Believer's insight (firasa)

In Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy's lesson, firasa is a kind of inspiration given to the believer who has cleansed his heart of rancor, envy and spite; it ranks below prophethood, and some in the West call it the «sixth sense» ¹. He holds that the Companions reached it through the purity of their souls, and that many sins block it ^{2 3}.

The Sheikh holds that the Companions reached a degree of faith at which their souls lit up and worked as God created them; they had purified them and removed the barriers of rancor, envy, spite and resentment that block a person from the world of inspiration ².

He says that earlier nations had «muhaddathun» (people who received inspiration), that this nation has such people too, that this degree is below that of the prophets, and that it is inspiration; he adds that some in the West call it the «sixth sense» while here it is called the believer's insight (firasa) ¹.

He relays the warning to beware the believer's insight because he sees by God's light, and says the Companions' hearts grew tender and were cleansed of impurities, unlike someone who looks down on people with pride and is not forbearing with them, whose heart is hard; he says Ibn Masud reached a high degree of perception in this way ⁴.

He relates that Ibn Masud said they never thought any of them wanted this world until a verse was revealed showing that some of them did, and the Sheikh explains that Ibn Masud had assumed everyone was thinking of the hereafter and was struck when the Qur'an showed otherwise ⁵.

The Sheikh holds that many sins set up barriers between a person and insight, and he tells how Anas came in to see Uthman after glancing at a woman; Uthman told him there was a trace of adultery in his eyes, Anas asked in surprise whether there was revelation after the Messenger of God ﷺ, and Uthman answered that it was the believer's insight, which sees by God's light ³.