("sign of knowledge of the nafs; body; fortified city; levels of the nafs; divine breath; nafs after ṣalāh; nafs al-ammāra; nafs al-ammāra bi's-sū'; human nafs; perfect nafs; nafs al-lawwāma; nafs al-muṭmaʾinna; nafs al-mulhima; nafs al-nāṭiqa / nufūs al-nāṭiqa; nafs al-rāḍiyya; righteous nafs; nufūs; human nufūs; purity of the nafs
O nafs, how long have you been sleeping! When will you rise? You have fallen into a sleep from which you will hardly ever awaken, a sleep that only the voice of the Day of Resurrection will rouse you from.
My brother! Burden your qalb (the heart) with the affairs of the Hereafter and expand it in this regard (help it to progress further every day). Prevent it from remembering the causes of dunyā (the world), from inclining toward worldly greed and desires. Do not let your qalb occupy itself with things that would make it harder to reach your sought goal (the Hereafter). (Because) this extinguishes the light of the qalb. Be eager to make it familiar with a praiseworthy end (Paradise). Make your nafs fear punishment by considering that you must give shukr (gratitude) for the worldly blessings you possess, but that you are able to do so less than required. Knowing your weakness in shukr, consider the blessings in your possession as too much for your nafs, so that your nafs does not become preoccupied with thinking and desiring more than what you have in worldly matters.
He said: Greed and desire arise from covetousness. The foundation of the nafs is built upon the principle of covetousness... Covetousness regarding the world is to cling to the means of desiring more than what one possesses of worldly goods. Covetousness regarding the Hereafter is to have greed and desire for the deeds of the Hereafter and to cling to the means of seeking more in this regard. (Ādāb, 65)
The sign of knowing the nafs is to have a bad opinion of it. (Ādāb, 146)
Nafs baʿda's-ṣalāh (nafs after goodness): When the states of the nafs change, when it becomes familiar with things that are disliked, when it distances itself from what it desires, when the unseen and certainty illuminate it, it witnesses the Hereafter that its intellect had denied. In its qalb, the reverence for Allah grows stronger, its taqwa (God-consciousness) intensifies, its hope increases. The fear of Allah removes every obstacle that prevents it from drawing near to its Lord and all causes that distract it from being occupied with Allah. It gives it hope (rajāʾ). It becomes filled with the love of striving and effort. It is moved by love to supplicate to its Master and to seek intimacy with Him, and it is filled with zeal to distance itself from others than Him. It supplicates to Allah at length. Allah, in turn, turns to it with all His help and with the affirmation that it draws closer to Him in its qalb. There, He illuminates it with His dhikr (remembrance). Because of the separation that comes between it and its Lord, its longing intensifies, its yearning increases, its sorrow grows. Because of the awe and anxiety of separation and remembering this, the light of its eye is extinguished, it loses its mind in a sense of reverence and majesty, and it trembles. This trembling sometimes comes with the shaking of its qalb, sometimes with excitement from weeping intensely or moaning. Sometimes, it loses its mind, and those who do not know, think that its state is a delusion arising from the sorrow that has come upon it. In most of its states, it is confused due to bewilderment, and sorrow prevails.
O you who are deceived by your world, who stray from your path in the darkness of night, if only you could see! The servants have found calm, but the heart has not found calm. The people have found tranquility, but its inside is not satisfied. The creatures have found rest, but the moaning of its qalb has not ceased. With a sorrowful qalb, it stands before its Lord, lowering its head, its body trembling. It bows its neck and becomes doubled over. Modesty dominates its qalb. With great reverence, it opens the Book of its Lord. Soon, its sorrows excite it. Fires ignite in its qalb. Tears flow like a flood. At the moment it weeps, fearing that another ear besides its Lord would hear, it falls into prostration. Its breaths become fire, its moans join with the fire of its qalb. (Bed, 32)
The qalb is not a mercy from Allah in the hand of the nafs. For the qalb is the sovereign, the nafs is the country. (Bayān, 37)
The nafs enters the ṣadr (chest, inner world) and rules over affectation (artificiality, pretense). The nafs is the source and place of intimacy in the belly of the ṣadr. Its excitement comes from blood and the power of impurity. The belly is filled with its dark smoke and the heat of its fire. Then, as a test from Allah, it enters the ṣadr through whisperings and false notions. In the end, the servant, by supplicating to his Master with sincerity of qalb, seeks help from Him. Allah responds to his dua (supplication) and removes the evil of the nafs from him. The shayṭān (devil) is the same. He enters the servant's ṣadr with his whisperings. This is the final limit of the domination of the nafs. The nafs al-ammāra bi's-sūʾ (the nafs that commands evil) is the form of the shayṭān. These two are two shayṭāns. The Exalted Allah said: "The shayṭāns of mankind and jinn" (Bayān, 40).
It is possible for the possessor of knowledge whose expression, narration, recitation, and explanation are easy to forget it. Because the nafs carries and preserves it. Even after memorizing and great effort, it is possible to forget it. (Bayān, 46)
Every knowledge that the nafs possesses and memorizes makes it arrogant, and thus it turns away from accepting the truth. Most of the time, its anger toward its religious brothers increases, and it persists in rebellion and falsehood. (Bayān, 49)
The essence of the nafs is a wind like black smoke, the darkness of bad treatment. Its spirit is originally luminous. By Allah's help, it develops in a good direction through good behavior and correct supplication. Its goodness and righteousness increase only when the servant acts contrary to his own desires, turns away from them, and overcomes hunger and hardships.
The nafs al-lawwāma is the nafs closest to the Truth, but it is cunning and deceptive. Only intelligent gnostics can understand it.
The nafs al-muṭmaʾinna is the nafs that becomes luminous and similar to the spirit due to Allah's cleansing it from the dark impurities. It walks in submission to Allah without resistance in obedience. It is obedient to Allah in obedience. It is the nafs of the ṣiddīqūn whose hidden and open are filled by Allah. (Bayān, 83)
The purity of the nafs is the essence of the human substance. The term 'human' is used only for the nafs and the body. The body is the existing corpse composed of things that give it form, such as flesh, blood, bone, vein, nerve, and skin. All of these are earthly, dark, heavy, changeable, and corruptible bodies. The nafs, on the other hand, is celestial, spiritual, living, luminous, light, mobile without corruption, and—even if its perception of the forms of existing and perceptible things is like the example of a mirror—an essence that can perceive the forms of things. When the shape of the mirror is correct, it shows the face correctly. The forms of corporeal things are reflected there as they are in reality. When the shape of the mirror is crooked, the forms of corporeal things are not reflected there as they are in reality. Likewise, when the face of the mirror is rusted, nothing is reflected there at all. Such is the state of the nafs.
When ignorances accumulate in it and it becomes learned, the nafs becomes a pure essence that cannot be polluted by bad deeds, a pure entity that is not rusted by bad character. When thoughts are not corrupted by false views, the forms of spiritual things that it knows are reflected in the essence of the nafs. The nafs perceives their reality. It observes with its intellect and the purity of its essence the things that the senses do not see. Just as material things are observed with the senses if the senses work correctly. If the essence of the nafs is not pure and it is ignorant, if it is polluted by bad deeds, rusted by bad character, corrupted by false views, and persists in these states, it is veiled from perceiving the realities of spiritual things; it becomes incapable of reaching Allah and loses the blessings of the Hereafter. (Ikhwān, II, 6)
The nafs is created according to the nature of movement and is commanded to be at rest. This is a test for it to be in need of its Master and to be freed from its power and strengths. (Kut, I, 84)
The nufūs al-bashariyya (human nufūs), when they reach the highest happiness, which is the brightest state of their lives in this world as lovers and yearners, do not free themselves from their attachments outside the life of the Hereafter with this longing. These nufūs are followed by other human nufūs that go back and forth among the rubūbiyya nufūs. Misery is according to their degrees. Then they are followed by sorrowful nufūs that plunge into the world of troubled nature. There is nothing to distinguish these nufūs from their bowed slave-servants. (Ishārāt, IV, 45)
Experience and analogy are two things that correspond to anything the human nafs may attain of the unseen in the state of sleep. There is nothing to prevent such attainment from occurring in the waking state, except for something that would cause its disappearance. Its disappearance is also possible. (Ishārāt, IV, 119)
The connection of the nafs al-nāṭiqa with the body is not a permanent connection. Its connections (with the body) are of another kind. (Ishārāt, IV, 151)
In language, the nafs of a thing means its very self. According to the Sufis, the intended meaning of the word nafs is neither existence nor the form in which it is placed. What they mean by the word nafs is its blameworthy qualities and censured actions. The servant's defective qualities are of two kinds: The first are sins and acts of disobedience acquired by the servant; the second are lowly traits. If the servant treats and disciplines these inherently bad traits, and continues this discipline through struggle, he is purified and separated from these traits. The first category of the nafs' rulings are things that are forbidden or disliked. The second category are the low and base traits of the nafs. This is the general definition. The details are bad traits such as arrogance, anger, hatred, envy, bad character, and intolerance. (Qushayrī, 48)
The nafs al-ammāra bi's-sūʾ (the nafs that commands evil) is the nafs that calls a person to destruction, assists the shayṭān, follows desires and whims, and is accused of various evils. Abū Ḥafs (al-Ḥaddād) says: Whoever does not constantly accuse his nafs, does not oppose it in every state, and does not compel it to do things it dislikes at other times, is deceived. Whoever accepts anything from the nafs as good destroys it. (Qushayrī, 171)
Linguistically, nafs means the existence, reality, and essence of a thing. In the expressions and customs of the people, this word may have the possibility of coming in different and opposite meanings. It is used in opposite meanings. According to one group, nafs is rūḥ (spirit); according to another, muruwwa (manliness, humanity); according to another, jasad (body); and according to yet another, it means blood. The verifying Sufis agree that by this expression, none of these meanings is intended. They agree that the nafs is the source and foundation of evil. According to one group, the nafs is an entity placed in the body and form, like the rūḥ.
According to another group, the nafs is something that is an attribute of the body and form, like life. These groups agree that the cause of the emergence of bad traits and ugly behaviors is the nafs. These traits and behaviors are also divided into two: The first are sins, the second are bad traits such as arrogance, envy, miserliness, anger, hatred, and the like, which are not acceptable intellectually or legally. Now, just as sinful matters are removed by tawba (repentance), so too can these traits be removed from the nafs through ascetic discipline. For what we call maʿṣiyya (sin) are external, while these traits are internal attributes. The lowly qualities that appear inwardly are cleansed by the lofty qualities that appear outwardly. The outward ones are purified by the lofty qualities inwardly. Just as there are things like shayṭān-angel, Paradise-Hell, which are not seen in the world, so too are the nafs and rūḥ both subtle substances placed in the form. But just as the eye is the place of seeing, the ear is the place of hearing, and the tongue is the place of tasting, one is the place of evil, the other is the place of good. The same is true for other qualities and existences given to the human body. (Hujwīrī, 235)
According to the verifying scholars, the composition of a perfect human being consists of three meanings: The first is rūḥ, the second is nafs, the third is body. Each of these three meanings is upheld by a quality. The quality of the rūḥ is intellect, the quality of the nafs is desire, and the quality of the body is sensation. (Hujwīrī, 238)
The nafs is a shared name among meanings. Two meanings are relevant to our purpose: By the first, the powers of anger and lust in a person are meant. This is generally the usage of the people of Sufism. For they mean by nafs the origin that includes all the bad qualities of a person. And they say: One must struggle against the nafs and break it. The saying of the Prophet points to this: "The most severe enemy is your nafs between your two sides." The second is the subtle entity that we have mentioned as, in reality, the human being. That is, the self and essence of the human being. This is described with various qualities due to the change of its states. When the nafs comes to rest under command and, due to the person's struggle with desires, suffering removes it, it is called nafs al-muṭmaʾinna. The Exalted Allah says in this way: "O tranquil nafs, return to your Lord, well-pleased and pleasing [to Him]." (Qur'an, 89:27-28)
The return of the nafs in the first sense to its Lord is inconceivable. It has become distant from Allah and is among the satanic groups. When its tranquility is not complete, but it objects when it resists its lustful nafs, it is called nafs al-lawwāma. For when it is deficient in worshiping its Lord, its owner reproaches it. The Exalted Allah has said: "And I swear by the self-reproaching nafs." (Qur'an, 75:2) If it obeys the requirements of lusts and the calls of shayṭān, it is called nafs al-ammāra bi's-sūʾ. The Exalted Allah has informed about this regarding Joseph and the wife of the Aziz: "I do not acquit myself. Surely the nafs is ever commanding to evil." (Qur'an, 12:53) It can be said that what is meant by commanding to evil is the nafs in the first sense. Thus, the nafs in the first sense is the censured nafs. The nafs in the second sense is the praised nafs. For it is the human nafs, that is, the self and reality of the human being who knows Allah and other knowledge. (Iḥyāʾ, III, 5)
The nafs is the tablet, place, and seat of sciences. The place of knowledge cannot be the body, for bodies are finite. They cannot bear the multitude of sciences. Only the nafs can bear writing and numbers. The nafs acquires all sciences without any hindrance, difficulty, weariness, or disappearance. (Risāla, 5)
By nafs, I mean the perfect, unique essence whose function is only recollection, reflection, discernment, and thinking. The nafs accepts all sciences and does not refrain from accepting abstract forms separated from matter. This essence is the chief of spirits and the head of faculties. All serve it and obey its command.
The nafs al-nāṭiqa—this is the essence I mean—has a special name according to each group. The philosophers call this essence nafs al-nāṭiqa. The Qur'an calls it nafs al-muṭmaʾinna and rūḥ al-amīn. The Sufis call it qalb. The difference is in names, not in meaning. According to us, the words qalb, rūḥ, and nafs al-muṭmaʾinna are names for the nafs al-nāṭiqa. The nafs al-nāṭiqa is a living, active, and perceiving essence. When we say absolute rūḥ or qalb, we mean this essence. The Sufis call the animal spirit nafs. This is also how it appears in the sharia. As it is said: "Your greatest enemy is your nafs." (ʿAjlūnī, I, 143) The Lawgiver used the word nafs, emphasized it with attribution, and said: "...the nafs between your two sides..." By this word, he indicated the powers of lust and anger. For these powers originate from the qalb within the human being. (Risāla, 7)
The human nafs al-nāṭiqa (rational nafs) is of a structure that allows it to be illuminated by the universal nafs and is ready to accept the intellectual forms in it with its original purity and initial clarity. However, some of the rational nufūs become ill in this world. They are prevented from perceiving realities by various obstacles and illnesses. And some rational nufūs remain always in their original health without any illness or corruption. The sound nufūs are the prophetic nufūs that accept revelation and divine support. (Risāla, 26)
The nafs is the qalb you know with the inner eye. Your reality is the inner. For the body is the first, the qalb is the last. The nafs is the last, the qalb is the first and is called qalb. The qalb is not the piece of flesh on the left side of the chest. The qalb that is a piece of flesh exists in animals and the dead as well. Everything you see with the outward eye is from this world called the world of witnessing. The reality of the qalb, however, is not from this world, but from the unseen world.
Thus, the qalb is a stranger in this world. The qalb that is a piece of flesh is composed of various things. All the organs of the body are the soldiers of the qalb. The qalb is the sovereign. The witnessing of Allah's beauty through His maʿrifa (gnosis) is the attribute of the qalb. The obligation is placed upon it, the address is directed to it, reward and punishment come to it, happiness and misery befall it. The animal spirit follows it in everything and is with it. Knowing the reality of the qalb and recognizing its attributes is the key to maʿrifatullāh (knowledge of God). You must struggle to know it. For it is a precious essence of the kind of the essence of angels. Its real mine is in the divine presence. It came from there and will return there.
The nafs is like a city. Its two hands, two feet, and all its limbs are its craftsmen. The powers of lust in the nafs
are its governors, the powers of anger are its chief of security. The qalb is the ruler of that country.