It is a substance (jawhar) possessing two accidents (aʿrāḍ), an entity (dhāt) with two attributes. The identity (huwiyya) of this substance is knowledge (ʿilm) and powers (quwā, forces). These powers are either those that flow in the bed of powers, emerging in three layers as the learned and the wise, or they are powers refined by the sciences of ḥikma (wisdom), composing the simple (existent being) in three identities.
If you say, 'Knowledge is the root (origin),' then the powers are the branches; or if you say, 'The powers are the ground,' then knowledge is the crop.
This knowledge is of two kinds: one is verbal, the other is practical knowledge. Verbal knowledge is the example composed in the configuration of your form and stripped from the innateness (inniyya) of your form. Practical knowledge is the wisdom (ḥikma) by which the wise person is led to benefit from his knowledge and by which the ruler enacts his judgments.
These powers are also divided into two: The first are collective detailed powers. The condition for this is to have a good temperament, to be predisposed, for the followed roots to be correct, and for what is transmitted to be sound, along with the perfection of the act. The second are collective imaginative powers. The condition for this is that the existence of the substance (jawhar) possesses the ability to occupy space and to distinguish (tamayyuz) between two things, as ṣāḥib (possessor).
The entity with two attributes is none other than you and me. Our God is with me for you, and with you for me. 'You' is not in terms of the acceptance of the word, but in terms of your identity (servant attributes); 'I' is not in terms of the acceptance of the word, but in terms of my reality. The attribute of 'I' (anā) belonging to the Lord is, in essence, a sign (ishāra) to Him. I, according to my innateness, am 'I'; in terms of the acceptance of the word, I am from the ruling of 'He is Allah' (huwa Allah), and you, in terms of your createdness, are from the ruling of 'He is the servant' (huwa al-ʿabd). (Insān, I, 7)
quwwa-i ghaḍab (power of anger) – quwwa-i shahwa (power of desire) – quwwa-i tafkīr (power of thought)
quwwa-i ghaḍab – quwwa-i shahwa – quwwa-i tafkīr (anger; perfection (kamāl) of the power of anger; perfection of desire; perfection of imagination)
The perfection of the power of anger (kamāl-i quwwa-i ghaḍabiyya) is to acquire the attribute of mastery over the self or to sense the harm that may occur to the one who is angered. The perfection of desire (kamāl-i shahwa) is, for example, for the organ of taste to take pleasure from the quality of the substance in which the taste is found. If such tasting is not dependent on an external cause, the taste exists. The same applies to touch, smell, and similar senses. The perfection of imagination (kamāl-i wahm) is to acquire the attribute of the form desired or recalled by the imagination. The same applies to the other powers. (Ishārāt, IV, 21)
All the powers that must necessarily be disciplined are three: the power of thought (tafkir), the power of desire (shahwa), and the power of anger (ghaḍab). When the power of thought is properly disciplined and corrected, wisdom (ḥikma) is attained. As Allah the Exalted has said: "He to whom wisdom is given has truly been given much good." (al-Baqara 2:269)
The fruit of wisdom is this: through it, it becomes easy to distinguish true beliefs from falsehood (bāṭil), true speech from falsehood, and good actions from bad. Though this may seem confusing to most people, nothing is confusing to the possessor of wisdom. The measures of knowledge we have provided assist in the rectification and discipline of this power.
The second power is the power of desire (shahwa). Its rectification yields chastity, and thus the nafs (lower self) distances itself from evil and inclines toward good and, to the extent possible, toward the praiseworthy quality of īthār (preferring others to oneself).
The third is the power of anger (ghaḍab). Its restraint and rectification yield forbearance (ḥilm) and courage (shajāʿa). Ḥilm is to control anger and prevent the nafs from being relieved in anger. Shajāʿa is to prevent the blameworthy fear and greed mentioned in Allah the Exalted's Book (kitāb). (Mīzān, 43)
Anger, when it is for Allah, is praiseworthy; when it is for something else, it is blameworthy. (Fath, 109)