It is an attribute. The Real (al-Ḥaqq) does not change or transform.
Wajd (ecstasy) is a pain that strikes the qalb (the heart), whether in the form of joy or sorrow, relief or distress. Wujūd (finding) is the removal of grief from the qalb and the attainment of its desire. (Hujwīrī, 499)
The shaykhs have disagreed as to whether wajd or wujūd is more perfect. One group has said: wujūd is the attribute of the murīd (aspirant, disciple), while wajd is the attribute of the ʿārif (gnostic, one possessing maʿrifa). Since the rank of the ʿārif is higher than that of the murīd, the attribute belonging to the former should be more perfect than that of the latter. For everything that can be comprehended (idrāk) is comprehended. This is the attribute of the genus, for comprehension requires limitation. Yet Allah has no limit. In this ḥāl (spiritual state), what the servant finds and comprehends is nothing but something of his own disposition (i.e., a created and limited being). That which the seeker cannot find and is deprived of, and that which the finder is incapable of seeking, is the ḥaqīqa (inner reality) of the Real (al-Ḥaqq).
Another group has said: wajd is the burning of the murīd, while wujūd is a gift given to the muḥibb (lover). One is a khirqa (burning), the other is a tuḥfa (gift). The rank of the muḥibb is higher than that of the murīd, for finding tranquility in a gift is more perfect than burning in longing.
This matter cannot be understood without recounting an anecdote: One day, when Shaykh Abū Bakr Shiblī was in a state of agitation, Junayd came. Shiblī found him sorrowful and asked, "O Shaykh, what has happened?" Junayd replied, "Whoever seeks, finds (man ṭalaba wajada)." Shiblī responded, "No, rather, whoever finds, seeks (bal, man wajada ṭalaba)." Then the shaykhs discussed this and concluded: one pointed to wajd, the other to wujūd.
In my view, Junayd's statement is the more authoritative. For when the servant knows that his Worshipped One is not of his own kind, his sorrow persists. (Hujwīrī, 499-500)
Tawājud is to induce wajd by effort. This is to present the shāhid (witness, manifestation) and blessings of the Real (al-Ḥaqq) to the qalb, and to contemplate the path of the spiritual elite in terms of ittiṣāl (union) and tamannī (desire). Some have taken the path of formalism, imitating the outward states of the Sufis, the arrangement of their dances, and the embellishment of their gestures. This is nothing but pure ḥarām (forbidden).
Another group are the people of verification (taḥqīq). For their aim in tawājud is not to seek the forms and movements of the great Sufis, but their ḥāl (spiritual states) and ranks. (Hujwīrī, 501)
Dancing (raqs) has no basis in either the sharia (the sacred law) or the tariqa (a Sufi path/order). According to the consensus of all rational people, if raqs is done seriously, it is amusement; if done frivolously, it is mere levity. No shaykh has praised or approved it, nor gone to excess in this matter. All the reports put forward by the ḥashwiyya (literalists) on this subject are bāṭil (invalid). Because the movements during wajd and the behaviors of the people of tawājud resemble raqs, some people of the dunyā (the world) have imitated this and, going to extremes, have made raqs their madhhab (sect). I have seen some people among the masses who think that Sufism (taṣawwuf) is nothing but raqs and strive to dance. Another group denies the very origin of raqs.
In summary: even if the most ignorant of people perform raqs, it is both intellectually and religiously blameworthy. It is impossible for virtuous people to do so. However, if a lightness arises in the qalb and these fluctuations seize the mind, this state strengthens the moment and causes a stirring in the ḥāl, and the arrangement and forms gain elevation. This stirring is neither raqs, nor the act of beating rhythm with the feet, nor the discipline of nature. Rather, it is the melting of the ruh (the spirit). Whoever calls this movement raqs has strayed from the truth. Even further astray is the one who forcibly puts himself into a state and claims it is from the Real (al-Ḥaqq). In reality, that person has no state except by his own choice, and he tries to enter a forced state and claims it is from the Real. But a state that comes from the Real cannot be expressed in words; only one who tastes it knows it. (Hujwīrī, 502)
Allah has said: "We made firm their hearts, so they stood up." (al-Kahf 18:14) Wajd is a flame ignited by an apprehension that causes anxiety. It has three degrees: The first degree is a transient wajd that comes from a witness of hearing, seeing, or thought, whether or not it leaves a trace on its possessor.
The second degree of wajd is that in which the ruh is awakened by the flash of the eternal light, the hearing of an eternal address, or a true attraction (jadhba). Its possessor may leave his garment behind, or at least the light of his fanāʾ (annihilation in God).
The third degree of wajd is that which suddenly snatches the servant from the hands of both worlds, purifies his world of meaning from the filth of desire, and frees him from the slavery of water and clay. If this wajd seizes the servant, it makes him forget even his own name; if it does not, it restores his outward form. (Manāzil, 34)
Allah has called Himself by the name wujūd in various places in the Qur'an, for example: "(He who seeks forgiveness) will find Allah Forgiving and Merciful." "(The disbeliever) will find Allah with him." "They would surely have found Allah Accepting of repentance and Merciful." (al-Nisāʾ 4:64)
Wujūd is the name for attaining the ḥaqīqa (inner reality) of a thing, and this name has three meanings: The first meaning is the wujūd of ladunnī (divine, inner) knowledge... (Manāzil, 45)
This wujūd occurs only at the moment of the soundness of unveiling (mukāshafa) of the Real (al-Ḥaqq), when the perception of the shāhid (witnessed things) ceases.
The second meaning is the wujūd of the Real (al-Ḥaqq) in the sense that the possibility of an allusion to the wujūd of the ḥaqīqa (inner reality) is eliminated.
The third meaning is the wujūd in which the form of wujūd in oneself is effaced by absorption in pre-eternity. (Manāzil, 46)
Everything pleasant or unpleasant that you encounter is either something presently existent, something that occurred in the past, or something that will occur or is expected in the future. If something that existed in the past comes to mind, this is called dhikr (remembrance of God) and tadhakkur (recollection). If something presently existent comes to mind, this is called wajd, dhawq (taste), or idrāk (perception). It is called wajd because it is a state that you have found in your own nafs (the lower self). (Iḥyāʾ, IV, 174)
Just as obedience is the secret of the outward attribute, so wajd is the secret of the inward attribute. The attribute of the outward is movement and stillness; the attribute of the inward is ḥāl (spiritual states) and akhlāq (virtues). (Ādāb, 66; ʿAwārif, 112)
Tawājud is to seek to obtain wajd through thought and dhikr. Wujūd is the expansion of relief by reaching the emptiness of conscience through wajd. Wajd does not coexist with conscience. There is no need for information about what is manifest. Wajd stands firm like mountains in the space between disappearance and existence.
Serī said: "The condition for one who experiences wajd in his ecstasy is to reach the point where, even if struck on the face with a sword, he does not feel pain."