fana

fana

'' ("to pass away," or "to cease to exist"), the complete denial of self and the realization of God that is one of the steps taken by the Muslim Sufi (mystic) toward the achievement of union with God. Fana may be attained by constant meditation and by contemplation on the attributes of God, coupled with the denunciation of human attributes. When the Sufi succeeds in purifying himself entirely of the earthly world and loses himself in the love of God, it is said that he has "annihilated" his individual will and "passed away" from his own existence to live only in God and with God.

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