qualities of the nafs are intelligence, foresight, courage, the power to
take the initiative and the power to choose and act freely. When
these are developed, the nafs appears in all its glory. Thus it is
obvious that the self which is the essence of man is progressive. To
evolve is in its nature. If it is prevented from developing, it becomes
stunted and corrupt. Its powers atrophy and it gravitates to a lower
level.
It may be pointed out here that term nafs is used in its original
Qur’anic sense. In common parlance it has acquired associations
and nuances of meaning which are irrelevant to our purpose. It is
necessary to restore its original meaning to the word and use it as
equivalent to self. We must bear in mind that the Ruh in not part of
God. It is not in God’s nature to have parts. The Ruh is His directive
energy, as Iqbal has put it. It is, to put it in a different way, from Him
but not of Him. The human self in not a part of the Divine Self. We
have already explained that every self is unique and indivisible. The
human self, by virtue of participating in the Divine Energy, is
capable of cultivating the Divine attributes, but only so far as is
possible for a finite being.
V. HereafterIn the foregoing pages we have adduced many reasons for
believing that there is something in man, and this something can
only be his self, which transcends the laws of nature. If we concede
this point, it follows that the self remains untouched by the
processes of decay and decomposition which culminate in the
dissolution of the body. The self, therefore, survives death as it had
survived the many changes, some even drastic, which the body had
undergone in this life. The usual objections to survival after death
are based on the fact of physical decomposition. The Qur’an points
out that this is not applicable to the self:
And they say: What! When we shall have become bones and decayed
particles, shall we then certainly be raised up, being a new creation. Say:
By ye stones or iron or some other things which are too hard (to receive
life) in your minds (17:49-51).
For the Qur’an life after death is a fact, As regards the question how
and by whom man gets a new life after death, the Qur’an answers:
Islam: A Challenge to Religion 85