Controllong your inner self

1. Nafs……..
A Think to fear ….

2.  nafs has been used in the Quran, which is quite
frequent, is that the nafs is referring to a specific part
of our self and it is that part of our self that has
desires, appetite, some people call it ego. It has
anger, it has passion, it has lust, desire, it has all
these things. Some people may even call it the
carnal self or the carnal soul. This nafs is not part of
the Ruh, its part of the physical human being. So if
we wanted to say that we have some physical part of
our creation, that is our body and our nafs and then
Allah Almighty has also put inside of ourselves an
inner or spiritual part of our creation, that is our ruh.
This nafs is part of our physical self, even though its
not part of our physical body.

3.  Three adjectives have been used in the Nobel
Quran to describe three different types of nafs.
 1. The first is nafs-ul-ammarah.
 ِ‫وء‬ُّ‫س‬‫ال‬ِ‫ب‬ ٌ‫ة‬َ‫ار‬َّ‫م‬َ َ‫َل‬ َ‫س‬ْ‫ف‬َّ‫ن‬‫ال‬ َّ‫ن‬ِ‫إ‬
 Indeed the nafs that overwhelmingly commands a
person to do sin.[12:53]
 So this refers to that nafs, that is ruling over the self.
This means that the nafs commands us and tells us
what to do. So when the nafs has any desire, any
wish, any appetite, it simply commands us, it
dominates us

4.  2. Second type of nafs is known as nafs-ul-lawwamah.
 Lawwamah, lawwam, it’s the same type of word
as ammar and Allah Almighty has mentioned this
in Quran:
 ِ‫ة‬َ‫م‬‫ا‬َّ‫و‬َّ‫ل‬‫ال‬ ِ‫س‬ْ‫ف‬َّ‫ن‬‫ال‬ِ‫ب‬ ُ‫م‬ِ‫س‬ْ‫ق‬ُ‫أ‬ َ‫َل‬َ‫و‬
 [75:2]
 Lawwam here means to self incriminate, to self reproach,
to have blame, to do mulamat of oneself. So, this is that
nafs that does sometimes bring a person to do sin, but
then that nafs self incriminates itself, it reproaches itself,
it feels bad, it feels guilty. And then this guilt is supposed
to increase so much so then the person leaves those sins
because they feel so guilty about them.

5.  3. The third way this word has been used in the Quran-e-
Kareem is nafs-ul-mutmainnah.
 ْ‫ر‬َ‫م‬ ً‫ة‬َ‫ي‬ ِ‫اض‬َ‫ر‬ ِ‫ك‬ِِّ‫ب‬َ‫ر‬ ‫ى‬َ‫ل‬ِ‫إ‬ ‫ي‬ِ‫ع‬ ِ‫ج‬ْ‫ار‬ ُ‫ة‬َّ‫ن‬ِ‫ئ‬َ‫م‬ْ‫ط‬ُ‫م‬ْ‫ل‬‫ا‬ ُ‫س‬ْ‫ف‬َّ‫ن‬‫ال‬ ‫ا‬َ‫ه‬ُ‫ت‬َّ‫ي‬َ‫أ‬ ‫ا‬َ‫ي‬ً‫ة‬َّ‫ي‬ ِ‫ض‬
 To the righteous it will be said “oh reassured soul, return to your
Lord well pleased, and pleasing to Him”
 [89:27-28]
 So, Allah Almighty addresses the mutma’in nafs. And mutma’in here
means two things.
 a) Number one is that they are mutma’in, they are content with
the hukm of Allah Almighty, there is nothing else that makes them
happy. So, this person is also doing what makes them happy. But
this person has been molded and trained and disciplined it in such a
way, that the only thing that makes it happy, that gives it solace, the
only thing that it ismutma’in on, that it is content with, is what Allah
Almighty is please with, what Allah Almighty is content with. So, it’s
heart’s content lies in that which Allah Almighty is happy and pleased
with.