Believer's Firasah (Spiritual Insight): Light of Allah

Believer's Firasah: Light of Allah

“Beware the spiritual insight (Firasah) of a believer, for he sees with the light of Allah.” (Tirmidhi)

"Indeed, Allah has servants who know about people by reading the signs." [Al-Tabarani, Mu‘jam al-Awsat, no.3086, and its chain is hasan].

Imam Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah remarked: ‘O you who are defenceless! Beware the spiritual insight of the godly one, for he sees your hidden deeds from behind a veil. (Al-Fawaid)

Shaykh Surkheel Shareef writes: "Spiritual insight, or firasah, is a faith-based insight that Allah casts into the hearts of His faithful ones, by which peoples’ states or deeds are unveiled to them. They are from those saintly miracles (karamat al-awliya) gifted to them by God; the inner workings of which are the very opposite of magic and sorcery. Sorcerers claim power, for themselves or for others besides God. Saints (and more so, Prophets) claim only helplessness before their Lord, accepting they have no share whatsoever in the miracles which issues forth from them. Such spiritual intuitions or epiphanies that arise in the heart are seldom wrong if the heart is pure. Which is to say, the accuracy of a person’s firasah will depend upon their nearness to God and their strength of faith. For, as masters of the inward life say, when souls approach the presence of the Truth (al-Haqq), it is usually the epiphanies of the Truth that come to it." (thehumblei.com)

Shah al-Kirmani says, to increase the strength of one's insight:

1. Turn eyes away from the unlawful

2. Restrain passionate drives

3. Self-scrutiny and vigilance (muraqaba)

4. Eat only lawful food.

(Imam Qushayri's Risala)

In his Madarij al-Salikin, imam Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah discusses the reality of firasah, its cause, the sayings of the early masters concerning it, and its types. He also relates some wondrous accounts about the firasah of his shaykh and mentor, Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah. He writes:

“I have witnessed incredible things from the firasah of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may God have mercy upon him; and what I have not seen are even greater – accounts that would need a large volume to document".