Let me restate this in terms you may be able to relate to, Jafer. It took me a long time to figure this one out but I was determined to make sense of everything I was seeing and hearing,! You can be a ‘wali’ of Allah( a saint) without being an ‘arif’( knower of Allah experientially). The contrary is also true shocking as it may seem to the ordinary Muslim. You can be an arif without being a saint! It’s part of the mystery of existence!?In Hindu/ Buddhist terms, you can be bothnEnlightened(arif) and corrupt. The History of gurus on America is full of such cases.As real Sufi aspirants , we are aiming to be both. In Vedantists terms, we want to be complete on both the dual and the non-dual planes. In Islamic terms, we walk on two legs- the leg of haqiqat( Ansolute Truth) and the leg of Shariah( the Divine rules )  . That was one of the very first teachings I received on the Shadhuli way and it will be my goal to the very end, inshallah,Salaams, Ibrahim