The Sufi Science of Self-Realization: A Guide to the Seventeen Ruinous Traits, the Ten Steps to Discipleship and the Six Realities of the Heart

The Sufi master Abu 'l-Hasan al-Kharqani asserted that the human state contains seventeen chief ruinous traits, each of which resembles a great tree, with main branches, smaller branches, twigs and leaves, all laden with various kinds of negativity. At the same time, human beings were granted six tremendous powers from the Divine: the power of attraction; the power of manifesting God's blessings; the power of intercession for those who oppress themselves; the power of directing the heart of seekers; the power of guidance; and the power to move in time and space. The path from submersion in the negative traits to the unveiling of these six powers is known as the Migration to Perfected Character. Consisting of ten steps, it leads one from the ruinous aspects of the arrogant self, to achieve the state of satisfaction with the Divine decree and to achieve gnostic knowledge on the way to complete realization. Through a ten step program Shaykh Hisham Kabbani, a master of the Naqshbandi Sufi Path, describes the science of eliminating the seventeen ruinous characteristics of the tyrannical ego, to achieve purification of the soul. The sincere seeker who follows these steps, with devotion and discipline, will acheive an unveiling of the six powers which lie dormant within every human heart.