Whenever they are separated from each other, they lose their real value.

Whenever they are separated from each other, they lose their real value. In order to lay stress on the significance of man's inner content and to make clear that this inner content is the basic thing, Islam has called its reconstruction the major jihad. Whenever the major jihad and the minor jihad are separated from each other, no useful inner change can take place. Describing such a state the Qur'an says: There is such a man that his view on this worldly life pleases you.

He even calls on Allah to vouch for that which is in his heart. Yet he is the deadliest of your opponents. No sooner he leaves you than he tries to make mischief, destroying crops and cattle. Allah does not like mischief. (Surah al Baqarah, 2: 204) Man cannot accept truth and act righteously so long as a desire for a change for the better does not have a firm hold on his heart and he does not rebuild himself from within.

Society cannot be shaped in a befitting manner unless man's heart is replete with human values representing truth. Otherwise any talk of truth will be hollow and meaningless. As such, the most important question is that of the change of heart, which accords meaning to the words and a dimension to the mottos, and determines the goal and the line of action to be adopted to secure it. So far we have learnt that man's inner content is the basis of the movement of history. It fixes the rules and laws.

Importance of Choosing an Ideal in the Life of Man Now the question is what this inner content of man is. What is the thing that forms the starting point in the construction of this inner content? How can that thing be discovered? In fact it is man's ideal that performs this role. It is an ideal that forms man's inner content and moves the wheels of history.

It is an ideal that guides the movement of history through a conception which exists in man's mind and is blended with his will and thinking. The objectives which move the wheels of history are organized by an ideal. We know that man's inner content gives a concrete shape to his objectives and goals on which the movement of history depends. It gives a practical shape to the movement of history through the mentally existing ideas blended with will and thinking.

All the objectives around which history revolves, and which concern entire human society spring from the great ideals. It is a great ideal which brings into existence many small objectives and specific questions.