The word hawā is further used in the Qur’ān in the sense of the desires stemming from the ego, by means of which the ego becomes a kind of false god: ‘Hast thou seen him who maketh his desire his god?’ (25: 43; almost identical at 45: 23). This is the subtle or hidden idolatry (al-shirk al-khafī) that the Prophet referred to as being more hidden than a black ant crawling on a dark stone in a moonless night.
