“Stupor denotes a state in which the more one drinks, the more one burns with thirst and can never be satisfied with water. It may also mean becoming mad or passionately infatuated because of love. According to the people of Sufism, stupor is the state in which the loving spiritual traveler becomes overwhelmed by wonder, appreciation, and spiritual delight because of unexpected manifestations and Divine gifts that envelop the heart during the journey, loses awareness of the self, and can no longer fully control the will. Since neither the Qur’an nor the authentic Sunnah contains an explicit statement concerning stupor, most people of truth have understood it, like awe, not as one of the spiritual stations, but as a temporary state and a form of spiritual coloring.”¹⁾

“Like awe, stupor may be analyzed in three categories:

1. At the initial stages of the journey, the spiritual traveler is conscious of personal powerlessness, poverty, destitution, and worthlessness. When granted extraordinary favors far beyond personal merit and worth, the traveler says, like the Prophet Job, ‘I cannot remain independent of any of Your favors.’ As the traveler opens the heart ever more fully to Divine manifestations, this becomes the stage of surging with the thought, ‘Is there yet more?’ The thoughts and conduct of most travelers in this valley may be traced back to this level.

2. In the face of transcendent spiritual gifts bestowed as an advance upon the traveler’s present sincerity and future merits, the traveler acquires a renewed perception, a fresh spirit, and a heightened will. With the deep delight of contemplation, the traveler observes the extraordinary realities whose door has momentarily opened and says, رَبَّنَا أَتْمِمْ لَنَا نُورَنَا, ‘Our Lord, perfect and complete our light for us!’ (At-Tahrim 66:8). It is a spiritual state in which, with firm resolve and complete metaphysical tension, the traveler longs for what lies beyond the favors already received. The lines, ‘The more I dipped my finger / Into the honey of love, the more I asked for water’ (Gadai), are among the beautiful expressions associated with this level.

3. The third is stupor of annihilation. In this state, the spiritual traveler reaches, either as an immediate state or through spiritual experience, a unity of step and vision and begins to contemplate the universe from the horizon of transience and decline. Then, through ever-renewed manifestations of subsistence through God, the traveler ceases to see existence as possessing any independent reality, fully senses that he or she is being observed as a spiritual gift belonging to the level of excellence in worship, and becomes enraptured by the longing to behold.”²⁾

“Just as being present at the Ka‘ba, ‘Arafat, Muzdalifa, or before the blessed resting place of the Prophet, or experiencing the most honored moments when a single deed is multiplied a thousandfold—such as the Night of Destiny or Friday—holds immense importance for receiving the spiritual gifts that come from God Almighty, moments when the heart softens and states such as absorption, spiritual restlessness, and stupor are experienced are likewise of great importance for seeking Divine manifestations and presenting one’s requests before the Divine Court.”³⁾

“What truly matters is sometimes to moan like the sound of a reed flute through hearts struck collectively by suffering and thereby enrapture people, and at other times to proclaim truth and reality to them in a powerful collective voice, causing them—as expressed in Emerald Hills of the Heart—to experience wonder, spiritual restlessness, and stupor, and thus bringing them into the presence of Divine Grandeur. If this is the goal and purpose, then whoever realizes such an aim, one should take pleasure in it as though one had accomplished it oneself.”⁴⁾

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