Ya Nafs! 1/5 - A Conversation with the Self
(1) Ya Nafs! O Soul! A Conversation with the Self A reading of Ibrahim b. Ali al-Kaf'ami's book Muḥāsabat al-nafs al-lawwāma wa tanbīh al-rūḥ al-nawwāma (مُحاسِبَةُ النّفس اللوّامَة و تَنْبیهُ الرّوح النوّامَة) For more information on the book: https://en.wikishia.net/view/Muhasabat_al-nafs_al-lawwama_(book)
"Ya Nafs, O soul, be decisive in your affair, for you have no capital except your life. Do not waste it in your pursuits, pleasures, and demands, because when the capital is depleted, loss occurs and despair from trade ensues. If I certainly know that all my life is like an hour, why should I not be stingy and devoted to righteousness and obedience?".
As-salamu 'alaykum, everyone. What I just recited is the first entry from a book written by one of our great scholars by the name of Ibrahim bin 'Ali Al-Kaf'ami, famously known as Al-Kaf'ami. A scholar whose works in the Du'a literature, as well as other ethical works that he has written, are well-known and and they are well received in the world of scholarship.
In this specific book, which is called "Muhasibat un-Nafs Al-Lawwamah", it is a book in which Al-Kaf'ami is having a conversation with his own self. And it has dozens and dozens of different entries in which Kaf'ami comes and he speaks to himself, to his Nafs, to his soul, so that he can give the Nafs reminders and take the Nafs into account and remind it of the fragility and the lowliness of this Dunya.
As I just read this first entry from the book, Kaf'ami he is saying to his soul that, O Nafs, O Soul, be very careful with your time in this world. Be very careful with your time in this Dunya, because the investment that you have, the capital that you have in this Dunya is your life. That's the only investment that you have.
So instead of using that capital and using that investment and spending it chasing the pursuits and the pleasures of this Dunya, you are better off making better choices. You are better off making choices that will help you in the long run and will give you a better and a higher return on interest. That is the Akhirah (hereafter). Because if you make the wrong choices and if you go after the pleasures of the Dunya, by the time the capital depletes, by the time you run out of your money, your investment, you will realize that nothing has happened except loss. You have taken a loss in this Dunya.
He ends this entry with a small poem where he says that, 'If I know that my entire life is going to feel like an hour, even if you spend a hundred years on this world, it is going to feel like you just spent a couple of hours.'
If that is how i am going to feel when my life is ending, then why should I not be stingy with it? Why would I not be stingy with it? Instead of chasing after the Dunya, I should go and devote myself to righteousness, to Salah, to doing good deeds, having good moral conduct, and to devote myself to obedience to Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala.
This was the very first entry from Kaf'ami's book. InshaAllah, we will try and go through each and every single entry from this book.
We hope that these reminders for our own selves are effective and that they help us change our lives and help us. make better decisions inshaAllah and we ask Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala to give us the Tawfiq to be able to do that, inshaAllah.
Wa as-salamu 'alaykum, wa Rahmatu Allahi, wa barakatuh.
