The Seven Stages of the Soul (Nafs) in the Sufi Tradition

In tasawwuf, nafs means a person’s own self. Desires, character traits, and habits are all inside this word. The Sufi path is built on training this self. The Quran speaks of three states of the nafs: the soul that commands evil (Surah Yusuf 12:53), the soul that reproaches itself (Surah al-Qiyama 75:2), and the soul at peace (Surah al-Fajr 89:27). Starting from these three, the masters of tasawwuf identified seven stages through which the nafs passes. They called these atwar al-sab’a, the seven stages. In this article we will first look at how this understanding took shape, then at each stage one by one, and finally at what this knowledge is for. The training that carries the nafs from one stage to the next is the subject of a separate article: tazkiyat al-nafs.

Historical Development

The understanding of seven stages took shape over time. The early ascetics, such as Hasan al-Basri (d. 728), were concerned with the two states named in the Quran: the soul that commands evil and the soul at peace. For them the real question was this: how does a person pass from one to the other through repentance and worship. In the tenth century Abu Talib al-Makki, in his Qut al-Qulub, began to describe the states in between. Al-Qushayri, in his Risala, separated station from state. A station is a degree that is earned by effort and stays. A state is a spiritual feeling that God gives and that passes.

Today the seven stages are mostly associated with the name of Ibn Arabi. But the one who wrote out this scheme most clearly was the Central Asian Sufi Najm al-Din Kubra (d. 1221). Kubra described the signs of each stage and the work to be done at each stage separately. His student Ala al-Dawla Simnani matched each stage to the state of a prophet. Al-Ghazali, in the Ihya’ Ulum al-Din, carried this knowledge into a language of character that anyone could read. In Anatolia the Halveti order matched the seven stages to seven names of God and gave each stage its own dhikr.

The Seven Stages

In tasawwuf the person who enters the path is called the salik (the wayfarer), and the teacher who guides them is called the murshid. At each stage we will look at three things: what the nafs is like at this stage, what its danger is, and what the salik should do.

1. Nafs al-Ammara (The Commanding Soul)

Ammara means “one that constantly commands.” The term is taken from the Quranic verse “The soul is ever commanding evil, except where my Lord has mercy” (Surah Yusuf 12:53). At this stage the nafs has not yet been trained. Appetite, anger, and habit govern the person. The person sees the wrong they do as normal and feels no regret. From the outside they may not look like a bad person; they may be well liked and successful. But they live their life without ever questioning it. This stage has an article of its own: Nafs al-Ammara, the soul that commands evil.

At this stage the salik learns to go against the nafs. The five daily prayers, fasting, repentance, and keeping company with people further along the path are the remedy for this stage. At this point the murshid is like a borrowed conscience for the salik, because the salik cannot yet see their own faults alone.

2. Nafs al-Lawwama (The Self-Reproaching Soul)

Lawwama means “one that reproaches.” The term is taken from the Quranic verse “I swear by the self-reproaching soul” (Surah al-Qiyama 75:2). At this stage the nafs begins to see itself. The salik notices that they keep falling into the same mistake, regrets it, and reproaches themselves. This state is uncomfortable, but it is a great step, because now there is an eye inside that watches the nafs. God has sworn by this soul, and that shows its worth. In tasawwuf, seeing one’s own faults is counted as strength, not weakness.

The danger of this stage is indecision. The salik sees their fault but cannot yet resist it. They resolve, break the resolve, grieve, and resolve again. The remedy is three things: doing dhikr every day, keeping company with fellow travelers, and taking account of oneself every evening and telling it to the murshid. At this stage the salik sees both their present state and the state they could reach. The distance between the two wears them down.

3. Nafs al-Mulhima (The Inspired Soul)

Mulhima means “one that receives inspiration.” The term is taken from the Quranic verse “By the soul and the One who formed it, and inspired it with its wickedness and its God-consciousness” (Surah al-Shams 91:7-8). At this stage the salik begins to tell apart the whisper of the nafs from the true voice that comes from God. Compassion and generosity now come on their own, without forcing.

The danger of this stage is self-admiration; tasawwuf calls it ujb. The salik may think, “I receive inspiration, so I must be special,” and may imagine they have reached the end of the road. This is why the murshids watch the salik closely at this stage. The remedy is three things: serving others, reading about the humility of the great saints, and telling the murshid every state one sees in oneself. The gain of this stage is this: the salik now measures themselves by God’s command, not by what people say.

4. Nafs al-Mutma’inna (The Soul at Peace)

Mutma’inna means “at peace, settled.” The term is taken from the Quranic verse “O soul at peace! Return to your Lord” (Surah al-Fajr 89:27-28). At this stage the long fight between the desires of the nafs and the faith of the heart ends. A peace settles inside that does not depend on outward circumstances. This peace does not mean that the possibility of doing wrong has ended completely. The nafs has not been destroyed; it has been brought into line. The salik still feels pain and still feels joy, but these no longer rule them. This stage has an article of its own: Nafs al-Mutma’inna, the soul at peace.

At this stage the salik looks at hardship differently. In the earlier stages pain was something to be endured. Now the salik meets it with an easy heart, because they know that ease and hardship both come from God. Their worship becomes long dhikr, reflection, and muraqaba. Muraqaba is living with the knowledge that God sees you; the hadith of ihsan describes this state.

5. Nafs al-Radiya (The Contented Soul)

Radiya means “one that is pleased.” The term is taken from the Quranic words “well pleased” (Surah al-Fajr 89:28). At the fourth stage the salik had found peace within. At this stage that peace spreads to everything that happens to them. Complaint ends, and inner resistance melts. Tasawwuf calls this rida. Rida is accepting with an easy heart every decree, whether it looks like good or harm, for oneself or for others. This acceptance is not helplessness. Trust in God becomes complete here; the salik no longer carries trust in God only as a belief but lives it in every event. People at this stage are not idle. On the contrary, they work more calmly and more steadily, because worry about the outcome no longer wears them down.

6. Nafs al-Mardiyya (The Soul Pleasing to God)

Mardiyya means “one that is pleased with.” The term is taken from the words “well pleasing” in the same verse (Surah al-Fajr 89:28). At the fifth stage the salik was pleased with their Lord. At the sixth stage their Lord is pleased with them. These two stages cannot really be separated, because the servant cannot be pleased with God unless God is pleased with the servant. They are counted separately because of the order in the verse. A person at this stage becomes a source of good for others without striving or planning. Merely being near them changes people; their silence teaches as much as their speech. Tasawwuf calls this stage wilaya, nearness to God. What people sense in such persons is called baraka.

7. Nafs al-Kamila (The Perfect Soul)

Kamila means “matured, completed.” This stage gathers all the earlier stages together. The salik lives in the world as a complete servant. They laugh, weep, work, love, and die, and in all of these their heart is in God’s presence. Nothing is wasted, and nothing is done for show. The Ibn Arabi tradition calls this the insan al-kamil, the complete human being. Its highest example is the Prophet. At this stage the tradition also names great saints such as Rumi and Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani. This stage is not earned by effort; it is given by God’s grace. One point deserves care here: the complete human being reflects the names of God as a servant, while remaining a servant. In other words, the most mature state of a human being is also the most humble.

The Stages as a Living Map

Knowledge of the seven stages is useful for two things. First, each stage has its own remedy. The strict discipline that saves the salik at the first stage suffocates the salik at the fourth, because that salik now needs room. The murshid looks not at what the salik thinks of themselves but at which stage they are really at. That is where the murshid’s skill lies.

Second, this knowledge protects the salik from a subtle trap. The trap is worship feeding the nafs. Practices that should make the nafs smaller sometimes make it bigger. The tradition names each stage and the danger of each stage, and so the salik cannot easily deceive themselves. The salik at the second stage may imagine they have reached peace; the salik at the third stage may begin to admire themselves. These are dangers that have been known on this path for a very long time, and the remedy for each is clear.

Let us close with a saying often repeated among the Sufis: “Whoever knows themselves knows their Lord.” The hadith scholars note that this is not a saying of the Prophet but a piece of wisdom attributed to Yahya ibn Mu’adh al-Razi. To pass through the seven stages is, in the end, to walk toward knowing oneself and, through that, knowing one’s Lord.

Sources

• The Quran, 12:53, 75:2, 89:27-28, 91:7-8
• al-Ghazali, Ihya’ Ulum al-Din (c. 1097)
• al-Qushayri, al-Risala (c. 1046)
• Najm al-Din Kubra, Fawa’ih al-Jamal (c. 1220)
• Abu Talib al-Makki, Qut al-Qulub (c. 996)