Adnan Oktar A9 TV; January 12th, 2016

If one allows his lower self to take control, the lower self will start acting like an animal; it will act primitively like one.

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.

Anger, hatred, lack of love and compassion, selfishness, cruelty; these feelings blacken the eyes, blacken the words spoken. Once ensnared by such feelings, that person will lose the ability to talk sensibly. Observe carefully the language of those that refuse love. They just can’t make sensible sentences.

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.

There should be nothing to be called national interests. We need to strive for everyone's interests. Even if we endure difficulties, we need to strive for the happiness of others. That is what suits such a noble nation, such a noble state. Self-seeking and egotism are beneath us.

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.

When you love someone, you don't act curtly towards that person, you don't act stingy, you do not act egotistically; you look out for that person's comfort, you have that person's best interests at heart.

If you act rudely, you lose love. If you behave kindly, you gain love. If one is egotistical, he loses love; if he acts in a self-sacrificing manner, love will come back instantly and it will come back even stronger.

To attain quality there should be respect. One should refrain from egoism and should have a very fervent love of God in his soul to attain quality.

Egocentrism has overwhelmed the world in its entirety. They do not even consider asking about a person's well being when they meet.

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.

In order to be in love, one needs to have a morality like that of the Prophets. One needs to be committed to God and to live for God. One needs to retire from this world. Would an egoistical, selfish person be in love? Such a person would be wearing that cloak anyway. If one is egoistical and selfish, that means it is over for him.

Lack of love and egoism drags people into fragmentation. Love on the other hand brings about integration. Would anyone want to be separated from his loved one? One would only want to be separated from those he doesn’t love. One would not want to see those he hates. All these fragmentations in the world stem from a lack of love.

Egoism brings about separation. One would hold onto his possessions. This is the main characteristic of egoism. But if there is no egoism, there is generosity. Generosity does not accept borders. There should be no borders, so that one could put his generosity into practice and show his friendship and love easily.

Life comes to an end if there is egoism. Egoism is a poison, it is a powerful poison; I mean even a tiny bit of it can kill a society. Egoism should disappear from society.

There is richness in unity. For instance, the European countries have united but because the bond they have between them is not a bond of faith, because it is not a bond of love, they are not successful. When the Islamic world unites, the bond they have between them will be a bond of love and there will be no borders, no visas, no passports and thus both trade and friendship will easily be established and sustained. There will be a sound, vivid, lively life based on love and generosity, far removed from selfishness and egoism.

Some people enigmatically harbor negative traits such as jealousy, hatred, egoism, gossiping.

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.

The Companions of our Prophet (saas) always strove for the sake of God. But the hypocrites always had excuses like ‘our houses are exposed' or ‘we would have come if we knew how’. However, if they were told that they would be given gold, they would have immediately obliged. That is because it would have served their interests. However, one's interests should always be in showing good morality; one should choose faith and reward from God instead of gold. Otherwise one would start to turn into an animal.