The Inspired Nafs

Allah Almighty says,

(9)ونفس وما سواها ( 7 ) فألهمها فجورها وتقواها ( 8 ) قد أفلح من زكاها

[91:7]
and by the soul, and the One who made it well,

[91:8]
then inspired it with its (instincts of) evil and piety,

[91:9]
success is really attained by him who purifies it,

In this stage of development the nafs is gifted with the ability to distinguish between good and evil. Moreover,the performance of good actions and abstinence from evil is facilitated for him by the Grace of Allah.

This Grace is manifested as immense desire to please Allah. And at this stage nafs remains drowned in intense love of Allah (‘ishq illahi).

This is possible by following the recommendations of the Shaikh and excessive remembrance of Allah as instructed by him. In fact it is mandatory (wajib) to follow the recommendations of the Shaikh at this stage to be successful.

This is both a phenomenal and a challenging stage.

Any heedlessness here will pull the nafs to its initial stage. (May Allah protect us all from this disaster. Amin!)

Its characteristics include; self restraint (hilm), philanthropy, contentment, humility, repentance, patience, forbearance, forgiveness, maintaining a good opinion about others, acceptance of others’ excuses, etc.

In addition to the excessive remembrance of Allah and following the instructions of Shaikh meticulously one has to repeatedly remind himself of meeting Allah and His perfections. He has to be vigilant in following the Shariah and be compliant to his daily wird. He must efface his ego by purposefully doing permissible humble actions.

Here the individual observes that everything is from Allah (tawhid e afa’li). He abandons all criticism. He cries often and is deeply effected by the crying of others. He withdraws from all the creation and finds solace with Allah. He is attracted to beautiful audition.

In short this stage is marked by intense love, lofty desires and high aspirations to please Allah.