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 every where 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.