Fana (Sufism) [1]

When the seeker becomes aware of the identity that exists between himself and God there is a state of fana, or passing away. There is perfect knowledge of God. Even awareness of unity may be transcended in a higher state of union with God beyond all mystical states or ahwal, when all trace of the Sufi is annihilated in the traces of another. This absolute unification with God, the absorption of the soul into God, is beyond expression and therefore no description conveys its meaning. The mystic is unaware of himself and even of his own absorption. All worldly desires and human qualities are transcended; passions have passed away so that there are no feelings towards anything. Protected by God, he acts according to His will. Human qualities such as ignorance, injustice and ingratitude are replaced in the state of baqa by divine attributes such as knowledge, justice and gratitude. The perfect state is reached gradually as external forms of reality are removed and human activities, physical forms, the phenomenal self, the whole external world, are transcended. According to Kalabadhi, once having experienced the state of fana the mystic never returns to his selfhood.