They have not preferred anyone other than Him. They have relied on Him, waited at His door, shown riḍā (contentment with God's decree) with His decree, shown sabr (patient endurance) in the face of His tribulation, left their homelands for His sake, and migrated to their brethren. For His sake, they have stripped themselves of all attachments and fled from people. They have found intimacy only with Him, and have felt estrangement (distress) from anyone other than Him. Allah says: "That is the bounty of Allah; He gives it to whom He wills. And Allah is the possessor of great bounty." (al-Jumuʿa 62:4) (Luma, 19)
After fulfilling the obligatory acts and avoiding the forbidden, one of the distinguishing characteristics that separates the Sufis from the other groups I have mentioned (the jurists and the people of hadith) is that they abandon things that do not concern them and strip themselves of every attachment that comes between them and their aim and desire. For they have no aim or desire other than Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He.
The Sufis have, in addition, certain other etiquettes and various ḥāl (spiritual states). Some of these are: renouncing most of the world's blessings and being content with little, sufficing with only the most necessary provisions, being satisfied with only what is necessary in matters such as clothing, rest, and food, preferring poverty to wealth, drawing near to little and distancing themselves from much, preferring hunger to satiety, preferring little to much, abandoning superiority and greatness, not giving importance to rank and position, showing compassion to people, displaying humility to everyone, great and small, preferring others to oneself even in times of need, not caring about those who indulge in worldly (blessings), having a good opinion of Allah, being sincere (ikhlas) while hastening to obedience and competing in all good deeds, detaching from everything and turning to Allah, showing sabr in the face of tribulation from Him, being content with His decree, persevering in mujāhada (spiritual struggle), continuing to oppose the nafs (the lower self) by avoiding its desires and pleasures—since Allah the Exalted has described the nafs as ammāra bi's-sūʾ (constantly commanding to evil)—and regarding it, in accordance with the hadith, as: "Your greatest enemy is your nafs between your two sides." (Luma, 29)
sufi-mutasa wwıf -mustasvif/ sufiyye 921
Among the etiquettes and characteristics of the Sufis are: observing divine secrets, practicing murāqaba (spiritual vigilance) of Allah, protecting the qalb (the heart) by repelling ugly thoughts, being occupied with beautiful thoughts known only to Allah, and worshipping Allah with a present (awake) qalb, a clear mind, a sound intention, and complete devotion. For Allah accepts only those deeds that are done solely for His riḍā.
Among the etiquettes and characteristics of the Sufis are also: traversing the paths of the awliyāʾ (friends of God), residing in the spiritual stations of the asfiyāʾ (the pure ones), sacrificing the ruh (the spirit), and annihilating the nafs.