gayri (Sufism Glossary)

It has been said thus. All these are flowers gathered from the branch of ru'yet (vision of the One, i.e., seeing Allah, the One). In these, in relation to the One, there is nothing that indicates tawhid (the oneness of God) of existence. The one who divided the issue of the unity of existence (wahdat al-wujūd) into chapters, sections, and even further subdivisions, systematizing it like the sciences of morphology and grammar, is Shaykh Muhyiddin Ibn ʿArabi. Indeed, he assigned to himself certain intricate maʿrifa (gnoses, experiential knowledge of God) found among these topics and said: The Seal of Prophethood (khātam al-nubuwwa) receives some sciences and maʿrifa from khātam (the Seal) of sainthood. Here, he refers to himself as the Seal of Muhammadan Sainthood (khātam al-wilāya al-Muḥammadiyya). The commentators, in the context of explaining this statement, have said: If the sultan takes something from his treasurer, what is diminished from the treasurer? In summary, for the realization of fanāʾ (annihilation in God) and baqāʾ (subsistence in God), and for the attainment of minor and major sainthood (walāya sughrā and walāya kubrā), there is no need for tawhid of existence. On the contrary, in the verification of fanāʾ...