Self _Compassion in Islamic Doctrines

Self-compassion is an ethical concept meaning benevolence and kindness to oneself. The existence of certain religious doctrines, especially in the realm of ethics, reinforces the misconception of the incompatibility of some part of religion with this ethical principle. By analyzing these doctrines and through presenting an applied definition for compassion to one’s self, it can be said that this ethical principle has been of concern in all Islamic doctrines. In a practical definition, self-compassion has two minimal and maximal (bottom and top) levels. In minimal level, selfcompassion means not to sustain a loss to oneself and in maximal level, it means to benefit oneself. Inner self ( nafs ) contains different degrees from the physical body to the non-material celestial truth. With respect to this notion and by applying the ‚principle of preferring the most important to the important‛ and the ‚principle of no harm‛, the apparent incompatibility of all the claimed instances can be resolved.