What is fiṭra? Answer: It is the light by which the darkness of possible beings is dispelled, and by which, among other forms, one can distinguish, saying, "This is not that." Due to their shared aspects, it can also be said, "This is the same as that." (Futūḥāt, II, 70)
fikr (thought) (semere-i fikr, the fruit of thought): The first form is the thought of the common people, the second is the thought of the elite (khawāṣṣ). The circle is the knowledge of the Real (al-Ḥaqq). The interior of the circle is the place where the limit revolves. The letters composing the circle indicate negation from every direction. The two ḥāʾ letters on the sides are two obstacles at the lateral edges. What remains is tawḥid (the oneness of God). Everything beyond this is contingent (ḥādith). (Tawāsīn, 215)
The difference between fikr (thought) and tafakkur (reflection) is as follows: tafakkur is the roaming of the qalb (the heart), while fikr is its focus upon maʿrifa (gnosis, experiential knowledge of God). (Lumāʿ, 303)
The meaning of fikr is to prepare two maʿrifas in the qalb so that a third maʿrifa may arise. Its example is as follows: A person who inclines toward the world (dunyā) and prefers the life of the dunyā, but wishes to know that preferring the hereafter over the dunyā is more worthy, has two paths before him. The first is that he hears from another that preferring the hereafter over the dunyā is more worthy, imitates (taqlīd) him, and affirms it without investigating its reality. As a result, he inclines to prefer the hereafter in his actions, relying solely on that person's word. This is called taqlīd, not maʿrifa.
The second is that he understands that what is eternal is more worthy of preference, and then realizes that the hereafter is eternal. In this way, a third maʿrifa arises from these two: that the hereafter is more worthy of preference. Knowing that the hereafter is more worthy of preference over the dunyā is only possible through the previous two maʿrifas. Thus, preparing the previous two maʿrifas in the qalb is for the sake of attaining the third, which is called tafakkur, iʿtibār (consideration), tadhakkur (remembrance), naẓar (contemplation), taʾammul (deliberation), and tadabbur (reflection). Tadabbur, taʾammul, and tafakkur are synonymous words with the same meaning; one should not seek different meanings behind them. As for tadhakkur, iʿtibār, and naẓar, though their names are one, their meanings differ. (Iḥyāʾ, 164)
The fruits of fikr are sciences, spiritual states (aḥwāl), and actions. However, its particular fruit is nothing other than knowledge. Indeed, when knowledge arises in the qalb, it changes. When the state of the qalb changes, the actions of the limbs change as well. Action is subject to state, state to knowledge, and knowledge to fikr. Thus, fikr is the starting point and key to all good. This explains to you the virtue of tafakkur and that it is better than both dhikr (remembrance of God) and tadhakkur. For fikr is dhikr and more than that (not merely dhikr, but beyond it). The dhikr of the qalb is better than the dhikr of the limbs. Moreover, action is honored by the presence of dhikr within it. Thus, tafakkur is superior to all actions. For this reason, it has been said: "One hour of tafakkur is better than a year of worship." It has also been said: "Tafakkur leads from evil and disliked things to beloved things, from desire and greed to zuhd (asceticism) and contentment." It has also been said: "From tafakkur arise witnessing (mushāhada) and taqwa (God-consciousness)." (Iḥyāʾ, 165)
He is the hunter of thought
He never departs from those depths, from the bottom
A gazelle with pure gaze thinks it is him
(The poet) means: Thought dives into the depths of the sea to extract that pearl, but that pearl is not brought forth by thought. Yet thought continues to dive. These are the people of thought who seek such things by way of contemplation and inference. Yet how distant is what they seek, and how far their goal. By Allah, this is attained only by pure ināya (divine grace) and a secret purified from thoughts. For these cannot be attained by striving. They are only obtained by divine ināya. When it manifests and appears in the world of exemplars (ʿālam al-mithāl), and turns toward it on a mound of pure white sand, speaking and addressing it beautifully—as in this poem, likened to coquetry—a pure gazelle is thought to be it. (Tercümān, 174)
The keys to the unseen are divided into two: those belonging to the Real (al-Ḥaqq) and those belonging to creation. Those belonging to the Real are the realities of the Names and Attributes. Those belonging to creation are from the essence (dhāt) corresponding to the existence (wujūd) of the faces (aspects) of the All-Merciful (al-Raḥmān), that is, from the human essence.