How to deprive your nafs? i need tips...

how do you deprive it and discipline it so that you can have some kind of programe to seek knowledge.
i mean i know that one has to revise after fajr, for example...i know all those tips, but how do i suppress my nafs and be motivated again.

:salamext:

Continously listen to Qur'aan. Read about the lives of the scholars of the past; look at the ways in which they strived for knowledge and the struggles they went through to achieve what they did (good place to start: 'Under the Shade of Scrolls' by Muhammad al-Shareef).

Umm ul-Shaheed said:

how do you deprive it and discipline it so that you can have some kind of programe to seek knowledge.
i mean i know that one has to revise after fajr, for example...i know all those tips, but how do i suppress my nafs and be motivated again.

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Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem,

Wa 'Alaykum Salam Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh,

It depends on the types of desires your nafs has. You may want to start fasting more. Seek the guidance of some learned people around you.

For studying, maybe you may want to surround yourself with good sisters who also study, and set your place up to be a good study enviroment, take all distractions out of the house/room that you live in.

Set up a time table and read some books on how to seek knowledge. Books for seeking knowledge, I would reccomend:

The Etiquette of Seeking Knowledge

By: Shaykh Bakr Aboo Zayd. The Etiquette of Seeking Knowledge ... to adorn oneself with beautiful etiquette, noble manners, good behaviour, and pious conduct are distinguishing characteristics of the people of Islaam, and knowledge - the most precious pearl in the crown of the purified Shareeah - cannot be attained except by those who adorn themselves with its etiquette and those who leave evil qualities associated to it. For this reason the scholars devoted their attention to this etiquette, outlined its importance and wrote books solely on this topic; either pertaining to (general conduct] with all types of knowledge or to specific types of knowledge such as the etiquette of the carriers of the Noble Quireaan, the etiquette of the muhaddith, the etiquette of the muftee, the etiquette of the qaadee (judge), the etiquette of the muhtasib (the one who enjoins good and forbids evil for the sake of Allaah) and so on. The issue of this book is the general conduct of those who take the path of seeking the knowledge of the Sharee'ah.​

http://kalamullah.com/Books/The Etiquette of Seeking Knowledge.pdf

AND:

The Manners of the Knowledge Seeker

By Abu 'Abdillah Muhammad Sa'id Raslan. Translated By Abu Sabaayaa.
“I spent thirty years learning manners, and I spent twenty years learning knowledge.” - ‘Abdullah bin al-Mubarak
1 Purify Your Intention for Allah in Seeking Knowledge
2 Purify Yourself Inwardly and Outwardly From That Which Contradicts the Shari’ah
3 Completely Free Your Heart for Knowledge and Remove All Obstacles
4 Eat Little, Be Cautious, and Constantly Remember Allah
5 Eat, Sleep, and Speak as Seldom as Possible
6 Reduce Socialization and Choose the Right Friends
7 Choose What to Start With and Who to Teach You
8 Have the Best Manners with Your Teacher
9 Treat Your Books Well
10 How to Act During a Lesson ​

http://kalamullah.com/Books/the-manners-of-the-knowledge-seeker.pdf

Also you can look at shaykh Ibn al-Uthaymeen's book of knowledge which is published in english.

Don't pack your time up doing too much all at once if you are not used to it, whoever tries to take knowledge all at once will loose it all at once, take a gradual approach and try to revise under knowledgeable people, read the small consice texts on a subject before moving to the bigger ones and do not move until you have mastered them and do not change from one small text to another in the same field except for a good reason.

When you are not studying (i.e. taking notes from books or speakers etc) you can just listen to lectures which talk about the hereafter, or companions etc to boost the emaan, or read tafsir and contemplate over the book of Allah.

The major stumbling block I have is living in a non-Muslim household, it is a big problem to studying for me, the major problem you may have may be totally different, so speak to someone knowledgeable whom you trust, for specific advice.

And Allah knows best.

Br.al-Habeshi

asslamu alaykum

I find it that eating less helps starves the nafs. A hadith I'd read abt eating simple foods made me change the way I eat. So a few weeks ago I started eating very little. By little, I don't mean I starved myself. Instead, I ate simple foods. For instance a wholemeal flour chappati with olive oil on it and a glass of milk for breakfast. Chappati with olive oil & onion tomato relish for lunch. And again chappati for dinner with an omlette or a bit of curry. The simple foods did wonders for my over-stressed liver and kidneys. I had lots of energy and my concentration improved by miles. My head felt clearer than it had for ages and i felt new lol. I was better at memorizing the Qur'an and I was able to pray extra nawafils. I felt so in control of my nafs. It was as if by eating less and simply I was killing it. I had more energy as it wasnt being used up to digest heavy and processed foods or trying to eliminate toxins. But I had a relapse cuz i kept having visitors and ended up eating with them. For two days now i've had a headache and feel tired and sluggish. My ibadah has suffered. So from tomorrow inshaAllah it's back to simple healthy foods.

It really is true. You are what you eat!

^ you are WHAT you eat or you are "HOW MUCH" you eat? oh:

The prophet(pbuh) once said "he who does not thank Allah does not thank people" therefore always dhikr and thank Allah.

Fighting4Iman said:

^ you are WHAT you eat or you are "HOW MUCH" you eat? oh:

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both bro.. in this case quantity is just as important as quality

Allah stated in the Qur'an to eat of the good foods (not just halal). And the Prophet (saw) told us to eat a third of stomachs capacity. :thumbs_up

i need some more help...what do you do when you know something is wrong, but since your nafs is inclined to that thing the temptation is greater. what do you then hew those little deceptive whispers you get and that other little whispers you get which tell you that what your doing is wrong, but cos you're so inclined to sin and your heart is soooo sick you....oh:...you're caught in a violent storm between good and evil... oh:

what do you do imsad

:salamext:

Do not hope for a long life, expect to leave this world at any moment and know that death may be near. How many people die so suddenly? What's to guarantee we aren't one of them?

Try your best to surround yourself with reminders, and people who will remind you.

I find you talk about that very thing you are trying to run away from.

if you running away from music, then you run towards lectures about music, you face the enemy, then its seems like such a small thing , andmaking away from it seems easy.

Umm ul-Shaheed said:

i need some more help...what do you do when you know something is wrong, but since your nafs is inclined to that thing the temptation is greater. what do you then hew those little deceptive whispers you get and that other little whispers you get which tell you that what your doing is wrong, but cos you're so inclined to sin and your heart is soooo sick you....oh:...you're caught in a violent storm between good and evil... oh:

what do you do imsad

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JUST DON'T BE SAD. DON'T GET UPSET. Try your best to resist that temptation. Remember this life's not ours and we have to return to Allah. The Qur'an also mentions "you have to return to Allah" at a lot of places. You may forget it at times and do something evil but whenever you'll get these thoughts back in your mind, inshAllah it will be easy. My friend gave me the same advice and it has been very helpful for me. What I've written are obvious things but I think I just started overlooking them and now Alhamdulillah I'm paying a little attention to them and striving against the nafs and overcoming grief has become very very easy. When you're getting these thought of doing evil just sit where you are and don't move. Absolutely still until some other thoughts grip your mind or somebody calls for you. Just sit still without doing anything or reciting Dua(s), verses and consequences of sin. When you move with evil in your head, you ought to bring it out of your head as well. :thumbs_up Lets pray that Allah helps us to overcome our nafs with the best of our ability.

Scents of Jannah said:

asslamu alaykum

I find it that eating less helps starves the nafs. A hadith I'd read abt eating simple foods made me change the way I eat. So a few weeks ago I started eating very little. By little, I don't mean I starved myself. Instead, I ate simple foods. For instance a wholemeal flour chappati with olive oil on it and a glass of milk for breakfast. Chappati with olive oil & onion tomato relish for lunch. And again chappati for dinner with an omlette or a bit of curry. The simple foods did wonders for my over-stressed liver and kidneys. I had lots of energy and my concentration improved by miles. My head felt clearer than it had for ages and i felt new lol. I was better at memorizing the Qur'an and I was able to pray extra nawafils. I felt so in control of my nafs. It was as if by eating less and simply I was killing it. I had more energy as it wasnt being used up to digest heavy and processed foods or trying to eliminate toxins. But I had a relapse cuz i kept having visitors and ended up eating with them. For two days now i've had a headache and feel tired and sluggish. My ibadah has suffered. So from tomorrow inshaAllah it's back to simple healthy foods.

It really is true. You are what you eat!

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People are saying that I'm looking anorexic these days, what about guys like me? If I start eating even less I wonder in what shape I'll end up?? imsad:heated:

Ali_008 said:

People are saying that I'm looking anorexic these days, what about guys like me? If I start eating even less I wonder in what shape I'll end up?? imsad:heated:

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same here, arms like twigs :exhausted and if I eat, then i feel like I have less control over my desires. But the alternative is to be a skeleton man with a pouch around his mid section :heated:

I wanna be big and scary like a monster loool isn't it funny how people always want the opposite of what they have, big people wanna be small and small people wanna be big.

white people want to get tanned and buy products to tan themselves

dark people wanna be white and buy products to make themselves whiter strange isn't it

wonder why people are like that.

squiggle said:

same here, arms like twigs :exhausted and if I eat, then i feel like I have less control over my desires. But the alternative is to be a skeleton man with a pouch around his mid section :heated:

I wanna be big and scary like a monster loool isn't it funny how people always want the opposite of what they have, big people wanna be small and small people wanna be big.

white people want to get tanned and buy products to tan themselves

dark people wanna be white and buy products to make themselves whiter strange isn't it

wonder why people are like that.

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Bro you can eat to build up. but do exercise to burn off what you eat

salams less food less sleep less talk try that!

Fighting4Iman said:

^ you are WHAT you eat or you are "HOW MUCH" you eat? oh:

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assalaamu 'alaikum,

Both. We must indeed be sure that are sustenance is not attained by haraam means.

Fasting is an excellent way to self-control. Insh'Allaah, it should increase taqwa. A good lecture to listen to would be by Br. Kamal El Mekki entitled "Eating During Ramadhan". It has essential lessons for fasting in general. You should strive to fast Mondays and Thursdays also. Do not eat or drink to your full, but do not starve yourself either.

Anyhow, there is numerous things that you can do and the brothers and sister did give some good advice.

WAllaahu a'alam

Look into tasawwuf. It will help you with self control.

http://www.naqshbandiaowaisiah.com/library_books_HJ_RUA.html
The tasawwuf book is the maroon one. Top row third one on right.

mundo said:

Look into tasawwuf. It will help you with self control.

http://www.naqshbandiaowaisiah.com/library_books_HJ_RUA.html
The tasawwuf book is the maroon one. Top row third one on right.

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This thread is very interisting and beneficial .

The problem with the nafs is the difficulty to desctibe it . The nafs does'nt exist by himself but he's the result of meeting both the spirit (ruh) and the body ( djessed ) .

Spirit did'nt be in need of foof or drink . When he meets with body he discovers the desire and then claims one's due but he's never satisfied .

So we try to corect the nafs with education of Islam . A great way .

... less sleep ...

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Maybe it means: Less lazy? Because as far as I know, not enough sleep is resulting bad mood on the next day (It isn't by His permit obviously). Also, you can do anything such as following your nafs while you're not sleeping...

Do not look into tassawuf stay away from that.

Instead realise that Islam is a religion that deals with rights, your father has a right upon you and your mother has even a greater right upon you not to mention your wife. Even your own body has a right upon you. So give each one its due right, and know that if you pressure yourself to much you will get exhausted and might give up altogether. Start easy, make sure you pray all your Salahs in the masjid stand up for Qiyam layl once a week fast mondays and thursdays. Do not over whelm yourself, its all about progression.

Salmaan Al-Faarisi [the famous companion] said:

Abdullah bin Mubaarak said