It is not a term used. (Futūḥāt, II, 501)
According to one group, just as fanāʾ (annihilation in God) is the annihilation of sins, baqāʾ (subsistence in God) is the subsistence of acts of obedience. According to the proponents of this view and some others, baqāʾ is the servant's witnessing that Allah is established over everything. This view is held by those who say, regarding fanāʾ, that fanāʾ is when the servant sees that Allah has established His acts in the servant's own actions.
According to some, baqāʾ is subsistence with the Real (al-Ḥaqq). This is also the view of those who say, regarding fanāʾ, that fanāʾ is to be annihilated from creation and from those who are other than Allah. Know that, in our view, in this path, the nisba (relation) of baqāʾ is more honorable than the nisba of fanāʾ. For, in the lowest, fanāʾ is at the degree of eternity compared to the perishable.
In the highest, to be abiding is at the degree of eternity compared to the abiding. Baqāʾ has the power and authority to efface you from this state. Baqāʾ is to belong to and be attached to the Real (al-Ḥaqq). In this sense, baqāʾ is, in this path, the highest rank in the language of the people of God (ahl Allāh). Fanāʾ is to be related to existence, for you say, "I have become annihilated from such-and-such." However, relation to the Real is superior.
In terms of relation, baqāʾ is more preferable. For baqāʾ and fanāʾ are two interdependent ḥāl (spiritual states). In this path, only the one who is annihilated is abiding, and the one who is abiding is annihilated. The one characterized by fanāʾ is only so through baqāʾ, and the one characterized by baqāʾ is only so in the state of fanāʾ. In this ḥāl, in the relation of baqāʾ, there is witnessing of the Real (al-Ḥaqq); in the relation of fanāʾ, there is witnessing of the created. (Futūḥāt, II, 505)
Fanāʾ leads to complete purification.
I have sacrificed the essence of this word to you.
All things are perishing except the Face of the Real (wajh al-Ḥaqq).
To be annihilated in the Face of the Real is the truest.
Whoever is worthy of the Face of the Abiding (wajh al-Bāqī),
For him, the perishing of all things is not a punishment.
He has passed from 'lā' and become established in 'illā'.
Whoever is in 'illā' is not annihilated.
He who says 'mā' and 'man' in the court,
Is rejected, has no worth at the door of the King.
(Mathnawī, I, 120)
Everything except Allah's Essence is perishing. Since you have not been annihilated in His Essence, do not seek existence.
Fanāʾ-baḳāʾ: Whoever is annihilated in Our Essence, in our reality, is saved from annihilation and finds baqāʾ.
For he is in 'illā'; he has passed from 'lā'. Those whose station is 'illā' do not perish; that is, they cannot be annihilated in the Real (al-Ḥaqq). (Note: In the phrase of tawhid (the oneness of God), 'Lā ilāha illā Allah', the words of affirmation and negation appear together. When we say 'Lā ilāha', we deny any deity other than Allah. In 'illā Allah', we affirm and accept Allah's existence. Some of those who utter the words of tawhid only deny other gods but do not say 'Only Allah exists.' Such people have passed from 'lā' but remain stuck in 'illā'. However, the believer (muʾmin) who finds the path of salvation denies not only other gods besides Allah but everything other than Allah, including himself, and considers them as nothing. — Şefik Can)
For this reason, whoever claims existence by saying 'I' or 'we' at the door of the Real is expelled from that door and wanders in the station of 'lā'. (Mathnawī, I, 196)
The color of the cup of unity is the dye of Allah. All crafts, everything is dyed in that cup.
If a lover of the Real falls into that cup and you say to him, 'Get up, come out of the cup,' from his joy he says, 'Do not blame me, I have become the cup.' (Note: If someone who has reached the station of tawhid is told, 'Leave this station!', he is so delighted by it that, in his joy, he says, 'I am not a stranger, I have become the cup, I am nothing but the cup.' — Şefik Can)
To say 'I am the cup' is to say 'Ana al-Ḥaqq' (I am the Real). Iron is iron, but it has taken on the color of fire; it has been dyed with that color.
The color of iron has disappeared in the color of fire. Though it appears silent, with the tongue of its state it proclaims its fiery nature. That is, it says, 'I am fire.'
When the fire that comes from the mine becomes crimson, it says without tongue or lips, 'I am fire.' It has flared up from the color and nature of fire, gaining majesty and grandeur; thus, it begins to say, 'I am fire, I am of fire.'
'I am fire,' it says. If you doubt that I am not fire, try it; touch me with your hand.
'I am fire; if you doubt, for a moment put your face to mine.'
If a human is illuminated by Allah's light, he becomes the chosen of the Real, and the angels prostrate to him.
He does not only become the one to whom the angels prostrate. People who, like the angels, are freed from doubt, rebellion, and transgression, also bow before him in respect. (Mathnawī, II, 365)
Fanāʾ is the annihilation of all that is other than the Real, first in knowledge, then in striving, and finally in reality. The first subtlety of fanāʾ is the annihilation of maʿrifa (gnosis). The second is to be annihilated for the removal of seeking, gnosis, and the witnessing of perceived things. The third is the annihilation from the witnessing of fanāʾ itself. (Rawḍa, 495) fanāʾ-baḳāʾ 255
Baqāʾ is what remains after fanāʾ. Its first subtlety is that after the disappearance of knowledge, what remains is not knowledge but direct experience. The second is that after the disappearance of witnessing, what remains is the object of witnessing, not as an attribute but as existence (wujūd); that is, the subsistence of the Being witnessed, not its attributes. The third is the subsistence of what is truly Real after the removal of what is not real. (Rawḍa, 496)
Fanāʾ from one's essence (fanāʾ an dhātik) and its realization is as follows: The essence is composed of subtle (laṭīf) and dense (kathīf) matter. Every essence within you has a ḥaqīqa (inner reality) and different ḥāl (spiritual states). The subtle aspects within you take on different forms at different times. The body, though its accidents (attributes) change, remains fixed in one form. If you become annihilated from your essence by witnessing the Real and what is other than the Real, but do not become absent from witnessing your own essence in this state, then you are not the possessor of this fanāʾ. If, in this witnessing, you see not your own essence but what you are witnessing, then you are the possessor of such fanāʾ.
We did not restrict it to witnessing only the Real, by saying, 'If you see what you are witnessing...' The reason is this: What the possessor of this fanāʾ witnesses may be anything among the created things. If, in this state of fanāʾ...