Naqd al-Nafs
Definition
Naqd al-nafs — the critique or careful examination of the self — is a practice that al-Ghazali recommends as a specific counter to ghurur: treating one's own spiritual claims and self-assessments with the same critical rigour that one would apply to someone else's claims. The person who readily criticises others' hypocrisy but accepts their own self-reports of genuine piety without question is applying a double standard that ghurur exploits. Naqd al-nafs requires applying the same sceptical scrutiny to one's own spiritual condition that genuine intellectual honesty demands in every other domain.
As understood in the classical tradition of Imam al-Ghazali and the scholars of his school.
Appears in
1 book in the library
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