It is to cease attacking people, whether women or men. (Jāmiʿ, 39)
Qabḍ (constriction) and basṭ (expansion) are the two states that follow after the servant passes from the ḥāl (spiritual state) of khawf (fear) and rajāʾ (hope). The khawf of the novice (murīd) at the beginning is the same as the qabḍ of the gnostic (ʿārif). The difference between them is that khawf and rajāʾ pertain to an undesirable or desirable matter related to the future, whereas qabḍ and basṭ pertain to a matter related to the present moment in which the gnostic finds himself, due to the predominance of a vārid (spiritual influx) from the unseen (ghayb) upon his qalb (the heart).
Qabḍ and basṭ can be complete, deficient, or faulty. Complete qabḍ is a vārid from the unseen that befalls a person who is confronted with something the nafs (the lower self) cannot bear, as a form of punishment due to deficiency or bad adab (conduct). In this ḥāl (spiritual state), the gnostic is in a state of absorption (istighrāq) so that the gates of the nafs are closed to qabḍ. Deficient (nāqiṣ) qabḍ, on the other hand, is a weak vārid from the unseen that befalls a person who is confronted with something the nafs can bear. In this case, the person is not completely deprived of his reason.
Complete basṭ is a strong vārid from the unseen, peculiar to itself, such as honor, prosperity, grace, and joy, which completely attracts the person. As a result, he finds himself in a state of basṭ, as if the ropes of obstacles have been untied, released into the field of virtues, and, due to the strength of the vārid, unveiled in the garden of jamāl (divine beauty) and jalāl (divine majesty), and he falls into awe (dehshat) and remains thus. Deficient basṭ is a vārid from the unseen related to the gnostic, which produces effects of joy, longing, and relief, and enables him to act both upon himself and others. Basṭ does not fully affect the ʿārif in the state of qabḍ. The strength of basṭ is the domination of the eternal ināya (divine favor) over his qalb.
The basṭ of every person is as much as his qabḍ, and his qabḍ is as much as his basṭ. Sometimes, a state of qabḍ arises for an unknown reason. The remedy for this is to show submission until that time passes. For forcing oneself (takalluf) may lead him to violate adab, which in turn causes the qabḍ to increase. By submitting, the state of qabḍ disappears in a short time. (Jāmiʿ, 195)