These four birds represent the psychological inclinations and traits of the lower soul: the rooster represents carnal desire (al-shahwah); the peacock represents vanity (al-'ujb); the crow represents avarice (al-hirs); and the duck represents intensity or voracity (al-shiddah).

And from the book The Remembrance of Spiritual Life (Tadhkirat al-Hayat al-Ruhiyyah) by Sheikh Ya'qub al-Hasan, a supplication attributed to Plato—peace be upon him—which he used to recite during his prostration:

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

O Allah! O my spiritual reality (ruhaniyyati) that is connected to the Highest Spirit! Implore the Cause from which you are caused (al-'Illah al-lati anti ma'lulah min jihatiha), so that it may in turn implore the Active Intellect (al-'Aql al-Fa''al) to preserve my psychological health (sikkati al-nafsaniyyah) for as long as I remain within this realm of composition ('alam al-tarkib) and abode of moral obligation (dar al-taklif); and may it sustain my soul with the divine inspiration that leads back to its First Cause, so that it may live the eternal life.