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Hazrat Inayat Khan – The Art of Being and Becoming

Man has two natures, farishtagi, the angelic and hayvanat the animal.  Hayvanat means man’s body and that part of his nature which needs food, drink, sleep, and the satisfaction of all its passions.  His anger and his jealousy are animal; also his fear of one who is stronger than himself and his envy of one who is better than he.  In all these man is the same as the animals.

Farishtagi is the part of his nature that goes back to its source.  It is not man’s intelligence; the animals also have intelligence, though they cannot ask ‘From where have I come?  For what purpose am I here?’  When man knows this, when he recognises his origin, then he is a divine being.  This angelic nature is his kindness, his love, his sympathy and his desire for knowledge.  A great Hindustani poet has said, ‘We created man for feeling; if not, for Our praise the angels were not enough in heaven’