The meaning of our statement is your pillar and your tranquility in that station. (Futūḥ, 14)
Irāda (will) is to exert ghayra (zeal) and to abandon comfort... (Ādāb, 20)
Muḥammad Ḥafīf said: Irāda is the qalb’s (the heart’s) desire to ascend to what it seeks. The ḥaqīqa (inner reality) of irāda is to persist in striving and to abandon comfort.
Irāda is defined as a burning in the qalb. From this arise desire, wish, or power; the irāda of wish (temennī irāda) in the sense of qudra (power), the irāda of the nafs (the lower self) related to the pleasure of the nafs, the irāda of nature, and the true irāda related to ikhlas (sincerity). (Iṣṭilāḥ, 529)
If one asks, "What is irāda?" we say: It is defined as a burning in the qalb. From this arise the irāda of wish, the irāda of nature related to the pleasure of the nafs, and the true irāda related to ikhlas. This corresponds to the ḥājisa (the first feeling and thought that comes to the heart). (Futūḥāt, II, 131)
According to the Sufis, irāda is a burning felt by the murīd (aspirant, disciple) walking this path, which is felt because of what stands between him and his goal. (Futūḥāt, II, 510)
According to the people of khawāṭir (spiritual inspirations), a khāṭir (inspiration) comes to the heart. For those who govern the qalb, this is a ḥājis. If it returns again, it becomes irāda. Irāda assists its possessor in attaining what is sought. If it returns a third time, it is then called hamm. This only returns for a significant matter. If it comes a fourth time, it is called ʿazm (resolve). This is only for a matter that has become a firm decision. If it returns a fifth time, it is called niyya (intention). This is the intention from which the existing act originates. Between turning toward the act and the act itself, there arises qaṣd (purpose). This is a sacred attribute shared by the Lord and the servant. (Latāʾif, 65)
(For the one at the beginning of love, it is said:) Irāda is a spark from the fire of love in the qalb, requiring a positive response to the call of ḥaqīqa. (Kāshānī, 27; Jāmiʿ, 76)
Irāda is to abandon what is customary. Chief Abū ʿAlī said: The first degree in the movements of the ʿārifūn (gnostics) is called the zeal of irāda. Irāda is what the possessor of baṣīra (spiritual insight) finds through demonstrative certainty. Or, it is the steadfastness in the bond of iman (faith) due to the desire to cling to the firmest handhold. He moves toward the journey to the Holy (Quds) to attain the spirit of union. The one who persists at this level is a murīd. (Rawḍa, 330)
Irāda comes before everything. It is a prior relationship before beginning any action. Technically, irāda is the qalb’s striving to seek ḥaqīqa. For this reason, it is said that irāda is a burning that alleviates all kinds of fear. It is also said: (Irāda) is to respond submissively to the one who calls to ḥaqīqa.
Qushayrī says: Irāda is the beginning of the path of the sālikūn (travelers), the name of the first station for those who intend (qaṣd) to reach Allah. This quality is called irāda because it is the beginning of every action. If the servant does not will a thing, he does not perform that act. Since this is the first thing to be done by one walking the path to Allah, it is called irāda. Thus, irāda is likened to the qaṣd at the beginning of every act. The word murīd (aspirant) is etymologically derived from irāda and means "the one who possesses irāda." In Sufi terminology, murīd is the opposite: it means "the one who does not possess irāda." It is said: The murīd is the one without irāda; the one with irāda cannot be a murīd. (Rawḍa, 349)
Irāda is related to every desire of the intellect and the nafs. This may be for something desired or undesired. Shahwa (carnal desire), however, is related to things that the nafs feels a particular pleasure upon obtaining. The locus of shahwa is the animal nafs, while the locus of irāda is the rational nafs (nafs-i nāṭiqa). (Asfār, 329)
Irāda is the attribute of manifestation of the knowledge of the Real (al-Ḥaqq) according to the necessity of the Essence. This necessary aspect is irāda. Irāda is the specification of existence for Allah’s knowledge according to what is required by His knowledge. This attribute of Allah is called irāda. The irāda of created beings is also the same as the irāda of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He. However, when irāda is ascribed to us, since we are contingent, our irāda must also be contingent, that is, our irāda is created. But if this irāda is ascribed to Allah, it is identical to His eternal irāda. The meaning of bringing things into existence, in terms of what is intended, is nothing other than His relation (nisba) to us. This relation is what is created. When the relation of irāda to us ceases and, in its created form, is ascribed to Allah, then with it things begin to come into being. Understand this. Just as our existence is created in relation to us, but eternal in relation to Allah. This relation is necessary (ḍarūrī), but it is only known through knowledge at the station of unveiling, taste, and direct vision. This is the most important point to be noted here. Understand this well. (Insān, I, 48)
Irāda has nine modes of manifestation in created beings: The first is inclination (mayl), which is the attraction of the qalb toward what it desires. If this inclination is very strong, it is called walā, which is the second mode of irāda.
If this inclination intensifies and increases, it is called sabābat. It is called sabābat (pouring) because, like water poured from a vessel, the qalb completely abandons itself to what it loves. For when water is poured, it can no longer flow. This is the third mode of irāda.
If the inclination of the qalb settles in the qalb, cutting off attachment to other things, it is called shaġāf. This is the fourth mode of irāda.
If this inclination completely overwhelms the fuʾād (the inner heart), it is called hawā. This is the fifth mode of irāda.
If this inclination does not remain in the qalb but also dominates the body, it is called gharām. This is the sixth mode of irāda.
If this inclination develops and removes the causes of inclination, it is called ḥubb (love). This is the seventh mode of irāda.
If this inclination excites the qalb to the point of making the lover fanā (annihilated) or lose himself, it is called wudd. This is the eighth mode of irāda.
If the aforementioned inclination swells to such an intensity that it annihilates both the lover and the beloved, it is called ʿishq (passionate love). At this station, the lover sees the beloved but cannot perceive or incline toward them. As related, Laylā once called Majnūn to speak with him, but Majnūn replied: "Leave me, I am thinking of my Laylā; I have no time to concern myself with you." This is the end of the station of union (wuṣla) and proximity (qurb). At this station, the ʿārif (gnostic) denies his maʿrūf (the known). There remains neither ʿārif nor maʿrūf, neither lover nor beloved—only love remains. Love is pure Essence, falling under neither name, nor form, nor attribute, nor description.
When love first appears, it annihilates the lover; he is left without name, form, attribute, or description. When the lover is erased and completely annihilated, this love annihilates both lover and beloved. First, it effaces their names, then their attributes, then their essences. There remains neither lover nor beloved. Then the lover appears in two ways and is characterized by two attributes: he is called both lover and beloved (he is both himself). (Insān, I, 48)
Testimony is built upon five pillars: Islam, iman (faith), rectification (iṣlāḥ), ihsan (spiritual excellence), and the fifth is irāda. Irāda has three conditions: First, to love Allah solely for His sake; second, to persist in dhikr (remembrance of God) without interruption; third, to oppose the desires of the nafs without turning to ruḫṣa (concession, seeking ease). (Insān, II, 85)
There are also leading (imām) attributes. That is, all attributes of the nafs are the imams of other attributes, for all are encompassed by these leading attributes. Another is irāda. For it is inconceivable that a Universal Living One (Kullī Ḥayy) without irāda could create another. Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, is the Creator of all things. He is the Murīd. Through irāda, things are specified, and within the realm of possibility, the existence of creatures is preferred over nonexistence.
After this comes the name qudra (power). For one who desires something but is unable to do it is powerless. Allah, Exalted is He, is free from incapacity, for He is the Absolute Powerful. These four attributes are the mothers of the Names. This is the second manifestation, the keys of the unseen. With this attribute, our connection with the perfection (kamāl) of the Essence is completed. For one who possesses life, knowledge, irāda, and qudra is perfect in his own existence and in creating others. (Marātib, 18)
O son, listen to this difficult-to-understand secret! The very exalted and transcendent essential perfections at the level of the Divine Essence (Ḥaḍrat al-Dhāt) are identical with the Essence itself. For example, the attribute of knowledge at this level is identical with the Essence. The same applies to irāda, qudra, and other attributes. Again, at this level, the Essence is entirely knowledge and entirely power; that is, the Essence is not partly knowledge, partly power, etc. At that level, division and partition are impossible. The perfections derived from the Essence, when detailed at the level of knowledge, are thus set forth in detail by His knowledge, and thus, together with the subsistence (baqāʾ) of the exalted and transcendent Essence (without any increase or decrease in His Essence), distinction arises between these two levels. In comparison to the summary, undifferentiated unity (waḥdāniyya) of the first level (which is the summary of irāda-i ikhtiyār), at this (second) level, there is nothing that is not included in this detail and distinction. Rather, each of the perfections, which are each identical with the Essence, enters the level of knowledge, and in this second level, acquires a shadow existence (ẓillī wujūd), and is named as attributes. The existence of this shadow wujūd is only possible through its origin, which is the Essence itself... (Maktūbāt, I, 210)
The first inspiration (khāṭir) they call ḥājis is a rabbānī (divine), raḥmānī (merciful), or disturbing inspiration. This is also called the facilitation of the first cause, which is this inspiration. When it is realized in the nafs, it is called irāda. If it is repeated a third time, it is called hamm. At the fourth, it is called ʿazm (resolve). When one turns toward his goal, it is called qaṣd. When the inspiration comes at the beginning of an act, it is called niyya (intention). If it is not the inspiration of an act, it is called ilhām (inspiration), or wahbī (gifted), or ladunnī (from the divine presence) knowledge. Thus, ilhām is general. ... He inspired it with its wickedness and its righteousness... (al-Shams 91:8). Wahbī and ladunnī ilhām are specific to the awliyāʾ (friends of God). (Jāmiʿ, 27)
According to the Sufi verifiers, irāda has four foundations: sincerity in servitude, surrendering the servant’s irāda to the irāda of the Lord, adhering to knowledge in all matters, and preferring Allah in maḥabba (love) over everything. Ṣidq (truthfulness) also has four foundations: reverence, maḥabba, modesty, and hayba (awe). Abandoning choice (ikhtiyār) is based on four foundations: first, witnessing in the state of contraction (qabḍ); second, realization in union (wuṣla); third, complete affirmation; fourth, trust in Allah’s promise and security.
There are four ways of acquiring knowledge: by origin, by direct encounter (muwājaha), by understanding (fahm), or by hearing.
Preferring Allah in love is based on four foundations: preferring Him over all existence, preferring His attributes over all beings by seeing them as beautiful, preferring His actions with contentment (riḍā) when everything perishes, and preferring what Allah loves over what the nafs loves. (Jāmiʿ, 46)
Irāda and mashīʾa (divine will) are synonymous in language. According to the people of ḥaqīqa, however, irāda is the qalb’s striving to seek the Real (al-Ḥaqq). For this reason, some have defined irāda as a burning that alleviates all kinds of fear.
According to most of the shaykhs, irāda is to abandon what is customary. People’s habits are generally to linger in places of heedlessness and to follow their desires. The one who abandons these is called a murīd (one who possesses irāda). The literal meaning of murīd is "possessor of irāda." In the terminology of the people of ḥaqīqa, however, a murīd is one who has no irāda (because he has surrendered his will to Allah). Every murīd is also murād (the one who is willed), for Allah has willed that he be a murīd. Likewise, every murād is also a murīd. According to some of the people of ḥaqīqa, this is the correct view. (Jāmiʿ, 223)
irāda-i dīniyya – irāda-i kawnīyya
irāda-i dīniyya – irāda-i kawnīyya — Irāda-i kawnīyya (cosmic irāda) is Allah’s mashīʾa (will) concerning creation. All creation is within His mashīʾa and cosmic irāda.
Irāda-i dīniyya (religious irāda) is related to what He commands as religion and sharia (the sacred law), and includes His riḍā (contentment) and maḥabba (love). This riḍā and maḥabba are exclusive to iman (faith) and righteous deeds. (al-Furqān 25:63)
irfād and icād — Icād (to bring into existence) is to bestow grace upon all breaths. Irfād is to give to all kinds. It is impossible to describe the Station of the Most Holy (Maqām al-Aqdas) by the way of withholding (manʿ), for withholding is a nonexistence. The definitive proofs of pre-eternity remove doubts related to nonexistence. (Latāʾif, 27)