Adnan Oktar A9 TV; January 12th, 2016

If you told those [who are weak in faith] to remain sleepless for the sake of God, to serve Islam, they wouldn't do that; but if you told them that they would win a car if they waited standing up for days without any sleep, they would do it without hesitation. This shows the tendency of the inner self to assume an animalistic, dishonorable, low character.

The human body tends to behave like an animal when left to its own devices; it will just want to eat and sleep, it will easily get scared and act selfishly. One should balance out that animalistic side by means of faith. One shouldn't allow oneself to act like an animal.

Forgiveness is a characteristic God appreciates greatly. That is because revenge might give a lowly pleasure to one's soul, but forgiving is hard; I mean it [forgiveness] necessitates will-power and wisdom. That is because in forgiveness one does not achieve satisfaction, but revenge might bring satisfaction. That is why God takes forgiveness as a basis.

In order to be stable and reasonable one should certainly criticize himself. Even if it is once in a while, he should certainly criticize himself and one should do so when he is in the company of others. Only then one could become a stable, reasonable person. That is a miracle of the Qur'an. A solid, tangible miracle.

If one does not criticize himself and sees himself as sufficient and above criticism, he would become insane. A Muslim should certainly criticize himself and have others criticize him. This is necessary for one's sanity or else one's mental health would be disrupted; his judgment and reasoning would be impaired. His foresight and perception would be blocked. Have a look at those around you, you will see. Avoiding criticisms would cause instability and would prevent one to be reasonable.

Fiercely defending one's own desires is a mental illness. One should get a grip on himself in this situation and take refuge in God. He should ask himself, "How did I turn into such an abnormal person?" He should listen to what others have to say in a reasonable manner. A Muslim is open to 'al-amr bi-l-maʿrūf wa-n-nahy ʿani-l-munkar' (enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong). Therefore, he becomes wiser with ease.

How can something be considered right if the opposite of it does not exist? How will we be tried if satan and the lower-self do not exist? How can we recognize what is beautiful, what is right? It is impossible. It is impossible to achieve any higher love, any higher wisdom in this way. Then we would be no different than a child, we would not be able to develop.

Many people give in their lower-selves and the pressure of the satan but forget about love. Without love, the body collapses, sanity regresses, foresight and perception would be lost.

A Muslim’s rank in Heaven raises with the intellectual struggle he gives against hypocrites, against satan and his lower-self.

Honesty and sincerity is crucial. Sometimes it costs a lot; it is difficult, but one has to persist in honesty and never give up.

A person who lives selfishly cannot be sincere. Only a person that lives for others can be honest and sincere.

Satan’s whisperings, doubts can come to mind any moment. But believers ignore them by means of their faith. One’s inner self, satan attacks the mind with thousands of doubts, groundless worries, but believers just ignore them.

Haters are people who have failed to control their lower selves and who are defeated by satan. Such people should be approached like a doctor would approach their patients. We need to treat haters by approaching them with compassion like a doctor approaches a patient. These people are spiritually ill.

It’s easy to defeat the inner self and the satan. Muslims are strong-willed.

Getting defensive in the face of constructive criticism is an unwise reflex. Constructive criticism helps one see details and improve oneself.

The lower self, jealousy and egocentricity make one’s body do abnormal acts eventually. People assume that nothing bad will happen if one follows his lower self; actually lots of things happen. It would ruin a man. The lower self is the propelling force in those who commit suicide. It drives them mad and drags them into committing suicide. They also commit murders because they abide by their lower selves.

God gives one aggressive, abnormal wrong feelings to the lower self, but He also shows the ways to be protected against those with the verses of the Qur’an. The whole system of trial is founded upon that anyways. People need to recognize this highly dangerous threat and be alerted and be careful against it. We are to look for the acts that please God the most.

It is not possible to carry out possitive studies with one’s lower self. Lower selves cannot be exonerated. It is a force that is active in a person’s soul constantly commanding evil.

People generally do not attach necessary importance to the concept of the lower self. Actually it is a special force embedded in humans, it is a negative power; may God forbid it might drive one crazy and might even make one commit murder, it might make one commit suicide. All these troubles happen under the influence of the lower self. People imagine that nothing would happen if they go by their lower selves but actually lots of things happen. It might take one over and drag them into troubles,; the lower self suffocates one.

Faith is resisting the negative suggestions of the satan. One could have doubts, but should always be on the side of and think positively about God.

Faith is to defeat the inner self, satan and the negative suggestions and to give a struggle and become victorious against those who are unscrupulous for a lifetime.

Feelings of hatred and resentment are in people’s nature. The strong will and determination that people show in defeating these feelings beautify people’s morality and make them worthy of Heaven.

In fact, it is a grave misdeed and immorality to live thinking only about one's self.

People have a tendency towards argument and conflict. With love, there would be no basis for conflict.

One should look at everything with compassion, mercy and through the eyes of reason and he should be calming. We are being tested in this short life on this world. Some people might yield to their lower-selves. But one would not be abandoning religion when he does so, he would just be committing a sin and making a mistake that is all.