The verse, “Everything will perish save His countenance,”(28:88) points to the fourth step. A brief explanation of these four steps is as follows:

First Step

As the verse, “Therefore, do not justify yourselves” suggests, it is to not purify the  soul. For on account  of his nature and  innate disposition,  man loves  himself. Indeed,  he  loves  himself  before  anything  else,  and  only  himself.  He  sacrifices everything  other  than  himself  to  his  own  soul.  He  praises  himself  in  a  manner befitting some object worthy of worship. He absolves and exonerates himself from faults in the same way. As far as he possibly can, he does not see faults as being appropriate for him, and does not accept them. He defends himself passionately as though worshipping himself. Even, using on himself the members and faculties given him as part of his nature in order to praise and glorify the True Object of Worship, he displays the meaning of the verse,

“Who takes as his god his own desires.”(25:43; 45:23)

He considers himself, he relies on himself, he fancies himself. Thus, his purification and cleansing at this stage, in this step, is to not purify himself; it is not to absolve himself.

Second Step

As the verse, “And be not like those who forget God, and He therefore makes them forget their own selves” teaches, man is oblivious of himself and not aware of himself.  If he thinks of death,  it is in relation to others. If he sees transience and decline,  he does not attribute them to himself. His evil-commanding  soul demands that when it comes to inconvenience  and service of others, he forgets himself, but when it comes to receiving his recompense, and to benefits and enjoyment, he thinks of himself and takes his own part fervently. His purification, cleansing, and training at this stage is the reverse of this. That is to say, when oblivious of himself, it is not to be oblivious. That is, to forget himself when it comes to pleasure, and ambition and greed, and to think of himself when it comes to death and service of others.

Third Step

As the verse, “Whatever  good happens to you is from God, but whatever evil befalls  you  is  from  yourself”  teaches,  the  nature  of  the  evil-commanding  soul demands that it always considers goodness to be from itself and it becomes vain and conceited.  Thus,  at  this  step,  a  person  sees  only  faults,  defects,  impotence,  and poverty in himself, and understands that all his good qualities and perfections are bounties bestowed on him by the All- Glorious  Creator.