Definition of the Nafs

It should be noted that the scholars differed greatly concerning the meaning of the Nafs [soul or self]. My Shaykh, Shi haab - ud - Deen Al - Quraafi, narrated to me from Imam Taqiy - ud - Deen Ibn Daqeeq Al - Eid that he saw a book by the wise men about the reality of the Nafs in which there were 300 definitions. He (Peace be upon him) said: The fact that there is such a difference o f opinion is indicative of the large number of possibilities. Moreover, the scholars of Islam differed as to whether it is permissible to indulge in discussion of this matter or not, and there are two views: The evidence of those who say that it is not all owed is the Verse in which Allah says: " And they ask you (O Muhammad (Peace be upon him) ) concerning the Rooh (the spirit). Say: 'The Rooh (the spirit) is one of the things, the knowledge of which is only with my Lord. And of knowledge, you (mankind) hav e been given only a little.'[Al - Isra' 17:85] The relevant point here is that Allah did not explain the Nafs to His Prophet (Peace be upon him) in this Verse; rather the answer given here is general and brief: "Say: " The Rooh (the spirit) is one of the things, the knowledge of which is only with my Lord." Allah explains that people were given only a little of knowledge, and that implies that knowledge of the soul is among the abundant knowledge that is known only to Allah. Whatever Allah has concealed kn owledge of, how can we indulge in discussing it? The second opinion is that of those who say that it is permissible, and they say that Allah only forbade engaging in discussion thereof with people other than scholars. This view was favoured by Imam Al - Ghaz ali. But then those who said that it is permissible differed: is the Nafs a quality that resulted from the way things are put together as the coherent images, amazing threads and brilliant patterns appear in a garment of silk, then if the fabric disintegra tes the image disappears and does not remain? Or does it have an essence or substance? Or does it have no essence and no quality? And is it that it cannot be described as being inside or outside the body? This is the view of Al - Ghazali and others. The view of later scholars is that the Nafs is a substance made of light, like a flame going through the body, and like the sap in the rose and the heat of fire in the meat. The evidence that it is in the body is theVerse in which Allah says: "Then why do you not (intervene) when (the soul of a dying person) reaches the throat?"[Al-Waaqi'ah 56:83] If it were not in the body, then Allah would not have said that: If you tell me that Galen said: We dissected a body and we did not find any trace of the soul; moreover if it was in the body that would mean that if a limb were cut off, part of the soul would be cut off too, but that is not the case so the soul is not there. I would say: Not finding something does not mean that it does not exist, based on the case of glass, which is extracted from sand after subjecting it to some processes. If we check the sand, we will not find any trace of glass. Moreover, transparent bodies cannot be seen, based on the case of the air around us. Furthermore, the soul may retract or extend, so perhaps it retracts when a limb is cut off, so cutting off a limb does not necessarily mean cutting off part of the Nafs. Moreover it may be divided into parts and then put together again, as indicated by the story of Shaykh Abu'l-Zaahir. Whatever is like that cannot be cut off, as attested by the case of water, fire and clouds. It should be noted that the soul, spirit, heart and mind are synonymous and can only refer to one thing in the body. It is called the soul (Nafs) because it is inclined towards whims and desires; it is called the spirit (Rooh) because the body cannot be alive or function without it; it is called the heart (Qalb) because it is constantly changing (Taqallub); and it is called the mind ('Aql) because it understands information and the mind is knowledge. Once this is understood, you should know that Allah only created this body so that through the Nafs a person may acquire divine knowledge which is the cause of eternal happiness. Allah also created these five senses, namely hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch, and in the brain there are five other senses, namely rational sense, the ability to process real images, imagination, comprehension and memory. There is a difference of opinion concerning these senses: are they like windows through which the Nafs looks and learns what is beyond them, or are they like spies and servants, as in a pavilion in which a king is sitting in the middle, and in the pavilion there are five windows, behind each of which is a spy telling what he sees? He acquires knowledge so that he can take care of the interests of the people under his charge, so he is always working to manage the affairs of his people and seeing how best to serve their interests. But then that king cannot continue working in that manner; rather he needs to rest, so he and his servants rest. But whilst resting he cannot neglect his people's affairs, so it is essential that he ask someone to keep a record of what happens whilst he is resting, so that he can tell him about that when he comes back to his headquarters. So Allah has put this Nafs in the body like that king in his pavilion, and He has made sleep a means for the soul to rest from its work. And He has given it the power of imagination, which is like a smooth mirror, and the Nafs is also like a heavy mirror: when it stands before Al-Lawh Al-Mahfooz, it imprints on it what Allah wants it to know. If that is imprinted on the Nafs, it will have a specific impact on the imagination, so that he can envisage it. Then Allah makes it possible for the memory to memorise what is envisaged by the imagination, and He enables another power to transfer what the memory has memorized to the Nafs when the veil of sleep is lifted from it. Imam Fakhr-ud-Deen Al-Khateeb said: It is proven that Allah has created the Nafs in such a way that it is able to ascend to heaven and to read Al-Lawh Al-Mahfooz , but that is not possible when a person is awake, because then the Nafs is preoccupied with managing the physical affairs of the individual. But at the time of sleep, it becomes less distracted so it is able to learn things. So once it finds out some information that has an appropriate impact on the imagination, so the Nafs learns things from that impact. Shaykh Shihaab ibn Ni'mah said: An example of that is if a man sees himself in a dream eating sweets from a nice dish, then when he awakens, if the dreamer is sick with a fever, we say that (the dream) indicates that his sickness will be lengthy, and if he is healthy, then if the dreamer is a king we say that he is going to take over some land, and if he is of lower status, then he will be promoted to a good position; if he is a seeker of knowledge he will gain more knowledge, and if he is a single man, he will marry a beautiful wife. But if the sweets are of bad quality or rotten, all of that is reversed. It should be noted that some souls are very strong, so they see dreams which turn out exactly as seen. There are some people who, if their thoughts wander, they see in those wandering thoughts things like others see in dreams; sometimes it has an interpretation but sometimes there is no interpretation. I have seen that in myself and others.