I’ve been reading Reynold A. Nicholson’s The Mystics of Islam over the weekend, a book I bought from Tim Boucher awhile back but hadn’t cracked open until recently. One concept that I have found very fascinating in reading this book is that of the nafs. From page 39 of Nicholson’s book:
The Sufi teachers gradually built up a system of asceticism and moral culture which is founded on the fact that there is in man an element of evil–the lower or appetitive soul. This evil self, the seat of passion and lust, is called nafs; it may be considered broadly equivalent to ‘the flesh,” and with its allies, the world and the devil, it constitutes the great obstacle to the attainment of union with God. The Prophet said: “Thy worst enemy is thy nafs, which is between thy two sides.
So, I sort of grok this as having a correspondence to the “lower self” or “animal soul” in other systems. But here’s where things get even more interesting to me. From Nicholson:
Mohammed ibn ‘Ulyan, an eminent Sufi, relates taht one day something like a young fox came forth from his throat, and God caused him to know that it was his nafs…
…The nafs of Hallaj was seen running behind him in the shape of a dog; and other cases are recorded in which it appeared as a snake or a mouse.
This reminds me of the scene in The Last Temptation of Christ where Jesus goes to the desert and sees the two snakes speaking with the voice of Mary Magdelene. He clutches his heart, from whence they came and the snakes disappear. And Jeroboam, seeing this, replies “God has blessed you. The snakes left. They came from you.” Though, in the Sufi schema, the snakes don’t leave so much as they are brought to heel/heal.
And this makes me think that all the images in Catholic iconography where the Virgin Mary or Jesus or a saint is standing atop a serpent—that the snake doesn’t quite represent Satan, and it does not represent the kundalini energy per se, but rather the nafs of that person who, seeking spiritual enlightenment and purification, has conquered it. This Catholic iconography also seems to have correspondence with the the image in the Mithraic Mysteries of Mithras slitting the bull’s throat. And with the passage in the Epic of Gilgamesh where the hero battles with the beast-man, Enkidu (though obviously there’s much more going on with the symbolism as well):
Enkidu is gradually introduced to civilization by living for a time with a group of shepherds, who teach him how to tend flocks, how to eat, how to speak properly, and how to wear clothes. Enkidu then enters the city of Uruk during a great celebration. Gilgamesh, as the king, claims the right to have sexual intercourse first with every new bride on the day of her wedding; as Enkidu enters the city, Gilgamesh is about to claim that right. Infuriated at this abuse, Enkidu stands in front of the door of the marital chamber and blocks Gilgamesh’s way. They fight furiously until Gilgamesh wins the upper hand…
Reading further on the nafs in Nicholson’s book makes these connections clearer:
Mortification of the nafs is the chief work of devotion, and leads, directly or indirectly, to the contemplative life. All the Sheykhs are agreed that no disciple who neglects this duty will ever learn the rudiments of Sufism. The principle of mortification is taht the nafs should be weaned from those things to which it is accustomed, taht it should be encouraged to resist its passions, that its pride should be broken, and that it should be berought through suffering and tribulation to recognise the vileness of its original nature and the impurity of its actions…
…Self mortification, as advanced Sufis understand it, is a moral transmutation of the inner man. When they say, “Die before ye die,” they do not mean to assert that the lower self can be essentially destroyed, but that it can and should be purged of its attributes, which are wholly evil. These attributes— ignorance, pride, envy, uncharitableness, etc.— are extinguished, and replaced by the opposite qualities, when the will is surrendered to God and when the mind is concentrated on Him.
Thus, after Gilgamesh defeats Enkidu, the latter becomes his trusted friend and companion, guiding him and aiding him in his quest.
And so the lower self or animal soul becomes an ally through internal purification of the individual.
And perhaps the same holds true with regards to the character of the Demiurge/Kal/ Satan hirself…
I’m certainly not claiming authority on this subject and will have to read a bit more on the nafs, but I welcome the insights and comments you all have in store for me.
Hi, my own knowledge of this is rather more experiential than scholarly, but I should attempt to explain. To deny the “nafs” is to be held by the Sufi teaching school centre, into an emotional quandry in which your fear of the torments of hell becomes insurmountable, but such as that when ever your body has any desire for pleasure, which it had previously reconciled itself to as though not sinful, then your terror is immeasurable for long enough only so as to cause you to behave in whatever way is at that moment the least in physical pleasure without being causal to pain. I had the experience triggered in myself at reading a sufi allegory, and it took some working through and out into a full Islamic identity to navigate having had the experience, while not married and without any financial protection, so as to consolidate its full meaning. I did not even know at the outset that the text I had read was Muslim. However the experience has saved me. It returned me to my indigenous heritage, and plugged me into the possiblity of evolution for the whole planet.
Salam and Shalom, but Waram
When night is day
All the world will pay
For ought but what did a child at play
In the night of this our daylight
Thanks for the first-person insight, anungarray. I’ve heard it said that sometimes we’re born into a spiritual heritage or tradition for a reason. Perhaps. But it certainly sounds like the return to yours has deepened you. For my own part, I’m still upon the waters, swimming and searching, having left the shores of my family’s faith long ago. Perhaps there will be a return, but I feel that I’ve set my course, though where it leads I know not as yet. Or perhaps I know, but have yet to admit and commit to it.
[...] may have put it there, but it’s not you. It’s a compulsion: a desire of your monkeys, the nafs, those processes that you’ve imprinted or programmed within yourself that operate apart from [...]