Ruh and Nafs
The ruh in my body gives life to me
It is God given – ‘min amri rabbi’1
Call it the soul or spirit it be
The nafs is my decision making machine
The more I refine it, keep it clean
It aligns well with the ruh – keeps life serene
You can call it ego, self or soul
Freewill given for it to control
Choose with it the ultimate goal
The ruh rejoices when to it the nafs aligns
It is the bit in me that connects to the sublime
Each of our wondrous cores it defines
In turmoil we put ourselves through
When our nafs we don’t groom and brew
If without training, without guidance, like weeds we grew
The heart is prism and home to the ruh
Call it qalb and fuad too
It can resonate with all that is true
The mind and thinking pure will be
When the heart is polished and blemish free
Things as they are, we then really see
The radiance of the ruh shines bright
And the nafs is on a smooth flight
The heart pumps wonders in full might
Good will, good cheer will resonate
When the ruh I don’t suffocate
The wayward nafs I don’t placate
The nafs is what defines my character
Makes me Muslim or turns me into a monster
I can be refined or be quite sinister
Egged on to evil by a ‘nafs ul ammara bi sou’2
From all humaneness I come unglue
The heart, a black hole, all crap it imbues
The heart can be seat only for one
Put in there the dunya and come undone
Or the love of Allah and heaven can be won
A polished heart – prism for the ruh
To shine on the nafs ul mutmaina3 all that is true
That’s what will take us to jannah and through
A serene nafs needs to be nurtured
Selfishness squashed, the self structured
Freewill, decision making contained, not fractured
The waswas of Shaytan kept at bay
Let it have minimum say
‘Else the freewill will truly flay
If the nafs we can truly groom
Our lives will only blossom and bloom
No sorrow or fear4, no horizons of gloom
Mind, body and ruh of mine
Will connect to thine
For the love of Allah the sublime
A mumin’s heart reflects the heart of a mumin
Beyond dunya’s dust and din
Souls in affinity, totally akin
All this, when we get a sense of ruh and nafs
The heart for Allah without a fuss
The mind subservient, not full of pus
Journey to akhirah then quite serene
With a polished heart kept clean
Use the dunya, work for the deen
Ruh, qalb and nafs in a straight line
Siratul mustaqeem5 to the Divine
I wish my being would so be defined
© Najma Ansari
31 December 2009 (after Fajr)
Johannesburg
1 Surah Bani Isra’il – 17:85
2 Surah Yusuf -12:53
3 Surah Fajr – 89:27
4 Surah Anaam – 6:48
5 Surah Fatiha – 1:6
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