You want to become a better version of yourself. That’s great! Understanding the 7 stages of the nafs will help you identify where exactly you are right now, and where you can go. The word “nafs” (نفس) is commonly translated as “self” and in it’s most general and usual usage, is what we refer to when we say “myself”: it is what we identify ourselves with. For more details on the nature of the nafs itself in terms of its 4 aspects, see here. As we start on our journey of purification, it is important to understand how we change. That is to say, how our nafs changes and evolves over time. To do this, we should first identify where we are, and then we…