…through Him. Even if the one who treads it believes in Allah, His angels, His Books, His messengers, and the Last Day, carries out what Allah has commanded, and refrains from what He has forbidden—thus following the path of the messengers—this would still, in the eyes of the foremost gnostics, be an incomplete attainment. The annihilation he affirms is nothing but the loss of awareness of anything other than the Real. Those who adopted his view—such as Ibn al-Tufayl of al-Maghrib, author of Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān, and others like him—arrive at the same point: an absence of remembrance, perception, and inward presence of all that is other than Allah. This is a deficient state that may befall some seekers; it is neither the goal itself nor a condition for reaching it.
The true goal is to be annihilated from worshiping anything besides Him—a station exemplified by the two intimate friends, Abraham and Muhammad (may Allah bless them and grant them peace). It is authentically reported in several sound narrations that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
“Allah has taken me as a friend (khalīl) just as He took Abraham as a friend.”
The reality of this annihilation is the realization of ḥanīfiyyah (pure monotheism): one is so absorbed in worshiping Allah that worship of anything else disappears; so engrossed in loving Him that all other love fades; so committed to obeying Him that obedience to anyone else is eclipsed; so filled with fear of Him that fear of any but Him vanishes; and so governed by love and hatred for His sake that no other love or hatred remains. Thus no creature—neither one’s own self nor anyone else—shares in one’s heart any partnership with Allah, exalted be He.
For this very reason Abraham the Friend was commanded to slaughter his son. He had pleaded with Allah to grant him the child and had no other son besides him. According to the soundest opinion held by the majority of scholars, supported by the Qur’an and the Sunnah, the intended sacrifice was Ishmael. Therefore the Friend supplicated:
“My Lord, grant me a child from among the righteous.”
He said…