Illumination!

Purity of one’s soul [tazkia e nafs], the paths of divine love and true knowledge of the creator, the total reliance on God [tawakkul],  the perpetual remembrance of God [zikr], Finding the profound meaning of existence and human being…… What ever we name it and how ever we define. Mysticism [sufism] has deep roots in all the major cultures and religions of the world. There have been Mystics in religions[Hindus, Buddhist, Jews] but the concepts the Islamic Mysticism take this ‘ism’[if it is] to the next level [in my opinion].

طاعت میں تا رہے نہ مے وانگبیں کی لاگ
دوزخ میں ڈال دو‘ کوئی لے کر بہشت کو
(Ghalib)

گفت رومی ہر بنائے کہنہ کہ باداں کنند
توندانی اول آں بنیاد را ویراں کنند

رومی)
(جس پرانی عمارت کو آباد کرتے ہیں تو نہیں جانتا کہ پہلے اس بنیاد کو ویران کردیتے ہیں)۔
(An answer to Iqbal’s question)

انہیں حقیقت در یا کی کیا خبر امجّد –

جو اپنی روح کے منجھدار سے نہیں گزرے-

…The truth is that all search for knowledge is essentially a form of prayer. The scientific observer of Nature is a kind of mystic seeker in the act of prayer. Although at present he follows only the footprints of the musk-deer, and thus modestly limits the method of his quest, his thirst for knowledge is eventually sure to lead him to the point where the scent of the musk-gland is a better guide than the footprints of the deer…
(Iqbal – The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam – The concept of God and meaning of Prayer)

A debate is always ON between the different interpreter of the religion; whether the Mysticism is part of the religion or it is something intersecting with the religion or something parallel to it. I am leaving it to you to decide.

Help yourself for the other parts.