I have no freedom of choice. I am in the service of my Lord and under the shadow of His command; my own person has no value. When Hasan Basri was asked, "How did you attain this degree?" he replied: "Through complete fanāʾ (annihilation in God)." Upon this, Hasan Basri said to him, "How do you know this? We do not have this."
Fanāʾ and baqāʾ (subsistence in God) are two names. These are two attributes of a servant who, in his tawhid (the oneness of God), rises from the degree of the common people to the degree of the elect. The initial meaning of fanāʾ and baqāʾ is: the annihilation of ignorance through the subsistence of knowledge, the annihilation of disobedience through the subsistence of obedience, the annihilation of heedlessness through the subsistence of dhikr (remembrance of God), the annihilation of seeing one's own actions within the scope of one's past knowledge through the subsistence of seeing Allah the Exalted's grace. fanāʾ-baqāʾ
The fanāʾ (annihilation) is the disappearance of seeing one's own actions within the scope of one's past knowledge. (Lumaʿ, 284)
When (Junayd) was asked what fanāʾ is, he replied: "It is to become alienated from all your attributes with your whole being; it is for the Whole to use you entirely." (Lumaʿ, 285)
Fanāʾ is the disappearance of the attribute of the nafs (the lower self), the prevention of the arising spiritual state, and from this...