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DISTINCTION OF ROOH AND NAFS AND PROGRESS OF NAFS
When Allah (s.w.t.) created Adam
from soil, He blew “from His
Rooh” into Adam’s body. The
important part of Adam was the
Rooh, and when he was complete,
then All-Mighty Allah (s.w.t.)
ordered the angels to prostrate
him. This was the prostration of
respect and not otherwise.
Human beings have three aspects;
Jism, Nafs, and Rooh.
Jism or the physical body
consists of matter.
Nafs is the composite of
sentiments, desires,
experiences, and heredity. It is
the personality.
Rooh is a created thing as
mentioned earlier; at the time
of creation of Adam. Its nature
has not been stated other than
the one in Holy Qur’an: “They
ask you about the Spirit. Say
“The Spirit comes by the command
of my Lord. You have been given
very little knowledge.” (17:85)
It is one of those things of
which we are unable to describe
but we can put it into
productive usage like
electricity. Electricity is the
major pillar of modern
scientific developments.
Rooh is like a latent prophet
inside human beings. The Rooh is
innocent and cannot make
mistakes. At the time of death,
the Nafs dies but not the Rooh.
The Holy Qur’an states:
“Kullu Nafsin Zaaiqatul Maut.”
(3:184). Nafs is the one which
is answerable to Allah (s.w.t.)
on the Day of Resurrection.
When we follow the Islamic
teachings, sincerely and
truthfully, as spelled out in
the Holy Qur’an, and the Sunnah
of the Noble Prophet (s.a.w.s.)
as demonstrated by the
Infallible Imams (a.s.), we can
make progress in our Nufus
(plural of Nafs). There are
seven stages for the gradual
elevation of our Nafs:
1.
Nafs-e-Ammara: This
Nafs commands us to commit sins.
Its status is lower than animals
because they are lead by nature
without considering the
consequences of its impact. The
Commander of the Faithful, Imam
Ali (a.s.) said: “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 of the soul (or
self) from its appetite is the
greatest holy war.” Here Imam
Ali (a.s.) is referring to Nafs-e-
Ammara.
2.
Nafs-e-Lawwama:
The word is derived from ‘Lom’
which means reproach or
self-accusation. The Nafs at
this stage, if commits a sin,
its conscience wakes up and
criticizes its doer.
3.
Aaqila:
Nafs at this stage possess the
power of thinking and does not
fall a prey to anger or other
extreme baser desires as it
weighs the consequences of his
actions.
4.
Malhama:
The word is derived from ‘Elhaam’
or inspiration. The man who
reaches this stage receives
inspiration from Allah (s.w.t.).
There are two words; Elhaam and
Wahy. Elhaam is from LOW to
HIGH. WAHY is from HIGH to LOW.
Elhaam depends upon the extent
to which a person has elevated
or evolved. Wahy, is of course
comes from Allah to His
Prophets.
5.
Mutmainnah:
It is the ‘satisfied soul’ which
has reached the stage of
certainty. Allah says in Holy
Qur’an about this soul as: “O
you Serene Soul, return to your
Lord, well pleased with Him and
He will be pleased with you!
Enter among My servants into My
Paradise!” (89:27-30) This is
the stage which should be the
goal of this life. This Nafs
will not commit any sin
knowingly and takes pleasure in
doing good deeds. On the Day of
Ashura, Imam Hussain (a.s.) put
down his sword and heard a
voice: “Ya Aiyyatun Nafsul
Mutmainnah. Erjai Ila Rabbeke
Raazitam Marziyya. Fadkhuli Fi
Ibadi. Wadkhuli Jannati.”
6.
Raziya:
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 All-Mighty Allah is
satisfied with it too.
From the Qur’anic point of view,
Nafs (from Ammara to Marziyya)
requires that a man must
discipline himself for this
evolution. When the Nafs reaches
the Marziyya stage, it will
share some of the attributes of
Rooh. Nafs is a corporeal
condition while Rooh is
abstract.
Nafs is a kind of energy which
is equivalent to matter. Matter
is the condensed form of energy.
Nafs has a material tendency.
Nafs in its evolutionary journey
becomes live Rooh and
establishes communications with
Allah (s.w.t.) and becomes a
part of His Manifestation and
radiates His attributes and
becomes His viceroy on earth.
Commander of the Faithful, Imam
Ali (a.s.) said: “Surely, Allah
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
savagery, he rises to the
station above that of angels
because this station is attained
by man in spite of the existence
of hurdles.
However, we must remember one
thing that whatever exists in
this world are creations of
All-Mighty; like angels, jinn,
human beings and can only act
according to His Will. Life and
death, profit or loss, all are
subservient to His Power.
Therefore, we must always
remember Him, trust Him, and
seek sanctuary in Him.
The Holy Qur’an says: “Nothing
can harm them except by Allah’s
leave.”
Shaytaan’s power over us is
limited to “Whispered
Temptation” and he can never
negate our free will. The source
of evil thoughts is inside us-Nafse
Ammarah. The Holy Qur’an says:
“We created the man and we know
the temptations of his soul; We
are closer to him than his
jugular vein.” (50:16) The Holy
Qur’an further says: “Indeed as
for My servants you do not have
any authority over them, except
the perverse who follow you.”
(15:42)
Let us look at the concept of “Nafs”
from another angle. The Orator
of the Pulpit of “Salooni”, Imam
Ali (a.s.) said: “Man Arafa
Nafsahoo Fa Arafa Rabbahoo” It
means “
Who ever knew his soul, knew his
Lord”
We know the soul is the ruler of
our body. Likewise, we know that
All-Mighty is the ruler of this
universe. If one of our limbs
refuses to obey the command of
soul, it is not a reflection on
the strength of the soul. It is
considered as the defect of the
limb. Likewise, if one refuses
to obey the Commands of Allah,
it should be deemed as one’s own
defect. This disobedience will
not weaken the authority of the
All-Mighty. Instead, the
disobedient person will be rated
as spiritually sick.
We know that soul is connected
with our body, but we do not
know where it is. We know that
life is everywhere in our body.
But if a limb of a man is
severed, we do not say ‘so much
portion of his soul is cut-off.
Thus we say life is everywhere
in the body, and at the same
time we do not say ‘it is here’
or ‘it is there’. Likewise, we
know that Allah is everywhere,
but we cannot say ‘He is here’
or ‘He is there’. We cannot
point towards Him.
Whenever we want to do any work,
our limbs do it immediately
without any instruction from our
spirit or soul. Similarly, when
Allah wishes anything to happen
it just happens!
The Holy Qur’an says: “Whenever
He decides to create something
He has only to say, “Exist,” and
it comes into existence. |
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