Both the Gnostics...

Both the Gnostics, and the Sufis as well as Islamic teachers are in favor of combating selfishness, and carnal desires. But, the fact is that this jihad against “the self” is an Islamic view which they adopted. Sa'di says "You are a fellow-lodger of your own enemy, why do you bother about fighting strangers" This idea is also found in the utterance of the holy Prophet, saying: "Your most dangerous enemy is your own “self”, who is between your two sides.

In his "Golestan", Sa’di speaks of a mystic who was asked the meaning of the above utterance of the Prophet, and he answered: "If you treat an enemy kindly, and offer him what he desires, he will become a friend; but, the more…