Can a seeker diagnose his own spiritual ailments?

For most of us the inner ailments remain unnoticed and undetected, and therefore it is hard to cure them. Only an accomplished shaykh can recognise and diagnose such spiritual maladies, and then prescribe the appropriate cure through spiritual exercises and disciplines, such as dhikr and muraqaba.

Allah describes the nafs as "ever prompting to do wrong" [Qur'an, Yusuf 12:53], and it never surrenders unless trained to submit. The nafs never agrees that it has any ailment; rather, it tries to hide behind self-praise.

To identify and cure the ailments of the nafs, one needs to seek guidance from someone who has travelled the path of Tasawwuf himself and has been trained by a teacher to guide others.

The disciple has to adhere to the inner and outer aspects of the Shariah and engage in constant remembrance, as the essence of the path of Tasawwuf is not to waste a breath without the remembrance of Allah. Baba Bulleh Shah rahimahullah, the great Sufi poet, said, "My Master taught me the lesson; any moment of negligence from remembrance of Allah is a moment spent in denial of Allah."