Unlike filling, absorption (‘istihlak) is a state of total “dissolution”. It is said that tawḥīd is reached when the self is absorbed by God, as described through the metaphors of “drowning in the sea.” Does the self survive? Intoxication is another important metaphor. Junayd prefers not only sobriety to intoxication but also baqā’ to fanā’, whereas Hallāj prefers intoxication to sobriety and fanā’ to baqā’. Most metaphors raise the question of the autonomy of the individual. How does Buddhism frame this problem? Śūnyatā means that no phenomenon has a “self” or an essence, but it does suggest procedures through which the self can be preserved. Buddhist understanding of the self as no-self is not the result of a progressive purification of the self but rather one of the overcoming of dichotomous thinking. An enlightened self is aware that there is only emptiness; and only this awareness can lead to serenity. Muhammad Iqbal finds that Islamic teachings had “gambled away the coin of selfhood” (1966: line 1959) and of autonomy. This approaches the Buddhist philosophy of Nishida, who was intrigued by these same problems. Are there approaches to fanā’ in which the survival of the self is explicitly recommended? I also evaluate the Christian side as well as the Hindu pūrnata, which means “fullness” and has been compared to pleroma.