wal hamdulillahi rabbil ‘alameen,
Ali Hussain
