What is the Nafs?
What Is the Nafs?
According to the Qur’an, the nafs is the self to which the human being refers when saying, “I.”
It is the self that is tested, makes choices, and is held responsible for its actions.
The human being is a whole formed through the body, the spirit that gives life to the body, and the nafs that experiences this life personally.
Within this human wholeness, the nafs is the self through which personality, inner inclinations, emotions, thoughts, desires, choices, and reactions become manifest.
The nafs is the self that thinks, remembers, feels, desires, perceives, tastes and experiences, decides, chooses, and acts.
Through the nafs, the human being experiences life, assumes responsibility for choices, and develops consciousness through lived experience.
A well-known saying, attributed to Prophet Muhammad and widely embraced in the Sufi tradition, states:
مَنْ عَرَفَ نَفْسَهُ فَقَدْ عَرَفَ رَبَّهُ
Man ʿarafa nafsahu faqad ʿarafa Rabbahu
'Whoever knows their nafs knows their Rabb'
The one who knows the nafs begins to recognise their inner struggles, inclinations, desires, fears, capacities, and states.
To know one’s Rabb is to recognise the Divine nurturing, guidance, education, and direction that have been present throughout one’s life.
Self-knowledge and knowledge of the Rabb are therefore deeply connected.