Nafs means soul or self. Sufis, drawing on the Qurʾān, describe its stages: the self that commands evil, the self that blames itself, and the self at peace, with further stages added by later teachers. The path is the purification of the nafs, the greater struggle.
Nafs
The self or ego: in Sufism, the lower self with its passions, to be disciplined and transformed.
Also: Nafs, ego, self