It is said: if one becomes enamored of ḥikma (wisdom), becomes obliged with kamāl (perfection), rules over (character and) nature, and the meaning of humanity is realized, then the acquired intellect; if within oneself divine universal sciences are realized, one becomes identical with them, does not separate knowledge from the known, conceives spiritual states and different essences, and if thus one can encompass all of them, it is called the actual or practical intellect (ʿaql bi'l-fiʿl). (Ravza, 126)
The righteous nafs (nafs-i ṣāliḥa), because it longs to attain perfection, feels sorrow at deficiency, desires good with great eagerness, strives for salvation with ghayra (zeal), and pays no heed to anything else, is called the righteous nafs. (Ravza, 127)
The commanding nafs (nafs-i ammāra) is the nafs that turns entirely away from Allah and has no share in His light. The love of perceptible (sensory) things and the lusts of bodies have dominated it, thus it has lost its way in the darkness of delusion. It has denied spiritual pleasures and intellectual realms. According to the physicians of Allah and the people of His messengership, its illness has advanced. Thus, they have despaired of treating it and have judged that it will perish. The veil between it and the Real has thickened. The face of its mirror has become covered with rust, thus its essence has disappeared. Because of its base aspect, there remains no pure part in it, there is no aspect to be regarded as good. It is, eternally, hell. It has been overturned and expelled from the presence of Allah. There remains absolutely no hope for its salvation. We seek refuge in Allah from its evil consequences.
There is no question of preference over this nafs. For it is a hard rock. It is not suitable for being worked upon and does not turn toward the sun of the Real. (Ravza, 143)
The blaming nafs (nafs-i lawwāma) is the nafs that reproaches its owner due to deficiency in dealings with Allah. Allah the Exalted has said, "Nay! I swear by the self-reproaching soul." (Qur'an, al-Qiyāma, 75:2). The nafs-i lawwāma is the nafs that can moderately incline toward perceptible (sensory) pleasures. In this nafs, there remains a share (even if small) of wakefulness and intelligence. With it, one perceives intellectual meanings. It is the subject of ascetic discipline. It is hoped that it will attain salvation.
This nafs has two aspects and two perspectives: because of the presence of wakefulness in it, it looks toward the exalted; and because of the presence of natural accidents, it looks toward the lowly.
If the nafs-i lawwāma is veiled from most of the divine lights, it is still within its power to be purified through ascetic discipline, to illuminate its darkness with the light of prophetic hudā (guidance), and to reach the station of happiness that ascetic discipline can raise it to through the degrees of perfection.
It is also within the power of the nafs to cling to the most appropriate means leading to salvation, to pass through the hardships of various stations, and to settle at the best point of deliverance. Allah the Exalted has said: "Whoever is removed from the Fire and admitted to Paradise, he indeed is successful." (Qur'an, Āli ʿImrān, 3:185)
It is also within the power of the nafs to strive with all its strength to reach the steps leading to high degrees. Allah the Exalted said: "...They will have the highest ranks." (Qur'an, Ṭāhā, 20:75) (These are) those with whom Allah has favored: the prophets, the ṣiddīqūn (the truthful), the martyrs, and the righteous. What excellent companions are they! (Qur'an, al-Nisāʾ, 4:69) One who surpasses many stations of the people of felicity with the aim of beholding Allah's beauty and being blessed by the manifestations of His light is also among these. (Ravza, 145)
When the souls (nufūs) are purified from turbidity and become refined, they become subtle. For these dark turbidities are acquired because of their proximity to the world of bodies and, not in terms of time, but relatively, their distance from the origin (mabdaʾ). Just as the clear and subtle part of wine rises to the top and the dregs settle to the bottom. When the souls become pure, they resemble the highest assembly (malāʾ al-aʿlā). Whatever type of the cosmos it may be, all the exemplars that are enamored of it are imprinted upon the souls. They witness what is hidden. They influence the lower world. The nafs in such a state is called insānī kamāl (human perfection). It also resembles the most exalted and sacred world (ʿālam-i aqdas). (Ravza, 463)
The souls (nufūs) prevent themselves from looking at their own essence. For to look at it is to be veiled from the perfection of witnessing. It annihilates itself, then, by suspecting the purity of witnessing, it understands its knowledge about fanāʾ (annihilation). Then it becomes annihilated from seeing its own annihilation. Thus, it attains eternal baqāʾ (subsistence). When the souls attain the station of fanāʾ al-fanāʾ (annihilation of annihilation), and all createdness is entirely effaced from them, the Real manifests to them, and they witness the Real, qualified with an attribute befitting Him. Thus, union (wuṣūl) is realized and the highest felicity is perfected. (Ravza, 464)
The nafs is a luminous essence resembling the essence of the rūḥ (spirit). However, it possesses a competence to govern the body. The nafs is the outward aspect of the rūḥ, and the rūḥ is the inward aspect of the nafs. The nafs is the inward aspect of the body, and the body is the outward aspect of the nafs. (Ravza, 572)
According to them, the human nafs has two faculties: one is the faculty of subjugation and might, the second is the faculty of maḥabba (love) and yearning. The origin of these two faculties is as follows: Each of the separate, exalted essences (ʿālī jawāhir) of matter, which is the principle of existents and the origin of possibles, has two states: the first is its relation to what is above it, the second is its relation to what is below it. Since the exalted light and iḥsān (spiritual excellence) of what is above illuminates what is below, the yearning, love, and passion in relation to what is above is due to this. Since what is above is the origin of the nafs for what is below, the lower always longs for it and seeks perfection through it. In relation to what is below, what is above is dominion, comprehensiveness, and mastery, for the lower is in need of it. (Ravza, 578)
The nafs is one of the thoughts (or dangers) of the intellect. (Asfār, 32)
The term nafs is used in technical language for five types of things: the animal nafs (nafs-i ḥaywānī), the commanding nafs (nafs-i ammāra), the inspired nafs (nafs-i mulhima), the blaming nafs (nafs-i lawwāma), and the nafs at peace (nafs-i muṭmaʾinna). All of these are names of the rūḥ. The ḥaqīqa (inner reality) of the nafs is only the rūḥ. The ḥaqīqa of the rūḥ is the Real (al-Ḥaqq). Understand!
Now let us see these names: Nafs-i ḥaywānī: It is so called because it governs the body. According to the philosophers, the animal nafs is the blood flowing in the veins. This view is not our school.
Nafs-i ammāra: It is a name given to the rūḥ because it fulfills the requirements of animal pleasures and carnal nature. This nafs pays no heed to commands and prohibitions.
Nafs-i mulhima: This nafs is so named because Allah inspires it with good. Whatever good the nafs does, it does so by divine inspiration. Whatever evil it does, that is due to its nature. This necessity is the command for the nafs to act. It is as if it commands itself to do these necessary things. For this reason, it is called nafs-i ammāra; when it receives divine inspiration, it becomes nafs-i mulhima.
Nafs-i lawwāma: The reason for this name is that it turns back and casts off the states that do not benefit it. It reproaches itself as if it has taken paths that will destroy it. Nafs-i muṭmaʾinna: It is so named because it finds tranquility in the Real and attains itmiʾnān (serenity) in Him. This serenity is possible only by completely abandoning evil deeds and ceasing evil thoughts. If evil thoughts have not ceased, the nafs cannot be called nafs-i muṭmaʾinna; it can only be lawwāma. If, after this, it can also distance itself from evil thoughts, it can be called nafs-i muṭmaʾinna.
If, after what has been described, some spiritual signs appear in its body—such as traversing great distances in a short time, knowing matters of the unseen—then at that time the name of the nafs becomes rūḥ. After this, just as evil thoughts have ceased, good thoughts also cease, it becomes characterized by divine attributes, and if realities related to the Essence are realized, then the name of the gnostic (ʿārif) becomes the name of the One he knows (maʿrūf), his attribute becomes His attribute, his essence becomes His Essence. Allah speaks the truth and guides to the right way. (al-Insān, II, 43)
The divine breath (al-nafas al-ilāhī)... whoever wishes to know its reality... should know its form, which is the world... To know the divine breath depends on knowing the world. For since (the nafs) is a part of the world... "Whoever knows his nafs, knows his Lord." For his nafs is a definition and exposition for his Lord. Whoever knows it, knows his Lord. (Man)... when a divine attribute that explains his Lord appears in him, let him know that this, at first, is not the attribute of the Lord, but the attribute of the world. 766 nafs
...That is, the world has manifested in the nafas al-Raḥmān (the breath of the All-Merciful) exhaled by Allah... That is (so). (Sofyavi, 264)
The centers of the nafs are four: the center of lusts concerning oppositions, the center of lusts (desires) concerning acts of obedience, the center concerning inclination toward comfort, and the center concerning incapacity in fulfilling obligations. (Jāmiʿ, 33)
The nafs is the darkness entrusted to this qalb (heart). It is the one that commands evil, is distant from hudā (guidance), is obstinate, and is the locus of various types of evil akhlāq (character traits). (Jāmiʿ, 55)
The nafs is of three kinds: the commanding (ammāra) nafs of the common people, the blaming (lawwāma) nafs of the khawāṣṣ (the elect), and the nafs at peace with iman (faith) of the most elect of the elect. (Jāmiʿ, 62)
The nafs is a vaporous (like smoke), subtle essence that bears the power of life, sensation, and voluntary movement. The philosopher has called this the animal rūḥ. It also illuminates the body. At the moment of death, its light (radiance, brightness) departs from the inward and outward of the body. In sleep, it departs only from the outward, not from the inward of the body. It has been established that death and sleep are the same. For death is a complete separation, while sleep is a partial separation. It has also been established that Allah, the Powerful and Wise, governs the connection of the essence of the nafs with the body. (Jāmiʿ, 182)
The nafs, in the terminology of the people of reality, is among the known and blameworthy words and deeds of the servant. It is possible that the nafs is a subtle substance entrusted to the bodily form, and it is the locus of evil character traits. Just as the rūḥ is a subtle substance entrusted to the bodily form and is the locus of good character traits. The rūḥ and nafs resemble the subtle bodies of angels and devils. The rūḥ is more noble than the nafs.
The nafs is of three kinds: the nafs-i ammāra, which is the locus of evil character traits such as lust, anger, envy, pride;... the nafs-i lawwāma; and the nafs-i muṭmaʾinna, which is a light from the sacred lights that bestows grace upon the mass of the qalb (heart). When the nafs-i lawwāma is stained with the filth of sins, it is the nafs-i muṭmaʾinna that reproaches its owner for what he has done.
The nafs is in the meaning of body. It is also the lower world (ʿālam-i asghar, the small world) and the greatest world.