Islamic Ideology, Nafs

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Knowing one's self:Before we talk about practical solutions and life's experiences relative to "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 it has seriously clashed with our Islamic ideology. Marxism has simply defined man as an animal.
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, one of the leaders and ideologues of the Marxists had a popular saying; "Man's perceptive activities 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 Divine like 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 of Islam, 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 systems and 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, it is man's personality.
What creates a difference between 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). Say The 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 is a 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 and Nafs loose their natural balance Rooh falls into disuse and cannot establish relationship with man.
What distinguishes one man from another is Nafs which 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 the shaping 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.
In the Holy Qur'an and in the vernacular of our theosophists seven stages have been predicted for Nafs. Namely, from the onset of its evolutionary journey to becoming God-like, Nafs must pass through seven different stages. The seven levels (Nafs) are as follows:
1) Ammara (Nafs-e-Ammara / Commanding Soul):There are various verses in the Holy Qur'an relative to the existence of this kind of Nafs. This Nafs commands us to commit sin. It is lower than animals because they behave according to the demands of nature. When a lion or tiger devours another animal it is because it needs food. And once an animal is full it does not pursue another animal, while a man is capable of swallowing the whole world and still be hungry. Man can kill thousands and still long for more blood. There are lots of factual accounts which are indicative of the existence of Ammara, one of whom was the late Shah of Iran; the more he killed the thirstier he became and the more he stole the greedier he got. Saadi, the famous Iranian man-of-letters recounts the story of Mahmoud Shah Ghanzanavi who was at the threshold of dying but he would not die. Eventually he commanded that his royal jewels be mounted on mule backs so the caravan could pass in front of his eyes. Once this was done, he died comfortably. These are a few samples of men who became so degraded that they sank lower than any animal. Man tramples upon his nature and behaves relative to the demands of his desires and whims for which there is no limit. In short, Ammara is lowest of all the Nafs and Dr. Shariati has compared it to mud.
"Nor do I absolve my own self (of blame): the (human) soul is certainly prone to evil, unless my Lord do bestow His Mercy: but surely my Lord is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful." (Holy Qur'an 12:53)
Imam Ali (as) has said that: "The Nafs is like a wild horse and you are riding upon him, if you move your attention for one second, he will throw you off." "The restraining the soul (or self) from its appetite is the greatest holy war." Here, Imam Ali (as) is referring to the Nafs-e-Ammara.
Bade Moozi Ku Mara, Nafs-e-Ammara Ku Gar Mara Nahang o Azdaha o Sher-e-Nar Mara To Kya Mara?
2) Lawwama (Nafs-e-Lawwama / self-accusing soul):This word is derived from 'Lom' which means to 'reproach.' At this stage Nafs reaches a point that if it commits a sin its conscience wakes up and criticizes the doer. This is the first indication that man's Nafs is wakening up and perhaps most men in the world are at this stage. When common men commit a sin they awaken and become sorry and sad. It is this self critics that forces some criminals to give themselves up (or it allows the psychologist to find them). Nay! I swear by the self-accusing soul. (Holy Qur'an 75:2)
3) Agheleh:At this stage Nafs posses the power of thinking and reflection and so, it bases its actions upon logic and thinking and does not fall prey to extremes of sentiments, rage, whims, and fleeting desires; it calculates. Not too many people reach a stage where they can ponder over the consequences of their own behavior before acting.
4) Malhama (Nafs-e-Malhama / Inspiring soul):Malhama is derived from Elham (inspiration). The person who reaches this stage receives inspiration from the Lord. Namely, he is so virtuous and devout that he has developed the aptitude to accept the Lord's inspiration. God's light shines upon all, but this particular Insan at this stage is capable of absorbing the Divine's light and comprehends it.
There are beautiful definitions for Elham and Wahy (inspiration) which must be clarified at this point. Elham is from low to high, while Wahy is from high to low. Specifically, in Wahy God establishes communication with man, while in Elham Insan establishes communication with God. Of course, Elham depends upon the extent to which a personality has evolved while Wahy is not subject to such rule; it is God's command that descends to man. And since Wahy is from the Lord, it is absolute and perfect and there is no doubt in it because He wants man to receive the message in it entirely. However, this is not true about Elham which is always incomplete since it depends each man's aptitude and personality. The stronger and more perfect man is, the more perfect will be his Elham. But since men are not perfect, often times Elham appears as lightning in the sky in a dark night, so quick that man gets a chance to perceive the truths very briefly.
5) Mutmainnah (Nafs-al-Mutmainnah / satisfied soul):At this stage Nafs reaches the stage of certainty; it will neither collapse nor will it retrogress. It is sure of its evolutionary cycle and its meeting with the Lord. It can commit a fault or sin but it is so ahead that it is certain it will never backslide.
"O you Tranquil Soul, return to Your Lord, well pleased, and well-pleasing unto Him! Enter you, then, among My devotees! Enter you My Heaven!" (Holy Qur'an 89:27-30)
This is the stage, which is the goal of this life. To reach the stage of total contentment with Allah (SWT). To commit no sin knowingly and to take pleasure in doing good acts. It is this soul, which was called on the day of Ashura, when Imam Hussain (as) put, down his sword and heard the voice saying "Oh soul that is content! Come back to your Lord, well pleased (yourself) and well pleasing to Him."
6) Raziyah:This is derived from satisfaction. In its evolutionary cycle Nafs reaches a degree that becomes satisfied with its own position.
7) Marziyah:At this stage not only Nafs is satisfied with itself but also the Lord almighty is satisfied with it too. Now Nafs is a lover of the Divine. This is the last stage in our Islamic theosophy in the Nafs cycles. There are many verses which contain various Nafs I discussed here.
What I want to mention here is that from the Qur'anic Point of View, Nafs (from Ammara to Marziyah) requires an evolutionary cycle and man must discipline himself for this evolution. We know when a Nafs has reached the Marziyah stage it will share some of the attributes of Rooh. However, I emphasize that Nafs is different from Rooh; the former has a corporeal condition while the latter is abstract. Thus, the two are not of the same essence. Further, Nafs is a kind of energy which is equivalent to matter subject to physical lava. Matter is the condensed form of energy, so the internal psychological stimulations such as actions reactions, sentiments and feelings are all forms of energies equivalent to matter. We can say that Nafs has a material tendency.
Rooh is God's behest; it is His knowledge and His power and it is conscious of the past and the future. Therefore, Nafs in its evolutionary journey becomes live Rooh and establishes communication with the Lord and becomes a part of His manifestation. At this stage we can say that Insan has become a God-like, By this I do not mean that Insan is God, rather he radiates God's manifestations. God has one thousand and one attributes such as Jamal, Kamal, Rahman, Rahim, Elm... When such attributes appear in man, he becomes God-like or His viceroy on earth. If God is wise man becomes wise and if He is powerful, his vicegerent becomes powerful also. At this stage there is constant communication between Insan's Nafs and his Rooh and anytime he wishes he can establish communication with the Lord through his Rooh, ask for advice and seek answer to his inquiries. At this level nothing will remain vague and insolvable to Insan.
Imam Ali (as)said: Surely God has characterized the angels by intellect without sexual desire and anger, and the animals with anger and desire without reason. He exalted man by bestowing upon him all of these qualities. Accordingly, if man's reason dominates his desire and ferocity, he rises to the station above that of the angels, because this station is attained by man in spite of the existence of hurdles which do not vex the angels.

PUBLISHED by"NajimudeeN_M-INDIA"

Death: Beautiful Gift

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"To Allah (Almighty God) we belong, and to Him is our return." (Holy Qur'an 2:156)
Multitudes of men have walked on the surface of this Earth. They all belonged to different nations and cultures. A few of them made history for which they were remembered, whereas others were never to be mentioned again. Although each one was personally different from another - their habits, thinking and tastes differed - they all had two things in common, first, they were all delivered from their mothers womb (birth) and second, they all tasted death. Who claims he has lived a thousand years?
"The Sun travels to an appointed place. This is the decree of the Mighty, the All-Knowing." (Holy Qur'an 36:38)
Almighty God blesses us with all His gifts. The Sun gives us light during the day to help us see and it helps our crops grow so that we can eat. But the Sun also teaches us other things. Almighty God causes the day to die with its setting and allows the night to take over, which is a time for rest. In this way, He may be showing us that all of us will eventually have to die just like the day. And when the Sun rises in the morning again after our period of rest, it is as if Almighty God is telling us that we too will be raised to life after we have died. These are all signs of Almighty God to teach us to take care of our life.
One thing that we must remember is that death is inevitable, and everything except the Almighty God of course, will perish. Signs of death can be seen all around us. At funerals we see people who were once walking among us being buried in their graves. In the fall we see the leaves turn from green to yellow and fall one at a time, and in the winter we see trees, lifeless. In this way, all things in this world will wither away and die.
According to an old fable, a man made an unusual agreement with Hazrat Izraeel (pbuh) - the angel of death. He told Izraeel (pbuh) that he would be willing to accompany him (as though he had a choice) only if Izraeel (pbuh) would send him a notice well in advance. The agreement was made. Weeks became months and the months into years. One bitterly cold night, as the man sat alone thinking of his success in life, Izraeel (pbuh) tapped on his shoulder. "You are here too soon" the man cried out. "You sent no messenger. I thought we had an agreement!" Izraeel (pbuh) whispered "Notice your hair, once it was full and black, now it has streaks of silver in it! Observe your face in the mirror and see the wrinkles. Yes! I have sent many messages through the years! I have kept my part. I am sorry that you are not ready for me but the order of Almighty God cannot be averted!"
Hence, hair color turning gray from black or wrinkles on the face are also the signs of nearing death, and the Almighty God is the only one who can bring the dead back to life.
Surely all men die, and just surely Almighty God give them life with His ability, and judges them on their deeds and actions. We know Almighty God is the Creator and can recreate us, because if one can do something he has the ability to do it again.
For instance, if your teacher asks you to draw a picture on the blackboard and color it. Then if after you have drawn it with beautiful colors, the teacher asks you to rub it out and do it again, could you repeat the same drawing again?
Of course you would be able to repeat the picture. It is what you created and are capable of doing again.
From this example, we can understand Almighty God is able to give life to the dead because it is He Who created us in the beginning. Almighty God can surely give life to the dead. He judges them on their deeds. On Resurrection Day He will re-create the dead for judgment, and then allow the doer of good to enter paradise but cast the evil-doer into hell.
Hatred towards death and love of the world is the outcome of an ignorant person's mind, who thinks that the happiness of this world is his prosperity and good fortune. The world beset with numerous troubles and anxieties is about to end in misery and does not enjoy eternity, perpetuity and sincerity. A poet has referred to this in the following words - "Do not give your heart to this world, for its example is of an unfaithful bride who has never loved you, even for a night."
Imam Ali (pbuh) says: "If man will see how speedily his death is coming toward him he will abhor ambitions and will give up admiring the world."
It is of utmost importance that man should hold death dear and consider it an opportunity of meeting with his Almighty, and not hate it and consider it as evil, but should take lessons from it. He should ask forgiveness from Almighty for his sins and tame the rebellious self (Nafs). When the call of his Lord comes, he should welcome it with open arms accepting it to be a blessing from Almighty. He should be contented with the decree (Qadr) of Almighty. He should also rejoice that shortly he would be taken to the presence of Ahlul Bait [Household of Prophet] (pbut) and meet his deceased companions and other believer brothers. He should also not be disheartened by the delay in death but should consider it as an opportunity afforded by Almighty to him to repent. This delay would give him a chance to gather provisions useful for his journey to the other world, for the journey is tiresome and full of dangerous valleys and difficult paths.
In fact a believer always remembers death, since his or her main goal is to reach the Almighty God. Hazrat Qasim (pbuh), the son of Imam Hasan Al-Mujtaba (pbuh), when asked concerning death at Karbala, answered: "death to me is sweeter than honey." Therefore true believers, those who are sincerely devoted to the Almighty God, anticipate death since to them it signifies the long-awaited meeting with their creator.
During imprisonment, Imam Ali An-Naqi, Al-Hadi (pbuh)had a grave dug up ready by the side of his prayer mat. Some visitors expressed concern or surprise. The Imam explained, "In order to remember my end I keep the grave before my eyes."
Before a believer approaches the final moment of his/her life and death overtakes him, it is necessary that he wakes up from the state of negligence and prepares for the final everlasting place. This way he will be able to avoid bewilderment and the fear of the so-called untimely death.
At the time of leaving this world, as attested to by the Holy Qur'an, a person will be in one of two states - either he will be of the Companions of the Right, or the Companions of the Left (Refer Holy Qur'an 56:7-56). If he is counted amongst the Companions of the Right, he will be in a good, final state, but if he is one of the Companions of the Left, he will be of those who have suffered a great loss.

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Depression in Islam

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"Verily my prayers, my sacrifices, my life, and my death are for Allah, the Lord of all the worlds." (Holy Qur'an 6:162)
The tides of life sweep many people onto new horizons of hopelessness. Life without Islam leaves the weak in this world vulnerable to misuse and oppression. One of the worst forms of abuse is that which is perpetrated by a trusted person in one's life. And this is the sad scenario of many people throughout the world who have had this sacred trust breached by either family members or close friends of the family. The laws of Allah (swt), the Almighty protect the individual and society. But sadly these laws are too often not known or implemented. Satan, the enemy of man, calls for all that destroys the human being. Why do we find so many victims in the world of today - lost, isolated, whose minds feel constant pain and frustration- an inability to change what has occurred. An inability to wipe away the memories of terror and fear and replace it with peace.
Some issues not only affect the body of the human being but reach far down into the spirit and threaten to touch the delicate balance that coordinates the harmony between the body and the soul. Loss of confidence, feelings of guilt and inability to trust - fear of broken trust, fear of loss, fear of fear...
The state of the heart is the key to the balance of the essence of man and so it is no wonder that the traps of Satan are those which urge the physical desires on to acts that will tamper with and destroy the spirit.
However, Allah (swt), the Almighty tells us that the plans of Satan are weak! What joyous news this is for those who have been held in its dark clutches. For Satan works with illusion, while Allah (swt) is reality. Whatever we fear, cannot harm us for we know that only Allah (swt) is to be feared - for nothing occurs without His guiding hand and He guides to all that is good. He is the One who can turn evil into good.
The evil touch, the memory of betrayal can so easily be replaced with the remembrance that Allah (swt), His light and guidance can lift us far and away - beyond time and space - to a place of peace, where the dismal memories that cloud the mind are dispelled in a puff. The heart finds lightness, grace and wispy breezes of comfort in the words of Allah (swt) - the final message to man, that contains all the knowledge essential for our growth and overcoming of the evil within ourselves and in the world around us.
The victims of the world, have a greater potential for growth than any others. The spirit once touched, is open to light and guidance, softer and more compassionate to the pain of others and inner troubles of the mind stir the individual to walk the steep paths of life and thereby, through their sincerity and efforts find the vast richness of the Mercy of Allah (swt), which extends to the oppressed who with sincerity seek His ever present help.
May Allah (swt) bind the hearts of the victims to Him, that they will never give up in this journey of life. For every single person in this world carries some form of burden, some fear, some care, some disappointment, some loss - but nothing can harm the spirit, which is the essence of man which belongs to Allah (swt) and will return to Him, in the form in which it was molded in this world.
The decision belongs to us. We sink or swim. We strive or give up. But before we choose we must remember that Allah (swt) promises not to give us more than we can bear if we sincerely strive to follow His way, trusting in Him. Alone we will surely destroy ourselves, but with His ever Merciful help, nothing - absolutely nothing is impossible!
Allah (swt) burdens not a person beyond his scope. He gets reward for that (good) which he has earned, and he is punished for that (evil) which he has earned. Above all, prayer and remembrance of Allah (swt) brings peace to the troubled mind and contains the only sure cure for the heart that cannot find peace. "Our Lord! Punish us not if we forget or fall into error, our Lord! Put not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Pardon us and grant us Forgiveness. Have mercy on us."

PUBLISHED by"NajimudeeN_M-INDIA"