Junayd says: The finding of proximity (qurb) through ecstasy (wajd) is jamʿ (union), while the servant’s disappearance (ghayba) within human characteristics is farq (separation).
It has been said: Allah united them in maʿrifa (gnosis, experiential knowledge of God), and distinguished them in aḥwāl (spiritual states).
Jamʿ is the union in which its possessor witnesses nothing but the Real (al-Ḥaqq). Whenever he witnesses anything else, then that is not jamʿ. Farq, on the other hand, is to see whatever one wishes clearly and distinctly. There are many sayings of the shaykhs on this matter. Their aim is as follows: They...