When God wishes to guide someone, He expands their breast to Islam…Sahl said:Truly God has distinguished between the one who seeks (murīd) and the one who is [divinely] sought (murād), even though they are both from Him (min ʿindihi). But He simply wanted to distinguish the elite (khuṣūṣ) from the generality (ʿumūm), and so He singled out the one who is sought (murād) in this sūra and others. He also mentioned the one who seeks (murīd), representing the generality, in this sūra in His words, Exalted is He: Do not drive away those who call upon their Lord morning and evening, seeking His countenance [6:52]. This is the servant’s being intent (qaṣd) upon God in his every moment of activity and stillness (fī ḥarakātihi wa sukūnihi), just as He also said: and those who hearken to their Lord and maintain the prayer… [42:38]. Thus, whoever finds that he has the state of both the seeker and the sought, that is due to a grace (faḍl) from God to him. Do you not see how He has brought them together in His words, Exalted is He: Whatever grace you have, it is from God [16:53]?He was asked, ‘Why are they [murīd and murād] separated then?’ He said:The seeker who makes an effort to direct himself towards (qaṣd) God, Exalted is He, and to worship Him, and seeks the way to Him, is still in the state of seeking (ṭalab). As for the sought, it refers to the establishment of worship for him by God, Exalted is He. Man has within himself that which [shows him] to be both a seeker (murīd) and one who is sought (murād). At one time, ⸢he enters into his acts of obedience [applying to them] struggle (mukābada) and striving (mujāhada), and this is [when he is] at the level of the seeker (murīd), when he may be stirred [into action] (tuhayyijahu) by the inducement of hope (raghba), or by fear (rahba). Then at another time⸣, he finds himself carried through those acts without effort (taklīf) or striving (jahd), [and this is] a solicitude from God, Exalted is He, towards him. Then after that, he will move on to the highest stations (maqāmāt) and most elevated ranks (darajāt).[At this point] he was asked about the meaning of the stations (maqāmāt), and he replied:They are mentioned in the Book of God, Exalted is He, in the story about the angels, And there is not one of us but [that he] has a known station [37:164].
