What happens to the heart when a person sins?

A black spot appears on it. If he desists and repents, the heart becomes clear again. If he persists, the marks accumulate until they overshadow the heart, and that is the rust the Qur'an speaks of.

What does the word Nafs mean in the Qur’an?

One meaning of nafs in the Qur'an is the self. The other is a specific part of the self which represents worldly desire, lust, anger, greed, ego and other blameworthy traits, which some scholars call the carnal or egotistic self.

What are Nafs e Ammara, Nafs e Lawwamah and Nafs e Mutmainna?

When the nafs, which carries anger, pride, envy, greed and discontent, indulges in darkness and surrenders to the devil, it is called Nafs e Ammara, and it is heedless and disobedient to Allah. Nafs e Lawwamah may bring a person to sin, but then it incriminates itself and repents, and Nafs e Mutmainna, rather than indulge in its desires, finds peace in obedience to Allah. Through a systematic course of training and rigor the carnal self becomes Nafs e Lawwamah, and with constant training and rebuke it turns into Nafs e Mutmainna.

Is “do whatever makes you happy” an Islamic idea?

The common saying "do as you please or do whatever you feel like doing" is the way of the followers of Nafs e Ammara, not the way of Islam, and Nafs e Ammara indulges in the worldly pleasures and takes a man to the valley of desires, tempting yet barren. For those who put their nafs through rigor in this world, Paradise is promised as a refuge.

What is the greater jihad?

Striving against one's own desires in the obedience of Allah. The perfect mujahid is the one who struggles with his desires.

Should the nafs be broken through hunger and sleeplessness?

The earlier Sufis did practise extreme rigors of hunger and sleeplessness. The way to restrain the nafs is constant effort: allow it what it wants within the boundaries of the Shariah, and make it serve you.

What is Tazkiya, and how is the self actually purified?

Tazkiya is the cleansing of the carnal self from worldly evils, a cleansing of thoughts and deeds, of the heart and the soul. The heart is cleansed through remembrance, and the self is then rectified through rigor.

What is Suluk?

Suluk is to follow the Sunnah in actions and habits, and its effect is that one starts to despise the blameworthy traits and the praiseworthy traits are attained. For the believer, following the Shariah becomes second nature, the heart finds peace in the obedience of Allah and the acts of worship become easy to perform. Its benefit is that it removes indolence and makes it easy to follow the Shariah.

What is the difference between Islam and Sufism?

Tasawwuf is a branch of knowledge within Islam, just as Fiqh, the knowledge of Hadith and Tafsir are, with its roots within the bounds of the Qur'an and Hadith. The basic foundation of Islam is held in its beliefs, alongside a system of morality and the worship that constitutes the basics of all other systems; the human's direct relationship with his Creator, the breath and life of religion, is cultivated through Tasawwuf. Of the three fundamentals named in the hadith of Jibril, Islam is the Shariah and its ancillary disciplines, and the level of ihsan is Tasawwuf.

What is Ihsan in Islam?

Ihsan, excellence, is the third of the fundamentals of which the religion of Islam is composed, and the level of ihsan is Tasawwuf. It is the core of Tasawwuf, the perfection of yaqeen and excellence in deeds, and without faith and action one cannot reach it. Shaykh ul Hadith Zakriya named it the epitome of Tasawwuf.