“An initiate’s first station is repentance, while the second is inaba (sincere penitence). In common usage, inaba also refers to the ceremony that is held when one submits to a spiritual guide (murshid). While repentance requires the training of feelings, thoughts and acts in order to move from opposition to acceptance and obedience, sincere penitence demands a critique of the authenticity, sincerity, and sufficiency of that acceptance and obedience. Repentance is a progression or journeying toward God—that is, seeking to do what is pleasing to God and refraining from what is forbidden by Him. Sincere penitence is an ascension through the stations of journeying in God—in other words, striving to live an upright life in self-annihilation and absorption in God so that one may seek His good pleasure in all actions and thoughts.

Awba (turning to God in contrition) is an ascension through the stations of journeying from God—that is, being responsible for guiding others after having embodied the Islamic way of belief, thought, and conduct.”¹⁾

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