The Self · a Light

The Qur'an names three states of the self

Nafs is the self, the soul, the person. The root n f s is the root of breath: nafas is a breath, tanaffasa is to breathe, and Surah al-Takwir swears by the morning when it breathes. The same root gives nafis, precious, and munafasa, competition, the state of two people breathing hard for the same thing. The Qur'an describes the nafs in three conditions, which the later tradition read as stages: the one that commands to evil, in the story of Yusuf; the one that reproaches itself, at the opening of Surah al-Qiyamah; and the one at rest, addressed in Surah al-Fajr and told to return to its Lord.

Root n f s, breath and self

Source · Qur'an 12:53, 75:2, 89:27