But the story is one thing and the symbolism is another thing; it is a symbolism. The animal part of man is called Nafs; it is the false ego. And the human part of man is called Ruh; it belongs to the higher spheres. Man has two aspects. He is composed of two things: what he has borrowed from the earth, and what he has got from heaven. What is in him of heaven makes him human; what he has got of the earth is the animal part in man. What was asked of Abraham was to annihilate the Nafs of his son, to make him, to prepare him for the service of God. No one can serve God fully unless that part which is called Nafs, that material part, is crushed.