Train behaviour
Mullā Aḥmad al-Narāqī
Diagnose & Balance
المُلَّا أَحْمَد النَّرَاقِي
Choose this path when
Repeated habits, anger, pride, jealousy, or weak self-control
The method
Treat the self like a patient, not a project. Do not only say 'I want to be more spiritual' — name the specific disease: pride when corrected, anger when ignored, jealousy when someone succeeds, desire when comfort becomes too powerful. In the ethical tradition of the Narāqīs, the soul's inner forces — intellect, anger, desire, and imagination — are not evil in themselves; they become harmful when they overpower the soul without guidance. Virtue is not suppressing these forces but bringing them into balance so they serve Allah. Anger, trained, becomes courage. Desire, disciplined, becomes commitment. Every vice has an opposite virtue that heals it: pride is met with humility; anger with patience; jealousy with sincere goodwill; excessive desire with moderation. The self changes through habit, balance, and consistency — gently and repeatedly, never through sudden harshness.
How to practise it
- 1Pick ONE inner disease to work on for seven days — not everything at once.
- 2Map its triggers: when does it appear, with whom, and what is the first inner sign before it shows?
- 3Practise the opposite virtue daily (pride → humility: let others speak, admit 'I don't know', accept correction without explaining).
- 4Reduce one harmless fuel source — unnecessary scrolling, impulsive replying, complaining, or buying something immediately. Choose one, and make the restriction small and sustainable.
- 5Close each night with a three-line muḥāsabah: one win, one slip, one remedy for tomorrow — calm and honest, no despair, no self-pride.
How the app helps you keep it
You can follow this method for forty days. It adds 5 steps to your day, each one tickable, with the reasoning behind it a tap away:
- Name the one disease — morning
- Map its triggers — through the day
- Practise the opposite — through the day
- Reduce one fuel source — through the day
- Three lines before sleep — evening
Each evening you write what happened and which defence held, so the forty days end in a record of your own pattern rather than a row of ticks. A slip is noted and never resets the count.
Source
Scholar-guided practice — the five-part programme of Mi'raj al-Sa'adah
Mullā Aḥmad al-Narāqī — Miʿrāj al-Saʿādah and the wider Narāqī tradition of practical ethics in ʿilm al-akhlāq, including the treatment of virtues, vices, and diseases of the soul also found in Muḥammad Mahdī al-Narāqī's Jāmiʿ al-Saʿādāt.