Ihsan~~ The Spiritual Dimension of Islam

[scentsofjannah]

Ihsan


'it is to worship Allah as though you are seeing Him. Even though you do not see Him, He sees you.'" Prophet Muhammed :arabic5:

The inward path which amounts to recognition of what the self is, its position in the cosmos and how it can be purified.

The Stages of the Self:

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An-Nafs al-'Amara: the insinuating self

The insinuating self which is wholly evil and totally under the control of passions and bent only on self- gratification. It is totally blind to any higher reality. "The lower self of man commands to evil acts." ( 12:53)

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An-Nafs al-Lawwama:the self-reproaching self

The reproachful self which is indecisive in choosing between good and evil and is constantly embroiled in an inner struggle. It is unable to overcome the impulses of the lower self while it nonetheless recognises the higher one. "No, I swear by the self-reproaching self." (75:2)

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An-Nafs al-Mulhama: the inspired self

The self which recognises its faults and strives to correct them. "By the self and what proportioned it and inspired it with depravity or godliness!" (91:7-8)

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An-Nafs al-Mutma'inna: the self at peace

Finally there is the self at peace which is illuminated and acts according to the good and is therefore liberated "O self at peace, return to your Lord, well-pleased, well-pleasing. Enter among My servants. Enter My Garden." (89:27)

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'Ali al-Jamal, a Moroccan wali (sometimes translated as saint, but which really means a friend of Allah) said when he experienced this,


''I began to love myself and to love all creation. Whoever I saw, man or woman, old man or child, I loved...I also began to love animals, rivers, trees, birds, the sky and the stars, and the earth and its stones....whatever loved me and I loved whatever did not love me because I saw that my essence contained existence, high and low, and existence was part of me. It was like my limbs and extremities. My love of them appeared to me to be only love of my essence and attributes."
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