To cling to the reality (ḥaqīqa) of the rights of Allah and His servants, to prefer death over life, to consider abasement superior to honor, and hardship and severity superior to ease, in order to attain one's aims. For such a person desires nothing except Allah and what Allah wills. (Luma', 30)
Again, among the Sufiyya (the Sufis), there is a special place for recognizing greed and ambition, their subtleties, the nafs (the lower self), its traces and thoughts, knowing what ostentation, hidden shahwa (carnal desire), and shirk-i khafi (hidden shirk [associating partners with God]) are, and showing the way to be saved from them. They are the ones who truly know how to turn to Allah (ināba), to seek refuge with sincerity, to constantly present one's need and state to the Truth (iftikār), and how complete submission and entrusting (tafwīḍ) are possible.
The Sufiyya have methods for understanding certain matters—by means of kashf (unveiling) and ilhām (inspiration)—that the scholars and jurists (ʿulamāʾ and fuqahāʾ) find difficult to comprehend. For this method clarifies the subtle points in allusions, and the delicate and subtle meanings hidden in expressions. The subtle matters that they bayān (clearly expound) in their views concern accidents, attachments, veils, things hidden in hearts, stations of ikhlas (sincerity), states of maʿrifa (gnosis), the ʿubūdiyya (servitude) ḥaqīqas (inner realities), the primordial nonexistence of the cosmos, the annihilation of the contingent (ḥādith) when confronted with the Eternal (Qadīm), and the disappearance of seeing the blessing, leaving only the Bestower of blessings.