Hasri defines the Sufi through two paired Sufi stages: fana (annihilation) and baqa (subsistence). In fana, the seeker passes away from his natural, created existence; once annihilated he does not return to that self, for 'the annihilated does not return' (al-fani la yarudd). In baqa, having become established in real, God-grounded existence and in subsistence-after-annihilation (baqa bad al-fana), he is no longer subject to annihilation. The saying thus frames true Sufihood as an irreversible movement from perishing selfhood into abiding being, the same fana/baqa doctrine that underlies related images of self-emptying (nisti) and the illusion of independent existence elsewhere in the course.