The Inner System

This volume approaches the nafs, the self, as a system with a structure, a working mechanism and identifiable points of failure, and so takes a technical rather than poetic approach to Islamic psychology of the self. Its main topics are the three states of the nafs, the heart (qalb) and how it hardens and softens, how Shaytan's influence operates, and tazkiyah, the purification of the inner system. The book presents it as practical design guidance for readers who have tried to change many times without result, arguing that the obstacle is the design of the system rather than a lack of willpower.