The meaning of ritual prayer (ṣalāt) is to be stripped of all ties and attachments and to remain alone with realities (ḥaqāʾiq). Ties and attachments are things other than Allah. The ḥaqāʾiq, on the other hand, are things that are for Allah and from Allah. (Taʿarruf, 109)
The section (stations) of ḥaqāʾiq (realities) is divided into ten chapters. These are: unveiling (mukāshafa), witnessing (mushāhada), direct vision (muʿāyana), life (ḥayāt), contraction (qabḍ), expansion (basṭ), intoxication (sukr), sobriety (ṣaḥw), union (ittiṣāl), and separation (infiṣāl). (Manāzil, 40)
The ḥaqāʾiq are of four kinds: Realities pertaining to the Sacred Essence (al-Dhāt al-Muqaddasa); realities pertaining to the transcendent attributes—which are relations; realities pertaining to acts—which are the command "kun" ("Be!") and the like; and realities pertaining to objects acted upon—which are material things. These cosmic realities exist on three exalted levels: intelligibles (maʿqūlāt), inferiors (sufliyyāt)—which is the world of sensation, and intermediates (barzakhiyyāt)—which is the world of imagination (ḥayāl). (Futūḥāt, 1, 72)
The ḥaqāʾiq are of two kinds: Realities that exist in the intellect as simple entities, such as life, knowledge, speech, and sensation; and realities that have a composite existence, such as scholar, human, or stone. If you ask: What is the reason that brings together these fundamental principles, which are opposed to each other, and from whose intermingling many things appear (manifest)? We say: There is here a wondrous secret. This secret prevents the discovery of things whose intermingling is difficult, because it cannot be borne. The intellect cannot comprehend it; only unveiling (kashf) and witnessing (mushāhada) can perceive it. (Futūḥāt, 1, 98)
The ḥaqāʾiq are subtleties in which those who show interest and attachment to the world (dunyā) become lost. The ḥāl (spiritual state) is the attachment of the murīd (aspirant, disciple). Unveiling (kashf) is the limit for one who has not tasted greater delight. Not everyone who witnesses a situation will be according to what is witnessed. This state is within it, belongs to it. Beware of saying: It is certainly in a world outside the external (created things). There is no doubt, in the view of the people of realization, that this is impossible. One who cannot distinguish between himself and another cannot distinguish between good and evil. (Latāʾif, 46)
The ḥaqāʾiq are meanings established by the hearts (qulūb); they are things that become manifest through them and are unveiled from the unseen. They are what Allah bestows; they are karāma (saintly wonders). Through them, one attains goodness and obedience. The proof is this: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked Ḥāris, "How did you awaken?" Ḥāris replied, "I awoke as a true muʾmin (believer)." (Mubārak, 106; ʿAbd, 165; Ṭabarānī, II, 266)
Al-Shādhilī says: They are things that find stability in the heart (qalb); they neither harm nor benefit nor bestow. There is no preventer except Allah. Again, they are neither troubled nor at rest, nor have they been attributed to people (nisba).
I said: How is that which is established for him and requires recompense for me? He said: How is that which is established for me from reward, punishment, and the acts of the servants for me? 298 ḥaqāʾiq al-anbiyāʾiyya (realities of the prophets)
Only the firmness (thubūt) of that which is established harms you. Only affirmation with them and from them harms you.
He said: The right (ḥaqq) that pertains to me is established for me, and the right that pertains to you is established for you. Then you take the right that pertains to you and leave the right that pertains to me. Say: O existent, you are before every existent, and as you were, so you are now. O All-Hearing, O Near, O Willer, O Powerful, O Allah, the Living, the Self-Subsisting, the Merciful, the Compassionate, the First, the Last, the Manifest, the Hidden, the Supreme, the Forgiving, the Oft-Forgiving, the Accepter of Repentance, the Rich, the Generous, the All-Encompassing, the All-Knowing, the possessor of great bounty (ṣāḥib) (Allah)! (Jāmiʿ, 53)
The ḥaqāʾiq (stations) are as follows: unveiling (mukāshafa), witnessing (mushāhada), direct vision (muʿāyana), life (ḥayāt), contraction (qabḍ), expansion (basṭ), intoxication (sukr), sobriety (ṣaḥw), union (ittiṣāl), and separation (infiṣāl). (Riḥla, 207)