Will you explain the hadith "Avoid following the desires (requests) of the soul because it makes man deaf and blind toward the truth"?

Is it necessary to refuse all of the requests of the soul or is it necessary to get on well with it?

Dear Brother / Sister,

For the resource of the hadith, see Suyuti, Jamius-Saghir, 1/338, No: 2928.

We complain about our souls a lot. Why? Because it orders us to do bad deeds. On the other hand, we keep having and doing the thoughts, deeds and attitudes that strengthen it. We blacklist the ones that do not like us and the ones that our souls do not like.

We love the world very much and work for the world with might and main. They nurture, enlarge and spoil the soul and make it go wild. When we start to complain about it, our conscience does not approve us. Something tells us, “It is you who made it like that; you are not sincere in your complaints”. When we want to oppose, it says it is easy to prove and presents some offers: Can you apologize to such and such people? Can you return the rights of such and such people? Can you donate this amount of money?

That sound and robust soul opposes all of those offers and we have to wriggle in despair. We are called to salvation five times a day: “Hayya alal falah (Come to salvation)”. We answer this call as follows: ‘La hawla wa la quwwata illa billahil-aliyyil-azim”; we say that Allah is the real owner of might and power. At first sight, there seems to be no relation with that call and this answer. However, it is not so. We give the best answer whether knowingly or unknowingly.

There is an important message in this answer: The first condition of attaining salvation is to regard one’s power and strength as something entrusted to him. We did not have a body yesterday and a soul before that. Everything, from the light of our eyes to the power of our muscles, from the strength of our intelligence to the wisdom of our brain, is a grant of Allah.

Everybody is a guest, a soldier and an official in this market. Everybody is a guard of what he/she has. The light is not a real possession of the sun. We do not actually own our lives. There is no intellect in the cells of the brain. Food is unaware of what is nutritious. Water is unaware of quenching. The ground has no connection with gravity. 

Everything that we have is something entrusted to us by Allah. All of the power comes from His power. Here is the prescription that will save us from the evil of Satan and deceptive pleasures of the world: Know yourself as a slave and know your power, strength and whatever you have as things entrusted to you by Allah.

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