One of the most revered Sufis in the history of Islam. Abu Yazid al-Bastami preached the doctrine of fannah (annihilation) in Allah, and discovered the divine in the deepest recesses of his being after prolonged mystical exercises. Al-Bastami wooed Allah like a lover. But he also learned the discipline of fannah by gradually peeling away the layers of egotism - which, all spiritual writers agree, holds us back from the experience of the divine. Al-Bastami found an enhanced self in the ground of his own being that was nothing other than Allah himself.