(ʿāmma; ahl-i husūs-husūsu’l-husūs)
The ahl-i husūs are those among the common believers (muʾmin, plural: muʾminīn) whom Allah has singled out for the ḥaqīqa (inner reality), spiritual states (ḥāl) and stations (maqām). The husūsu’l-husūs, on the other hand, are the people of tafrīd (absolute oneness), tajrīd (spiritual isolation), and tawḥid (the oneness of God). These are those who have surpassed spiritual states and stations, traversed deserts (i.e., spiritual trials), and attained salvation. (Lumaʿ, 413)
Husūs expresses the aḥadiyya (absolute oneness) of everything. (Iṣṭilāḥ, 539)
The ʿāmma are those who are content with only the knowledge of sharia (the sacred law). Such scholars are called rusūm ʿulamāʾ (formalist scholars). (Kāshānī, 107; Jāmiʿ, 89)
khushūʿ (sincere humility): In the state of khushūʿ, a ṣādiq (truthful one) is always in one of two states when not seen by people: either in a state of khushūʿ or outside it. The sign of being in khushūʿ is that even if all people were to see him in this state, there would be no change in him.
A person is sincere in his khushūʿ in the following cases: if he transitions from a state he does not possess to the state of khushūʿ through khushūʿ itself; if there is no increase in his khushūʿ; and if he does not conceal his state of khushūʿ because people are aware of it. If he is in khushūʿ before people see him, and their seeing him does not alter his khushūʿ, then he is sincere. This is because he witnesses with his qalb (the heart) that Allah always knows and observes him, continually remembers Allah (dhikr), never forgets the Hereafter, and is stirred by caution even from those who are themselves cautious. Thus, he is not concerned by their approach, but if he feels his religious life may be harmed by their presence, he withdraws (his heart constricts and he avoids mixing with them), fearing that his khushūʿ may not persist. If, however, their presence brings him ease or confidence regarding his religious life, he approaches them as if he had never experienced khushūʿ. (Riʿāya, 184)
Khushūʿ is the remorse, humility, and submission of the qalb, followed by its gentleness and the control of the limbs. (Kūt, II, 100)
Khushūʿ is submission to the Real (al-Ḥaqq). Tawāḍuʿ (humility) is to surrender to the Real, to be content with His decree, and to abandon objection. Ḥudhayfa said: "The first thing you will lose from your religion is khushūʿ." When someone asked him about khushūʿ, he replied: "Khushūʿ is for the qalb to be present before the Real with all its concern and thought."
Sahl ʿAbdullāh al-Tustarī said: "Satan cannot approach the one whose qalb is in khushūʿ."
It is said that when a servant responds with riḍā (contentment with God's decree) when angered, opposed, or rejected, this is a sign of being a possessor of khushūʿ. Another said: "The khushūʿ of the qalb is to prevent the eyes from looking at things that distract with sin and the like."
Muḥammad ʿAlī al-Tirmidhī said: "The one in khushūʿ is he whose fire of desire (shahwa) is extinguished, the smoke of his qalb is calmed, and the light of reverence is born in his qalb. Such a person’s shahwa dies, his qalb comes alive, and his limbs submit."
Ḥasan al-Baṣrī said: "Khushūʿ is the constant fear that is necessary for the qalb."
When Junayd was asked about khushūʿ, he said: "Khushūʿ is the submission of the qalbs to the Knower of the unseen..."
Khushūʿ is the withering of the qalb in the presence of the Lord, its gradual dissolution. It is said that khushūʿ is the melting of the qalb before the power of reality. It is also said that khushūʿ is the forerunner of the overcomings of awe (hayba).
It is said that khushūʿ is a sudden trembling that comes to the qalb during the unveiling of reality.
Fudayl b. ʿIyāḍ said: "It is not proper for a person to consider himself as having much khushūʿ in his qalb."
Abū Sulaymān al-Dārānī said: "If people gathered to humble my nafs (the lower self) as I humble it, they would not be able to do so." It is said: "Whoever is not humble with himself cannot be humble with others."
ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz would only prostrate on the earth. (Qushayrī, 74)
Khushūʿ is a station of abasement and self-humiliation. It is a quality of the created. Such a thing does not exist in divinity. Khushūʿ is a praiseworthy attribute for a group praised in the world (dunyā), and in the Hereafter it is a praiseworthy attribute for a group censured by the tongue of the Real. In the Hereafter, it is a state that passes from the believers to the tyrants who spread corruption and act arrogantly on earth.
The believers are in khushūʿ in their prayers. Both men and women are in khushūʿ in their prayers. Allah has prepared forgiveness (maghfira) and a great reward for them. In the Hereafter, the people of khushūʿ are described as abased: "Some faces, that Day, will be humbled. Laboring, weary. They will enter to burn in an intensely hot Fire. They will be given drink from a boiling spring. For them there will be no food except from a poisonous, thorny plant, which neither nourishes nor avails against hunger." (al-Ghāshiya 88:2-7)
Khushūʿ is the manifestation of Allah’s grandeur (ʿaẓama) and majesty in the qalb of the believer, and of His wrath, fear, and overwhelming grasp in the qalb of the disbeliever. (Futūḥāt, II, 190)
Khushūʿ is to fade away before the exalted and mighty, or before one who is feared due to his dignity. The first subtlety of khushūʿ is to submit to the command; the second is to watch for the afflictions of the nafs and actions; the third is to preserve reverence (ḥurma) at the moment of unveiling and to purify that moment from ostentation. (Rawḍa, 479)
Khushūʿ is to dissolve in the presence of the Lord. (Jāmiʿ, 54)
Khushūʿ and tawāḍuʿ are synonymous in language. In the terminology of the people of ḥaqīqa, khushūʿ is submission to the Real. It is said: khushūʿ is a constant fear in the qalb. It is also said: khushūʿ is for the qalb to stand wholly in the presence of the Real. It is also said: it is a state of self-loss that comes to the qalb at the moment of witnessing the Real. It is also said: it is the humility of the heart out of etiquette due to witnessing the Real.
Khushūʿ is the defense of the qalb at the moment of the power of reality and its withdrawal before the attributes of divine wrath. Khushūʿ is the forerunner of the overcoming of awe (hayba). The possessor of khushūʿ is one whose fire of desire is extinguished, the flame of pleasure from desire in his chest is calmed, the lights of reverence in his qalb are purified, so that his shahwa dies, but his qalb comes alive, and thus his limbs are in khushūʿ. The sign of khushūʿ in a person is that when angered, opposed in his desire, or rejected, he accepts these states. Some Sufis agree that the locus of khushūʿ is the qalb. (Jāmiʿ, 213)
The form of khushūʿ at the beginning (bidāya) is that a person is made to submit so that his limbs obey. Its essence in the abwāb (spiritual gates) is the brokenness of the heart due to the faults of the nafs, surrendering to the judgment of the Real, submitting to His gaze, and fearing His grandeur, so that khushūʿ becomes established among the natural faculties of the nafs. Its degree in muʿāmalāt (spiritual dealings) is the contraction of the qalb during murāqaba (spiritual vigilance), its brokenness for the sake of the Real, and seeing oneself as small due to awareness of the afflictions of the nafs and actions. (Jāmiʿ, 278)