Abū Yazīd al-Bisṭāmī says: Walk in the field of tawḥīd (the oneness of God) until you reach the abode of tafrīd! Fly in the field of tafrīd until you reach the valley of dāymūmat (perpetuity)! If you become thirsty, let the cup that never tires of dhikr (remembrance of God) quench your thirst!
Tafrīd is the unification of pre-eternity (qidam) into oneness, through the cessation of ḥudūth (origination/createdness) and the existence of the realities of the true solitary one (munfarid) and the realities of fardāniyya (uniqueness). Some have said: Among the believers, many are those who perform tawḥīd, but among the muwaḥḥidūn (those who affirm the oneness of God), few are those who realize tafrīd.
Tajrīd is when the hearts, having been purified from human turbidity, are left alone with the witnesses of divinity (ulūhiyya). When one of the mashāyikh (spiritual masters) was asked what tajrīd is, he replied: It is the servant's detachment from everything that is manifest (ẓāhir) from himself, so that in all that occurs, only the Real (al-Ḥaqq) remains.
Tajrīd, tafrīd, and tawḥīd are different terms that denote the same meaning. Their details are as many as the ḥaqīqas (inner realities) and ishārāt (allusive indications) that come to the people of spiritual ecstasy (wajd). Someone has said:
The reality of the Real is the Real
No one is truly among the people of tajrīd (Lumaʿ, 425)
Tajrīd is the purification of the servant's outward from wealth and benefit, and his inward from the thought of seeking recompense. This means that the servant does not benefit from the blessings of the dunyā (world), and, having renounced it, does not expect any worldly or otherworldly recompense. He does these things solely because it is a right owed to Allah, and does not attribute them to any other cause. He does not think about the spiritual stations (maqāmāt) he may attain or the spiritual states (aḥwāl) he may experience. That is, he does not settle for any state or find rest in it.
Tafrīd is to strip away forms, to be unique in states, and to become singular in actions. For actions to be solely for Allah, without the intrusion of seeing the nafs (lower self), considering people, or expecting any recompense. In this state, the person is separated from the state even while within it. Thus, he does not see any state within himself. On the contrary, he becomes absent from his state by seeing the One who changes him from state to state, and by stripping away forms, he becomes singular. He neither finds intimacy with these states nor feels distress from them.
Tajrīd is to not be an owner (mālik); tafrīd is to not be a possession (mulk). (Taʿarruf, 81)
Ḥusayn Manṣūr al-Ḥallāj said: The first step of tawḥīd is the fanāʾ (annihilation) of tafrīd. For tafrīd requires separation from afflictions, while tawḥīd requires that nothing remains except the One. In tafrīd, it is permissible to affirm other than Him, but not to attribute this quality to them. Such attribution is not befitting for any other than the Real. Tafrīd comes as an expression of partnership; tawḥīd removes partnership. The first step in tawḥīd is the abolition of partnership and the removal of temperament from the path. For the presence of temperament on the path is no different from setting out on a path without light. (Hujwīrī, 335)
Tajrīd is the servant's stripping away of all aims in his actions. In this state, the servant does not do anything for worldly or otherworldly purposes, nor to achieve such aims. Rather, he strives to fulfill his servitude and obedience, as much as he is able, by beholding the majesty of the Real as it is unveiled to him. Tafrīd, on the other hand, is for the servant not to see the actions he performs (and the stations he attains), but rather to see them as a grace from Allah.
Tajrīd negates all other than Him; tafrīd is for the person to become absent from his own nafs in the blessings Allah has given him, and from the striving (gayret) he has exerted to attain these blessings. (ʿAwārif, 309)
Tajrīd is to remove and cast away all that is other than Allah (mā siwā) from the heart and the secret (sirr).
In tafrīd, all the allusions of the subtlety of meaning are understood. There is no need to prolong the expression. It is a name given to the level equal to the speaking nafs. (Iṣṭilāḥ, 534)
The first subtlety of tajrīd is to strip unveiling (kashf) from the certainty of unveiling. The second is to strip it from the degree of knowledge of the eye of union (ʿayn al-jamʿ). The third is to strip ikhlāṣ (sincerity) from seeing tajrīd itself.
The first subtlety of tafrīd is to allude to the Real. The second is to allude to everything by the Real. The third is to allude from the Real. (Rawḍa, 497)
At the end (nihāya), tajrīd is to strip ikhlāṣ from seeing tajrīd itself. At the beginning (bidāya), tajrīd is to strip away opposition, natural pleasures, familiar things, and the adornments of the world. In the chapter of doors (abwāb), it is to strip the nafs from worldly desires and from pursuing passions. In the chapter of transactions (muʿāmalāt), it is to strip the nafs from the influence of the cosmos and from attributing actions to created beings.
In the chapter of character (akhlāq), it is to strip away the structures of the nafs and the satanic faculties. In the chapter of principles (uṣūl), it is to strip away laxity while walking the path of truth and from turning to other than Allah. In the chapter of remedies (adwiya), it is to strip empirical sciences from divine inspiration and religious sciences. In the chapter of states (aḥwāl), it is to strip away love (maḥabba) for other than Allah and to be patient with intention.
In the chapter of walāya (friendship with God), it is to strip away all names, attributes, and forms of the cosmos. In the chapter of realities (ḥaqāʾiq), it is to strip the degree of knowledge of the eye of union. (Jāmiʿ, 301)
At the end, tafrīd is to allude from the Real. This is a state of invitation to the Real and hudā (guidance).