experiences relativeto "shaping one's self," we must know our Nafs
(Nafs is an Arabic word meaning self) and find out in what way we can
re-shape, train, nourish, and transform it from its lower position to
a higher level of existence.
We are aware that there are various orders and systems in the world
and each one has defined man and his Nafs in its own way. One of these
systems in our age is the materialist order of Marxism which has
engulfed half of our globe and ideologically ithas seriously clashed
with our Islamic ideology. Marxism has simply defined man as ananimal.
Physiology and Biology:In Marxism man is like an animal who conducts
his activities solely for the sake of his enjoyments; there is no
spiritual beyond this existence. Even those Marxists who try to bestow
a 'spirit' on man simply resort to a definition of him as a material
phenomenon; a definition which is rejected by us. Stalin, oneof the
leaders and ideologues of the Marxists had a popular saying; "Man's
perceptiveactivities revolve around his personal (material) gains."
Thus with such a definition man's Insaniat (humanity) and his Nafs
come to a halt.
We pass all other schools and come to the Divine school in which we
come across two kinds of human beings; man made of mud and Insan made
of the Divine essence. And man's goal in this life is to go through an
evolutionary cycle in order to become transformed into a Divinelike
Insan; namely, to create a gigantic leap in man. In order to
accomplish this task we run across the Divine school which extends
from minus infinity to plus infinity.
In order to know man Islamtakes three distinct levels into
consideration;Jism (body, physique),
Nafs (personality, character), and
Rooh (soul, spirit).
Namely, in one of the philosophical outlooks ofIslam, man is composed
of three parts;Jism,the physique which is of material substance and we
deal with it in physiology and biology. Thus our bodies are known to
various systemsand as far as these scientific areas are concerned
Islam has no disagreement with anyone.
Nafs:Nafs in man is the totality of sentiments, tendencies, desires,
wishes, experiences, and our heredity characteristics; in short, itis
man's personality.
What creates a differencebetween one man and another is Nafs rather
than Rooh. It is man's Rooh which transform and evolves.
Rooh:Based upon the Qur'anic verse; "They ask thee concerning the
spirit (of inspiration). SayThe spirit cometh by command of my Lord:
of Knowledge it is only a little that is communicated to you, (O
men!)." (Holy Qur'an 17:85) This verse teaches us that the spirit is
an 'Amr' i.e. the work of Allah. In other words, it isa created thing,
not self-existent. The Holy Qur'an does not go beyond telling us that.
It does not tell us the nature of the spirit. However, just like our
ignorance of the nature of electricity or magnetism does not prevent
us from taking full advantage of these wonders of creation, we can
advance ourselves spiritually by taking full advantage of the
functions of the spirit.
Rooh is something which descends to man from God and we interpret it
as our 'inside Prophet' namely, it is a representative from the Lord
inside Insan. And this what is interpreted as 'Gabriel' in the case of
the Prophet as was the Holy Spirit in Jesus (pbuh). It is the
relationship of God with man that appears under various names in
different Prophets. This spirit is clean and innocent and it cannot
err. Rooh never appears in plural form in the Holy Qur'an(although
common men have pluralized it; 'Arwah') since it is a single reality.
So there is no difference between your soul and my soul, the two of
them 'is' a reality like the sun which radiates its, light upon all
men. While the plural of Nafs is Anfos (or Nafus). And when and entire
group of people get killed we say; "Their Nafus died rather than their
Arwah," since the latter, being God's manifestation, cannot be killed.
Where man develops the capability, aptitude, and the worth to discover
Rooh, he will be aided by the latter. And when a disease attacks and
the body andNafs loose their natural balance Rooh falls into disuse
and cannot establish relationship with man.
What distinguishes one man from another is Nafswhich contains our
personalities. And in our opinion the part of us which is responsible
in front of the Lord in the final day is the Nafs of each of us. And
it is Nafs which errs not the Rooh. The body is not that important
since it is in constant process of change and transformation.
However,what we believe to be the essence of man was placed in the
Nafs, and it is Nafs which will be interrogated in the last day.
In order to talk about theshaping of one's self we must concentrate
upon the analysis and examination of Nafs. Once we reach this stage we
come right across the sacred Islamic school and we are proud that
Islam has conducted in-depth and extensive analysis in this area
unparalleled in any other school or system.
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