Wilayat (Sufism)

Sensing at all times the presence of the remembered God, knowing the reality sought to be absolute and without limits, the devotee tries to keep his knowledge free from quality, quantity or direction. He is drawn irresistibly towards God and in consequence experiences a state of fervour, ecstasy, joy, intoxication, fear and reverence. Nothing in this world or the next is worth anything to him.

This is the eighth state arising in the method of dhikr described by Shaykh Kalimallah. It is also the state described in those who have completed the suluk of the Naqshbandiyya order. According to Shaykh Abu Sa'id ibn Abi'l-Khayr, this is the 27th of 40 stations or maqamat the Sufi must possess for his journey on the path of Sufism to be acceptable.