his soul preoccupied with it. Those who follow an imperfect path in loving Allah may experience something similar, called “overwhelming absorption” and “annihilation.” Such a person becomes so absorbed in his Beloved that he loses awareness of his own love; in the One he knows, of his own knowledge; and in the One he remembers, of his own remembrance—until he is no longer conscious of any of Allah’s names, attributes, speech, commands or prohibitions. Some may pass from this to “union,” saying: “I am He, and He is I; I am Allah.” Many spiritual seekers imagine that this is their ultimate goal, and that this is the “affirmation of Allah’s oneness” which every seeker ultimately seeks. They are mistaken. Rather, this is akin to what the Christians say. They went astray because, in their inward lives, they did not follow the path prescribed by revelation concerning what Allah has declared and commanded. This has been discussed at length elsewhere.

The point is that those who follow their desires for physical forms, food, drink and clothing find that the object of their desire takes hold of their hearts, overpowering and mastering them until they remain captive, driven by what they crave wherever it leads. Hence, one of the early Muslims said: “For a devout young man, I fear a young boy sitting beside him more than a ravenous beast pouncing on him.”