Nafs means “ego” or “soul” in Arabic. Everyone has a Nafs, the concept I’ll be talking about roots from Sufism, which is a part of Islam that is not talked about much. I heard about the word “nafs” as I was learning about Islam and ego at the same time. This concept can benefit anyone regardless of their religious or cultural background. Learning about this can help you understand any ego attachments you may have in this world, which can hold you back from opportunities, goals you want to achieve, and happiness.
Understanding your nafs/ego can help you reach your higher self and contentment. Monks, for example, are happy because they let go of ego attachments that hold them back. There’s different ways to reach your higher self, but there are 7 stages. You become more purified as you climb up these stages. These stages are stages of morality, purity, and closeness to God.
Starting from stage one is hard, but it takes self-jihad and understanding to follow into the next stage. “Self-jihad” is an inner fight between your lower self(your nafs) and your higher self(your ruh (the spirit in Arabic)). The lowest level of being is “Nafs al-Ammara” and the highest state is “Nafs al-Safiyya”. Usually in Islam, the lowest state can be left by the guidance of Allah(God in Arabic). Not everyone starts from the first stage, but it mostly depends on how your parents raised you. In Islam, the prophets were protected from sin so generally they were around the highest state, but the last Prophet (Muhammad, peace be upon him) was at the highest state of being. Messengers of God need to have a high state of being in order to benefit humanity.
The lowest state of your ego is commanding and evil. We know the ego, but we don’t recognize and understand how much it controls us in our day to day lives. The lowest state has the most immoral characteristics out of all the stages of nafs. It’s so immoral that you’re heedless of your thoughts and actions, so you think you’re perfect and that change isn’t needed. On the other hand, the highest state of your nafs is the state where you’re fully submitted to God, where humanity originated from. This is why a Muslim is called a Muslim, the literal meaning of it is “one who submits to God”. The highest state of being is attachment to God, and the lowest state is attachment to worldly desires.
Source Links: https://wisdomtavern.com/7-stages-of-nafs-7-levels-of-soul-ego/
http://www.jerrahi.org/articles/level_nafs_adapted_ibrahim_hakki_erzurumi_ks