Although no precise definitions or criteria have been established for these terms and their meanings, we may understand *tafarrud* and *ʿuzlah* as follows.
*Tafarrud* is the intention and resolve to affirm one’s servanthood and become, in the truest sense, a servant of God. It means making oneself wholly and solely devoted to the One, by bringing both body and soul under wise discipline and establishing a distinct order of worship and servitude. One’s being then becomes the leader of all its faculties, and the worlds of body and soul are brought together as a single, unified whole, directed in intention, purpose, action and attention towards one centre.
To be *tafarrud* for God is to become singular, solitary, unique, devoted and pure for Him—to let no current stir in the soul but remembrance of and love for God. The individual offers himself in sacrifice to his Lord.
*ʿUzlah* is the effort to remove every obstacle to this singleness and wholeness, whether it arises within the worlds of body and soul or from beyond oneself.
*ʿUzlah* does not mean severing ties with people. Yet if, in some circumstances, people become an obstacle to one’s presence of heart and *tafarrud*, one must withdraw from them. Rather, *ʿuzlah* means not becoming attached to anything besides God. In other words, one must be neither dependent on nor enamoured of one’s own self or the selves of others; one must not become dependent on, or the servant and slave of, oneself or anything else.
Enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong is a form of love and kindness towards God’s creatures, guiding them towards this same *tafarrud*.
The highest aim of *tafarrud* is to be singular while among others, as in congregational prayer, which is a kind of *tafarrud* within a community. The Imam of the Age, peace be upon him, is the supreme means of attaining *tafarrud* towards God. True *tafarrud* with the Imam will come when we become his followers in the truest sense; this is the reality of following an Imam.