An Introduction to the Three Types of Nafs

By Shaykh Kamaluddin Ahmed [1]

Edited by Faraz Abdul Moid

Question:

Can you please explain the different types of nafs: nafs-e-ammārah, nafs-e-lawwāmah and nafs-e-muṭmaʾinna.

Answer:

In the Noble Qur’an the word nafs is used in two ways.

The first way in which the word nafs is used is to indicate our own self. Some people would translate it in English as “self,” some people would translate it in English as “soul.” An example of this is when Allah Almighty says in the Qur’an:

وَاذْكُرْ رَبَّكَ فِي نَفْسِكَ

“And remember your Lord inside yourself.” (7:205)

The second way the term nafs has been used in the Qur’an, which is quite frequent, is that nafs is referring to a specific part of our self, and it is that part of our self that has desires, appetite, anger, passion, lust, it has all these things. Some people call it the “ego.” Some people may even call it “the carnal self” or “the carnal soul.”

This nafs is part of our physical self, even though it is not part of our physical body; and this nafs is not part of the rūh, [rather] it is part of the physical human being. So if we wanted to say that we have a physical component to our creation, then that is our body and our nafs. Then – [separate from the nafs] – Allah Almighty has also put inside of ourselves an inner spiritual component of our creation, and that is our rūh. 

Three adjectives have been used in the Noble Qur’an to describe three different types of nafs: nafs al-ammārah, nafs al-lawwāmah, and nafs al-muṭmaʾinnah.

1. The first is nafs al-ammārah.

إِنَّ النَّفْسَ لَأَمَّارَةٌ بِالسُّوءِ

“Indeed the nafs that overwhelmingly commands a person to do sin.” (12:53)

So this refers to that nafs which is ruling over the self. This means that the nafs commands us and tells us what to do. So when the nafs has any desire, any wish, any appetite, it simply commands us and dominates us. [Nafs al-ammārah] is that nafs which is sovereign over a human being; it has sovereignty over us. [What does it mean] that the nafs is sovereign over us if it is al-ammārah? [It means that] we are subjugated by it, we are subordinate to it, we listen and follow all of its dictates and commands. This is the first type of nafs, and the sign that a person has this type of nafs is that they sin willingly, blatantly, remorselessly, in any way that they want.

And if we think about it, in many places in the west, this concept is actually glorified because people say, “…you should do whatever makes you happy, do whatever pleases you, do whatever your heart desires.” They may glamorize that by saying that it is the heart, [whereas it is not the heart]. In actuality, there are many people whether in the east or the west – even Muslims now – that are doing what our passion desires. So that means that we have a nafs al-ammārah.

2. Second type of nafs is known as nafs al-lawwāmah.

وَلَا أُقْسِمُ بِالنَّفْسِ اللَّوَّامَةِ

“And I swear by the reproaching soul.” (75:2)

Lawwām here means to self incriminate, to self reproach, [to blame oneself]. This is that nafs that sometimes brings a person to do sin, but then that nafs self incriminates itself, it reproaches itself, it feels bad, it feels guilty. Then this guilt [increases] so much so that the person leaves those sins because he feels guilty about them. So the sign [that people have such a nafs] is precisely that when they commit a sin, they feel remorse and regret, they feel guilt, they feel shame, they feel embarrassment, they wish they could take it back, they wish they never did it. They may even intend at that moment to never do that again. So they are fighting a battle with their nafs. Sometimes they commit sin and sometimes they are able to stay away from sin.

3. The third type of nafs is nafs al-muṭmaʾinnah.

يَا أَيَّتُهَا النَّفْسُ الْمُطْمَئِنَّةُ ارْجِعِي إِلَى رَبِّكِ رَاضِيَةً مَرْضِيَّةً

To the righteous it will be said, “Oh reassured soul, return to your Lord well pleased, and pleasing to Him.” (89:27-28)

Allah Almighty addresses the nafs al-muṭmaʾinnah. And muṭmaʾin here means two things:

1) They are muṭmaʾin, [meaning] they are content with the ḥukm of Allah Almighty, there is nothing else that makes them happy. [But such people are] also doing what makes them happy [because] this person has been molded, trained, and disciplined in such a way that the only thing that makes their nafs happy, that gives it solace, the only thing that it is muṭmaʾin on, that it is content with, is what Allah Almighty is pleased with and what Allah Almighty is content with. So its contentment lies in that which Allah Almighty is happy and pleased with.

2) Muṭmaʾin [means that the nafs] has reached a state of serenity. The serene, contented, tranquil, at-peace nafs. Obviously the peace here means that it has aman (safety) and iṭmiʾnān (contentment) from doing sin [as well as] from desiring sin. It has no unlawful desires. It has desires – that is what the nafs does – but it only desires good things. The sign of this is exactly what we just mentioned: this person not only [abstains from] sin, he no longer desires sin. That faculty and part of their humanity that desires (i.e. the nafs) only and only desires things which Allah Almighty views as desirable, and it has stopped desiring those things which Allah Almighty has labeled as undesirable.

 

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Footnotes:

[1] A transcription of a portion of a CII talk from November 11, 2010.

Courtesy of Zaynab Academy

Note: This article was edited for spelling, grammar, and style, in addition to a new title, and some of its contents were rearranged.