O God, protect me from the evil of my own self
Dialogues
The noble Prophetic supplication is phrased as follows: “O Allah, protect me from the evil of my own self, and guide me to the best course in my affairs. O Allah, forgive me what I have concealed and what I have made public, what I did by mistake and what I did deliberately, what I knew and what I did not know.”
It appears that the verb “protect me” (qini) in the supplication of the one sent with concise and comprehensive speech is derived from the words for protection and safeguarding, and for preserving oneself from the harm of one’s own self. I believe that whoever Allah, the Almighty, grants success and protects from the evil of their own self may achieve a strategic and exceptional behavioral and life goal at all levels. Many personal, and perhaps existential, problems, difficulties, and challenges that humans face arise because of what their own selves dictate to them.
Among some of the optional behaviors that cause harm to the self, we mention the following:
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- Hurting people: An individual harms others with their tongue and actions, by backbiting them, oppressing them, inciting hostility between them and other people, by stirring up animosity against them, and by tarnishing their reputation—whether out of envy toward them, jealousy of them, or simply because of hatred stemming from their ethnic or cultural differences.
A person also harms others by deceiving them in order to steal their money, by manipulating them, and by psychologically exploiting them to achieve their own ends at the others’ expense.
All this deliberate harm is a matter of choice; no one can be forced to harm an innocent other unless they choose to do so of their own accord. Whoever deliberately harms people automatically harms themselves, for whoever digs a pit for his brother will eventually fall into it, even if after some time.
- Excessive self-admiration: I believe that much of the evil that some individuals face in today’s world is caused by their arrogance and excessive admiration of their limited human capabilities. Arrogance opens the doors to evil because it blinds both sight and insight, and it leads the self-admiring person to recklessly undertake what a rational person should not undertake.
- Greed is destructive: I am almost certain that every voluntary personal action characterized by greed inevitably leads a person into metaphorical or actual perils. Greed is an intense, self-driven desire to obtain more than one’s needs, and it is evil because it conflicts with and contradicts the divine laws of the universe. As one of our wise Arab ancestors said: “The graves of the wise lie beneath the shadows of greed.”
$ Kuwaiti writer
