What Does Nafs Mean?

Nafs (Arabic: نفس; plural anfus or nufus) is pronounced NAFS.

Meaning

Nafs can mean simply self or person: when the Qur’an says that every nafs will taste death, it means every living being (Qur’an 3:185). But in Islamic spirituality, the nafs is the inner self with its appetites, ego and conscience. The Qur’an teaches that God created the nafs with an awareness of right and wrong, and that our success depends on what we do with it:

وَنَفْسٍۢ وَمَا سَوَّىٰهَا ﴿٧﴾ فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَىٰهَا ﴿٨﴾ قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَن زَكَّىٰهَا ﴿٩﴾ وَقَدْ خَابَ مَن دَسَّىٰهَا ﴿١٠﴾

⁷And [by] the soul and He who proportioned it ⁸And inspired it [with discernment of] its wickedness and its righteousness, ⁹He has succeeded who purifies it, ¹⁰And he has failed who instills it [with corruption].

Muslim scholars, drawing on the Qur’an, describe three states of the nafs:

• the self that urges towards wrong (Qur’an 12:53);
• the self that blames itself — the conscience that feels regret after a mistake (Qur’an 75:2);
• the self at peace, content with God and pleasing to Him (Qur’an 89:27-28).

How Muslims use it

Muslims speak of “struggling against the nafs” — resisting laziness, anger, greed or pride. Scholars call this inner effort jihad an-nafs, the struggle against the self. Islam does not teach that the body or its desires are evil; eating, sleeping and marriage are good when kept within God’s guidance. The aim is not to crush the self but to train it, like a rider guiding a strong horse. Fasting, prayer and remembrance of God are all ways of strengthening that control.

Example

“I really wanted to send an angry reply, but my nafs isn’t going to win this time.”

Learn more in The Purpose of Life and Mental Health and Hope in Islam.