ABSTRACT
After that, it reaches a stage of complete
peace (al-nafs al-mutma ) inna) and stops
resisting the word and instructions of
God. It then quickly progresses to the
stages of the peaceful self and the satisfied
self. The self is perfected (al-nafs al-kamila)
by divine grace. Everyone has basically
two sides. On the one hand is the physi-
cal body and on the other is the spiri-
tual. The latter self we know as our
emotions, our thoughts and feelings,
our passions and desires, even our com-
plexes. These non-physical elements we
collectively refer to as our ‘self’. The
earlier and later scholars of tasawwuf
used the term al-nafs al-insani (human
soul) to refer to our emotional and
rational nature, and the term al-nafs al-
hayawani (vital or animal soul) to refer
to the element that animates the body
and gives it perception. The vital soul is
also the source, according to them, of
our passions and of physical drives like
hunger, anger and sex. The nafs is also
called the ruh or spirit when it is still in
its pure state prior to creation. Once the
ruh enters the body and gives it life, it
acquires a new character. It aquires an
outer dimension called the vital soul (al-
nafs al-hayawani) and an inner dimen-
sion called human soul (al-nafs al-
insani). We start off with a ruh and end
up with a nafs. When we are dominated
by our passions, we are at the level of
the al-nafs al-ammara bi al-su’ or the evil
self.
