It is avoidance (ictināb). Performing acts of obedience is called iktisāb, while ictināb is to avoid maʿṣiyya (sin) and evil deeds. This is taqwa (God-consciousness). The aspect of avoidance, in every ḥāl (spiritual state), is safer, more sound, more excellent, and more honorable for the servant than the aspect of acquisition. For this reason, among the people of worship, those who are new to this path do not immediately begin with the aspect of avoidance; rather, they occupy themselves with the aspect of acquisition with all their strength, fasting during the day and standing in prayer at night. (Minhāj, 42)
Whoever witnesses his own nafs (the lower self) with his Lord is in the station of ʿubūdet (servitude). (Iṣṭilāḥ, 541)
For a person to be attributed to his Lord through ʿubūdiyya (servitude), or for servitude to be attributed to him, is more virtuous than for him to be attributed to things through ḥurriyya (freedom), by saying, "He has been freed from the bondage of everything other than Allah (aghyār)." For it is not correct to be free from Allah. If a person is in the station of freedom, his witnessed object is only the aʿyān (entities) of things. For by witnessing them—while being absent from His servitude—freedom from them is realized. The station of servitude is higher for a human than the station of freedom, and the station of ʿubūdet is higher than that of ʿubūdiyya. (Futūḥāt, I, 697)
ʿUbūdet is for the servant to belong to Allah. After that comes ʿubūdiyya. This is for the servant to belong to the divine manifestation. Through ʿubūdet, not opposition but obedience to the command is realized. When He says to it "Be!" it becomes without hesitation. For here, only the ʿayn-i thābita (immutable entity) capable of creation in essence is present. If the ʿayn-i thābita, having become a locus for (divine) manifestation (tajallī), is told "Do!" or "Do not do!" and opposes, it is because of being a locus for manifestation. If it obeys without hesitation, it is because of its own essence. "Our command to a thing when We intend it is only that We say to it, 'Be,' and it is." (Qur'an 16:40) With this ʿubūdiyya, on that day it is presented to Allah. Do you not see that it prostrates even though it was not commanded to prostrate? Prostration is only commanded when it is within that day.
It has no locus other than the ʿayn of Muhammad. Because of Allah's command for it to come into existence, prostration occurs in the essence of Muhammad. Without a divine command, with this, prostration is made to Muhammad. Through prostration, it returns to him. It is said to him: "Raise your head, ask and it will be given, intercede and it will be granted!"
Then, elsewhere, the people are commanded to prostrate in order to distinguish the sincere from the insincere. This is the prostration of ʿubūdiyya. In this station, the ʿārifūn billāh (those who have gnosis of God) worship their Lord in the aspect of ʿubūdet. For them, there is no affiliation to anything other than Allah. Those other than them are affiliated with ʿubūdiyya.
It is said: They rise in His presence with the station of ʿubūdiyya. This is what is presented to the Lord from ʿubūdiyya. Every muḥaqqiq (one who realizes this station) is in this position on the Day of Resurrection (qiyāma). (Futūḥāt, II, 87-88)
ʿUbūdiyya is attributed to ʿubūdet, but ʿubūdet is not attributed to Allah or to the nafs. For its attribution to Allah is not acceptable. Therefore, the attribution with the yā' of nisba—ʿibāda, ʿubūdiyya, ʿubūdet—is not permissible. The one who is at the peak of humility (tadhallul) is the one who is attributed to humiliation (dhull) in terms of boasting with Him. For this reason, the descent to the earth is also called dhull by way of exaggeration. For the humiliated ones tread upon the earth, and the earth is at a greater peak of humility than them. The station of ʿubūdiyya is the station of humility and neediness, and it is not a divine attribute. (Futūḥāt, II, 210)
ʿUbūdiyya is an essential inspiration belonging to the servant, a pure submission. The servant is not charged with fulfilling this. For ʿubūdiyya is identical with his very essence. When he fulfills ʿubūdiyya properly, this act of his becomes worship (ʿibāda). Only those who dwell in the divine earth, which encompasses both origination and pre-eternity, can fulfill this. Thus, whoever dwells in Allah's earth has realized worship of Allah and the attribution of the Real (al-Ḥaqq) to himself. (Futūḥāt, III, 219)
Worship (ʿibāda) for the common people is that whose aim is to require submission to Allah. (Kāshānī, 107; Jāmiʿ, 89)
The ʿubūdiyya of the elite is the ʿubūdiyya of those who witness themselves with sincerity of intention on the path of spiritual journeying (sulūk). (Kāshānī, 107)
ʿUbūdet is a station belonging to the elite of the elite, who witness their own selves as established in His ʿubūdet. They worship Him, with Him, in the station of aḥadiyya (divine oneness) of distinction and union. (Kāshānī, 107; Jāmiʿ, 89)
The station of ʿubūdiyya is not specific to a particular place, but is valid in every place. The walī (friend of God) returns from the station of khulla (friendship) to the station of creation. Allah causes him to reside in the station of ʿubūdiyya. Sometimes he returns from the station of love (ḥubb), sometimes from the station of khitām (seal, completion). The benefit of this statement is as follows: ʿUbūdet is the servant's return from the divine rank in which he is with Allah to the rank of creation. The station of ʿubūdet is a guardian and overseer over all stations.
The difference between worship (ʿibāda), ʿubūdiyya, and ʿubūdet is as follows: Worship is the performance of righteous deeds by the servant, from which he seeks reward. ʿUbūdiyya is the performance of righteous deeds by the servant solely to attain Allah's riḍā (contentment with God's decree), without seeking reward. ʿUbūdet is to act with Allah. For this reason, ʿubūdet is a guardian and overseer over all stations. The station of khitām is also like this. (Insān, II, 97)
Baqāʾ (subsistence in God), which has no cessation, whose ruling does not change, and which is established both as the Real and as creation, is a divine attribute. Fanāʾ (annihilation in God), on the other hand, is an attribute related to created beings, being a contingent attribution, and has no effect in the presence of the Real. Every attribute ascribed to the Real is more complete and higher than an attribute specific to creation. However, ʿubūdet is an exception, for its attribution and superiority to creation is more complete and higher than the attribution of rubūbiyya (divine lordship) nisba (attribution).
If you say, "Fanāʾ is attached to ʿubūdet and does not separate from it," we answer you thus: It is not correct for it to be like ʿubūdet. For ʿubūdet is a fixed attribute, and its annihilation is not possible. Fanāʾ annihilates ʿubūdet from itself. The ruling of fanāʾ is contrary to the ruling of ʿubūdet (No fanāʾ abolishes servitude). Any state that removes a thing from its origin and veils its reality, according to this group, is not honor. For this state has shown you the opposite of what is the case and has included you among the ignorant. Baqāʾ is the servant's unending, established state. For the ʿayn (immutable entity), exis—