When one attains to ḥaqīqa (inner reality) and a state arises resembling the qiyāma (the Resurrection), the (spiritual farmer) cannot control himself. When something necessary for him as a ḥāl (spiritual state) becomes necessary, or when a state that brings about qabḍ (constriction) comes, and when he draws in (that wind) to find relief, either he is enveloped when a kamāl (perfection) and the possibility of ascending to a higher imkān (possibility) than his current rank is granted to him, or he avoids what prevents and isolates, or it becomes the beginning of a state of ghayba (absence), or he finds tranquility at the rank of hayba (awe) and reverence, or he is inspired with a scholarly warning, protecting him from traps and leading him to means of salvation. (Ravza, 693)
Rīḥ-i ḥātır-i malakī (the wind of the angelic notion) is connected and attached to the raḥmānī ḥātır (merciful notion). It is opposed to the notions of the nafs (lower self) and shayṭān (Satan). It is a wind whose time and essence the farmer knows. Hudā (guidance) is connected to the merciful notion. It is as if it is not present here with the essence itself.
In every merciful notion, there is an angelic purpose. This purpose cannot be prevented. This wind awakens the farmer from turning away from the path, commands good, encourages him to attain virtues and perfection. It is as if this wind is the farmer's master, the one who prevents him from going astray, and the teacher of his inner self. Here, on the path of Sufism (taṣawwuf), attention is drawn to a gift (state) that leads him to investigate mysteries, to think what is not thought, to hear what is not heard. Or it is a gift that teaches him how to travel the aforementioned path, protects him, saves him from doubts, elevates him to ranks of goodness, or teaches him union (wuṣla) and how to attain baqāʾ (subsistence in God) after that, absolute nonexistence, absolute existence, self-effacement, then effacement from self-effacement, and then to return to God with true adab (etiquette). Here, he sees a hidden error and understands life and death (which path is life, which is death). (Ravza, 694)
Rīḥ-i ḥātır-i nafsānī (the wind of the carnal notion) is connected to the satanic notion and attached to the body. Things added to bodies are their shayṭānī (satanic) substance. The parts and divisions of bodies belong to the body and body. This notion, by its nature, does not accept distance; rather, it accepts compulsion, rebuke, and tribulation. It is understood by the angelic notion, but not by the essence, only through accident (aʿraḍ).
With this notion, the farmer, even if it is permissible, turns his body toward desires. He seeks rank and status. This notion is mixed with the satanic notion. From it, he desires reverence, display, and to be seen with good deeds; it makes the rank of blessing attractive to him, and makes the people around him seem repugnant. It whispers that they are not to be accepted as interlocutors, that he should not join them in eating and drinking. Sometimes it leads him to innovation (bidʿa), sometimes to despair of mercy, sometimes deceives him with the expectation of karāma (a saintly wonder).
It clothes him with the garment of sorrow for what he could not obtain, gives him laxity to act on ruḫṣa (dispensations). It brings him close to denying the attributes of Allah. It excites him with the rank of prophethood and ittiḥād (union). It helps him interpret every ambiguous matter, inspires him to commit forbidden acts by analogy. With the thought that it is permissible, it makes him follow his desires. (Ravza, 695)
Rīḥ-i ḥātır-i shayṭānī (the wind of the satanic notion) is a wind that draws the farmer to points of deficiency and prevents insānī (human) perfection. As we have said, it is related to desire, subsists by a substance, and by the form of deficiency. In this respect, the farmer sees the world as inverted. It makes the clear forbidden attractive, teaches him harmful knowledge, and makes him forget what is beneficial. It serves him with resemblance leading entirely to this and with words that determine doubt. It strips him of the meaning of farming and humanity. It lowers him to the rank of speechless animals and disbelievers. It only convinces him with the greatest of desire and dalāla (misguidance). It does not guide to any act of obedience. In short, this wind causes the farmer to turn the earth upside down. They say: These four winds revolve around the farmer. The farmer's essence is the sum of them all. (Ravza, 696)
If a notion of the type of forbidden or disliked comes to you, know that it is from Satan. If a notion of the permissible comes to you, know that it is from the nafs. From the notion of forbidden or disliked brought by Satan, if it must be done, do it; if it must not be done, avoid it! As for the permissible, you have a choice. If the desire to earn reward dominates you, avoid the permissible and occupy yourself with the obligatory and recommended! However, if you perform the permissible and are at peace, and if you say, 'If the Lawgiver had not made this permissible for me, I would not have done it,' then you are rewarded not because the act is permissible, but because you performed the permissible. That is, you are rewarded because you believe it was made lawful by Allah.
If a notion related to an obligation comes to you, fulfill it immediately! For it is from the angel. If a notion of the recommended comes to you, preserve the first notion (do not rush to do it! This may be from Iblis. Investigate it well! If a notion comes that will make you abandon another recommended act or one superior or more appropriate for you, do not turn away from the first, strengthen it, preserve the second, but do the first! When you finish it and start the second, you must do it as well! Surely in this case, Satan returns humiliated (First, fulfill the true notion, keep the recommended notion from Satan, and then fulfill this recommended notion from Satan. In this case, Satan cannot prevent you from the other deed, and by doing the good deed he suggested, you grieve him). (Esfār, 115)
The first notion, called hājis, is the divine, merciful, and disturbing notion. This is also called the first facilitating cause. This is the notion. When it is realized in the nafs, it is called will (irāda). If it is repeated a third time, it is called hemm. On the fourth, it is called ʿazm. When one turns toward the intended purpose, it is called qaṣd. When the notion comes at the start of the act, it is called niyya (intention).
If it is not a notion of an act, it is called ilhām (inspiration), or wahbī or ladunnī knowledge. In fact, inspiration is general (it can be good or bad). "And inspired it [the soul] with its wickedness and its righteousness..." (al-Shams 91:8). Wahbī and ladunnī inspiration are specific to the awliyāʾ (friends of God). (Jāmiʿ, 27)
There are four sources of notions: the divine notion that comes to the rūḥ (spirit), the notion that comes to the intellect...