Stages of the Path

Sufi masters mapped the spiritual path as a series of stations (maqamat) and states (ahwal). Stations are permanent achievements earned through effort — repentance, patience, gratitude, trust. States are temporary experiences granted by God — ecstasy, intimacy, awe.

The ultimate goal is fana — the annihilation of the ego-self in the divine. Not physical death but the dissolution of the boundary between self and God. When the drop falls into the ocean, it does not cease to exist. It becomes the ocean.