From: ~~ Murshid Shaykh Taner Ansari ~~
INTENT OF SUFISM:
Allah has created you. He gave you all this: hands, seeing, hearing, this machine, all this. He wants to do something with you without your objecting. And what are you doing, you’re objecting. Why are you objecting?
There are many reasons. One: you are not understanding, two: you want to be with your nafs and you don’t want to share this kingdom with your Lord, who has given it to you to begin with. You are objecting because you have an understanding particular to you, which is different from Allah’s understanding, and you want to act with this understanding, ignoring Allah’s purpose and the understanding that He is looking for. That way you are trying to be God yourself and this is shirk, setting up partners with Allah. This is what Allah doesn’t forgive.
The goal of Sufism is to overcome all this and to unite your purpose with Allah’s purpose, to unite your existence with Allah’s existence, to unite your love with Allah’s love. Everything needs to be aligned. When you start doing this, then the purpose becomes one. We call this tawhid, oneness.
This is where the combination is, in this body, Allah and you together, in oneness. Our objection to surrender, to act, and to understand comes mainly from ignorance and our attachments to the desires of our nafs, which we think has priority over Allah’s wisdom. What do you want to do? Do you want Allah, or do you want you?
Ansari Qadiri Rifai Sufi Order - UK 