eating it, because it engenders oppression and aggression in the eater’s psychic faculty. Likewise, they called the air that passes in and out nafas (“breath”), because of the life and movement it involves. The philosophers likewise distinguish between the intellect and the soul on the grounds that the intellect is free of matter and its attachments, whereas the soul is connected to the body through governing and directing it.

As for the founder’s claim that, in linguistic usage, nafs denotes the body alone, this has no basis. The words “Every soul will taste death” [Āl ‘Imrān 185] do not mean every body, for a body devoid of a spirit does not taste death. Rather, nafs here denotes the spirit, as in the words of the Most High: “Allah takes the souls at the time of their death” [al-Zumar 42].

As for his claim that it denotes the intellect—as in His words, “It is He who takes you by night” [al-An‘ām 60], while the sleeper’s condition remains unchanged except with respect to the intellect—this is an oversight on his part. For His words, “It is He who takes you by night” [al-An‘ām 60], do not contain