■ "I put Knowledge and awareness in hunger and effort. But people seek them in Satiety and Convenience.

■ I put honor in my obedience and people seek honor in a Governor's palace or through wealthy people.

■ I put comfort in Contentment but people seek contentment through gaining more wealth.

■ I put my joyfulness in getting angry at your Nafs but people seek my joy while keeping their Nafs happy.

said, "When your Nafs drags you towards evil desires and lust, remember death a lot as its the best preacher."

Nafs (نَفْس) is an Arabic word occurring in the Quran, literally meaning "self", and has been translated as "psyche", "ego" or "soul".

said: "The Prophet (saw) of God dispatched a contingent of the army (to the battlefront).

Upon their (successful) return, he (saw) said: 'Blessed are those who have performed the minor jihad and have yet to perform the major jihad.'

When asked, 'What is the major jihad?'

Prophet (saw) replied: 'The jihad of the self (struggle against self)".

[Al-Majlisi, Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 19, p. 182, hadith no. 31]

is the struggle against evil ideas, desires and powers of lust, anger, and insatiable imagination, placing all of them under the dictates of reason and faith in obedience to Allah's commands, and finally, purging all satanic ideas and influences from one's soul.

This struggle is considered as the major struggle (al-jihad al-akbar) as it is much more difficult than fighting in the battlefield, for in the struggle against the self, one has to constantly battle enemies that are hosted inside his own existence.

Islamic ethical teachings indicate that the one who succeeds in this struggle can rise above and beyond the level of Angels, and one who fails in this struggle will descend to a level lower than the level of animals, and may even be grouped among the legions of the devil.

http://www.zaynabacademy.org/understanding-the-three-types-of-nafs/

■ I put comfort and peace in Paradise but people seek them in this world."