can be apprehended. (Lumaʿ, 424
The ḥiss-i mushtarak (common sense) is a tablet of impressions. When something takes place there, it acts as an observer. There are many things imprinted upon the senses that have departed from sensation, yet their forms remain for a moment in the ḥiss-i mushtarak. Thus, they remain in the state of being observed, but have not been reflected into thought. Keep in mind what is told to you: In every situation, a moving point is inscribed as a straight line around the circumference of a circle.
When a form is shaped upon the tablet of the ḥiss-i mushtarak, perception (mushāhada) occurs. Whether it is something first perceived externally in the dunyā (this world), or a remnant of something sensed remaining in the mind, or something that becomes fixed again after the sensed thing has disappeared, or even if it is not from something sensed but rather from something in the mind if possible, it is all the same. (Ishārāt, IV, 128
According to the verifiers (muḥaqqiqūn), the composition of a perfect human consists of three meanings: the first is the rūḥ (the spirit), the second is the nafs (the lower self), and the third is the body. Each of these three meanings is maintained by a particular attribute. The attribute of the rūḥ is intellect, the attribute of the nafs is desire (hawā), and the attribute of the body is sensation. (Hujwīrī, 238-239
The corporeal reality (hazrat-i jismiyyat) gathers within itself the maḥsūsāt (things perceivable by the senses) we have mentioned. Its commander is khayāl (imagination), and its agent is sensation. Although the senses are in relative disagreement, they take the maḥsūsāt and deliver them to the sense that is the agent, raising them to the treasury of khayāl. Here, it acquires a name according to the kind of thing elevated to it. In this case, the name maḥsūsāt is removed, and the name mutakhayyilāt (things imaginable) is given.
After this, khayāl, under the power of recollection, becomes the agent of the maḥsūsāt as well, memorizing them. Here, the name mutakhayyilāt passes to them as madhkūrāt (things remembered) or maḥfūẓāt (things memorized).
Then, under the power of thought, dhikr (remembrance) becomes the agent and presents these to it, distinguishing them by experience. It questions those under its own administration about these, separating the true (ḥaqq) and the false (bāṭil) among them. For sensation has many deceptive aspects. The name madhkūrāt passes from them to mutafakkarāt (things contemplated). When it investigates them, sends the deceptive elements back to sensation, and takes the sound ones and conveys them to the presence and rank of intellect, then thought, under the power of intellect, becomes the possessor of the blessing (baraka) obtained in the process of the intellect's operation.
When it reaches the rank of intellect, the knowledge and actions that come to it are included within it and are presented to it, and the actions are distinguished as the action of this ear, the action of this eye, the action of this tongue, and so on. This continues until all actions are completed and the sciences and their names pass to the maʿqūlāt (things intelligible)... (Tadbīrāt, 188
The nafs is accepted in the cosmic barzakh.
The rūḥ is accepted in the celestial sphere.
The address is between two trustworthy ones.
Sensation, however, is bound to the lower sphere.
If you walk in the world of meanings with the help of understanding, your sensations are veiled due to the delight of meanings. When your sensation finds ease in meaning, your secret (sirr) is not veiled from the perception of meanings. Subsistence (baqāʾ) with the senses is better both at the beginning and at the end. Its honor will be manifest during the ruʾya (vision of God) desired in Paradise. (Latāʾif, 188