Q1: Can you please explain the different types of nafs, nafs-e-ammara, nafs-e-lawwama and nafs-e-mutmainna.
A: In the Quran-e-Kareem the word nafs is used in two ways.
1. First way that 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 Quran:
وَاذْكُرْ رَبَّكَ فِي نَفْسِكَ
And remember your Rabb inside your-self
[7:205]
2. The second way the nafs has been used in the Quran, which is quite frequent, is that the nafs is referring to a specific part of our self and it is that part of our self that has desires, appetite, some people call it ego. It has anger, it has passion, it has lust, desire, it has all these things. Some people may even call it the carnal self or the carnal soul.
This nafs is not part of the Ruh, its part of the physical human being. So if we wanted to say that we have some physical part of our creation, that is our body and our nafs and then Allah Almighty has also put inside of ourselves an inner or spiritual part of our creation, that is our ruh. This nafs is part of our physical self, even though its not part of our physical body.
Three adjectives have been used in the Nobel Quran to describe three different types of nafs.
1. The first is nafs-ul-ammarah.
