Nafs is an Arabic word (cognate of the Hebrew word "Nefesh" נפש ) which occurs in the Qur'an and means self, psyche,ego or soul. In its unrefined state, "the ego (nafs) is the lowest dimension of man's inward existence, his animal and satanic nature."Nafs is an important concept in the Islamic tradition, especially within Sufism and the discipline of gnosis (Irfan) in Shia Islam. Nafs means inner self - the evil side of your soul. It varies for every person. Tradition states it is a little black spot on the area where the person's heart is and it is mentioned in the hadith that the prophet Muhammad had this spot removed. Nafs is the evil/good form of the soul, basically there's a good side and a bad side. (Islamic definition)

There are three principal stages of nafs which are specifically mentioned in the Qur'an. They are stages in the process of development, refinement and mastery of the nafs.

In its primitive stage the nafs incites us to commit evil: this is the nafs as the lower self, the base instincts. In the eponymous Sura of the Qur’an, the prophet Joseph says "Yet I claim not that my nafs was innocent: Verily the nafs of man incites to evil."^{[Quran 12:53]} Here he is explaining the circumstances in which he came to be falsely imprisoned for the supposed seduction of Zuleika.

Hamza Yusuf Hanson is an American Islamic scholar, and (with Zaid Shakir and Hatem Bazian) is co-founder of Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California, United States. He is a convert to Islam, and is one of the signatories of A Common Word Between Us and You, an open letter by Islamic scholars to Christian leaders, calling for peace and understanding. He has described the 9/11 attacks as "an act of 'mass murder, pure and simple'". Condemning the attacks, he has also stated "Islam was hijacked ... on that plane as an innocent victim".The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom reported that he "is arguably the west's most influential Islamic scholar" and added that "many Muslims find his views hard to stomach."

Hamza Yusuf was born to two academics in Washington State and raised in Northern California. In 1977, he became Muslim and subsequently traveled to the Muslim world and studied for ten years in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, as well as North and West Africa. Hamza Yusuf spent four years studying in the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere in the Middle East. Later he traveled to West Africa and studied in Mauritania, Medina, Algeria, and Morocco under such scholars as Murabit al Haaj; Baya bin Salik, head of the Islamic court in Al-'Ain, United Arab Emirates; Muhammad Shaybani, Mufti of Abu Dhabi; Hamad al-Wali; and Muhammad al-Fatrati of Al Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt.^{[citation needed]} After more than a decade abroad, he returned to the United States and earned degrees in nursing from Imperial Valley College and religious studies at San José State University.^{[citation needed]}

Maulana Tariq Jameel (Urdu: مولانا طارق جمیل) (born 1953) is an Islamic scholar from Pakistan. His native town is Tulambah near Mian Channu. His father was an agriculturist who belonged to the Muslim Rajputs community.^{[citation needed]}

Tariq Jameel was born and raised in Mian Channu. In his childhood he lived a relatively modest life but religion was not a major part of his life and his family in particular. It wasn't until he pursued his M.B.B.S. in Lahore that his focus shifted towards Islam. After completing his Higher Secondary School education (a.k.a. F.Sc in some regions of Pakistan) in pre-medical (equivalent to A 'levels') from Government College, Lahore, he took admission in King Edward Medical College in Lahore. He intended to do his M.B.B.S., but he soon switched to Islamic education. He then went on to receive Islamic education from Jamia Arabia, Raiwind (near Lahore), Pakistan where he studied Quran, Hadith, Sharia, Tasawwuf, logic and Fiqh.^{[citation needed]}

His proclivity towards Islam grew during hostel life in Lahore and can mainly be attributed to the group members of Tablighi Jamaat who he became friends with during his college life.^{[citation needed]}