Answered by Sayyidi Habib Umar bin Hafiz (may Allah protect him and benefit us by him)
How can we attain these high stations which you talk about? They are beyond the likes of us.
Allah has made these states attainable to those He wishes. They are not the preserve of the strong or the weak, nor those who are near or those who are far, nor those who have status in society or those who do not. They are for those who have taken the means to attain them and turned themselves sincerely to Allah, those for whom Allah has decreed felicity.
There are a number of means to attain them. Some of these are:
By completely repenting from wrongdoings large and small, inward and outward, obeying the command of Allah: Leave all sin, outward and inward (6:120).
By loving Allah and His Messenger ﷺ, his household and Companions and loving the believers in general and the elite specifically.
By establishing a connection to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ through the Shaykhs who constitute an unbroken chain of connection to him.
By keeping the company of the pious. If this is not physically possible, then keep their company through reading their books and reading about their lives and states or listening to their talks on the internet or by any other means.
By perfecting your performance of that which Allah has ordered you to do and by perfecting your leaving of that which Allah has prohibited inwardly and outwardly, then by performing supererogatory acts of worship in abundance and avoiding that which is disliked and dubious and making a pious intention in performing acts that are merely permissible.
By striving to remember Allah constantly.
By taking a shaykh who can guide you to that which rectifies you.
Whoever is sincere in following this path and strives to purify his heart from blameworthy traits that are displeasing to Allah will attain the portion which has been decreed for them of these lofty states.
The only people who are deprived of attaining them are: those that deny their existence; those that make no attempt to attain them; those who falsely claim to have attained them; those who persist in showing enmity to those who have attained these states; those who persistently harm the Muslims or those who are content to possess an attribute which Allah hates and make no attempt to remove it.
The sign of someone attaining these stations is an increase in etiquette (adab) and humility. Such a person does not claim to have attained anything and does not attribute what he has attained to himself but rather he increases in humility, love, worship and focus on his path to Allah.