THE ‘NAFS’ (SELF), AS OUTLINED BY EARLY PHILOSOPHERS AND SUFI MYSTICS OF AFGHANISTAN AND IRAN

Homayun Shahpesandy

doi:10.18592/khazanah.v18i1.3436

Abstract

The understanding of the self is of paramount significance because as individuals we wonder who we are; where we come from; what the purpose of our life is, and what true happiness and misery entail. Muslim philosophers such as Razi, Farabi and Avicenna as well as Sufi mystics like Sanai, Attar and Rumi believe mankind is composed of an external form or body, and an internal entity, which is one’s true substance, ‘nafs’, self, mind or soul. Sufi mystics likewise the Muslim philosophers believe that mankind is a union of mind and body; nevertheless, they consider the physical body is a deception, as the true essence of human consists of his soul that is eternal and divine. They emphasize the immortal nature of the soul, created by God that returns through various stages to be in closer proximity to its Creator. They concur “although man is not primordial, he is eternal; while his corpus is terrestrial, his soul is divine; and although his essence is mixed with animal and voracious attributes; if he gets rid of his maleficence, man will reach the proximity of God, which represents its ultimate happiness.

Highlights

The understanding of the self is of paramount significance because as individuals we wonder who we are; where we come from; what the purpose of our life is, and what true happiness and misery entail
Sufi mystics likewise the Muslim philosophers believe that mankind is a union of mind and body; they consider the physical body is a deception, as the true essence of human consists of his soul that is eternal and divine
Results & Discussion Who are we and where do we come from?. Muslim philosophers such as Al-Kindî (801-873, Kufa, Iraq), in his ‫ رسالة فی العقل‬Risálah fil-Aql (Statement on the Soul), Zakarya al-Razî (854-925, Ray, Iran) in The Opera Philosophica; Abu Nasr al-Fârâbî (c. 870-950, Faryab, Afghanistan) in The Aims of Aristotle’s Metaphysics ‫أغراض ارسطوطاليس في كتاب ما‬ ‫ بعدالطبيعه‬Aghrāz Arastutāles Fil-Kitābe Mā Ba’d al-Tabīa) and Abû Alî Hussein ibn Sînâ or Avicenna (980-1037( who came from a noble family from Balkh, Afghanistan in ‫ الشفا‬Ash-Shiffá (The Healing) and ‫ کتاب النجات‬the Kitáb e Nejât (The Deliverance), emphasise the immortal nature of the soul

Summary

Introduction

The understanding of the self is of paramount importance, because as individuals we wonder who we are, where we come from, what the purpose of our life is, and what true happiness and misery entail. From a psychological point of view, the self is defined as a person’s distinctive individuality, identity, essential nature, or collection of personal characteristics.. A distinction is drawn between two aspects of the self; the ‘I’ which is spontaneous, inner, creative and subjective; and the ‘Me’ which is the organised attitudes of others, connects to the wider society, is more social and determined. The ‘Me’ is often called the self-concept – how people. The sense of self is located at a point in space, creating a perspective in time and a variety of positions in local moral orders. It is not having an awareness of some kind of being, not an awareness of an entity at the core of one’s being.

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