The 4 Aspects of the Self (Nafs): Become a Better Version of Yourself

In order to begin Purification of the Soul, or tazkiyat-un-nafs, we need to first understand what is the nature of the nafs itself. The Nafs, or Self, has four (4) aspects, each with it’s own unique characteristics.

The 4 Aspects of the Nafs or Self

The Self of every human being has the following four (4) aspects:

1. Bestial (Bahimi – بهيمي)
2. Predatory (Sab’ai – سبعي)
3. Satanic (Shaytaani – شيطاني)
4. Angelic (Malaaiki – ملائكي)

The Bestial Self (Bahimi Nafs)

The Bestial aspect is the most basic and necessary aspect of the self – it maintains life. This part of the Self is the one that takes satisfaction in eating, sleeping, playing, and procreating. These things are what animals do. They instinctively eat when hungry, sleep when tired, play when active, and procreate as necessary to continue the species.

Examples of the Bestial Self are cows, sheep, goats, chickens, horses, and so on. These animals don’t do anything other than these basic things. They find pleasure and contentment in only these things, so they pursue only them – they spend all their time engaged in these activities, because that is all that they know how to do.

As humans, our Self also has this aspect, and in fact needs it to exist. We need to eat, sleep, play, and procreate as basic functions of life.

Watch an excellent video about the Bestial Self (Bahimi Nafs) by Sh. Mokhtar Maghroui.

Dangers of the Bestial Self

The bestial aspect of our self is perhaps the most difficult to tame, because we all need to eat, sleep, play and procreate. The question arises: where do you draw the line? How much is enough, and when is it too much?

You’ve often heard the expression “I need some comfort food”. When we are depressed, sometimes we try to cope through excessive eating or sleeping. Other people indulge their sexual urges without restraint. Still others busy themselves with entertainment. All of these situations are examples of us giving in to our bestial nafs, and letting our animal instincts take over.

We are human, and that means we are not perfect, so sometimes we might not have as much “self-control” (“nafs-control”). But if we continually indulge the Bestial tendencies of our self, that aspect of our self will dominate, and we will have used our God-given freedom, to become slaves to our baser animal nature.

The Bestial Self in Society

It’s not difficult to see how this basic aspect of the the Self is commonplace in society today. We are surrounded by a society that advertises, promotes, and glorifies eating, entertainment (music, movies, sports, games), and sex. Just as an example, the phrase “food coma” actually has a positive connotation; that is, it is acceptable in society to brag about being in a food coma. What’s bad is good. Excess has become normalized in society.

If you think for a moment about your social media feeds, how much pertain to food, sex, and entertainment? We are constantly being invited to indulge our bestial self in excess. And all in the name of consumerism. But at what cost?

If I give in and indulge the bestial aspect of my self, I will ultimately harm my physical body, waste my time, pollute my brain, and achieve very little in life. And that’s purely from a secular perspective.

But what about the spiritual cost? Excess in this area only increases the distraction (ghafla) of our spiritual heart. We feed our bestial self so much, that it becomes dominant among the 4 aspects of the self, and affects our heart accordingly. Our heart then feels only the need to satisfy the baser urges of eating, sleeping, playing, and sex. Our free time then almost completely revolves around satisfying the bestial aspect of our self.

As a result, we become a slave to our animal desires. And since we spend most of our free time fulfilling those desires, we have correspondingly less time to contemplate our Creator: we become completely distracted, and the lens of our heart can no longer perceive the Divine.

How to Control the Bestial Self

Purification of the Soul, or tazkiyat-un-nafs is about learning how to bring our bestial urges under control. God has given us the perfect tool to do this. Fasting in Ramadan is the best training ground to bring our Bestial Self under control. Through the blessings of this month, we are able to learn how to control our urges. We are able to prove to ourselves, that we can indeed live our lives the way God wants us to, in a way that benefits not only ourselves, but others as well.

If we combine this knowledge with the explicit purpose of fasting as stated in the Qur’an, of cultivating God-consciousness (Taqwa), then we see that controlling our Self is how we develop Taqwa and get closer to God. So purification of the soul has a direct impact on getting closer to God.

The Predatory Self (Sab’ai Nafs)

The Predatory aspect of the Self one of the most visibly damaging aspects, and it is strong in people, almost as much as the Bestial aspect. The Predatory aspect includes the Bestial aspect but goes beyond that, to attack others and usurp rights, as well as marking out territory. This is that aspect of the Self that takes pleasure in attacking and preying on others. It is prone to violence (verbal and physical), and will harm for sport, not just for need. When we act out of anger, it is the predatory aspect of the self that is surfacing.

Examples of the predatory self are wolves, tigers, lions, and so on. These animals harm others as is their nature, but they do so only out of the necessity of obtaining food to survive. We however, often harm others only to satisfy our predatory nature.

Hear what Sh. Mokhtar Maghroui has to say about the predatory self.

Dangers of the Predatory Self

In humans, this is one of the most common and dangerous of the aspects of the Self. The bestial aspect of our self can also be very destructive, but really only to ourselves. The Predatory aspect however, is almost entirely dangerous to others. You have heard the adage “power corrupts, and absolutely power corrupts absolutely”. Having control over others is from the Predatory Self. We stake out territory and strive to control everything within that sphere. We usurp others rights, just because we can. When we do so, we gain satisfaction, but we are actually satisfying our predatory Self. In doing so, we breed many of the diseases of the heart.

The Predatory Self in Society

Unfortunately, this aspect of the self is all too visible in society. It starts however, with individuals. People who cultivate this aspect are eager to subjugate others to their will. They want to dominate in personal relationships: their marriage, their children, and their friends. Minimizing others’ value and contributions is a symptom of a Predatory Self. The result of encouraging these tendencies in ourselves, results in the following diseases of the heart: arrogance, pride, vanity, conceit, anger, and oppression. These diseases in individuals, and the chaos they create damage the very fabric of society.

Now as we extend this concept to groups of people, we see how damaging this aspect of the self can be. “Groupthink” and “Herd Mentality” are extremely dangerous states of being. If a group of individuals who have cultivated their Bestial and Predatory Selves come together, the potential for even greater evil becomes almost guaranteed.

We see examples of organizations run by people who are predatory, and the resulting damage they do to individuals, society, and the environment, all to assert their authority and control – this is the “staking out territory” function of predatory animals, that predatory humans engage in. How often do we hear this phrase in corporations around the world: “kill the competition”. The same occurs in informal groups of people, as when mobs coalesce, and violence ensues.

As mentioned earlier this is one of the aspects of the self that can be the most damaging because it inherently results in injustice, at the personal, family, and societal level. The need for justice, it could be argued, is one of the fundamental requirements of human society. We know that God commands us to deal justly in all our affairs, and many of the God-given laws perform this function.

We also know that if not in this world, ultimately justice will be served on the Day of Judgement. Without justice, there is chaos. Given this context, we can see how bad the predatory aspect of the self really is – it is exactly the opposite of justice, as it is about the oppression of others and the usurping of their rights.

It could be said that the entire social justice movement is about alleviating the effects of the predatory self. People who have a predatory self have perpetrated enormous injustices throughout history, and are continuing to do so.

Redress is necessary. Many good people are therefore striving to bring about restorative justice and bring balance to society. In effect they are trying to heal the damage done by the predatory self on a societal level.

Purification of the Soul (Tazkiyat-un-nafs) is about treating the root cause of all this oppression: the diseases of the heart that result from encouraging and enabling the predatory aspect of the self.

How to Control the Predatory Self

To understand what we need to do to control the Predatory Self, we need to remind ourselves about its fundamental nature: the desire to take from others, their rights and freedoms. The question arises: why would someone do this? The answer is actually very simple when you think about it: the root cause of oppression in the world, is the love of wealth and status.

When it really comes down to it, people take away others’ rights, to ensure they themselves have more, and others have less. Greed for wealth, and the desire for power, are what drive people to oppress others. Wealth comes in many forms, as does power. And the desire to get these things is innate in human beings: it is fueled by the predatory aspect of the self, which must be controlled.

Therefore, the treatment or cure for the negative impulses from the predatory aspect of the self, is to somehow reduce our desire to accumulate wealth and power. The spiritually adept generally say that to counter a particular negative impulse, you should do the opposite.

Control your Love of Wealth

So for example, if you want to reduce your desire to accumulate wealth, then make it a point give it away.

1. Be particular about paying the Purification Tax (zakat)
2. Give charity (sadaqa) at every opportunity
3. Set up a recurring debit from your account for the charity of your choice
4. Get cash before going to Friday Worship (Juma) so you can give to the poor
5. et cetera …

Control your Love of Power

The desire for power is in some ways more subtle and more difficult to deal with. Again, the basic strategy is to do the opposite. The best thing is to start at home, and go from there.

At Home:

1. Don’t always tell your young children what to do. Ask them, give them options, and empower them in a guided way. Create teaching opportunities.
2. Let older children make decisions about their lives – be less controlling. Trust them.
3. Let your spouse make decisions without insisting they follow your opinion all the time.

At work:

1. Don’t try to control everything.
2. Let others contribute, even if they make mistakes or don’t meet with your standards.
3. Ask questions, instead of giving answers.

Overall, know that only God is perfect: we can’t control the outcome of everything in our lives at home or at work. Trust that God will only do what is good for us. That is part of the loving relationship we should have with Him. When we try and control everything and everyone in our lives, we are in a subtle way expressing our own arrogance, and our distrust in God’s providence and His loving nature.

The Satanic Self (Shaytaani Nafs)

This is the 3rd and last of the negative aspects of the Self. As you have probably noticed there has been a progression in the effects of the different aspects of the nafs. We started with the bestial self, and understood how it is very damaging to the individual. Next with the predatory self we saw how the diseases of the heart can cause one to inflict pain and injustice on their family members and society as a whole. As can be guessed from the name, the Satanic Self takes things to a whole different level.

The Satanic Self is so-named because it is that aspect of the Self which takes its characteristics from the Devil (Shaytaan). Sh. Mokhtar describes this nafs in this short 3 minute video.

10 Dangers of the Satanic Self

This is the only one of the aspects of the self that is clearly and obviously negative. The Satanic self finds happiness and contentment in:

1. Deceiving
2. Cheating
3. Spreading Hate
4. Inciting Others to Evil
5. Breaking Marital Bonds
6. Spreading Ungratefulness
7. Encouraging Laziness
8. Encouraging Hastiness
9. Provoking Anger
10. Commending Arrogance

The above list is not exhaustive, but does cover the major strategies that the devil uses to mislead us. These aspects of the self are within us all, and the devil provokes us through these to get us to follow him and get distracted from the awareness of God.

The key thing to note about the Satanic aspect of the self, is that most of the strategies above, are based on ruining other people. This is one of the defining characteristics of the devil. His purpose is to ruin us all, and he does this by encouraging exactly those behaviors that are disliked by God, and which will take us away from His Grace.

The #1 Satanic Strategy

Taking us out of a state of Gratefulness to God (Shukr), is the Devils primary purpose. In the Qur’an we are told that at the moment that God banished the Devil and gave him respite until the Day of Judgement, Satan proclaimed that he would attack us from all directions, resulting in most of us being ungrateful to God:

This is his stated purpose and goal. If we decrease in gratefulness, he has won.

The Satanic Self in Society

Just as with the other aspects of the self, particularly the Predatory Self, the Satanic Self is extremely damaging to society as a whole. Spreading hate, and inciting towards evil are two particular characteristics that very clearly disrupt society. It’s not difficult to see how the popularity of social media has in fact accelerated and amplified Satan’s ability to drive these behaviors and views.

Satan knows that humans are very susceptible to suggestion and their environment. He therefore encourages immorality and oppressive behaviors at a societal level. He knows that by making something that’s bad, “popular”, others will adopt that behavior or belief just because others are doing it (=Fear Of Missing Out, or FOMO). Most of the time what is “popular” doesn’t even reflect the voice of the majority of the people, but rather just a vocal minority. Again, the concepts of “Groupthink” and “Herd Mentality” come into play and are extremely destructive.

For example, abusive behavior is destructive as is well known, whether it’s verbal or physical. Once upon a time, to abuse someone, you had to physically be in their presence. Not anymore: now you can abuse as many people as you want whenever you want, largely with only minimal repercussions, right from the comfort of your own home.

Mobile devices and social media provide a most potent broadcasting system for hate and abuse, in a way never before seen in the history of humanity. In a rush to adopt these new technologies for the definite conveniences they provide, we have opened a Pandora’s box of tools for our Satanic Self to use. We can’t close the box, and so now have to deal with how to counter the negative aspects of our Satanic Self.

How to Control the Satanic Self

Each of the various characteristics above in the list of 10 Dangers of the Satanic Self, have their own remedies (see detailed article on the Diseases of the Heart, and how to cure each of them), but generally there is one key method that can keep us safe from this, the most dangerous of the aspects of the self: be inward looking, not outward looking.

Why is this the best preventative technique? If you look at the 10 dangers above, you will note that most of them are outward facing, in that they are about other people: anger towards others, breaking up others’ marriages, spreading hate, et cetera.

To prevent ourselves from engaging in these activities, we should not look at others’ faults, but rather, look at our own faults. Be introspective and do self-analysis. You know the old saying “when you point one finger at me, your other fingers are pointing back towards you”.

Also remember that only God is in a position to judge. Who are we to pass judgement on other people’s behavior, or to get angry at them? We need to remember that we will be asked about our deeds on the Day of Judgement.

The Angelic Self (Malaaiki Nafs)

The Angelic aspect of the Self is the only one of the 4 aspects that is purely positive.

As the name suggests, the Angelic aspect of the self is that aspect that finds satisfaction in all that is Divine. It is not interested in matters of space and time, our 4-dimensional existence. Rather it is purely in tune with the unseen realm and it’s inhabitants (Angels etc…).

The Angelic Self seeks out and finds pleasure in the following things:

1. Remembrance of God (dhikr – ذكر)
2. Recitation of Qur’an
3. Worship (Salaat)
4. Enacting God’s commands
5. Keeping the company of righteous people
6. Seclusion (tahajjud, etc…)

Sh. Mokhtar briefly describes here the Malaaiki Self.

The Benefits of the Angelic Self

To put it mildly, all that is good in the world arises from cultivation of the Angelic aspect of the self in each and every human being. It is because we all have Angelic aspects to our self, that there are “good” people in the world. These people have cultivated their Angelic self, and so it dominates their character, resulting in them being a force for good in the world. And this does not depend on whether you are a Muslim or not.

If your character is “good” it is because you are consciously or otherwise acting in accordance with God’s wishes: your Angelic self which is in tune with the Divine, is the predominant force impacting your heart. Therefore the impulses and commands given by the heart to the body, are those that bring about good.

The Angelic Self in Society

For example, being kind to orphans is universally considered a good thing. Speaking the truth is a virtue. Upholding justice is necessary for a harmonious society. All these things are self-evident: you don’t have to be a Muslim to understand this. These beliefs and practices arise from the Angelic aspect of our self. They are also as a matter of fact commanded by God.

The purpose of God’s commands is not to make our lives difficult, but rather to have us behave in a way that will be beneficial to both us and society at large. Given the reality that there is good and evil in the world, and humans have free will, the question is, how do we behave as individuals and groups so as to live in an optimal way: a way in which the rights of individuals and groups are respected and protected?

Living according to God’s commands is how we can accomplish this. This is why after creating humans, God sent His prophets, to teach us how to live in the best way possible. God’s prophets taught us how to cultivate and grow the Angelic aspect of our self, while at the same time subduing and controlling the negative aspects of our nafs.

How to Empower the Angelic Self

It is critical that we empower the Angelic aspect of our Self, as this is the only aspect that is purely positive. If we neglect to nourish our Angelic self, we run the very real risk of allowing any or all of the other three aspects of the self from taking over our being, resulting in a purely animalistic, predatory, and evil self. This is what the Devil wants us to do.

As with the other aspects of the self, if we feed this aspect those things it craves and finds satisfaction in, then it will thrive and grow, ultimately dominating the other aspects.

What do we Feed the Angelic Self?

As mentioned above, the Angelic nafs needs the following things to be healthy:

1. Remembrance of God (dhikr – ذكر)
2. Recitation of Qur’an
3. Worship (Salaat)
4. Enacting God’s commands
5. Keeping the company of righteous people
6. Seclusion (tahajjud, etc…)

We must increase our practice of all of the above six things if we want our Angelic self to dominate our being. These are very simple things, but if done consistently even in small amounts, they can be truly transformative. These are some of the main things that we can intend to do on a daily basis as part of the Process of Purification of the Soul.

Conclusion

We know that all of us are sometimes tempted to do bad things. At other times we feel like doing good things. These different types of inclinations and urges are a result of the fact that our Self has four aspects:

The Bestial or Animalistic aspect (Bahimi – بهيمي), the Predatory aspect (Sab’ai – سبعي), the Demonic or Satanic aspect (Shaytaani – شيطاني), and the Angelic aspect (Malaaiki – ملائكي).

The bestial aspect is necessary for life, but if we feed it too much, we become a slave to our lower self and desires, and we spend most of our energy simply eating, sleeping, playing, and engaging in our sexual urges, to the point that these activities define us and dominate our lives. We must therefore carefully monitor these activities, and do only as much of them as necessary, with a preference towards minimizing them as much as possible.

The Predatory and Demonic aspects of the self are generally bad, but can be used for good in certain situations. For example we can and should fight, to defend our life, property, and wealth. But we shouldn’t then fight, plot, and scheme for other reasons such as to acquire excessive wealth, or usurp others’ rights. We should again be mindful that we are not engaging in these activities for the wrong reasons.

Finally, we should at all costs, encourage and cultivate the Angelic aspect of our self. This way we can remove the negative impulses that go from the Nafs to the heart, resulting in the various diseases of the heart.

It is through subduing the negative aspects of the self, and growing and nurturing the Angelic aspect that we will become habituated to those actions that are in accordance with God’s commands. That is how we can earn His pleasure and love.

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