Knowledge of self is the key to the knowledge of God [...] and real self-knowledge consists in knowing the following things: What are you in yourself, and from what source have you come? To which place are you going, and for what purpose have you come to tarry here awhile, and in what does your real happiness and misery lie? Some of your attributes are those of animals, some of devils, and some of angles, and you have to find out which of these attributes are accidental and which are essential. Till you know this, you cannot find out where your real happiness lies. The occupation of animals is eating, sleeping, and fighting; therefore, if you are an animal, busy yourself in these things. Devils are busy in stirring up mischief, and in guile and deceit; if you belong to them, do their work. Angels contemplate the beauty of God, and are entirely free from animal qualities; if you are of angelic nature, then strive towards your origin that you may know and contemplate the Most High, and be delivered from the thraldom of lust and anger. You should also discover why you have been created with these animal insticints: whether that they should subdue and lead you captive, or whether you should subdue them, and, in your upward progress, make of one your steed and of the other your weapon – An excerpt from The Alchemy of Happiness by Al-Ghazali

A real food for thought! I couldn’t help but think how animal instincts are very much on the higher side in me, and many others around me. May Allah help us all to strive in the right path to achieve the angelic attributes.