the relinquishment of the will he is commanded to exercise, his having no personal interest that he is not commanded to pursue, and his being like a corpse in not seeking what he has not been commanded to seek and not warding off what he has not been commanded to ward off. Whoever means by this that his will ceases altogether and that he no longer perceives pleasure and pain, benefit and harm, contradicts the self-evident truths of sensory perception and reason. Whoever praises this contradicts the self-evident truths of religion and reason.

Self-effacement is used in three senses:

The first is self-effacement in accordance with religion and revealed law, which the messengers brought and the Scriptures conveyed. It consists in abandoning what Allah has not commanded by doing what Allah has commanded. Thus, through worshipping Him, one abandons worship of anyone else; through obeying Him and His Messenger, one abandons obedience to anyone else; through relying upon Him, one abandons reliance upon anyone else; through loving Him and His Messenger, one abandons love of anything besides Him; and through fearing Him, one abandons fear of anyone else. In this way, the servant does not follow his desires without guidance from Allah, and Allah and His Messenger are dearer to him than all else. As the Most High says:

“Say, ‘If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your spouses, your relatives, the wealth you have acquired, the trade whose decline you fear, and the homes you cherish are dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger and striving in His cause, then wait until Allah brings about His command.’”

All of this is what Allah and His Messenger have commanded. As for (the second kind of self-effacement: it is the kind described by some Sufis, in which one loses awareness of everything other than Allah Most High. Absorption in the One he worships makes him lose awareness of his worship, and absorption in the One he remembers makes him lose awareness of his remembrance