One must protect the perceptions from entities, carnal recollections (nafsānī hātıra), and the deceptions of Satan. Thoughts pertaining to all that is other than Allah (mā siwā) should not be given importance. For it is reported in a narration: Wisdom descends from the heavens, but does not enter a heart (qalb) that harbors thoughts of tomorrow.
Again, whoever wishes to attain the station (maqām) of unveiling (kashf) and witnessing (mushāhada) must find tranquility through the love, attraction, passion, and longing to meet Allah the Exalted, and should hope to meet the Lord the Exalted by performing righteous deeds. (Jāmiʿ, 171)
The spiritual journey (sulūk) of the poor Sufi (sulūk al-faqīr al-sūfī) is the journey of the nafs (the lower self) through stations (maqām) and states (ḥāl), that is, traversing the degrees of spiritual ascent by rising and falling. In this matter, there is no difference between being in seclusion (khalwa) in the lodge of one’s shaykh, or traveling, or being among the people of means (ahl al-asbāb)—that is, engaging in worldly causes—by seeking sustenance during the day for one’s worldly life (dunyā) and returning home at night.
There has been much discussion and debate about these stations traversed by the dervish. These stations are like the stages traversed by a traveler on a journey. Some Sufis have claimed that ecstatic utterance (shaṭḥ) is itself a station (maqām). Others have thought that, according to a certain group, the meaning of fanāʾ (annihilation in God) is to be free from legal (sharʿī) constraints and to abandon the distinction between the realities (ḥaqīqa) and rulings of things. (Rihla, 204)