what it means to lose the soul (نفس)? what does it imply?
فاعبدوا ما شيتم من دونه قل ان الخاسرين الذين خسروا انفسهم واهليهم يوم القيامة الا ذالك هو الخسران المبين ١٥
"Serve ye what ye will besides him." Say: "Truly, those in loss are those who lose their own souls and their People on the Day of Judgment: Ah! that is indeed the (real and) evident Loss!
— A. Yusuf Ali
[Al-Quran, Surah azZumar, ayat 15]
Surah azZumar (Q39) is about sincerity in Deen, the Law of Recompense, by which will Allah judge everyone, on the Day of Judgment.
Surah azZumar, ayat 15, quoted above, warns of the loss of the soul (nafs) as the greatest loss. The people who lose their souls will also lose their families.
Surah azZumar, ayat 6, informs that Allah created us from a single nafs, and from that nafs, her mate, ..., and He creates you in your mother's wombs, creation after creation, in three darknesses, ...
Surah Luqman, ayat 28, informs that your creation and your resurrection will not be except as a single nafs.
Surah anNisa, ayat 1, warns to keep taqwa of your Rabb, who created you from a single nafs, from her her mate, and then many men and women were dispersed from them, and keep taqwa of Allah, through whom you ask one another, and the wombs, indeed Allah is ever, over you, an Observer.
So, what is unique about us, what makes us human, is our particular nafs (soul), that invisible thing which we can neither see nor detect, at least, not yet.
Surah Ta Ha, ayat 15, quotes Allah informing Moses that '"Verily the Hour is coming - My design is to keep it hidden - for every soul to receive its reward by the measure of its Endeavour.' [Translation: A. Yusuf Ali]
Allah promises to reform those whom He declares successful on the Day of Judgement.
Allah warns that those who lose their nafs (soul) and their families on the Day of Judgment are the ones who will suffer the greatest loss.
The Bible, The Quran, Hadith sources, all inform us of the Fall of Adam, and the loss of the excellent form to a lowly form. Yet, we still remain human. Our nafs (soul) is in darkness, invisible, but not lost.
Losing the nafs (soul) then means losing humanity? Becoming another creature? Like the mythology of non-abrahamic beliefs strive to lose their bodies, attaining nirvana of the souls, liberation from the body, getting rid of the cycles of rebirth, and so on?
Allah, in His Infinite Mercy, invites us to retain our humanity, and so then, He will reform us to the magnificent humans He desires humans to be: a beautiful combination of body, nafs (soul), and Ruh.
Meanwhile, the false beliefs of the non-abrahamic religions fool humans into thinking that they are not their body, that they are only soul, which needs liberation from the body, which they consider a shell to be eventually discarded.
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Q39:15
فَٱعْبُدُوا۟ مَا شِئْتُم مِّن دُونِهِۦ ۗ قُلْ إِنَّ ٱلْخَـٰسِرِينَ ٱلَّذِينَ خَسِرُوٓا۟ أَنفُسَهُمْ وَأَهْلِيهِمْ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَـٰمَةِ ۗ أَلَا ذَٰلِكَ هُوَ ٱلْخُسْرَانُ ٱلْمُبِينُ ١٥
فَاعْبُدُوْا so worship
مَا what
شِئْتُمْ you will
مِّنْ دُوْنِهٖ ؕ other than Him
قُلْ Say
اِنَّ indeed
الْخٰسِرِیْنَ the losers
الَّذِیْنَ those who
خَسِرُوْۤا will lose
اَنْفُسَهُمْ their nafs (soul)
وَاَهْلِیْهِمْ and their families
یَوْمَ Day
الْقِیٰمَةِ ؕ of alQiyamah (The Standing)
اَلَا Let it be known
ذٰلِكَ that
هُوَ he
الْخُسْرَانُ (is in) extreme loss
الْمُبِیْنُ clear
۟
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