Firstly, I know that in Islam it is not encouraged for a woman to travel on her own, she should be accompanied by a mehram. I was wondering if there’s an authentic, strong hadith for this or any Qurani ayat stating this clearly.
Secondly, we often hear about the ‘nafs’. How does one explain ‘nafs’ in English?
Re: Couple of Questions
'nafs' is mostly meant in the context of 'desire', with usually negative connotations.
Re: Couple of Questions
The travelling with a mahram only applies for a journey over 1 day. You hardly do that nowadays.
Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri
(who fought in twelve Ghazawat in the company of the Prophet). I heard four things from the Prophet and they won my admiration. He said;
1. "No lady should travel on a journey of two days except with her husband or a Dhi-Mahram;
2. "No fasting is permissible on the two days of Id-ul-Fitr and 'Id-ul-Adha;
3. "No prayer (may be offered) after the morning compulsory prayer until the sun rises; and no prayer after the 'Asr prayer till the sun sets;
4. "One should travel only for visiting three Masajid (Mosques): Masjid-ul-Haram (Mecca), Masjid-ul-Aqsa (Jerusalem), and this (my) Mosque (at Medina)."
Your 'Nafs' is your 'Self', meaning your materialistic desires.
(Allah knows best)
Re: Couple of Questions
nafsiyyah means disposition or behaviour. Materialism has nothing to do with it and neither is seeking material benefit a bad thing.
Re: Couple of Questions
Thanks peeps.
The Hunk, I think it is happening a lot more nowadays than it did before. So those 4 points were made by the Prophet pbuh himself?
Faisal bhai, I think its a bit deeper than that - isnt it the sub-concious, the 'inner-child' as some call it. I dont think its necessarily evil. Your nafs can be a good thing too, no?
Re: Couple of Questions
I said 'usually', but I am trying to think of an example for 'good nafs'. Can't think of any. Mostly we are told to control our 'nafs'... meaning our desires.. both physical and spiritual.
Re: Couple of Questions
Well, yeah.
This hadith has also been reported by Muslim and Bukhari. Only the duration of the journey varies slightly.
The Prophet (p.b.u.h) said, “It is not permissible for a woman who believes in Allah and the Last Day to travel for one day and night except with a Mahram.” (Bukhari)
Ibn Umar (Allah be pleased with them) reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: A woman should not set out on three (days’ journey) except when she has a Mahram with her. (Muslim)
Re: Couple of Questions
I don’t believe nafs has anything to do with your spiritual desires. It is only your physical (worldly) desires. That is why it is considered negative. We, as Muslims, are not supposed to be materialistic.
Re: Couple of Questions
Spiritual.. not in the sense of 'roohaniyat'... but more in the sense of thinking of committing a sin and not actually physically doing it. Like zina of mind, for example. Thats nafs, right?
Re: Couple of Questions
True!
I misunderstood your point … my bad.
Re: Couple of Questions
I'm still not satisfied with your explanations of the 'nafs' - I fail to understand the difference between the 'nafs' and the plain 'self' ie your personality.
Perhaps, an Urdu explanation would be better?
Re: Couple of Questions
Quite a strange restriction. How about travel for trade? Isn’t this contradictory to the verse in Quran where it says (paraphrasing)
“travel the earth for work and trade”
“travel the earth to see what has happened to old civilizations”
Re: Couple of Questions
There’s no depth to it. It’s just your material desires. You ‘nafs’ is something that tells you to do something for yourself which is not a ‘need’.
It tells you to buy new clothes
It tells you to earn more money
It tells you to watch movies and TV
It tells you to waste your time ‘chilling’
etc.
Re: Couple of Questions
So only day trips for women traveling for work, right?
Re: Couple of Questions
Hunk - so 'nafs' are your wants, not your needs?
Re: Couple of Questions
Women not encouraged to travel by themselves does make sense to me to a large degree.
Okay, so your nafs are your material desires and your evil thoughts. 
Re: Couple of Questions
What is not to understand. In 7h century Saudi arabia, a patriarchal paradigm with harsh travel conditions, propagated such decrees. safety for women..I can understand it. It was for something in the 7th century arabia...thankfully even the camels in saudi run on diesel now and can cover longer distances and faster...women shouldn't be that far behind..so this decree should be filed away under not-applicable. Or return to sender.
Re: Couple of Questions
i always thought nafs was inner desire...
Re: Couple of Questions
the word nafs means self. Which can have different meanings according to its usage. Quran has used this word to describe moral stages of human race.
http://www.alislam.org/books/philosophy/1q1.html