There is no ecstasy (wajd), for at that point there is no longer any need for ecstasy. After seeing with the eye, there is no need for report. In the ḥāl (spiritual state), ecstasy disappears like transient things, whereas subsistence (wujūd) remains firm like mountains.
Galaba (overwhelming state) is a type of ecstasy that comes in succession. Ecstasy appears and vanishes like a flash of lightning. Galaba, however, is like lightning that flashes continuously, so frequently that the individual flashes cannot be distinguished. Ecstasy quickly fades away, but galaba remains constant in the secret (sirr), serving to protect and restrain.
Tevājud (self-induced ecstasy) is the summoning of ecstasy. It is also defined as the outward display of the state of ecstasy when ecstasy is not actually present (i.e., manifesting it externally).
Ecstasy (wajd) is the arrival of states to the heart that remove the aspirant's (sālik's) witnessing (shuhūd, the ability to perceive the sensory world).
Subsistence (wujūd) is finding the Real (al-Ḥaqq) in the state of ecstasy. (Iṣṭilāḥ, 532)
What is tevājud? We say: It is the summoning of ecstasy, and as a result, due to the intimacy (uns) the person experiences, the appearance of the state of ecstasy when it is not actually present.
What is ecstasy? If you ask, we answer: Ecstasy, if preceded by the state of tevājud, is the arrival of states to the heart that remove the sālik's witnessing.
What is subsistence (wujūd)? In response, we say: Subsistence is finding the Real in the state of ecstasy. (Futūḥāt, I, 130)
Tevājud is the summoning of ecstasy, because it is striving to attain ecstasy. If it manifests in the person as ecstasy, he is a two-faced, deceitful hypocrite, and should be scrutinized on this path. For this reason, the Sufi community has entrusted the matter not only to those who possess ecstasy (ṣāḥib), but also to those who recognize the community of the people of tevājud (those who practice self-induced ecstasy). This state is only accepted when, based on an indication from a shaykh who has authority and standing in the community, there is evidence that the person’s actions are consistent with those of the people of ecstasy. If these conditions are not met, not only is it impermissible to consider him a practitioner of tevājud, but even the appearance of any sign related to it is not allowed.
Every ecstasy arises not from ecstasy itself, but from tevājud. The sudden arrival of a spiritual influx (wārid) to the heart is the reality of ecstasy. This is an assault upon the ḥaqīqa (inner reality). Ecstasy is acquired (kasbī), requiring effort (gayret), while tevājud is an attempt to acquire (takassub). The acquisition of ecstasy from tevājud is not the acquisition itself, but the orientation toward acquisition. This is such a glad tiding from Allah regarding tevājud-ecstasy-subsistence (wujūd) that He has made the acquisition of disobedience a matter of orientation, and the acquisition of obedience an actual acquisition and effort; that is, disobedience requires orientation toward acquisition, while obedience is itself acquisition and effort—meaning, to disobey is harder than to obey. Allah has said that the nafs (the lower self) acquires (kasb) what it earns, and has made acquisition obligatory for the nafs.
Regarding acquisition (kasb, orientation toward acquisition), He says: "For it [the soul] is what it has earned, and against it is what it has acquired" (al-Baqara 2:286). Allah has required that the nafs only receive what it has acquired. Acquisition is the right of the nafs; it has earned it. Thus, it has also earned kasb. The Real (al-Ḥaqq) does not act except in accordance with what is deserved. Allah's forgiveness decrees the commission of sin. According to the people of Allah, tevājud is the outward display of the form of ecstasy when ecstasy is not present. This occurs when the person manifesting tevājud realizes that he is not truly a possessor of ecstasy, and brings his state into conformity with the true people of ecstasy. This, together with sincerity, is necessary in matters of tevājud and ecstasy. Thus, he abandons it, as it is preferable to do so, since observing the right of Allah takes precedence over observing the people. (Futūḥāt, I, 524-525)
According to this community (the Sufis), ecstasy consists of the arrival to the heart of states that prevent the sālik from seeing himself and those around him. According to them, it may also be present in the heart as the fruit of sorrow. The master has said: True ecstasy is a state, and states are not acquired but bestowed (wahbī). Therefore, when the ecstasy of the practitioner of tevājud arises as a result of tevājud, it is acquired, since he has summoned it through the compulsion of the nafs. However, according to this community (the Sufis), a state cannot be acquired through effort. For this reason, the ecstasy of the practitioner of tevājud is not to be relied upon. Thus, according to this group, the analogy of ecstasy among states is like the coming of revelation (waḥy) to the prophets: revelation comes to them suddenly, unexpectedly. (Futūḥāt, I, 526)
According to one group, subsistence (wujūd) is finding the Real in the state of ecstasy. They say: If, when you are in a state of ecstasy, you cannot witness the Real, and if witnessing Him does not cause you to become annihilated (fanāʾ) from yourself and those around you, then you are not truly a possessor of ecstasy. For in that state, you have not attained a subsistence belonging to the Real.
Know that in the state of ecstasy, the subsistence (wujūd) of the Real is not known. For ecstasy is a chance encounter (musādefa). What this encounter will occur with is unknown. Sometimes it comes through another matter. When what occurs is unrelated to the ruling of audition (samāʿ), the subsistence of the Real in it is of an unknown quality. If you see someone whose ecstasy is determined by the ruling of a particular and absolute (mutlaq) audition, know that he is unaware of the true form of ecstasy. He is a person of analogy in this path. But the way of Allah is not known by analogy, for He is each day upon a new affair, and every soul inclines toward this state.
The coming of ecstasy is not known by the possessor of ecstasy until it descends upon him. The subsistence (wujūd) of the Real is present in each possessor of ecstasy in proportion to his ecstasy. Among the gnostics (ʿārifūn), ecstasy departs from its technical meaning and acquires a universal sense. According to them, whoever is a true possessor of ecstasy, the subsistence of the Real is present in that ecstasy. The gnostics know this, and from each possessor of ecstasy, they take what he brings of the subsistence of the Real in his ecstasy. If the possessor of ecstasy does not know that this is a subsistence belonging to the Real, the gnostics know it and take from him as much as he brings of the subsistence of the Real. The Real manifests in this ecstasy to the extent that the messenger (the one who brings the ecstasy) has recorded of the subsistence of the Real in his ecstasy. This is a powerful state of taste (dhawq), understood only by its people. (Futūḥāt, II, 527)
Subsistence (wujūd) is finding the Essence of the Real (Ḥaqq) by His Essence. For this reason, the Station of Gathering (Ḥaḍrat al-Jamʿ) is also called the Station of Subsistence (Ḥaḍrat al-Wujūd). (Kāshānī, 48; Jāmiʿ, 103)
Everything pleasant or unpleasant that you encounter is either something presently existing or something that occurred in the past. The first is called ecstasy (wajd), taste (dhawq), or perception (idrāk); the second is called remembrance (dhikr)... (Qudāma, 316)
Ecstasy is a burning, distressing flame kindled by transient witnessing. Abū Faraj said: The one frightened by ecstasy is also frightened by sleep. He also said: When the world (dunyā) is mentioned, the gnostic is absent (ghayba) due to his lack of concern for it; when the hereafter is mentioned, he is present (ḥuḍūr) due to his concern for it. When the Beloved is mentioned, he becomes unsettled, present in gatherings bound by the ties of anxiety; when love (ḥubb) is mentioned, ecstasy breaks its chains. (Rawḍa, 640)
Ecstasy is a fire that blazes in hearts and burns away all that is other than Allah. (Jāmiʿ, 54)
Ecstasy is of three kinds: The ecstasy of the common people is the intoxication of the spirit (rūḥ) due to the pleasure of remembrance (dhikr). The ecstasy of the elect (khawāṣṣ) is when the spirit is unable to bear the overwhelming longing during remembrance. The ecstasy of the elect of the elect (khawāṣṣ) is when the spirit is unable to bear the awe while gazing upon the Real from the heart. (Jāmiʿ, 62)
Tevājud is the summoning of ecstasy through the use of one's will and force. Its possessor has not attained the perfection of ecstasy, for the form of tafāʿul (the Arabic verb pattern) is often for feigning, pretending not to know, and similar things, that is, to display a quality that is not present.
A group among the Sufis has rejected tevājud because it involves compulsion, artificiality, and estrangement from the reality of the matter. Another group, however, has permitted it so that the murīd (disciple) may attain ecstasy. According to this view, the murīd prepares for ecstasy through his burning, sensitivity, and sorrow. (Jāmiʿ, 125)
In the states (aḥwāl), ecstasy is a burning, distressing flame kindled by the fire of thirst. The spirit (rūḥ) returns to it with the radiance of an eternal light and a lofty witnessing. In its initial form, it is a burning flame, and the witness (shāhid) of perception returns to it by hearing or seeing (all the senses turn toward ecstasy and become unable to perceive the world). In the form of humility in the gates (abwāb), it is a transient ecstasy to which the mind returns. In the form of transactions (muʿāmalāt), it is a burning flame to which the heart turns with a transient witnessing.
In the form of character (akhlāq), it is a burning flame kindled by the fire of love in which the heart is (re)born. Through this, the perfection of intimacy and moral virtue (akhlāq) is sought. In the form of principles (uṣūl), it is a fire arising from the heart in the quest for the Real. In the form of remedies (adwiya), it is a luminous light by which the world of holiness is illuminated. The intellect, knowledge, and wisdom (ḥikma) turn toward it to seek the light of serenity (sakīna) and the loftiness of spiritual aspiration (himma). In the degree of sainthood (wilāya), it is an ecstasy that snatches the servant from both worlds, freeing him from time and space (ʿayn and bayn). In the degree of realities (ḥaqāʾiq), it is a limitless ecstasy that purifies the sālik’s meaning from boundaries and forms, makes him forget his name entirely, and transforms his form. In the final stage (nihāya), ecstasy either gives way to subsistence (wujūd) or contends with the unitive and differentiating aspects of the station of alternation (talwīn) during witnessing (mujāhada). (Jāmiʿ, 293)
Some of the poor (fuqarāʾ) established presence, that is, the circle of remembrance (dhikr). After they finished, the shaykh asked: Who established the last circle? They remained silent. The shaykh said: They think this is ecstasy. No, no! This is not ecstasy, but tevājud. Ecstasy is from Allah; tevājud is from the nafs. (Nafahāt, 233)