🧠🕌 ISLAMIC MODEL OF PERSONALITY 👤✨
🎯 Objectives:
- To get an insight 💡 about the different states of Nafs 🧘
- To understand the similarities 🔗 of Nafs with the Freudian Id 😈, Ego 🧠 and Super Ego 👼
- To understand the Islamic model 🕌 of personality 👤
- To understand the categorization 📋 of mental illnesses 🏥 by Imam Ghazali 👨🏫
⚔️👊 Nafs and Violence
There are two kinds of people 👥: one are those who's Nafs 🧘 have overcome them and led them to ruin 💀 because they yielded to them and obeyed their impulses ⚡. The other kinds are those who have overcome 💪 their Nafs 🧘 and made them obey their commands 📋.
Holy Quran 📖 talks about three states 3️⃣ of the soul 🧘. Although some scholars 👨🏫 have classified the Nafs up to 7 stages 7️⃣, there is agreement ✅ among Ulama' 👨🎓 that in the Qur'an 📖, Allah 🕋 (s.w.t.) has described at least 3 main types of the Nafs 🧘:
- 😈👹 Nafs al-Ammara (The Evil Commanding Soul)
- 🤔😔 Nafs ul Lawwaama (The Blaming Soul)
- 🧠⚖️ Nafs ul Naatiqa (The Rational Soul)
😈👹 Nafs al-Ammara (The Commanding Soul) ⚠️
In its primitive stage 🔙, the ego 🧠 tells one to commit evil 👿. This is what Sufis 🕌 refer to when they speak of fighting 👊 Nafs. The prophet Muhammad ﷺ (Sallahu Alihi Wa Sallam) said after returning from a war ⚔️, "We now return from the small struggle 🤏 [Jihad Asghar] to the big struggle 💪 [Jihad Akbar]". His companions 👥 asked ❓, "Oh prophet of God 🕋, what is the big struggle 💪?". He replied 💬, "The struggle against Nafs 🧘⚔️".
It has seven heads 7️⃣ that must be chopped off ⚔️:
- 👑😤 False Pride (Takabbur) - Arrogance
- 💰🤑 Greed (Hirs) - Excessive Desire for Wealth
- 😠💢 Jealousy (Hasad) - Envy of Others
- ❤️🔥😈 Lust (Shahwah) - Carnal Desires
- 🗣️👅 Back Biting (Gheebah) - Speaking Ill of Others
- 🤐💸 Stinginess (Bokhl) - Unwillingness to Give
- 💔😡 Malice (Keena) - Ill Will Towards Others
This is the Nafs 🧘 that brings punishment 🔨 itself by pleasure seeking 🎉 and childish behavior 👶. By its very nature 🌿 it directs its owner 👤 towards every wrong action ❌. As Allah 🕋 refers to this Nafs in the story 📖 of the wife 👩 of al-Aziz (Zulaikha) and Prophet Yusuf 👤 (s): "The (human) soul 🧘 is certainly prone to evil 👿" (12:53).
Nafs ul Ammara 😈 is the worst category ⚠️ of nafs, in which a person 👤 not only commits sin ❌ but boasts 🗣️ of his sins and thus challenges ⚔️ Allah 🕋. This is an animalistic nafs 🦁 that does not care 🚫 about anything or anyone. This nafs is a close ally 🤝 of Shaitan 👹 in pushing people 👥 away from Allah 🕋.
🔗 Nafsul ammara 😈 is very much like the "Id" 🆔 of Freud 👨⚕️.
🤔😔 Nafs al-Lawwama (The Soul That Blames) 🪞
Nafs al-Lawwama 🤔 is also the Nafs of the believer 🤲. It has also been mentioned that the Nafs blames 😔 itself on the Day of Qiyamah ⏳ - for every one blames himself for his actions 💪, either his bad deeds ❌, if he was one who had many wrong actions 🚫, or for his shortcomings 😞, if he was one who did good deeds ✅.
Allah 🕋 refers to this Nafs 🧘: "And I do call to witness 👀 the Nafs that blames 😔" (75:2).
This Nafs 🧘 is conscious 🧠 of its own imperfections 🔍. Hasan al-Basri 👨🏫 said 💬, "You always see 👀 the believer 🤲 blaming himself 😔 and saying things like 'Did I want this ❓? Why did I do that 🤷? Was this better than that ⚖️?'
Nafs ul Luwwama 🤔 is a stage somewhat improved 📈 such that this type of nafs feels shame 😳 when it commits sins ❌ and repents 🤲 to Allah 🕋.
🔗 This state of soul 🧘 resembles the "super ego" 👼 of psychoanalytic theory 📚.
🧠⚖️ Nafs ul Naatiqa (The Rational Soul) 💡
This state of soul 🧘 differentiates between right ✅ and wrong ❌ with the help of logic 🧠 and reason 💡 and creates balance ⚖️.
🔗 Ego 🧠 in Freud's 👨⚕️ ideas also plays the same role 🎭.
🔄🔗 Similarities with the Freudian Model 👨⚕️
There are striking similarities 🤝 in these states of souls 🧘 and Freud's 👨⚕️ concepts of Id 😈, Ego 🧠 and superego 👼. Freud may have borrowed 📤 these concepts from Holy Quran 📖 but Holy Quran also refers to another state ⬆️ that Freud had never talked about 🚫: Nafs al-Mutma`inna 🧘✨.
✨🕊️ Nafs al-Mutma`inna (The Soul at Peace) ☮️
Nafs ul Mutma'inna 🧘✨ is the best kind ⭐ of nafs. This is the ideal stage 🏆 of ego for Sufis 🕌. In this stage, the individual 👤 will be relieved 😌 of all materialism 💰🚫 and world problems 🌍 and would be satisfied 😊 with the will of God 🕋.
Only the special lovers ❤️ of Allah 🕋 who have struggled 💪 their whole lives ⏳ against their nafs 🧘 are so blessed ✨.
Allah 🕋 refers to this Nafs 🧘: "O Self 👤, in complete rest 😌 and satisfaction 😊!" (89:27).
This Nafs 🧘 is tranquil 🕊️ as it rests on the certitude 💯 of Allah 🕋. Ibn Abbas (r) 👨🏫 said 💬, "It is the tranquil 🧘 and believing 🤲 soul".
The Nafs 🧘 is a single entity 1️⃣, although its state may change 🔄: from the Nafs al-Ammara 😈, to the Nafs al-Lawwama 🤔, to the Nafs al-Mutma`inna ✨, which is the final aim 🎯 of perfection ⭐.
🧩👤 Islamic Model of Personality Contains Three Entities 3️⃣
- 🌪️⬇️ Nafs: Saqeel (heavy) ⚓ and is pulled by gravity 🌍, by matter. The role of Satan 👹 is to grab the Nafs and persuade towards materialistic things 💰
- 💚❤️ Qalb: Is a spiritual phenomenon ✨ and is the heart ❤️, feeling 🎭 of an individual 👤. It can be turned either way 🔄
- ✨⬆️ Rooh: Lateef (light) 🪶 and tends upwards ⬆️ towards God 🕋
📝 Note: Even Nafs 🧘 can be turned upwards ⬆️ and made Lateef 🪶✨.
⚡💪 The Forces (According to Imam Ghazali 👨🏫)
Imam Ghazali 👨🏫 talked about two types 2️⃣ of forces ⚡ that derive and motivated the human character 👤 (similar to Freud's 👨⚕️ Eros ❤️ and Thanatos 💀):
- 👼✨ Malakiyya: Angelic forces 😇
- 🦁😈 Haiwaaniyyah: Animalistic forces 🐺
- ❤️🔥😈 Shahwa: Lust (like Eros ❤️)
- 😡🔥 Ghazab: Anger (like Thanatos 💀)
💭🗣️ Hadith al Nafs (Different States of Sins ❌)
Nafs 🧘 keeps on self talk 🗣️💭 and this Self talk is a root cause 🌱 for many sins ❌:
- 💨 Hajis: When it is a bare passing thought 💭 (fleeting)
- ⏳ Khatir: When it persists for sometime 🕐 (lingering)
- ⚠️ Hadith al Nafs: When it replaces action 💪 (dangerous state 🚨)
- 🚫😰 Ham: Preoccupation 🧠💭 (limits of sin starts here ⚠️)
- ❌✔️ Azm: Decision 🎯 (person decides to commit a sin ❌)
🏥😷 Illness of the Soul (Imam Ghazali's 👨🏫 Categorization 📋)
Imam Ghazali's 👨🏫 unique contribution ⭐ is the categorization 📋 of mental illnesses 🧠🏥:
🫀 Physiological Based Mental Illnesses:
- ❤️🔥😈 Shahwa (Lust)
- 🍽️🤤 Excessive Hunger and Lust (excessive sexual desires 😈)
👥🎭 Social/Behavioral Illnesses:
- 🗣️👅 Idle talk and Gheebat (Backbiting)
- 😡💢 Hostility: Anger 🔥, Jealousy 😠 and Envy 👀
- 🌍💰 Love of this world (Materialism)
- 💰🤏 Miserliness, Greed 🤑
- 👑🏆 Love of power & Fame
- 🎭🐍 Hypocrisy (Munafiqat)
- 🎪🎭 Pretense (Showing off)
- 😤👑 Pride (Kibr)
- 👑🦚 Takkabbur (Arrogance)
- 🚫📚 Jahaala (Ignorance - The sin of all sins ⚠️💀 - provides basis to all mental illnesses 🏥)