And the truthful one in our way is the one whom Allah has shown the obligatory remembrance, the greatest of secrets.
The Shaykh is the source and essence of the path. He does not long for the strange and the unseen, nor does he underestimate the true reality.
If truth is achieved, the truthful seeker will traverse the stations safely from missteps in the shortest time.
The stations are Islam, Iman, and Ihsan; and if you wish, you can say: Sharia, Tariqa, and Haqqiqa.
Among these, there are nine major stations, the first of which is repentance (tawba) and the last is knowledge (marifa).