Inspiration (ilhām) is allusion (tāʿrīḍ, speaking indirectly). The knowledge that results from revelation is called prophetic knowledge (ʿilm nabawī), while the knowledge that results from inspiration is called knowledge from the Divine Presence (ʿilm ladunnī). (Risāla, 23)
Khawāṭir (sing. khāṭir) are addresses that come to the heart unexpectedly and affect it, constituting the beginning of actions. Khawāṭir stir up desire. Desire moves resolve, resolve moves perseverance (s̱abāt), and perseverance moves the limbs to action.
Khawāṭir are divided into types according to the kinds of evil they call towards. If they exceed the bounds of moderation, they harm well-being (ʿāfiyah). This is called whispering (waswasa), and it is said that its cause is Satan.
Khāṭir is divided into types according to the good it calls towards. There is one that is moderate and balanced, which benefits in the Hereafter. This is called inspiration (ilhām), and its cause is accepted to be an angel. (Rawḍa, 216)
Inspiration (ilhām) is the station of those who are addressed (muḥaddathūn), and is above spiritual insight (firāsa). Its first subtlety: prophetic inspiration, which occurs through revelation. The second is manifest (openly), but does not pierce the veil. The third appears as reality and gives news from the unseen. (Rawḍa, 489)
Divine address (mukālama, conversation) is what comes to the heart from a lordly or angelic khāṭir, and there is no possibility of rejecting or denying it. For the addresses and notifications of the Truth (al-Ḥaqq, i.e., God) to His servants are especially accepted. It is not possible for the created to repel it. The sign that the Truth is addressing His servant is that the one who hears knows necessarily (ḍarūrī) that it is the Speech of God (kalām Allāh) and listens to it, and that it is with his whole being (wujūd), and he cannot determine any direction in his being (even in his being's background). Even if he listens from one direction, it is impossible for him to cut off his gaze from other directions and focus on a single point. Do you not see that Moses heard the Speech (kalām) from the tree? Yet he could not attribute this hearing to a direction. However, a tree is a direction.
In necessary acceptance, the angelic khāṭir is close to the lordly khāṭir, but not of the same strength. However, necessary acceptance is also valid like the lordly khāṭir. The importance of the secrets that come from the Exalted Truth (God) through conversation is not exclusive to conversation. Theophanies (tajallī) are also like this. Whenever something of the lights of the Truth manifests to His servant, the servant knows necessarily at the first moment that it is the light of the Truth. There is no difference whether this theophany is of the attributes, the essence, or the very reality. Whenever such a theophany comes to you and you know at the first moment that it is the light of the Truth, the attribute of the Truth, or the essence of the Truth, know that this is a theophany. This is a sea without a shore.
As for divine inspiration (ilhām); if the seeker (sālik) is still a beginner (mubtadī) on the path of inner reality (ḥaqīqa), in order to act upon inspiration, he must present that inspiration to the Book and the Sunnah. If he finds its witness in these two, then his inspiration is undoubtedly sound. If he does not find its witness, while not denying it, he should also not act upon that inspiration. The benefit of this is as follows: Sometimes Satan casts certain things into the heart of the beginner in the form of inspiration. Since there is the possibility (iḥtimāl) that his inspiration is of this kind, he should pause, turn to God, and adhere to the principles. He should be patient with the meaning of that khāṭir until God discloses the reality of that inspiration. (Insān, I, 5)
The first khāṭir, which they call hājis, is the lordly, merciful, and disturbing khāṭir. This is also called the facilitation of the first cause, which is this khāṭir. When it is realized in the nafs (lower self), it is called will (irāda). If it is repeated a third time, it is called concern (hamm). At the fourth, it is called resolve (ʿazm). When one turns to his intention, it is called purpose (qaṣd). The khāṭir that comes when beginning the act is called intention (niyya). If it is not the khāṭir of an act, it is called inspiration (ilhām), or bestowed (wahbī) or knowledge from the Divine Presence (ladunnī ʿilm). Thus, inspiration is general. "...and inspired it with its wickedness and its righteousness..." (Qur'an, al-Shams 91:8). Bestowed and ladunnī inspiration, however, are specific to the friends of God (awliyāʾ). (Marātib, 27; Jāmiʿ, 27)
Khawāṭir is the plural of khāṭir, meaning an address or a voice that comes into a person. This address sometimes comes from an angel, sometimes from Satan, sometimes from the nafs (lower self), and sometimes from Allah. The first is called inspiration (ilhām), the second is called whispering (waswasa), the third is called hājis, and the fourth is called the khāṭir of the Truth (khāṭir al-Ḥaqq). Inspiration conforms to the outward rulings of the religion. Whispering calls to sin, hājis calls to base desires. The Sufis are in agreement that those who eat what is unlawful cannot distinguish between inspiration and whispering. They are also in agreement that the locus of evil khāṭirs is the nafs, and the locus of good khāṭirs is the qalb (heart), and that the nafs never speaks the truth. (Jāmiʿ, 160)
(See also: khāṭir/khawāṭir or khatra/khatarāt)