Nafs and its kinds explained with evidence

[OmAbdullah]

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Nafs and its kinds explained with evidence

Allah, the Greatest, has given us nafs and soul. From the Holy Quraan it appears that nafs carries out actions in this life or at least it plans and decides to do actions.

Nafs has three kinds as given in the Quraan al Kareem. These are:

1. Al Nafs Al Lawwamah,
2. Al Nafs Al Amarah,
3. Al nafs Al Muttma- innah.

1. Al Nafs Al Lawwamah

This is the type of nafs which always tries to stop the person from sinful deeds. If the person commits a sin, it starts regretting. By regretting this nafs actually tries to push the person towards repentance so that he/she tries to clean himself/herself from the sin.

In common language this nafs is called dhameer or conscience. Due to this nafs a sinner feels internal restlessness, loss of peace of mind and loss of sleep. To get peace of mind, he/she starts drinking alcohol and using other drugs.

Allah Almighty made nafs lawwamah a proof of the coming of the Judgment Day and Allah Almighty swore by the Nafs Lawwamah in the beginning of Surah Al Qiyamah. Please read with meanings the first 13 verses of chapter 75 (Al-Qiyamah which means the Resurrection) in the Holy Quraan.

How does Nafs Lawwamah prove the certainty of the JUDGMENT DAY?

Suppose a person A steals money from a person B or the person A kills the person B. The person A commits the crime in a well-planed intelligent way so that none can prove him to be a criminal. Thus he escapes punishment in the worldly court. He walks around freely and none can even think of him to be a criminal. Along with all such protection and safety from the punishment, he (the person A) has internal discomfort! He remains internally upset and cannot sleep well!!! This is because his Nafs Lawwamah (his conscience) is regretting, believing that he cannot escape the punishment, he is going to be judged and punished in the Court of Allah!!! And that shall be in the Hereafter (in the next world, in the life after death).

The only solution to get rid of this internal fight is that;
In case of his sin directly to Allah, he must repent to Allah and say tawbah and stop from committing the sin again.
In case of hurting or harming another person, he must pay back his rights, make up the loss for him and seek his forgiveness.

1. Al Nafs Al Amarah

This is a very dangerous nafs! It is so much dangerous that the prophets (alaihim salaam) used to seek the refuge of Allah from the mischiefs of this nafs!
In Surah Yousuf (chapter 12), verse 53 of the Holy Quraan, we find the statement of Yousuf alaihi salaam about the mischief of this nafs and that we can be protected from it only by the Mercy of Allah! Also Muhammad salla Allaho alaihi wa sallam used to make duaa for protection from the harm of this nafs. We are also ordered to make such duaa to Allah because this nafs is our real enemy! It readily accepts the invitation of Satan (Devil)! Struggle against this nafs (struggle against one’s own lust desire) is given the name jihaad-i-akbar. One kind of such struggle against nafs amarah is patience (sabar).

Why is this nafs given to us? Or in other words, what hikmah (wisdom) do you see in the giving of nafs amarah to mankind? The answer should be in the light of the Holy Quran and/or the Sunnah.

1. Al Nafs Al Muttma-innah

This is the satisfied nafs related with performing all righteous deeds and restraining oneself from all evil.
Allah Almighty promisd to reward this nafs with honor and Paradise in the last 4 verses of chapter 89 (surah Al Fajar).

Allah said in this chapter:
27. O the nafs al muttma-innah,
28. Return to your Lord well-pleased and pleasing (to HIM),
29. Then enter MY (righteous) servants,
30. And enter MY Paradise.

Now we can see in the light of the Holy Quraan that Allah has given us 3 kinds of nafs of which two direct a person to do righteous deeds and keep away from evil while only one of the three i.e. nafs amarah wants to obey Satan.

In the end I repeat my question:
Why is this nafs given to us? Or in other words, what hikmah (wisdom) do you see in the giving of nafs amarah to mankind? The answer should be in the light of the Holy Quran and/or the Sunnah.

 

[greenhill]

Thank you. Jazakallah khair. Interesting.

I don't understand your answer to your question. In the light of the holy Quran?


:embarrass

 

[MuslimInshallah]

Thank you. Jazakallah khair. Interesting.

I don't understand your answer to your question. In the light of the holy Quran?


:embarrass

Assalaamu alaikum,

She presented what she knows and understands so far, and is asking for clarification about a point she doesn't understand. She is then asking that the answer to her question be based on the Qur'an and Sunnah.

(smile) May Allah, our Creator, Bless us all with deeper understandings of His Wisdom.

 

[OmAbdullah]

Assalaamu alaikum,

She presented what she knows and understands so far, and is asking for clarification about a point she doesn't understand. She is then asking that the answer to her question be based on the Qur'an and Sunnah.

(smile) May Allah, our Creator, Bless us all with deeper understandings of His Wisdom.

Assalamo alaikum wa rahmatullah,


Alhamdulillah, I know the answer but with my question I wanted to know how many of our brothers and sisters are attached with the daily regular reading and understanding of the Holy Quraan. In fact it is a very importat and very easy question. Please try to answer otherwise I shall be grieved seeing that our Ummah is so much ignorant in the Holy Quraan!!!


Well I have read the posts of some of the brothers and sisters which pleased me because they seemed to be having good knowledge in the Holy Quraan. Perhaps they didn't read my post, so I will wait for them. If they didn't answer it then I will insha Allah, answer it. Any way the question is very easy to answer and it is very important to know it because it is related with the basic purpose of the creation of mankind.

 

[MuslimInshallah]

Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh,

I apologize, I did not realize it was a rhetorical question.

As for answering… mmm, as I've read different numbers offered for the levels of the nafs… 3 or 5 or 7 and I think I saw once 9, I hesitate to comment, as I do not feel I have the competency to discuss this properly.

There is also the question of whether the different levels of nafs are states of the Self, or actual different parts, somewhat like the Freudian ideas of Id, Ego and Superego.

(smile) So please forgive me if I do not answer to your question. I feel I am not knowledgeable, or perhaps aware, enough to discuss this, at present. But if you wish to share your ideas, I will read them with interest.

May Allah, the Aware, Awaken within us understandings of His Guidance.

 

[greenhill]

Aah! Thank you MuslimInshallah.

Why are we given Nafs? It is part of the ingredients needed for growth in spirit of human. That we need the mind (logic and reason) the Nafs (temptation and desires) and results (suffering and pleasure) in order to have a basis to build our intellect and spiritual reason.

Removing any one of the ingredients would not spur us on to become better.

 

[greenhill]

I forgot another point, that is the Nafs has a huge impact on our decisions and choices. And having to make a choice (and knowing the right choices) is something we are always having to do.

As a saying goes, "if we are able to control our Nafs, we can be better than the angels but if we can't, we are worse than the animals". . But that is not the actual quote, more a synopsis of a little proverb I read quite a while back. Hence the definite role Nafs play in our lives.

Sorry I have no quotes from the Quran or hadiths... :embarrass

 

[Muslim Woman]

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم



....Why is this nafs given to us? Or in other words, what hikmah (wisdom) do you see in the giving of nafs amarah to mankind? The answer should be in the light of the Holy Quran and/or the Sunnah.

let me try . Allah wants us to repent and ask His forgiveness . So , because of evil nafs when we commit sin , there is hope that we will feel guilty and will repent and will be forgiven by the mercy of Allah.

"Those (are the true believers) who, when they commit an evil deed, or wrong their souls, remember Allah, and seek forgiveness for their sins - and who but Allah forgives sins? They do not insist upon the sins they have committed, and they know (that Allah is forgiving)." (Qur'an 3:135)



Verily, those who believe and do righteous good deeds, and humble themselves before their Lord, they will be dwellers of Paradise to dwell therein forever.
➢Surah Hud 11: Ayah 23

Aisha reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said these words often before he passed away, “Glory to Allah and with His praises. I seek Your forgiveness and I repent to You.” I said, “O Messenger of Allah, I see you have said these words often.” The Prophet said, “My Lord has told me that I will see a sign in my nation and when I see it I should say often that glory is to Allah and with His praises, I seek Your forgiveness and I repent to You. I have already seen it in the verses: When the help of Allah comes and the victory, and you see the people entering the religion of Allah in crowds, then glorify the praises of your Lord and seek His forgiveness, for He is ever accepting repentance.” (110:1-3)

 

[syed_z]

In the end I repeat my question:
Why is this nafs given to us? Or in other words, what hikmah (wisdom) do you see in the giving of nafs amarah to mankind? The answer should be in the light of the Holy Quran and/or the Sunnah.

Asalaam O Alaikum,

Thank you for this topic.

The wisdom can only be seen or experienced by the one who really controls His Nafs Amarah i.e. Evil Self. Allah (swt) says in Surah Baqara Verse 268:

He grants wisdom to those whom He wills; and whoever is granted wisdom has indeed been granted much good.

The Khairan Katheera i.e. much good mentioned in the above Verse is the Hikmah (wisdom) and that can only be understood by the one who truly controls their Nafs because the word Hikmah is related to Hakamah which means to control your lower self and base desires, thus one who controls it from falling under the influence of Shaytan can truly experience what is the Hikmah in it and its extent.

The struggle against our Nafs Amarah or Nafs is what can make us truly understand the wisdom behind its creation, however the great luminaries of Islam have explained the actual purpose of the creation of it under the light of Quran and that is Allah (swt) says:

(51:56) And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.

When Allah (swt) created Adam (a.s) from clay or earthly materials, He (swt) then blew His Spirit in to him and the Angels prostrated themselves to Adam (a.s):

(38:72) After I have created him and breathed into him of My spirit, fall you down, prostrating yourselves to him.

(38:73) Then the angels, all of them, prostrated themselves before Adam

It is noticeable that the Angels only prostrated after Allah (swt) blew His Spirit (Ruh) in to Adam (a.s) and not before even though Allah (swt) had already created him. This is what Sufi Scholars explain, it means that Nafs is made of earthly material and Ruh which is inside of us is made of Light (Nur) of Allah (swt) and the purpose of our existence is to strengthen that Light by obeying Allah (swt) and opposing our Nafs which inclines towards earth and urges one to follow base desires and disobedience to Allah (swt).

(7:176) .....inclines towards the earth and follows his vain desires

I've read in the Mathnavi Sharif of Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi (R.A), in the story of Majnun and laila, the part when Majnun rides the camel to go to laila's house but camel keeps going back and Majnun keeps struggling, trying to ride it to laila's house, Maulana comments that Majnun and Camel are just like Nafs and Ruh, the Ruh wants to connect to Allah (swt) and Nafs keeps fighting for attachment towards the Duniya (World).

The Jihad Al Akbar i.e. The Greater Struggle is against One's Nafs as mentioned in the original post, and Allah (swt) assists us in fulfilling the purpose of our existence when we struggle on the battle ground of our Nafs against its tendencies and influence of shaytan:

(29:69) But as for those who strive hard in Our cause - We shall most certainly guide them unto paths that lead to Us...

One's experience of fighting and struggle against one's Nafs is what may keep us attached to Allah (swt) and bring us further closer to Him, which spells out for us the meaning of the following Hadith of the Prophet (saw):

‟He who knows his Nafs, knows his Lord.”

Even though the authenticity of the hadith is challenged yet it brings out clearly for us the meaning of what we're discussing and it is this reason why great Islamic luminaries like Imam Ghazzali (r.a) have quoted this in their book.

It is no doubt that continuous struggle leads our Nafs to become Purified Nafs i.e. Nafs Mutma'inna, the point of God's self disclosure to man, the point of His knowledge.

(41:53) “Soon will We show them our Signs on the horizons, and within their own Nafs (self), until it becomes manifest to them that this is the Truth.”

Obedience to Allah (swt), gaining nearness to Him and receiving His Love and Knowledge is the purpose of creating this Nafs.

Supplicate to Allah (swt) if you will as our Prophet (saw) taught the following Dua:

Allahumma aati Nafsi taqwaha, Wa Zakkiha Anta Khayru Man Zakkaha, Anta Waliyyuha Wa Mawlaha

Oh Allah (swt) bestow on my Nafs its taqwa. Purify it, for You are the Best of those who can purify it. You alone are its Guardian and Master.

(The above points are taken from a research I had done on subject of Nafs sometime ago from works of Maulana Rumi, Imam Ghazzali and Mulla Sadra)

 

[OmAbdullah]

Respected brothers and sisters, Assalamo alaikum, and may Allah bless you and us all, aameen.


Some of you have tried to give answers in the light of Quraan and Sunnah. This is a very good attempt because our real aim must be to understand the Holy Quraan and make others alert to understand it. The Quraan is a very beautiful statement and it has the answer for all questions and solution for all problems. The only thing that we need is that everyone of us make a ROUTINE to recite it daily as well as to understand a few verses daily or on alternate day. You will be giving about 30-40 minutes to its recitation and understanding, and you will insha Allah feel that your time is blessed and your mind has become so clear and attentive that you can perform all of your lawful actions in much better way. Also your mind is more attentive in salah (prayer). That means that you are not only earning reward in the next world but also your performance of the worldly duties becomes much better and easier.


The answer to the question is that:


Allah Almighty has created us for a test! The purpose of our life is to worship Allah. Angels also do the worship of Allah, but they are not tested. According to one hadeeth, when Allah Almighty created Hell, the angels saw it and they started crying because they were in fear that they will be punished in it. When Allah created man, the angels stopped crying thinking that Hell is actually made for mankind. Now we know from the Holy Quraan that both of ins and jinn (human beings and jinn) will be punished in Hell in case of their disobedience.

The angels are not ordered to believe in Allah in the unseen. They don't have to believe in Hell, Paradise, and life after death with accounting etc. without seeing any of them. So their worship to Allah is not like that of mankind.



Allah is The Greatest, HIS creation is wonderful, Human mind is one of the great wonders among the creation of Allah! Allah gave very high status to mankind so much so that the angels were ordered to prostrate to man. The Quraan proves that this status was given to man due to his ability to gain knowledge. Remember that after the creation of Adam alaihi salaam, Allah Almighty gave a test to the angels. They failed the test. Then the same test was given to Adam alaihi salaam, he passed it. And then Allah ordered the angels to prostrate to him.



We understand that Allah had made excellent learning centers in human mind. Now this fact is very well confirmed. All of the advanced, extensive knowledge of mankind is due to those original learning centers/ability in his mind. With this excellent Form and excellent mind, the test given to mankind is also excellent. Imagin how it is:



This world is an examination hall for us. We are students here, in the examination hall solving our numerous papers during our life time. To get knowledge of the Truth, we are given wisdom on one side and the Book of Allah with its explanation (orally and practically) by the Prophet salla Allaho alaihi wa sallam on the other side.


Our Nafs Muttma-innah pulling us to righteous deeds, our Nafs Lawwamah stopping us from evil deeds, if one slips and gets involved in evil deed then Nafs lawwamah regretting until one repents and makes up the loss, this is on one side while on the other side is our deadly enemy "Satan" and the Nafs Amarah saying "most welcome" to Satan!!!

Then Allah also gave us MORAL sense and a sense of justice. All of these senses are present in all human beings whether Muslims or non-Muslims. These senses of morality also direct us to do righteous deeds.

Now we can clearly see that Allah The Arham ar Raahimeen has given us so many things for good, i.e. The Holy Quraan, The Sunnah, the two nafs muttma- innah and Lawwamah and the moral sense as well as the sense of justice, While something to divert us to evil are Satan and nafs amarah. Allah has clearly said in the Holy Quraan that Satan has no power on mankind. It means that he cannot force a person to commit a crime or sin! He only tries to decorate sinful deeds and tries to invite the nafs amarah of a person to do sin. The duty of man is only to control his nafs amarah. That's the only struggle that we have to do and that is the greatest of Jihaad. If we see that we cannot protect ourselves, then we, at once, with humbleness pray to Allah, " May Allah, the Most Merciful protect me from my nafs amarah and Satan. And Allah is ready to answer our duaa and protect us. Allah wants the sincerity of the servant and his fear from Allah, then his worrying about the accounting, and his belief in Hell and Paradise. His belief that Allah is watching me all the time and angels are making a complete record of my words and deeds, and I am going to face this record. So the person's heart will shake with the fear of Allah and the Most Merciful will protect him/her from fear in the Hereafter because HE promised that HE will not put/add two fears on a servant.(Allah knows best the words of HIS Prophet salla Allaho alaihi wa sallam). Those who live with HIS fear in this world will not face any fear or grief in the Al Aakhirah.


How does nafs amarah work?


We naturally have love for our children, we have to keep the limits for this love. We must teach them good character to have respect for others. We must teach them to worship Allah. We need money for every thing. We must obey Allah for earning money and must earn it in halaal way. Also we must protect ourselves from wasting money. We must help the poor people with our wealth. Exceeding limits in the love of wealth is the work of nafs amarah. In adult life every one has desire to have a friend of the opposite sex. Allah has given us this type of love to keep human race. Then Allah Almighty in HIS Laws has given us a proper method to choose a partner and do marriage in lawful way, live together and enjoy life. At the same time Allah has closed all of the unlawful ways to protect human race from getting killed and destroyed. Satan invites man to go out of the limits, and destroy family and human race. We must stop nfs amarah from following the Satan.


These are a few examples of the acts of nafs amarah.


Some evidence from the Holy Quraan:


Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala said in Surah Al-Mulk verse 2:


[He] who created death and life to test you [as to] which of you is best in deed - and He is the Exalted in Might, the Forgiving -


And Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala also said in Surah Al-Insaan verse 2:


Verily, We have created man from Nutfah drops of mixed semen (discharge of man and woman), in order to try him, so We made him hearer, seer.

Evidence that Satan has no power on mankind:


Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala said in Surah Ibraheem verse 22;


And Shaitan (Satan) will say when the matter has been decided: "Verily, Allah promised you a promise of truth. And I too promised you, but I betrayed you. I had no authority over you except that I called you, so you responded to me. So blame me not, but blame yourselves. I cannot help you, nor can you help me. I deny your former act in associating me (Satan) as a partner with Allah (by obeying me in the life of the world). Verily, there is a painful torment for the Zalimun (polytheists and wrong-doers, etc.)."


Regarding nafs amarah, the most frightening verse that I noted is the verse 43 of Surah Al Furqaan! Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala said in this verse to the Prophet Muhammad salla Allaho alaihi wa sallam:


Have you (O Muhammad SAW) seen him who has taken as his ilah (god) his own desire? Would you then be a Wakil (a disposer of his affairs or a watcher) over him?


This means that a person who follows his lust desire, is making his desire his god. He does whatever he wants. He/she is completely overtaken by Satan and the cause for this situation is that he is the slave of his lust and lust is the work of nafs amarah.

Another translation of verse 43 of Surah Al-Furqan is:

Have you seen him who takes his low desires for his god? Will you then be a protector over him?

I think that the cause of such Anger of Allah Almighty may be because one's "self" is something which can be controlled the most. In other words, if a person is forced by a powerful authority, to make sin, then he has an excuse and Allah is All Seeing, All Hearing and all Knowing. Such a one if keeps faith in his heart,/mind and fears Allah inside him but makes the sin due to the cruelty of the forceful authority etc. then it may be that if Allah wills, HE will forgive him. But a slave of his own lust desire has no such excuse and cannot be protected from the punishment. May Allah protect us all from following the lust of our nafs amarah, aameen.

 

[OmAbdullah]

Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh,

I apologize, I did not realize it was a rhetorical question.

As for answering… mmm, as I've read different numbers offered for the levels of the nafs… 3 or 5 or 7 and I think I saw once 9, I hesitate to comment, as I do not feel I have the competency to discuss this properly.

There is also the question of whether the different levels of nafs are states of the Self, or actual different parts, somewhat like the Freudian ideas of Id, Ego and Superego.

(smile) So please forgive me if I do not answer to your question. I feel I am not knowledgeable, or perhaps aware, enough to discuss this, at present. But if you wish to share your ideas, I will read them with interest.

May Allah, the Aware, Awaken within us understandings of His Guidance.

Muslim Insha Allah, salaam.

may Allah bless you here and in the hereafter, aameen.

Masha-Allah, what a beautiful behaviour!!! May Allah give you shining honor, aameen.

Please increase reading and understanding of the Holy Quraan, insha Allah you may serve Islam in better way. Ma salaam.