I am asked on many occasions, why did I choose the name Al Mulhama? I had chosen it to be inspired, to have inspiration and to feel inspired... at times maybe be an inspiration such as Al Mulhema.

Just recently I discovered how close to a revelation this moniker is:

The Forms the Nafs Takes***

If the nafs is fulfilling its obligation, which is to evolve towards knowledge of its One Source, then it reflects God’s plan for all of us; it reflects our fitra. If, however, it has been distorted as a reflector, then it takes on the myriad forms that are classified below.

The Commanding Self - Nafs al-ammara

If the nafs is completely wayward and has lost touch with its fitra, it is classified as nafs al-ammara. This is the totally selfish, most egotistical of the selves, which, as the Qur’an says, ‘commands to evil’ (Qur’an 12:53). It is the nafs of the supremely self-centred three-year old child or the despot who wants something and wants it instantly. This nafs will not listen to reason nor rationality. It is purely whimsical.

The Blaming Self - Nafs al-lawwama

Slightly higher on the scale is the nafs whose conscience is pricked because of its bad behavior. As a result, it blames itself for being extreme and may be spurred into positive action in order to do something about its dismal condition. This is the nafs al-lawwama, the blaming self.

The Inspired Self - Nafs al-mulhama

If the nafs al-lawwama progresses farther along the path, improving itself, becoming more tolerant and inspired, perhaps even creative, it becomes what is known as nafs al-mulhama, the inspired self. It develops a ‘live and let live’ attitude. It says, ‘why not?’ or ‘It’s crazy - let’s do it!’ Everything goes, even the wildest ideas.

The Certain Self - Nafs al-mutma’inna

When the nafs al-lawwama is brought under control, it is on the road to contentment, to becoming nafs al-mutma’inna. This self is certain that it will come to faithfully reflect the fitra in time, with diligence, commitment, honesty, companionship and applying the right prescriptions. It will increase in its certainty that it has come from beyond time; that it is only here to learn, to experience and to be poised for that final, incredible journey out of the prison of its body.

Allah addresses the nafs al-mutma’inna in the Qur`an: ‘Oh contented soul, return to your Lord, pleased and pleasing. Enter upon your state of being in adoration of Me; enter My Garden’ (Qur`an 89:29). In other words, God is telling this nafs to enter into a zone of contentment that is within itself. The root of contentment lies inside each of us so that we may recognize it within creation and become instruments of contentment for others.

The nafs encompasses this entire spectrum of all these stages; it can be any of these classifications of the nafs or the original nafs or self, the natural design given to each of us by God. When we speak in general terms of the nafs we mean a state in which we find ourselves at that time.

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The inward path which amounts to recognition of what the self is, its position in the cosmos and how it can be purified.


The Stages of the Self:


An-Nafs al-'Amara: the insinuating self

The insinuating self which is wholly evil and totally under the control of passions and bent only on self- gratification. It is totally blind to any higher reality. "The lower self of man commands to evil acts." ( 12:53)

An-Nafs al-Lawwama:the self-reproaching self

The reproachful self which is indecisive in choosing between good and evil and is constantly embroiled in an inner struggle. It is unable to overcome the impulses of the lower self while it nonetheless recognises the higher one. "No, I swear by the self-reproaching self." (75:2)

An-Nafs al-Mulhama: the inspired self

The self which recognises its faults and strives to correct them. "By the self and what proportioned it and inspired it with depravity or godliness!" (91:7-8)

An-Nafs al-Mutma'inna: the self at peace

Finally there is the self at peace which is illuminated and acts according to the good and is therefore liberated "O self at peace, return to your Lord, well-pleased, well-pleasing. Enter among My servants. Enter My Garden." (89:27)


'Ali al-Jamal, a Moroccan wali (sometimes translated as saint, but which really means a friend of Allah) said when he experienced this,


"A certain state came over me so that the attributes of Allah appeared in manifestation in myself and in all creation...I began to love myself and to love all creation. Whoever I saw, man or woman, old man or child, I loved...I also began to love animals, rivers, trees, birds, the sky and the stars, and the earth and its stones....whatever loved me and I loved whatever did not love me because I saw that my essence contained existence, high and low, and existence was part of me. It was like my limbs and extremities. My love of them appeared to me to be only love of my essence and attributes."

As for Iraq, well it is going through a Renaissance, i.e. rebirth. And with each birth, death & rebirth so must we feel the pain, and as mothers know, the more the pain of labour the dearer the child... Our country is dearest of All after God ALmighty and parents, and it grows dearer with each passing day. Because now I can nearly taste it, MY country.