Fana al-nafs – The path to Divine Love

Sufi masters have always spoken of the nafs (ego or lower self) as a primary hurdle for those who are on the journey to seek the Almighty. For the Sufis, the ego is the wall that separates the seeker from the Almighty. The wall may be as thin as a veil, but it can impede the search for the Divine.

For a mind that is in a state of ignorance or darkness, the ego becomes an extension of the corporeal being. Within this ignorance lies the opportunity to find the illumination of God’s love.

If the heart is pure, one shall find the path to God’s love. This is illustrated through the Sufi story of a man who worshiped God constantly. He danced, and he sang God’s praises. Every step, every breath, all was for God. He cared nothing for himself; he cared only for God.

God wanted to reward this faithful man. “Ask for anything!” God said.

“I have everything,” the man replied.

“Ask not for yourself,” God suggested.

“On one condition,” said the man.

“Name it,” God replied.

“Let my shadow behind me work miracles, so I neither see it nor know it. My shadow, not me. That way I will not fall into the trap of ego from which love has freed me.”

This is how true seekers yearn to move closer to divine presence and become one with the Divine Beloved – by consciously escaping the trap of the ego.

Annihilating the false self – what the Sufis refer to as fana al-nafs – is a vital step for the seeker. Khwaja Karimullah Abbasi Qadri, a Sufi saint of Punjab, said that the corporeal being – the seeker’s own self – is the veil. “Efface the defilement of false ego, suspicion, self-conceit in the blazing fire of intense love,” he advised.

The enigma of the ego has baffled true seekers, since it is the primary barrier to the realisation of divine love. Hazrat Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī, the 13th-century Sufi mystic, expressed the nafs as the ‘I’ which separates the seeker from the Divine Beloved. He exclaimed:

“Between you and me, there lingers an ‘It is I’ which torments me.

Ah! Lift this ‘It is I’ from between us both!”

Hazrat Rumi urged the Almighty to subdue the nafs and purify the heart so that the self could become one with the Divine.

Why have the Sufi masters spoken of the ego as a tyrant that seems to imprison the soul? It is because the ego traps the human spirit and does not let it enjoy its natural flow of love and kindness. Blinded by the veil of the ego, man forgets his interconnectedness to everything around him. If ego or the lower self is given a free rein, it represses and subjugates the human spirit, keeping it “imprisoned and forgotten in the depths of our subconscious.”

Persian Sufi master Hazrat Rashīd al-Dīn Maybudī, the 12th-century scholar and mystic, said in his seminal work Kashf al-Asrār wa ʿUddat al-Abrār (The Unveiling Of The Mysteries And The Provision Of The Pious), “He who struggles against the ego becomes rich in the heart.”

The guidance of a wise and enlightened spiritual master can enable the seeker to break free from the confinement of the ego. Through committed spiritual practice, one may find the divine founts of humility and love within the self.

In Sufi talks, ego is at times regarded as a wild horse which is untamed and powerful, and hence difficult to control. When the ego operates from a place of darkness, it focuses only on the desires of the lower self. Through rigorous spiritual practice and the effort of the seeker to transform the self, the wild horse that is the ego is assiduously trained to enable the seeker to reach the higher realms of spiritual practice and become the vehicle for inner transformation and self-realisation.

Hazrat Sultan Bahoo, a loved Sufi master of the Indian sub-continent whose fame transcends cultures, religions and countries, said of the seeker’s battle against the lower self, “In order to attain the highest goal of life, one must nullify his ego (selfhood). Since ego is an internal matter, ritual prayers cannot harness it. It is necessary to wage internal war against the nafs.” 

Those on the Sufi path yearn to experience the state of spiritual “death” before their physical demise. This is a transformative process for the seeker, whose purpose is to deepen the connection with the Divine Beloved during the journey of earthly existence. Sufis call this phenomenon mutū qabla an tamūtū – “die before you die”. Their endeavour is to experience the shedding of the illusions of the ego and partake in the deep bliss of surrender. Through this transition, they aim to give up on material desires and any illusions regarding the world.

A Sufi tale illustrates the hold of the lower self upon man, on how it can feed itself and give itself a strong identity; and how a seeker can avoid the trap of strengthening the ego. The tale goes that God observed Moses to be disturbed about some matter.

“Moses!” said God. “I see that you are troubled. Go ask Iblis for advice.”

So Moses went to see Iblis, who had once been a heavenly angel but who had rebelled and been cast out.

“God sent me to you for advice,” Moses said to Iblis.

“My advice is simple,” replied Iblis. “Never say “I” about anything. Set aside all ego. That way, you won’t become like me. Your vanity and self-pride, your resentment, your envy and your anger are like dragons. Yet instead of subduing them, you pet them and cherish them, and you do so at your peril.”

The effort of the Sufis is to experience the annihilation of the ego and attain to ma‘rifa – gnosis or intuitive knowledge, which is direct, experiential understanding of God and the divine reality, rather than an intellectual or rational comprehension. Through this inner surrender, the seeker can attain spiritual insight and move closer to the presence of the Almighty.

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