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God, the Exalted, says: 'And pilgrimage to the House is a duty owed to God by those who are able to make their way there (Al Imran 97).' And among the individual obligations one is the Hajj upon the servant, in the state of sound reason, puberty, Islam, and the attainment of capability. And that is [going to] the Sanctuary at the appointed station (miqat), the standing at Arafat, and the circumambulation of visitation by consensus, and — with [some] disagreement — the running (sa'y) between Safa and Marwa. Without [entering ihram] one may not enter the Sanctuary, and the Sanctuary is called the Sanctuary because in it is the Station of Abraham (maqam Ibrahim) and the place of safety. So Abraham, peace be upon him, had two stations: one the station of the body and the other that of the heart. The station of the body is Mecca, and the station of the heart is intimate friendship (khullat). Whoever intends [to reach] the station of his body must turn away from all appetites and pleasures so as to become muhrim, put on the shroud, withhold the hand from lawful hunting, bind all the senses, be present at Arafat, and from there go to Muzdalifa and Mash'ar al-Haram, take up stones, come to Mecca and circumambulate the Kaaba, come to Mina and stay there three days and cast the stones as prescribed. There he shaves the hair, offers sacrifice, and puts on the [ordinary] garments, so that he becomes a pilgrim (hajji). And again, when someone intends [to reach] the station of his heart, he must turn away from familiar things and bid farewell to pleasures and comforts, become muhrim from the remembrance of other-than-[God], and from there turning attention to created being is forbidden. Then he stands at the Arafat of gnosis (ma'rifat), and from there intends the Muzdalifa of intimacy (ulfat), and from there sends the head/secret to the circumambulation of the sanctuary of the Real's transcendence (tanzih), casts the stones of desires and corrupt thoughts at the Mina of safety, and sacrifices the self (nafs) at the slaughter-place of spiritual striving (mujahadat), so that he reaches the station of intimate friendship. Entrance into that [first] station is safety from the enemy and their sword, and entrance into this station is safety from separation (qati'at) and its likes. The Messenger, peace be upon him, said: 'The pilgrims are God's delegation; He gives them what they ask and answers them in what they call upon.' — The pilgrims are God's delegation; He gives them what they want and answers what they call and pray for. This other group neither ask nor pray, but rather submit (taslim); just as Abraham, peace be upon him, did: 'When his Lord said to him, Submit, he said, I have submitted to the Lord of the Worlds (Al-Baqara 131).' When Abraham reached the station of intimate friendship he became detached from attachments and severed his heart from other-than-[God]. The Exalted Real wished to manifest him before the creatures; He set Nimrod upon him so that he cast separation between him and his mother and father, and kindled a fire. Iblis came and built a mangonel; they sewed Abraham into a raw ox-hide and placed him in the arm of the mangonel. Gabriel came, took hold of the arm of the mangonel, and said: 'Do you have any need?' Abraham said: 'As for [any need] from you, no.' Then [Gabriel] said: 'Do you not also have a need from God, mighty and majestic?' He said: 'His knowledge of my state suffices me from asking.' — It is enough for me that He knows I am being cast into the fire for His sake. His knowledge of me has cut off my tongue from asking. And Muhammad ibn al-Fadl, may God's mercy be upon him, says: 'I marvel at the one who seeks Him in the house of this world; why does he not seek the vision (mushahadat) of Him in the heart? For the house — it may be that one finds it and it may be that one does not; but the vision one inevitably finds. If visiting a stone at which one glances once a year is an obligation, a heart at which there are three hundred and sixty glances a day is more worthy of being visited.' But for the people of realization (ahl-i tahqiq) there is a sign at every step of the road to Mecca, and when they reach the Sanctuary they receive from each [step] a robe of honor. Abu Yazid, may God be pleased with him, says: 'Whoever's reward for worship falls to tomorrow, in truth he did not worship today; for the reward of every breath of striving is attained in the present moment (fi'l-hal).' And he also says, may God's mercy be upon him: 'On my first Hajj I saw nothing but the House; the second time I saw the House and the Lord of the House; and the third time I saw only the Lord of the House and saw no house.' In sum, the Sanctuary is there where the vision of [God's] majesty is; and he for whom the whole world is not a tryst of nearness and a retreat of intimacy has as yet no news of [divine] love. When the servant is unveiled (mukashif), the whole world is his sanctuary; and when he is veiled (mahjub), the Sanctuary is for him among the darkest places of the world: 'The darkest of things is the house of the beloved without the beloved.' So worth belongs to the vision in the place of intimate friendship, for which God has made the sight of the Kaaba the cause — the worth is not the Kaaba's; yet one must attach oneself to the caused-thing (musabbab) through every cause, so that [one may see] from which ambush the solicitude (inayat) of the Exalted Real shows its face and whence it appears. So the aim of [these] men in crossing the deserts and wastes was not the Sanctuary; for to the friend/lover the sight of the Sanctuary is forbidden; the aim was a striving in a restless yearning, or a time in a perpetual affliction. Someone came to Junayd, may God be pleased with him, and he said to him: 'Whence do you come?' He said: 'I have been on the Hajj.' He said: 'Did you perform the Hajj?' He said: 'Yes.' He said: 'From the beginning, when you set out from home and departed from your homeland, did you depart from all sins?' He said: 'No.' He said: 'Then you did not depart.' He said: 'When you set out and stayed each night at every stopping-place, did you cut off a station of the way of the Real there?' He said: 'No.' He said: 'Then you did not traverse the stages.' He said: 'When you became muhrim at the miqat, did you separate from the attributes of humanity, as [you did] from the garment?' He said: 'No.' He said: 'Then you did not become muhrim.' He said: 'When you stood at Arafat, did a moment of standing (waqfat) appear to you in the unveiling of vision?' He said: 'No.' He said: 'Then you did not go to Muzdalifa.' He said: 'When you circumambulated the House, did you see the head/secret in the place of the transcendence of the subtleties of the Real's beauty?' He said: 'No.' He said: 'Then you did not circumambulate.' He said: 'When you ran between Safa and Marwa, did you perceive the station of purity (safa) and the rank of manliness (muruwwat)?' He said: 'No.' He said: 'Then you have not yet run.' He said: 'When you came to Mina, did your self-claims (minniyyat) fall away from you?' He said: 'No.' He said: 'Then you have not yet gone to Mina.' He said: 'When you sacrificed at the slaughter-place, did you sacrifice all the wants of the self?' He said: 'No.' He said: 'Then you did not sacrifice.' He said: 'When you cast the stones, did you cast away all the psychic meanings that kept you company?' He said: 'No.' He said: 'Then you have not yet cast the stones and have not performed the Hajj. Return and perform a Hajj in this manner, so that you may reach the station of Abraham.' I heard that one of the great ones sat facing the Kaaba, weeping, and recited these verses: And I awoke on the day of departure while the camels journeyed off, and the driver's chant urging us on was hastening us; I ask about Salma — is there any informer who has knowledge of her, where she alights? I have indeed spoiled my Hajj, my devotions, and my Umra, and in this separation I have a preoccupation distracting me from the Hajj; I shall return from this year for the Hajj of a coming year, for what has [already] been is not accepted. Fudayl ibn Iyad, may God's mercy be upon him, says: I saw a youth standing silent at the [ritual] station, his head bowed. All the people were in supplication, and he remained silent. I said: 'O youth, why do you too not make a supplication?' He said: 'A desolation has befallen me. A [spiritual] moment I had was lost from me. I have no face at all for supplication.' I said: 'Supplicate, so that God the Exalted, by the blessing of this assembly, may bring you to the fulfillment of your desire.' He wished to raise his hand and supplicate; a cry broke out from him, and his soul departed with it. Dhul-Nun al-Misri, may God's mercy be upon him, says: I saw a youth sitting still at Mina while all the people were occupied with the sacrifices. I kept watching him [to see] what he would do and who he was. He said: 'O Lord, all the people are occupied with sacrifices, and I wish to sacrifice my own self in Your presence — accept it from me.' He said this and pointed with his forefinger to his throat and fell. When I looked closely, he was dead. So Hajjs are of two kinds: one in absence (ghaybat) and the other in presence (huzur). The one who is in Mecca in absence is like one in his own house, for no absence is more worthy than [another] absence; and the one present in his own house is like one present in Mecca, for no presence is more worthy than [another] presence. So the Hajj is a striving for the sake of the unveiling of vision, and the striving is not the cause (illat) of the vision but rather an occasion (sabab), and an occasion has no greater effect upon the [inner] meanings. So the object of the Hajj is not the seeing of the House...