“Spiritual state (hal) is a person’s living in their own inner depths through breezes that come from beyond, and sensing and feeling the alternation of night and day, morning and evening, that takes place on the horizon of the heart. Those who understand it as joy and sorrow, contraction and expansion enveloping the human heart without a person’s effort or striving have called the continuation and stability of this occurrence and perception a maqam—a spiritual station—and its passing away a form of self-centeredness or attachment to the ego.

From this perspective, we may describe spiritual state as a Divine gift, a breeze of intimacy blowing across the slopes of the heart; and maqam as the human will and resolve breathing in these breezes, assimilating them into the self, and thereby reaching a second nature.”¹⁾

“Spiritual state consists of manifestations that come from time to time, at moments suited to the will of the Absolute Will. The field in which these manifestations spread is the horizon of the heart; what catches them and pours them into a form is feeling and consciousness. Thus, while a spiritual station is regarded as a rank whose waves have settled and reached stability, spiritual state may be compared to wave-packets coming from the sun in different lengths and colors: within the ebb and flow of lofty decrees, each appearance differs from the one before it, constantly emerging and disappearing in distinct frames.”²⁾

“In Sufism, spiritual state and spiritual station, regarded as certain crystalline signs, are pools of spiritual taste on the journey to the Real—an orbit of contentment and love. They are otherworldly colorations reached and felt through spiritual discipline, and beyond those colorations, spiritual delights that cannot be contained by definitions. Reaching these pools, and experiencing in them the soul’s spacious world winged with love and contentment, always takes place in the embrace of discipline, in the valleys of training the ego and refining the spirit.”³⁾

“When a spiritual state overwhelms the traveler’s knowledge and perception, when ecstasy exceeds his capacity, or when unveiling rises beyond his spiritual resolve, the traveler may at times breathe a kind of awe-struck bewilderment. Examples include: although humility and reverent stillness are essential while the Qur’an is being recited or prayer is being performed, an overflow beyond the person’s will may pierce that humility and stillness; excessive ecstasy and spiritual experiences may disturb the traveler’s quality of self-possession and balance, causing the heart to enter a kind of spiritual arrhythmia; and although seeking the Real always requires loyalty and faithfulness, the attraction of direct witnessing may lead the traveler into haste.”⁴⁾

“If spiritual intoxication (sakr) is a spiritual state, wakeful sobriety (sahw) is a spiritual station—and compared with intoxication, it is a more objective, healthier, and more upright station. While sakr rests on a subjective contemplation of the Real, sahw rests on the contemplation of the Most Exalted and Supreme Essence: known through His Names, encompassed by His Attributes, yet impossible to comprehend.

In other words, sakr bears the color of separation, whereas sahw carries the tone of connection. In the first, one senses to some degree a sign of fana fillah—annihilation in God; in the second, a symbol of baqa billah—subsistence through God. Such subsistence through His permanence is expressed as baqa billah, maallah: subsisting through God, with God.”⁵⁾

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