The Concept of Self - Ego
The concept of the self (ego): We
have two types
The major self: This is the full
human self-made of body and soul. Allah says;
“And when I have proportioned him
and breathed into him of My soul, then fall down to him in prostration.""
(TMQ,
15:29).
The minor self: This is something
inside the human entity combining all the human qualities and characteristics
that have apparent effects on human behavior. Al-Ghazali says about this,
“The meaning that combines the power of anger and lust inside the human being.
It is the original combining meaning for all the abhorred qualities in man
because they say ‘thriving against one’s self and compelling it’”
Al Ghazali
We have many verses in the Qur’an
depicting this meaning like,
“We created man-We know the promptings of his
soul, and are closer to him than his jugular vein-"
(TMQ, 50:16).
Rasulullah ﷺ also brought up the same meaning when he said, “Righteousness
is to have good manners and sin is what concocts inside your chest and you hate
to disclose to the people.”
The question now is: Which of the
two meanings do we have in mind when we talk about self-purification?
The answer is “both”; the human
self in its general meaning or the self that is inside us in its particular
meaning. Both of them need to be purified, need to be elevated, need to be
educated, reformed, purged, and refined.
