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An-Nafs al-Mutma'inna (Tranquil Soul) النَّفْس الْمُطْمَئِنَّة

In review — pending scholar verification

The highest of the three Quranic states of the soul — the soul at rest with Allah, content with His decree, addressed in Surah Al-Fajr with the call to "return to your Lord, well-pleased and pleasing."

Overview

An-Nafs al-Muṭmaʾinnah (Arabic: النَّفْس الْمُطْمَئِنَّة; "the tranquil soul") is the highest of the three Quranic states of the human soul — the soul that has come to rest with Allah, secure in faith, content with the divine decree, no longer agitated by every desire or every reproach. It is the goal of all tazkiyah (purification of the soul).

The Quranic locus is the closing verses of Surah Al-Fajr:

"O reassured soul, return to your Lord, well-pleased and pleasing [to Him]. So enter among My servants. And enter My Paradise." — Surah Al-Fajr 89:27–30

Classical commentators (Ibn Kathir, al-Qurṭubi) read this address as occurring at three moments: at death, in the grave, and on the Day of Resurrection. At each, the muṭmaʾinna soul is welcomed home.

Quranic references

  • Surah Al-Fajr 89:27–30 — the foundational verses.
  • Surah Ar-Raʿd 13:28 — "Those who have believed and whose hearts are reassured by the remembrance of Allah. Unquestionably, by the remembrance of Allah hearts are reassured."
  • Surah Al-Fath 48:4 — Allah descends sakīnah (tranquility) into believers' hearts to increase them in faith.
  • Surah At-Tawbah 9:40 — Allah's descent of sakīnah upon the Prophet ﷺ in the cave.

Hadith

ʿĀʾishah reported the Prophet ﷺ said: "Wonderful is the affair of the believer; for there is good for him in every matter — and this is not the case for anyone except a believer. If something pleasant befalls him, he is grateful, and that is good for him; and if something distressing befalls him, he is patient, and that is good for him." — Sahih Muslim 2999

Significance

The muṭmaʾinna is not the end of striving but its mature stage: the soul at rest does not stop acting righteously — it acts more steadily, with less inner friction. Tawakkul (reliance on Allah), ridā (contentment with the decree), and ḥubb Allāh (love of Allah) are its hallmark dispositions. The Quran promises this soul Paradise.

See also

References

  1. The Quran (Sahih International translation): Surahs At-Tawbah 9:40; Ar-Raʿd 13:28; Al-Fath 48:4; Al-Fajr 89:27–30.
  2. Sahih Muslim 2999.
  3. Ibn Kathir, Tafsīr, on Surah Al-Fajr.
  4. Ibn al-Qayyim, Madārij as-Sālikīn, sections on the muṭmaʾinna.