They consider it necessary for those who are veiled. According to them, the one who is veiled sees his actions as either acts of obedience or sins. For such a person is at the station of distinction (maqām al-farq). When such a person rises to their degree, there is neither obedience nor sin. For this would require duality and multiplicity; one who obeys and one who is obeyed; a rebel and a being against whom rebellion is committed. According to them, this is the very essence of shirk (associating partners with God). (Buġya, 27)
Fanāʾ al-shuhūd al-siwā (annihilation from witnessing other-than-God) is the fanāʾ indicated by most Sufis. Its ḥaqīqa (inner reality) is to become annihilated from witnessing and sensing anything other than Allah. This is for a person to be in a state of absence (ghayba) from what he witnesses, and for this absence to be from both what he witnesses and from himself. For he has become absent from worshipping his Maʿbūd (the One worshipped) with his worship, from remembering his Madhkūr (the One remembered, i.e., Allah) with his dhikr (remembrance), from his existence with his existence, from his Maḥbūb (the Beloved) with his love, and from his witnessing with what he witnesses. Although there are differences in meaning among these, the state of such a person is called sukr (spiritual intoxication), istilām, maḥw (effacement), and jamʿ (union).
In this state, the condition of witnessing the one whom he loves and remembers dominates the qalb (the heart) until he becomes absent and annihilated with it. Thus, he unites and merges with it, even to the point that he thinks He is himself.
The following story illustrates this state: When the beloved of a person threw himself into the water, the lover also threw himself into the water after him. When the beloved asked, "Why did you jump into the water?" he replied: "I became lost in you from myself, so I thought you were me."
When the person in this ḥāl (spiritual state) regains his senses, he realizes his error and the realities begin to be distinguished within himself. (It becomes clear that) the Lord is the Lord, and the servant is the servant. The Creator is different from the created. Accordingly, in the created there is nothing of His Essence, and in His Essence there is nothing of the created. However, in the states of sukr, maḥw, istilām, and fanāʾ, one becomes absent from this distinction (is not aware of this separation).
While in this state, some of the ḥāl possessors utter certain statements of the kind known as shaṭaḥāt (ecstatic utterances), which, if said by someone in their right mind, would be considered deviant. However, with the return of distinction and consciousness, this state also disappears, so why should he be held responsible (for these words)?
Fanāʾ–baqāʾ There is a praiseworthy, a blameworthy, and a forgiven form of this fanāʾ. The fanāʾ of one who becomes annihilated from loving, fearing, hoping in, relying upon, or seeking help from other-than-Allah, so that his religion, both outwardly and inwardly, is directed to Allah alone, is praiseworthy.
The absence of consciousness and knowledge in its possessor to the extent that he cannot distinguish himself from others is never praiseworthy and is not considered a quality of kamāl (perfection). This is not something desired or commanded for him. Rather, the aim of its possessor is to see realities as they are, in accordance with knowledge and ḥikma (wisdom), so that he can distinguish between the eternal (qadīm) and the originated (ḥādith), and between worship and the One worshipped, to the extent that his intellect and discernment allow, and to put every possessor of a station in their proper place. If he is not strong enough for this, he is to be excused. For this reason, he reduces worship to its levels, observes its levels, gives each level its due of servitude, and witnesses that he has fulfilled it. (Buġya, 28)
Fanāʾ al-irāda al-siwā (annihilation from desiring other-than-God) is the fanāʾ of the khawāṣṣ (the elect among the awliyāʾ) and the muqarrab imams. This occurs as follows: Its possessor becomes annihilated not only from desiring other-than-the-Beloved, but even from what he desires from the Beloved, so that his own will is annihilated in the will of the Beloved, and he is content with the will of the Beloved as the Beloved wills and is pleased. He enters the path of union in the way the Beloved wills and is pleased, and, by becoming annihilated from desiring other-than-God, accepts being a captive. Here, I mean not the existential will related to fate, but the will based on religious preference. Thus, the two wills become one. There is no true unity in intellect, but there is such true unity in knowledge and goodness.
Thus, despite the opposition of two wills, two knowledges, and two goodnesses, the two objects of will and the two knowns become one. The aim of love is for the will of the lover to become one with the will of the beloved, and for his will to become annihilated in the will of the beloved. This unity and