Nafs
Definition
The nafs is the dimension of the human being oriented toward desires, passions, and worldly attachments — what al-Ghazali often calls the enemy within. He presents the Quranic categories: the nafs al-ammara (the self that commands toward evil), the nafs al-lawwama (the self-blaming soul that recognises its failures), and the nafs al-mutmainna (the tranquil self that has found its rest in Allah). The entire project of the Ihya's third and fourth quarters is essentially a manual for moving the nafs from the first category toward the third — the long, demanding work of spiritual discipline that al-Ghazali calls riyadha.
As understood in the classical tradition of Imam al-Ghazali and the scholars of his school.
Appears in
2 books in the library
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