In the state of barzakh (hālat-i barzakhiyya), the majesty (ʿaẓama) of Allah's sacred beings and of those among His servants who are signs of Allah is constantly present. They are people of majesty (ʿaẓama). Majesty, among this class, is possessed only by a man from Mosul who was among the people of hadith (hadith scholars) in Mosul, to whom majesty itself had reached; no one else possesses it. This station (maqām) belongs to him. He once encountered a difficult situation and could not find anyone to deliver him from it. When he heard of our arrival, someone who believed in him brought him to us. This person was the jurist Najm al-Dīn Muḥammad Shāṭ al-Mawṣilī. He told us of his trouble, and we delivered him from that distress. He rejoiced at this, his heart (qalb) was relieved, and we befriended him. He was among the people of this station (maqām). I did not continue to assist him in his journey from that station to a higher one, while he remained in his current state (ḥāl).
The journey through stations (maqāmāt) is not something accomplished by abandoning a station (maqām). Rather, it is achieved by attaining a higher station without leaving the one already possessed. This is not a transition from this station to that one, but rather a transition to that station along with this one. In Sufism (taṣawwuf), one does not abandon a station to reach another; that is, when one attains a station, it is attained together with the previous one. (Futūḥāt, II, 220)