We return to Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali, the St. Augustine/Thomas Aquinas of the Islamic tradition.
Thanks to the great al-Ghazali, embedded at the center of the Muslim intellectual tradition lies a recognition of different kinds of knowledge: (1) 'ilm, which is composed of data acquired through the senses and discriminated by means of 'aql (reason) and (2) ma'rifah, something akin to what Michael Polyani called "tacit knowledge." Ma'rifah (unlike Polanyi's "tacit knowledge") is a gift of God's grace and discriminated by means of dhawq ("taste"). Dhawq is not the sense of taste of the tongue that is discriminated by 'aql--it is called "taste" only for lack of a better word. It is a metaphor that "stands in" for a direct experience of the Divine. According to al-Ghazali, there is no accounting for ma'rifah; it is a gift that Allah gives according to his/her/its inscrutable design. No one can make such an experience happen. At best, the pietistic disciplines (asceticism, etc.) can prepare one to receive the gift (and make the most of it) if/when it comes. But Allah's will determines the matter.
Muslim piety is hunger; thirst; longing for the Divine. Abu Bakr al-Shibli (d. 946 CE) compared tasawwuf (the pietistic disciplines associated with ma'rifah) to "a burning flash of lightning." If it strikes, it strikes. If it doesn't strike, it doesn't strike.
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