Soul

Stages of Nafs - A Concept of Intangible Self

The different stages of Nafs and 
How to strive towards the best?

Bismillah

When Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala creates a human, He infuses Ruh in them. Ruh is the spirit or soul of a person which is breathed into a person when they are in the womb, to breathe life into the developing foetus. The status of Ruh (Soul) is such as is mentioned by Allah in the Quran in the following verse:

‘‘Allah takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that do not die [He takes] during their sleep. Then He keeps those for which He has decreed death and releases the others for a specified term. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought.’’ (Surah Az-Zumar 39:42)

Nafs is that part of Ruh which is handled by an individual. Nafs is one’s inner self. In the Quran, Allah has described three main types or stages of nafs. An individual can go through all three stages at one point in his life.

The three stages are:
1) Nafs al`Ammara Bissuu' (The Nafs that urges evil)
2) Nafs al`Lawwama (the Nafs that blames)
3) Nafs al`Mutma`inna (The Nafs at peace)

To better understand the concept of Nafs, we can compare it with Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality in which he states that there are three inherent components in one’s personality –

    a) The id
    b) The ego and
    c) The superego

Nafs al`Ammara Bissuu' can be defined as the id. This is the animal stage of nafs in which a person’s actions are governed by his emotions and are mostly evil or harmful for the soul. A person cannot control temptation when in this stage. According to Freud, id is raw, savage and immoral. This stage of nafs is guided by the pleasure seeking principle. It does not consider right or wrong and only takes into account the satisfaction of desires.

It is mentioned in the Quran:

And I do not acquit myself. Indeed, the soul is a persistent enjoiner of evil, 
except those upon which my Lord has mercy. Indeed, my Lord is Forgiving and Merciful."
(Surah Yusuf 12:53)

The Nafs al`Ammara Bissuu' is guided by earthly desires and passions.

Nafs al`Lawwama is the second stage of nafs which comprises of the Freudian concepts of ego and superego. It is a self-critical stage during which an individual reviews his actions. Good deeds are thought upon and bad deeds are rejected. The ego here acts like the haram police. It decides which desires to fulfil and in what way. The superego is the ethical aspect of personality which considers only the right action regardless of the reality or consequences. The ego is one which decides what is to be done with a desire. Thus, Nafs al`Lawwama is the stage of conflict and the stage of decisions in which the good actions win majority of the times. In this stage, the nafs is also referred to as the soul that blames, as is mentioned in the Quran in the following verse:

‘‘And I swear by the reproaching soul [to the certainty of resurrection].’’
(Surah Al-Qiyamah 75:2)

This stage of nafs shall be the one which blames an individual for all his evil actions on the day of judgement.

Nafs al`Mutma`inna is the highest and purest stage of nafs which perhaps Freud never dealt with. In this stage, our desires are at rest and one knows what is right and finds no difficulty or conflict of interest while performing the righteous deeds or actions. An individual is content with his worldly life and focuses more towards a better hereafter. This nafs is referred to in the Quran in the following verse:

[To the righteous it will be said], "O reassured soul, Return to your Lord, well-pleased and pleasing [to Him], And enter among My [righteous] servants And enter My Paradise." 

(Surah Al-Fajr 89: 27-30)

Ibn Al-Qayyim has mentioned: The nafs is a single entity, although it’s state may change from Nafs al`Ammara Bissua, to Nafs al`Lawwama, to Nafs al`Mutma`inna which is the final aim of perfection.

Striving towards the best and the purest stage of nafs is to have total faith in Allah, be content with your worldly affairs, not be dissatisfied etc. All this can be achieved step wise by defeating the 7 evils of nafs, i.e.

(1) False pride
(2) Greed
(3) Envy
(4) Lust
(5) Backbiting
(6) Stinginess and
(7) Malice

Nothing can be achieved without Allah’s help. One needs to keep making dua to Allah to have control over our nafs along with working to conquer each evil.

In his book Jihad-un-Nafs, Imam Ghazali mentions – The Prophet sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam said: 

"There are two impulses in the soul, one from an angel which calls towards good and confirms truth; whoever finds this let him know it is from God and praise Him. Another impulse comes from the enemy which leads to doubt and denies truth and forbids good; whoever finds this, 
let him seek refuge in God from the accursed devil." (Tirmidhi)

God has armed soldiers which He has placed in the hearts and souls of others of His world, and none knows their true nature and actual number but He. The limbs of the body, five senses, will, instinct, knowledge, wisdom, reflection, emotive and intellectual powers are among those soldiers.

Jihad against one's own nafs is the primary war a believer has to wage. Indeed it is difficult to catch hold of your nafs and give it the Islamic shock treatment in today's world when you are surrounded by accomplices of Satan working round the clock to darken your heart. Let me tell you, they never leave even a tiny miny chance to do so! But in the end, when you triumph, it will be worth all the periods of angst and pain you went through. 

I pray Allah makes it easy for all Muslims to gain control over their nafs, eliminate the evils from our hearts and makes us worthy enough to enter the Jannah! 
Ameen.

Source

Satan in The Battle of Badr - Mankind and Satan

Satan in The Battle of Badr

Let us shed light on the way Satan instigated the disbelievers to fight the believers during the Battle of Badr: the Noble Qur’an relates to us this story through the glorious Ayah saying (what means):

“And [remember] when Satan made their deeds pleasing to them and said, ‘No one can overcome you today from among the people, and indeed, I am your protector.’ But when the two armies sighted each other, he turned on his heels and said, ‘Indeed, I am disassociated from you. Indeed, I see what you do not see; indeed I fear Allah. And Allah is severe in penalty.’” [Al-Anfâl, 8: 48]

That was the role that Satan played during the Battle of Badr, he started by sowing the seeds of arrogance in the hearts of the disbelievers, telling them:You will defeat and triumph over the Muslims, you are great in number and powerfully equipped; compared to you they are few, you will definitely conquer them, and I am with you to champion you.

He kept on swelling their souls with vanity, beguiling them with the illusory belief that they are strong and that they are absolutely victorious, till they believed him and set off to fight the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and the believers. 

When the disbelievers reached the battlefield and fighting became inevitable, Satan looked and saw the power of faith, and the mightiness of the believers, and the support that Allah gave them, thereof he scrammed away, leaving behind his allies, whom he promised before that none would overcome them. He thus fled fast and away, saying as the Noble Qu’an relates (what means):

“Indeed, I see what you do not see; indeed I fear Allah. And Allah is severe in penalty.” 
[Al-Anfâl, 8: 48]

Some say how come that the devil says: “I fear Allah”, and if he really does fear Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, why does he sin? And why this persistence in sinning? And what can scare Satan, while he is already shut out from the Mercy of Allah, damned, outcast, and dwelling eternally in Hell, together with all his followers?

The answer is that Satan fears the torment awaiting him in the Hereafter, such fear overwhelms him, despite all what he commits in worldly life. He disavows all sins committed through him; he tries to wash his hands of any responsibility for a sin before Allah. Therefore, The Truth, Blessed and Exalted is He, says (what means):

“[The hypocrites are] like the example of Satan when he says to man, ‘Disbelieve.’ But when he disbelieves, he says, ‘Indeed, I am disassociated from you. Indeed, I fear Allah, Lord of the worlds.’” [Al-Hashr, 59: 16]

In this manner Satan would try to free himself of any responsibility for luring mankind into disbelief and sin. Even on Resurrection Day when Satan shall stand in the presence of Allah he will cast the blame on man, trying to shirk his responsibility. The Truth, all praise and glory is to Him, gives us a picture of this scene in His Saying (what means):

“And Satan will say when the matter has been concluded, ‘Indeed, Allah had promised you the promise of truth. And I promised you, but I betrayed you. But I had no authority over you except that I invited you, and you responded to me. So do not blame me; but blame yourselves. I cannot be called to your aid, nor can you be called to my aid. Indeed, I deny your association of me [with Allah] before. Indeed, for the wrongdoers is a painful punishment.’” [Ibrahîm, 14: 22]

Satan, who decks out fair to people committing all kinds of sins and atheism, comes on the Day of Judgment disavowing what he has done, trying to cast all the blame on man, saying: “I had no authority over you except that I called you, so you responded to me, and had not your selves been inclined to disbelieving and committing sins, I would not have been able to derive you into disobeying Allah. Hence blame me not, for you have no one to blame but yourselves, because you have given ears to my whisperings, while I had no subjugating power over you to force you to sin”, which is true, because the devil does not have the power to force man into disobeying Allah, Whose Majesty reigns Supreme.

Source: (Book) Mankind and Satan