Nafs Al-Ammarah

The Noble Qu’ran says: “...and by the soul, and the One who made it well, then inspired it with its (instincts of) evil and piety, success is really attained by him who purifies it'' (Ash-Shams, 8-9). As stated in this ayah, a person who purifies their nafs from foulness, especially disbelief and shirk, and enriches their faith with worship will attain salvation. Through His prophets, Allah the Exalted taught his servants cleanliness, goodness, and other virtues. In order to purify the nafs, a person needs to first be able to recognize it. Based on the Noble Qu’ran, the people of tasawwuf say the nafs has seven levels. The first of these is “nafs al-ammarah.”

“Nafs al-ammarah,” which means “the commanding soul,” is mentioned in Surah Yusuf, ayah 53 as follows: “Indeed, the soul is a persistent enjoiner of evil, except those upon which my Lord has mercy. Indeed, my Lord is Forgiving and Merciful.”

The late Elmalılı Hamdi Yazır explains this verse as follows: "In essence, the human nafs always leans towards evil, inserting its directives of selfish desires and corrupt thoughts into the heart with all its might. In other words, there is a natural inclination towards lust, sin, and wrongdoing within the human nafs. It uses all its power and the instruments at its disposal to follow these impulses, as doing so is one of its defining characteristics. This is why, if left to its own devices, the human being is inclined towards wickedness. However, this does not apply to those whom Allah has blessed with His mercy."

Nafs al-ammarah is the denomination for the nafs heavily inclined towards the dunya, that is, the world and the materialistic attachments that serve as its allure. It is unbound in its continuous pursuit of wickedness and evil, and yet it is simultaneously a prisoner to lust. It seeks the satisfaction of bodily desires for comfort and pleasure above all else, while the wishes of the heart and conscience fall by the wayside. Excessive desires reign supreme in a body dominated by the nafs al-ammarah. The whispers and delusions of shaytan are followed without question, while animalistic desires are at the forefront of everything. Another defining attribute of this nafs is to put oneself on a pedestal above others and look down upon them with contempt. In addition, one inevitably ends up in negligence of the orders and prohibitions of Allah as long as one follows its whims. And since death is nothing more than a fleeting notion at the far edge of the person’s consciousness, they freely indulge in sins in an endless stream of vices. Ibn Ajibah (rahmatullahi alayh) provided the following elucidation regarding the nafs:

“Nafs al-ammarah and its armies resemble shaytan. Shaytan whispers thoughts into people to tempt them to do evil and then disappears. When a person follows and obeys these whispers, the bitter end awaiting him is to remain in the torment of being separated from Allah forever. This is the punishment for those who oppress their nafs by depriving them of the opportunity to reunite with Allah.”

The defining feature of nafs al-ammarah, known for laying out a path to its own descent into darkness, is that the decisions made by it do not align with ‘conscientious human intelligence.’ A person at this level does not hesitate to commit wrongdoings; even though they may know the weight of their sins may drag them down to darker paths, they still do not refrain from answering the call of temptation. Their mind has become a prisoner to lust and their conscience has become blind because of their sins. In this state, it becomes easier to spiral even further into the cycle of sin and temptation. On this, Junayd al-Baghdadi (quddisa sirruhu) said, “The calls of nafs al-ammarah lead to nothing but ruin; it assists the enemy (shaytan), follows its own whims, and is to blame for all kinds of evil.”

Other key characteristics of nafs al-ammarah are wrath, vulgarity, ignorance, sedition, hypocrisy, and disbelief. A person at this level, where the mind and heart have no say and whose life is directed only by the desires of the nafs, takes delight in being preoccupied with vain and idle things, lying, backbiting, and mocking others. Other people’s suffering does not interest them—there is only one important thing for a person afflicted with the egotism of nafs al-ammarah: themselves.

Ibn Ataullah al-Iskandari (quddisa sirruhu) said, “The root of every sin, every act of ghaflah (heedlessness) and lust is conceit. The essence of obedience, peace, and virtue is self-criticism.” This statement essentializes the golden rule that people should not be satisfied with their nafs. Being conceited prevents a person from questioning themselves and their actions; it deceives one into composing an unrealistic worldview in which they attribute no fault or flaw to themselves, which leads to a frustrating lack of self-criticism and culminates in a total, unmitigable loss.

Our beloved Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) explains, “A wise man is the one who calls himself to account (and refrains from doing evil deeds) and does noble deeds to benefit him after death; and the foolish person is the one who subdues himself to his temptations and desires and seeks from Allah the fulfillment of his vain desires.” (Tirmidhi)

Sari as-Saqati (quddisa sirruhu) explains the situation of a person who obeys their nafs al-ammarah as follows: “While a person who knows Allah lives with the ease of heart (such knowledge brings), a person who fancies the world suffers (depression). While the fool is preoccupied with useless things day and night, the wise person constantly tries to find and correct their own faults.”

The person who suffers from nafs al-ammarah has a particular characteristic that causes them to resist acknowledging that they are, in fact, subordinate to it. This is because the nafs shows the person’s condemnable actions in such a light of inculpability that they fail to see their misguided ways and offer various excuses to justify their mistakes. However, Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) says:

“Whoever acts evil or wrongs himself, then seeks forgiveness from Allah, shall find Allah Most-Forgiving, Very-Merciful.” (An-Nisa, 110)

Ultimately, it comes down to finding one’s way to genuine repentance and holding fast to the dhikr of Allah if the end goal is to purify one’s soul and avoid foul deeds and sins. Additionally, in order to avoid falling into sin, one should stop associating with people that spread their negative influence around them and refrain from visiting harmful environments that are adverse to cultivating an Islamic mindset. A person must seek and be in the company of righteous people who remind them of Allah the Most High, ensure that they do not isolate themselves from the Muslim community in their area, and train their nafs by participating in sohbahs and religious gatherings of learning to nourish their heart. Just as food is the nourishment of the body, worship and good deeds are the nourishment of the heart.

Cihat Ceylan