It serves as an example and model. Within it are marvels that only those deeply versed in knowledge can comprehend, and divine ishāra (subtle allusions) occur in this manner. (Jāmiʿ, 270)
The development of the spirit (rūḥ) proceeds through the nafs (the lower self), intellect, qalb (the heart), rūḥ (the spirit), and sirr (the innermost secret). In matters of knowledge and perception, every state has a limit at which it ends. The limit of the nafs in knowledge and perception is to be deceived by the outward aspect of matter, to be preoccupied with its exterior, to abandon the inner lesson, and to be distracted by heedlessness and the pleasures of matter.
The limit of the intellect in knowledge and perception is to turn away from everything except Him and return to its Creator, seeking lights. Only in this way does the intellect free itself from bonds, and its yearning for its Lord intensifies. The limit of the rūḥ in knowledge and perception is to seek the secrets of jabarūt (the realm of divine power) and to turn towards the lights of malakūt (the spiritual realm). In this journey, its fatigue is relieved by the nafs, but it has not yet attained to the sirr. The limit of the sirr in knowledge and perception is the jabarūt. Insight (baṣīra) penetrates the lights of the malakūt realm. This is the final point of the journey.
The nafs is a spirit (rūḥ) more exalted than a ruby, which Allah the Exalted created in the shell of your humanity. When you keep company with the best and most virtuous people, you protect, elevate, and care for it. For witnessing (mushāhada) and attaining the station of union with Allah is only possible by companionship with a perfect and complete individual. The aim is to reach the most perfect aspects of the nafs and the fullness of witnessing.
However, some have attained (this) through the path of attraction (jadhba) belonging to a majdhūb (one drawn to God) from whom no benefit in guidance can be derived, but this path is not guaranteed. For this reason, the first condition of the tariqa (Sufi path) is the presence of a shaykh. The knowledge of this community cannot be obtained from books, but only from (perfect and complete) individuals.
One who enters the path of the tariqa must have a shaykh endowed with insight (baṣīra), who will direct him to the station of uprightness and guide him, by correcting his states, to traverse the levels of the nafs and reach what is appropriate. (Rihla, 227)
The stages of the nafs (marātib al-nafs) are seven: ammāra, lawwāma, mulhima, muṭmaʾinna, rāḍiyya, marḍiyya, and kāmila.
The nafs al-ammāra commands its possessor to follow his desires and to act contrary to the commands of the religion. Its possessor sells his Hereafter for a paltry shahwa (carnal desire). Allah the Exalted says: "Indeed, the nafs is ever commanding to evil with all its power." (Yūsuf 12:53)
The nafs al-lawwāma is the nafs of a mu'min (believer). For a dead heart feels neither obedience nor sin, but the heart of the believer is alive. When he obeys Allah, his heart benefits; when he disobeys, his heart feels pain, and his nafs reproaches him to return to obedience. Nevertheless, in the lawwāma nafs, there remain traces of the ammāra.
The nafs al-mulhima is the one about which Allah the Exalted says, "And inspired it [the nafs] with [discernment of] its wickedness and its righteousness..." (al-Shams 91:8), as He has made clear (bayān). For this reason, it is so named because it is distant from the station of firmness and stability. This nafs requires effort and purification.
The nafs al-muṭmaʾinna is at the first degrees of kamāl (perfection). In all its judgments...