In Book Two, Section 20 of Rumi's Masnavi, the shocking narrative of a man killing his mother for her dishonorable conduct serves as a profound spiritual allegory for subjugating the ego or carnal soul (jihad al-nafs). Rumi explicitly identifies the 'mother of bad character' (مادر بدخاصیت) as the nafs. The poem illustrates that instead of engaging in endless external conflicts against the symptoms of one's ego—represented by the suggestion that the man should kill his mother's paramours instead—a spiritual seeker must annihilate the root cause of corruption within themselves by 'slaying' the ego.