NAFS
TAZKIYAH AN NAFS
Class 1
MEET YOUR NAFS
One soul, three states, and the work of a lifetime
It Is 11:40 at Night
You told yourself you would sleep early tonight. Fajr is in a few hours. You have work, or classes, in the morning.
You pick up your phone "just to check one thing."
You look up. It is 1:15 am.
You put the phone down and feel a small, quiet disappointment. Not with the phone. With yourself. "Why did I do that again? I knew better."
Or maybe it is something else for you. A promise to stop backbiting. A plan to read Qur'an every day. A decision not to shout at your children. A habit you have tried to leave ten times.
Every one of us knows this feeling. We know what is right. We even want what is right. And yet something inside us pulls the other way.
That "something" has a name. In this course, we are going to meet it, understand it, and learn how to train it. It is your nafs.
This course is not about other people. It is not about "the youth these days" or "Muslims nowadays." It is about you, the person reading these words. Read slowly. Be honest. No one will see your answers except you and Allah.
What Is the Nafs?
The Arabic word nafs means "self" or "soul." It is the "you" inside you: the part that wants, feels, chooses, and will one day be asked about its choices.
Allah takes the nafs very seriously. In Surah ash-Shams, He swears by the sun, the moon, the day, the night, the sky and the earth. Then He swears by the soul. After this long list of oaths comes the point of it all:
By the soul, and the One who formed it,
and inspired it with its wickedness and its righteousness.
He has succeeded who purifies it,
and he has failed who corrupts it.
Surah ash-Shams 91:7–10
Look closely at verse 8. Allah placed both pulls inside the soul: a pull toward wrong, and a pull toward taqwa. So when you feel that struggle inside you, it does not mean something is broken in you. It means you are human. The test is not whether you feel the pull. The test is which pull you follow.
And notice what success is tied to. Not wealth, not degrees, not followers. Success is tied to what you do with your own soul.
Is the Nafs My Enemy?
Many people think the nafs is something evil that must be destroyed. This is not correct, and believing it makes people feel hopeless.
Imam Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 597 AH) begins his book Disciplining the Soul with a beautiful point. He says that everything Allah placed in human nature is there for our benefit. Hunger keeps us alive. Anger protects us from harm. Desire leads to marriage and children. The problem only starts when these things go out of balance: hunger becomes greed, anger becomes harm, desire becomes sin.
Hawā (desire) is the inclination of one's nature to what suits it, and it should not be criticised when what is sought is lawful. It is blamed when one goes to excess in following it.
The Prophet ﷺ taught the same balance in a way that surprised his Companions. He said that even in a man's lawful relations with his wife there is sadaqah (charity). They asked, "O Messenger of Allah, one of us fulfils his desire and gets a reward for it?" He said:
"Do you not see that if he put it in something haram, he would carry a sin? So in the same way, if he puts it in what is halal, he will have a reward." (Sahih Muslim)
So the same desire can lead to sin or to reward. The desire is not the problem. The direction is.
The Prophet ﷺ also told us that "every child is born upon the fitrah" (Bukhari & Muslim ), meaning a pure and natural state. Your soul was created good. The diseases came later, and what comes later can be treated.
Think of a strong horse. A wild horse can throw you and break your bones. But nobody shoots a strong horse. You train it, and then it carries you further than you could ever walk. Ibn al-Jawzi uses this same picture: the mind should be the rider, and the body and its desires the horse. Tazkiyah is not killing the horse. It is learning to ride.
One Soul, Three States
The Qur'an describes the nafs in three ways. Many people think these are three different kinds of people. They are not.
Ibn al-Qayyim explains that a person does not have three souls. He has one soul, and it takes on these qualities. At one time it commands evil, at another it blames, and at another it is at peace. Which state wins depends on the person's struggle.
An-Nafs al-Ammārah: the soul that commands evil
"Indeed, the soul constantly commands evil, except those upon whom my Lord has mercy." (Surah Yusuf 12:53)
This is the voice that pushes. But notice: it rarely shouts "Go and sin!" It is much smarter than that. It whispers:
"Just this once."
"Everyone does it."
"You've had a hard day. You deserve it."
"Allah is Forgiving." (said before the sin, not after)
"Later. Tomorrow. After Ramadan. After marriage. After this exam."
The commanding soul does not always lead to big sins. Very often it simply leads to comfort over duty: the snooze button over Fajr, the screen over the Mushaf, the easy word over the true word.
An-Nafs al-Lawwāmah: the soul that blames
"And I swear by the self-blaming soul." (Surah al-Qiyamah 75:2)
This is the voice that comes after: "Why did I say that? Why did I waste that time? What was my real intention?"
Many people hate this feeling. But Allah swears by this soul. It is honoured. Why? Because it shows the heart is still alive. A dead heart feels nothing after a sin. A living heart feels a sting.
By Allah, you will not see the believer except that he is blaming himself: "What did I mean by my words? What did I mean by my eating? What did I mean by what I told myself?" But the sinner goes on and on, and does not blame himself. (Al-Hasan al-Basri, reported in Tafsir Ibn Kathir under 75:2)
But be careful. There is good blame and bad blame. Good blame makes you turn back to Allah. Bad blame makes you give up: "I'm a hypocrite. I'll never change. What's the point?" That second voice is not your conscience. It is the commanding soul again, wearing a different mask, and it wants you to stop trying.
An-Nafs al-Muṭma'innah: the soul at peace
"O tranquil soul, return to your Lord, well-pleased and pleasing to Him. Enter among My servants, and enter My Paradise." (Surah al-Fajr 89:27–30)
This is the soul that has settled. It is at peace with Allah's commands, at peace with His decree, and at peace with itself. It still feels desire. It still gets tested. But it is no longer pulled around by every wish. It knows who it belongs to.
This is the soul that will be called on the last day with the most beautiful words a human being can hear. And this is the goal of our whole course.
All three, in one day
Now think about an ordinary day:
After Fajr, you sit for a few minutes of dhikr. Your heart feels light and calm. (Muṭma'innah)
At work, a colleague takes credit for your effort. You say something sharp. Later you scroll for an hour to forget. (Ammārah)
At night, lying in bed, you think: "That wasn't right. I should apologise. I should do better tomorrow." (Lawwāmah)
So the question is not "Which type of person am I?" The real question is: "Which state wins most often in my life, and which way am I moving?"
The Inner Battle: Mind and Desire
Ibn al-Jawzi describes the struggle as a contest between two voices inside you: the 'aql (the mind, which looks at consequences) and hawā (desire, which only looks at the present moment).
Desire is like a child: it wants what it wants, now. The mind is like a wise doctor: it asks, "And then what?"
A person of sound mind should understand that enduring the hardship of opposing his desire is much easier than enduring what comes from following it.
He then gives a simple test that you can use today. Before you give in, picture yourself after the pleasure has finished. The pleasure is gone in minutes. What is left? The guilt, the wasted time, the damaged relationship, the sin. He says when a person compares the two honestly, "he will know that he has lost double of what he has gained."
He also makes a surprising point. When you follow your desire, you feel small, even if nobody saw. When you defeat it, you feel honoured and victorious. Think about it: have you ever felt proud of yourself for the hour you scrolled? And have you ever regretted the Fajr you woke up for?
The real prisoner is the one whose heart is imprisoned from his Lord, and the real captive is the one captured by his desires.
Ibn Taymiyyah said this while he was himself in prison. His body was locked up, but his heart was free. Today many of us are the opposite: our bodies are free, but our hearts are locked inside a screen, a habit, or the opinion of other people. Freedom begins inside.
What Is Tazkiyah?
Tazkiyah comes from the same root as zakkāhā in Surah ash-Shams: "He has succeeded who purifies it." It has two meanings that work together:
To purify: to clean the soul of what harms it, like pride, envy, anger and showing off.
To grow: to grow what is good in it, like sincerity, patience, gratitude and love of Allah. This is why zakāh has the same root: it cleans your wealth and makes it grow.
Think of a garden. Pulling out the weeds is not enough. You must also water the flowers. And you must do both again and again, because weeds always come back.
Tazkiyah was one of the main reasons the Prophet ﷺ was sent:
"It is He who has sent among the unlettered a Messenger from themselves, reciting to them His verses, and purifying them, and teaching them the Book and wisdom.” (Surah al-Jumu'ah 62:2)
And why does it matter so much? Because everything we do comes from the inside out:
"Truly, in the body there is a piece of flesh. If it is sound, the whole body is sound. If it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt. Truly, it is the heart." (Bukhari & Muslim)
You cannot fix your tongue, your eyes, your habits and your relationships while ignoring your heart. Tazkiyah works on the root, not just the branches.
The road ahead
Here is where our course will take us, in shā' Allāh:
Meet Your Nafs (today): what it is, its three states, and what tazkiyah means.
The Commanding Soul: how it works and its hidden diseases.
The Blaming Soul: honest self-review, and how to turn back to Allah.
The Soul at Peace: what brings the heart to rest.
The Journey of the Soul: from death to meeting Allah.
Tazkiyah in Practice: a complete, practical plan for life.
Tazkiyah in Practice: This Week
Knowledge without action is only information. Here are four small steps for this week.
1. Name the voice
Three times a day, perhaps after Fajr, 'Asr and 'Isha', stop for one minute and ask: "Which state am I in right now? Commanding, blaming, or at peace?" Just noticing is the first step to changing. You cannot train what you cannot see.
2. Use the "after" test
The next time your nafs pushes you toward something you know is wrong, pause for ten seconds and picture yourself after it is done. Ask: "Will I be glad I did this, one hour from now?" This is Ibn al-Jawzi's test, and it works because it brings the mind back into the decision.
3. Make the Prophet's ﷺ dua every day
Say it after at least one prayer every day this week, slowly, with meaning (the full text is at the end of this lesson). Notice that the Prophet ﷺ, the purest of people, still asked Allah to purify his soul. We cannot do this alone.
4. Start your Muhasabah notebook
Buy or set aside a small notebook only for this course. Each class, you will add one page. By the end, you will have a record of your own journey. On page one, write:
The three things my nafs most often pushes me toward.
One moment this week when I listened to the blaming voice and turned back.
One moment this week when I felt at peace.
The Dua
Zayd ibn Arqam (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet ﷺ used to say:
اللَّهُمَّ آتِ نَفْسِي تَقْوَاهَا، وَزَكِّهَا أَنْتَ خَيْرُ مَنْ زَكَّاهَا، أَنْتَ وَلِيُّهَا وَمَوْلَاهَا
Allāhumma āti nafsī taqwāhā, wa zakkihā anta khayru man zakkāhā, anta waliyyuhā wa mawlāhā.
"O Allah, give my soul its taqwa, and purify it, for You are the best to purify it. You are its Protector and its Master."
(Sahih Muslim 2722)
Look at the words. The same two words from Surah ash-Shams appear again: taqwāhā and zakkāhā. The verse tells us the goal. The dua asks Allah to get us there.
Next class: The Commanding Soul, and the diseases it hides.
TIPS FOR THE TEST
Do not have to memorise the ayahs or hadeeths word for word and their references, but remember their meanings and the msg being given.
Remember the Dua.
Remember the types and their meanings.
ASSIGNMENT
There will be an Assignment Question asked in the Test. Marks will be given based on the following: -
I. Invite atleast 10 people to the course (can invite via WhatsApp, Facebook, Email, telegram or word of mouth) 4 Marks. (check the note below for exceptions)
Note:
Those who have already invited whether on Whatsapp, Email or FB, do not need to invite again.
It does not matter, whether people join or not, our job is to invite.
II. Talk to 3 people (friends or family) about any three topics from the course - (5 Marks)
III. Pray for the Ummah, pray for the ease of all the poor & oppressed Muslims and Maghfirah of the Muslims who passed away. Pray that Allah make us all strong in imaan and give us the hidayah to work for the aakhirah and to help each other. - 1 Mark
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