By Mukhtar Ali

This paper examines one of the key themes of Islamic spirituality, self-knowledge (maʿrifat al-nafs) and its relationship to divine trial and discipleship. Knowledge of the soul has been the focal point for Islamic philosophers, mystics and sages as they have included it in every discussion on spirituality. Self-knowledge constitutes knowing how to discipline and transform the soul (nafs), and thereafter, actualize the higher human faculties of the heart and intellect. Because the soul is illusive and recalcitrant in nature, spiritual teachers have devised various stratagems to discipline and rectify the soul.

There are two aspects to that training, human and divine.

On the human side, one disciplines himself through the intellectual faculty and/or is trained by an expert who is considered the spiritual physician, shaykh or sage (ḥakīm). On the divine side, God is the teacher who trains His servant through bounties or trials. The trial is the mirror through which the believer sees his own soul, rectifies his behavior and awakens to God-consciousness. Read Here