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English translation

Know that the nafs (self), in terms of language, is the existence of a thing, its reality, and its essence; and in the flow of people's customs and expressions it admits many meanings that differ from one another, and they use it in contradictory senses.

For some, nafs means the spirit (ruh); for some it means manliness and virtue (muruwwa); for some people it means the body (jasad); and for some it means blood. But the verified masters of this group intend none of these by this word, and in reality they agree that it is the source of evil and the foundation of wickedness.

Some say it is an entity deposited within the bodily frame, like the spirit; others say it is an attribute of the frame, like life. They agree that it is the cause of the appearance of base character and blameworthy acts, and this is of two kinds: one is sins (acts of disobedience), and the other is bad character, such as pride, envy, avarice, anger, rancor, and the like of things unpraised in religious law and reason. So through ascetic discipline (riyada) one can repel these attributes from oneself, just as through repentance one repels sin; for sins are among the outward attributes and this character is among the inward attributes, and ascetic discipline is among the outward acts and repentance among the inward attributes.

Whatever base attributes appear inwardly are purified by the sublime outward attributes, and whatever appears outwardly is purified by the inward attributes. The nafs and the ruh are both subtle entities within the frame, just as in the cosmos there are devils and angels, paradise and hell; but one is the locus of good and one the locus of evil, just as the eye is the locus of sight, the ear the locus of hearing, and the palate the locus of taste, and the like of these entities and attributes deposited in the human frame. So opposing the nafs is the secret of all acts of worship and the perfection of all spiritual struggles, and the servant finds no way to the Truth (Haqq) except by it; for conforming to it is the servant's ruin, and opposing it is the servant's salvation. God, exalted and sanctified, commanded opposing it, and praised those who strove against the nafs, and blamed those who went along with conforming to it; as God, blessed and exalted, said: 'And forbade the soul from caprice, surely Paradise is the refuge' (79:40-41); and His word, exalted: 'Is it that whenever a messenger came to you with what your souls did not desire, you grew arrogant?' (2:87); and from Joseph the truthful, peace be upon him, He informed us: 'I do not absolve my own soul; indeed the soul is ever commanding evil, save that on which my Lord has mercy' (12:53).

And the Prophet, peace be upon him, said: 'When God wills good for a servant, He makes them see the faults of their own soul.' And it is transmitted in the traditions that God, exalted and sanctified, sent revelation to David, peace be upon him: 'O David, be an enemy to your soul and befriend Me through enmity toward it; for My friendship lies in enmity toward it.'

So all these that we have mentioned are attributes, and inevitably an attribute must have a substrate that is described, by which it subsists, since an attribute cannot subsist by itself; and knowledge of that attribute is not made known except by knowing the whole frame, and the way to know it is the exposition of the attributes of humanity (insaniyya) and its secret. Concerning the reality of humanity, people have spoken as to what this name is fittingly applied to. Knowledge of this is an obligation upon all seekers of the Truth, for whoever is ignorant of oneself is more ignorant of another; and since the servant is charged with the knowledge of God, mighty and majestic, one must have knowledge of oneself, so that through the certainty of one's own createdness (hadath) one may know the eternity (qidam) of God, mighty and majestic, and through one's own annihilation (fana) the subsistence (baqa) of the Truth, exalted, becomes known. The text of the Book speaks to this, as God, exalted, said: 'And who forsakes the religion of Abraham except one who fools their own soul?' (2:130) — that is, is ignorant of their soul.

And one of the masters has said: 'Whoever is ignorant of their self is more ignorant of another.'

And the Messenger, peace be upon him, said: 'Whoever knows their self has known their Lord.' That is: whoever knows their self through annihilation has known their Lord through subsistence; and it is said: whoever knows their self through lowliness has known their Lord through glory; and it is said: whoever knows their self through servanthood has known their Lord through lordship.

So whoever does not know oneself is veiled from all knowledge, and the intent of all this here is the knowledge of humanity and people's disagreement concerning it.

Among the people of the qibla, some say: 'The human being is nothing but the spirit. This body is its armor and temple, its dwelling place and refuge, and its structure so that it be preserved from the disorder of the natures; and sense and intellect are its attributes.' But this is false, because when the soul departs from this structure they still call it a human, and this name does not leave that dead person: while the soul was with it, it was a living human; when it died, it is a dead human. Moreover, the soul is also present in the frame of beasts, yet they are not called human; if the cause of humanity were the spirit alone, then wherever there was a soul the ruling of humanity would have to exist. So the proof is established for the falseness of their statement.

And another group said: 'This name applies to spirit and body together, and when one separates from the other this name lapses; just as, when two colors, one black and one white, come together on a horse, it is called piebald (ablaq), and when the two colors separate from each other, one is white and one is black.' But this too is false, because of His word, exalted: 'Has there come upon the human being a period of time when they were not a thing mentioned?' (76:1) — and He called the dust of Adam, without a soul, a human, while the soul had not yet joined the frame.

And another group says: 'The human being is an indivisible part, and its locus is the heart (del), which is the foundation of all human attributes.' But this too is impossible, for if someone is killed and the heart taken out of them, the name of humanity still does not lapse from them; and, by agreement, before the soul there was no heart in Adam's frame.

And a group among the pretenders to Sufism have fallen into an error in this matter and say: 'The human being is not one who eats and drinks and is subject to change; rather it is a divine secret, and this body is its disguise, and it is deposited within the mingling of temperament and the union of body and spirit.'

We say: by the agreement of all rational people, madmen, sinners, the ignorant, and unbelievers bear the name of humanity, yet in them there is none of these secrets; all of them are subject to change and eat and drink. In the frame, the existence, and the person there is no meaning by which it should be called human beyond this; nor after its non-existence either. And God, mighty and majestic, called the whole of the constituents that He has compounded within us 'human,' without those meanings that are not present in some human beings; because of His word, exalted: 'And We indeed created the human being from an extract of clay; then We made them a drop in a firm lodging; then We created the drop into a clinging clot, and We created the clot into a lump, and We created the lump into bones, and We clothed the bones with flesh; then We produced them as another creation. So blessed be God, the best of creators' (23:12,13,14).

So, by the word of God, mighty and majestic, who is the most truthful of speakers, from dust to dust this specific, perceptible form with all its composition and changes is the human being; as a group among the People of the Sunna said: the human being is a living creature whose form is of this familiar shape, such that death does not negate this name from them, along with the familiar forms and the designated instrument, in outward and inward. By 'familiar forms' is meant the healthy and the sick body, and by 'designated instrument' the sane and the insane; and by agreement, whatever is more sound is more perfect in creation.

So know that the composition of the human being who is more perfect, according to the verifiers, consists of three meanings: one is the spirit (ruh), another the self (nafs), and the third the body (jasad); and each of these entities has an attribute by which it subsists: for the spirit, the intellect (aql); for the nafs, caprice (hawa); and for the body, sense (hiss).

And the human being is a sample of the whole cosmos; and 'world' is the name of the two realms, and of both realms there is a sign in the human being. The sign of this world is wind, earth, water, and fire, its composition being of phlegm, blood, yellow bile, and black bile; and the sign of that world is paradise, hell, and the plains of Judgment: the spirit stands in place of paradise for its subtlety, the nafs in place of hell for its affliction and terror, and the body in place of the plains. The beauty of both these meanings is through subjugation and intimacy. So paradise is the effect of His good pleasure and hell the result of His wrath; likewise the spirit of the believer is from the spirit of gnosis and their nafs is from the veil of error; and until, at the Resurrection, the believer is not delivered from hell and does not reach paradise, they do not attain the reality of the vision and do not reach the purity of love...