For this reason, the predecessors of these heretics said:

“Al-Hallāj is half a man.”

This was because his selfhood had not been effaced in reality, so it was effaced in outward form. They say that, since his selfhood had not ceased to exist in his actual spiritual perception, it was effaced in outward form, and he was killed.

Besides the unbelief and heresy it contains, this statement is self-contradictory: one part invalidates another. His words,

“Between me and You, my selfhood presses upon me,”

address someone other than himself and affirm a selfhood between him and his Lord. This affirms three things. Thus, when he says,

“By Your right, remove my selfhood from between us,”

he asks someone other than himself to remove his selfhood. This likewise affirms three things.

This false meaning is the corrupt form of fanā’ (annihilation): the effacement of the existence of all other than Allah. These words contain a request to remove selfhood—which is a request for annihilation.

Fanā’ takes three forms: the effacement of the existence of all other than Allah, the effacement of awareness of all other than Allah, and the abandonment of worship of all other than Allah.

The first is the annihilation advocated by the heretical adherents of the unity of existence, as in their interpretation of al-Hallāj’s words. It consists in treating all existence as one existence.

The second—the effacement of awareness of all other than Allah—is something that befalls many spiritual wayfarers, as is related of Abū Yazīd and others like him. This is the station of overwhelming absorption: in his absorption in the One whose existence he perceives, he loses awareness of his own existence; in the One he worships, of his own worship; in the One he witnesses, of his own witnessing; and in the One he remembers, of his own remembrance. Thus, the one who once did not exist passes away, while the One who has always existed remains. This is like the story related that