Between the soul and the mind (2)

Between the soul and the mind (2)

All praises be to Allah, the Creator, the Producer, the Fashioner, the Overseer, the One who sends forth, the One who delays, the Exalted in Might,the Compeller,the Superior. I bear witness that there’s no god but Allah, the One. He’s no partner. The sovereignty belongs to Him. All praises are due to Him. He’s over all things Competent. I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and messenger. Allah imposed on the people His obedience and honour, His love and respect. May the blessings and peace of Allah be upon his, his family, companions and those who followed him in goodness till the Day of Judgement. To proceed:
I advise you and myself of having the fear of Allah. Allah, the Exalted said: (And fear Allah and know that unto Him you will be gathered.) [Al-Baqarah: 203]
The slaves of the Most Merciful, last Friday we talked about the topic (Between the soul and the mind). We’ll continue our talk today on the same topic.
O’ slave of Allah, if you asked yourself: what’s “Nafs”?, the answer that comes from the evidences is that it’s the soul. Some people said: “Nafs” is soul with body. Allah, the Glorious said: (Allah takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that do not die [He takes] during their sleep. Then He keeps those for which He has decreed death and releases the others for a specified term. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought.) [Al-Zumar: 42]. According to a hadith: (When he lies down, let him say: ‘In Your Name, my Lord, I lay my side down, and in Your Name I raise it. And if You take my soul, then have mercy upon it, and if You release it, then protect it with that which You protect Your righteous worshipers (Bismika rabbī waḍa`tu janbī wa bika arfa`uhu, fa’in amsakta nafsī farḥamhā wa in arsaltahā faḥfaẓhā bimā taḥfaẓu bihī `ibādakaṣ-ṣāliḥīn)’ And when he awakens, let him say: All praise is due to Allah, Who healed me in my body, and returned to me my soul, and permitted me to remember Him (Al-ḥamdulillāh alladhī `āfānī fī jasadī wa radda `alayya rūḥī wa adhina lī bidhikrih).’”) [Transmitted by Tirmidhi and Nasai, Al-Albaani has declared it to be ‘Hasan’ grade]. According to a hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari, martyrs: (their souls are in the crops of green birds wandering in Paradise wherever they wish, returning to lamps hanging from the Throne.). The world of the souls is a wonderful world. Though we know about it and that it’s present in our body, we’re unaware of its essence. Allah, the Glorious said: (And they ask you, [O Muḥammad], about the soul. Say, "The soul is of the affair [i.e., concern] of my Lord. And you [i.e., mankind] have not been given of knowledge except a little.") [Al-Israa: 85]. According to a hadith: (Souls are troops collected together and those who familiarised with each other (in the heaven from where these come) would have affinity, with one another (in the world) and those amongst them who opposed each other (in the Heaven) would also be divergent (in the world).) [Transmitted by Muslim].
Friends, ‘the tranquil soul’, ‘the reproaching soul’ ‘the evil-enjoining soul’ have been mentioned in the Quran. Ibn Taimiyyah (May Allah have mercy on him) said: “the souls are of three kinds:
The evil-enjoining soul is the one over which the obedience to desires dominates by doing sins and acts of disobedience.
The reproaching soul is the one that sins and repents. It’s both good and evil. But, when it does evil, it repents and turns. That’s why it’s called ‘reproaching’, because it reproaches a person on sins and acts of disobedience and because it keeps vacillating between the good and evil.
The reassured soul is the one that wants and loves good and good deeds, and dislikes and hates the evil and evil deeds. It turns into its characteristic, habit and faculty. These are the qualities and conditions of one person. The soul that a human being has is one soul. This is a matter that a human being finds from his soul.” [End of the quote, Al-Fataawaa: 9/294]
Al-Uthaymin – May Allah have mercy upon him – said: “A human being himself feels about these souls. Sometimes, he sees in his soul the tendency of goodness, loves the good and does it. This is the tranquil soul. Sometimes, he sees in himself the tendency of evil and does the evil. This is the evil-enjoining soul. After that comes the reproaching soul, which reproaches him on what he does. So, you find him that he repents on the act of disobedience that he does.”
Ibn Al-Qayyim said: “Rather, the soul turns about in one day, even in one hour.”
Brothers in belief, Allah created mind to guide, think and show the person the path. The soul has been created to want, like and desire. It likes and dislikes, becomes glad and sad, becomes happy and angry and the mind distinguishes for it good from the evil, beneficial from the harmful, by their natures, desires and characteristics according to its knowledge, awareness, skill and experience in this world.
The slaves of Allah, it’s not right that the soul should be given what it desires in the way it likes and in the quantity it wants. Rather, there must be a mind to regulate it. So, a person having some skin disease is disposed by its soul to scratch as long it enjoys scratching and finds relief in pain. But, the mind prevents it from excess so that it does not get harmed.
Mind is not the enemy of the soul even if it prevents it. Rather, the soul may be an enemy of the mind. So, a person addicted to narcotic drugs, for example, is ordered by his mind to abstain from it, which is in his own interest.However, his soul orders him to continue in his addiction even if it’s harmful and fatal. It beautifies the act along with the Satan.That’s why it’s been mentioned in the hadith: (I seek refuge from the evil of my soul and the evil of Satan…) [Transmitted by Ahmad, Abu Dawood, Tirmidhi and Nasai].
Brothers in belief, the prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) sought refuge from poverty. Imam Ahmad has explained it to mean the poverty of the soul. The poor soul is the soul captivated by the desires. When the soul is poor, richness does not benefit the rich. When the soul is rich, poverty does not harm a poor, because the richness of the soul is realised by its satisfaction over what it has. The prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) said: ("Richness is not the abundance of wealth, rather it is self-sufficiency.") [Transmitted by Bukhari and Muslim]. The prophet has sought refuge from a soul that does not get satisfied.
May Allah benefit me and you from the Book and the Sunnah and the signs and wisdom that they contain. Seek the forgiveness of Allah. He’s the All-forgiving.
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All praises be to Allah who said: (But as for he who feared the position of his Lord1 and prevented the soul from [unlawful] inclination, Then indeed, Paradise will be [his] refuge.) [Al-Naaziaat: 40-41]. May Allah have blessings and peace on His messenger and slave, his family and companions. To proceed:
Brothers in Islam, the souls have natures. Their psychological natures are the ones on which human being has been created and coloured in, like the hasty soul, the angry soul, the prudent soul, the tolerant soul. These natures on which mankind has been created have been likened to the minerals of the earth that have been created in it. According to a hadith: ("People are like gold and silver; those who were best in Jahiliyyah (Pre-Islamic Period of Ignorance) are best in Islam, if they have religious understanding.) [Transmitted by Muslim].
The souls have desires in some of which people are commonand in some of which they’redifferent. The elements in which they agree are different in the degree of theirassociation with it. For example, they’re common in their love of wealth, food, prestige and good reputation. But, they’re different in their attachment to it. The prohibited desires are the ones which lead a person to the violation of the Shariah, like the love of the wealth which leads him to earning it through cheating, bribe or miserliness. The mother of all the desires of the soul is its love for status, which means the love for the excessive status which he makes an objective and the end of all ends. Therefore, some souls with love for status act too generously so that they achieve status in the eyes of the people. Rather, they may embark on death to get the praise of the people. According to a hadith: (These are the first with whom the fire will be enflamed on the Day of Judgement.). [Transmitted by Muslim]. We find a kind of people which laid its life: (But, you fought so that it would be said that so-and-so is brave). There’ll be one more kind of people who spent its wealth: (But, you spent it so that it would be said that he was generous.). Another one spent its time: (But, you acquired knowledge so that it would be said that you were a scholar, and you read Qur'an so that it would be said that you were a reciter.). So, all of them were not sincere in their sense of worship. Rather, their objective was status and prestige. We ask for safety, forgiveness and soundness. The one who’s given to the love of status is afflicted with haughtiness and jealousy. As for haughtiness, it’s because the soul desires elevation through status. Therefore, Abu Jahl said: “By Allah, I know for sure that he’s a prophet. But when were we the followers of the sons of Abd Munaaf?”. Allah said concerning this: (And indeed, they do not call you untruthful, but it is the verses of Allah that the wrongdoers reject.) [Al-Anaam: 33]. So, acknowledging what the messengers brought breaks the status of these haughty souls. Allah said regarding Pharoah and his nation: (And they rejected them, while their [inner] selves were convinced thereof, out of injustice and haughtiness.) [Al-Naml: 14]. Allah, the Glorious said about Bani Israil: (But is it [not] that every time a messenger came to you, [O Children of Israel], with what your souls did not desire, you were arrogant?) [Al-Baqarah: 87]. According to a hadith: (Arrogance means ridiculing and rejecting the Truth and despising people.) [Transmitted by Muslim]. Haughtiness does not let a person submit to the truth even if it becomes evident for him.
When the love for status increases, it brings jealousy. When the soul find a competitors or better ones, it likes that they retreat so that its precedence comes to the fore and people see it, like light before the eyes the weaker of which is not seen vis-à-vis the stronger one. The sign of jealousy in the souls is that they become happy over the mistakes of their competitors more than their happiness over their right acts, because it wants their fall not their rise. So, it thinks that their retreat makes him ahead even if it’s in its place. As for the pure souls, they seek the reasons of excellence and don’t aim at the status in itself. And if it follows, it praises Allah, seeks refuge from its trial and takes guard from the change in the objective, though after a while.
O Allah! Grant us the sense of piety and purify our soul as You are the Best to purify it. You are its Guardian and its Protecting Friend. O Allah! We seek refuge in You from the evils of our souls and from the evils of our acts! We seek refuge in You from the knowledge which is not beneficial, and from a heart which does not fear (You), and from desire which is not satisfied, and from prayer which is not answered].