It is intimacy. (Manāzil, 26)
If intimacy (uns) persists and becomes established as dominant, and if the agitation of longing does not disturb it, nor does the fear of change or ḥijāb (veil) disrupt its order, then this state brings about an expansiveness and joy in speech, action, and munājāt (intimate supplication) with Allah. Sometimes, due to a lack of hayba (awe) and boldness, it may also lead to coarse words and actions. This state can be seen in those at the station of intimacy (uns), as well as in those who have not reached this station but try to present themselves in word and deed as if they have. Such words may lead them to kufr (disbelief). (Iḥyā’, V, 59)
(Of the states)... uns is to find tranquility in Allah and to expect help from Him in all matters... (Ādāb, 21)
Intimacy with Allah is to distance oneself from people and to have intimacy with the friends of Allah (awliyāʾ). For to have intimacy with the friends of Allah is to have intimacy with Allah.
Zunnūn was asked, "What is uns?" He replied: "It is for the lover to be at ease in the presence of the Beloved, for formality to disappear."
Vāsitī also said: "One who does not completely detach from the cosmos cannot reach the locus of uns." Abū’l-Ḥusayn Warrāq said: "Along with intimacy with Allah, there must also be absolute reverence (taʿẓīm). For reverence for anything else with which you have intimacy besides Allah departs from your heart. Your intimacy with Him does not increase unless your awe and reverence for Him increase."
Ḥarrāz said: "Uns is the souls’ companionship with the Beloved (Allah) in the assemblies of nearness (qurb)." (ʿAwārif, 300)
Intimacy with acts such as obedience to Allah, remembrance (dhikr) of Him, recitation of His word, and adherence to other commands that bring one closer to the Truth, sometimes arises from uns. Even this degree of uns is a grace and ihsan (spiritual excellence) from Allah. However, this uns is not the state of uns found in the lovers (muḥibbūn). Uns is a noble state, realized by the purification of the inner self (bāṭin), sweeping it clean with sincere asceticism (zuhd), the perfection of taqwa (God-consciousness), and by severing all causes and attachments, erasing all passing thoughts. In my view, the ḥaqīqa (inner reality) of uns is the effacement and sweeping away of human existence under the weight of witnessing the majesty of the Divine, and the soul’s free expansion in the fields of spiritual conquest.
Uns has an aspect that affects the heart (qalb) alone. Uns, together with awe (hayba), gathers the heart and severs its attachments to various things.
In the state of awe (hayba), the soul (ruh) gathers all its strength and subjugates the nafs (lower self). What we have described up to this point is the uns and hayba of the Divine Essence (dhāt), which arise in the station of baqāʾ (subsistence in God) after passing through the threshold of fanāʾ (annihilation in God). These two are different from the awe and uns that remove the existence of fanāʾ. For awe and uns arise after the manifestation of the attributes of majesty (jalāl) and beauty (jamāl), before fanāʾ. This is the station of transformation (talwīn).
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Zunnūn said: "Modesty (ḥayāʾ) is the presence of awe in the heart due to the distress caused by past sins committed against Allah."
Ibn ʿAtāʾ said: "The greatest knowledge is awe and modesty. If a person loses awe and modesty, no good remains in him."
Awe (hayba) is the mark that appears in the heart through witnessing Allah’s majesty (jalāl). This can also arise from the beauty (jamāl) that is the beauty of majesty.
Uns, on the other hand, is the effect produced in the servant by beholding the rank of divinity (ulūhiyya) in the heart, which is the beauty of majesty. (Iṣṭilāḥ, 532)
Unless the Beloved manifests Himself in the heart, uns brings no serenity to it.
There are many states in which the two states called contraction (qabḍ) and expansion (basṭ) come together in a person. Whether you call them fear (khawf) and hope (rajāʾ), estrangement (waḥsha) and uns, or awe (hayba) and finding intimacy (taʾannus), or something else, it is impossible for a person—whether a knower (ʿārif), one of steadiness (tamkīn), or one of transformation (talwīn), or a sāḥib (possessor) of any of these—to be devoid of these states at any time, for any reason or necessity. (Ruh, 39)
What are the characteristics of the assemblies of awe (majālis al-hayba)? The answer: When there is awe, dignity (waqār) is produced. When sitting in Allah’s assembly, that is, in His presence, and asked what His assembly is like, the answer: Not turning to anything else, the secret (sirr) being occupied with what is witnessed, the heart being kept from passing thoughts, the intellect from reflections, the limbs from movement, not being able to distinguish between the beautiful and the ugly, the ears fixed on Him, the eyes cast down, the eye of baṣīra (inner sight) being blind, being in a ḥāl (spiritual state), gathering one’s himma (spiritual aspiration) to diminish oneself in His presence, gathering the limbs so tightly that they make a sound, standing motionless and silent, the state of expansion (basṭ) being only a gentle favor, and when in conversation with the Lord, being in the blessed station of the world of similitudes, as when He spoke from the tree on the right side of Mount Ṭūr. If one turns the ear to another reality while Allah has attached him to Himself in a special way, then he has been disrespectful, for Allah has not attached Himself to him. In this case, he is not present in the assembly of awe, nor is he a possessor of the assembly of awe or of fanāʾ. He is only present or in a state of presence. He is neither harmed nor harms, does not completely lose measure, and cannot be called human, for the human being contains opposites and changes within himself. (Futūḥāt, II, 103)
If you ask, "What is uns?" We say: It is the effect in the heart of beholding the beauty (jamāl) of the rank of divinity (ulūhiyya). This is the beauty of majesty and does not occur in the state of awe (hayba).
What is awe (hayba)? We say: It is witnessing Allah’s beauty (jamāl) in the heart. Most Sufi circles claim that uns and expansion (basṭ) are from the attributes of beauty (jamāl). But this is not so. (Futūḥāt, II, 130)
Know that awe (hayba) is a state that manifests in the servant’s heart through the majesty of divine beauty. If you see someone say that awe is an attribute of the Divine Essence (dhāt) for the divine rank, know that this is incorrect. It is only a trace of the majesty of divine beauty manifesting in the heart. For the one who feels this manifestation in his heart, it is a great thing. If it is taken to excess, the quality of this state disappears, but the state itself persists. When your Lord manifested Himself to the mountain, He shattered it with that manifestation. However, His exaltedness did not cease. The gaze of Moses was lost within the grandeur of the mountain. The manifestation to the mountain occurred on the side not near Moses. When the mountain was shattered, it became manifest to Moses. Moses fell unconscious as if struck by lightning. For Moses was one whose soul (ruh) sustained his form. Except for living beings, his soul was nothing but his very life. Moses’s being struck as if by lightning, due to the difference in his strength, is similar to the mountain being shattered. For the mountain has no soul to sustain its form. Thus, the possibility (imkān) of calling it a mountain ceased. However, by being struck as if by lightning, neither the name Moses nor the name human was removed from Moses. Moses recovered, but after the mountain was shattered, it did not return to being a mountain, for it had no soul to sustain itself.
Undoubtedly, the ruling of souls (arwāḥ) in things is the ruling of the life in them. Life is continuous in everything. Souls, like governors (wālīs)—who are sometimes dismissed, sometimes continue their administration, and sometimes, though their administration continues, they themselves disappear—are limited in time. (Futūḥāt, II, 529)
According to one group, uns is the expansiveness and joy that comes to the servant from the Truth (al-Ḥaqq). This state of expansion (basṭ) sometimes occurs with unveiling (kashf) and with veiling (ḥijāb). Uns is a state that arises in the heart due to the manifestation of beauty (jamāl). According to the majority, this state arises from the manifestation of beauty. This is only one of their errors. Because they cannot distinguish between truth and falsehood, they make such mistakes. Not all of the people of Allah (ahl Allāh), though their witnessing is sound, possess the capacity for discernment (tamīz) and furqān (discrimination). But the real issue is to know what it is that is being witnessed. We have seen a group whose witnessing was real, but who, not knowing what they witnessed, attributed it to something outside the path... (Futūḥāt, II, 530)
One in whom the state of uns dominates desires retreat (khalwa) and solitude. For intimacy with Allah requires being distant from others. The thing most burdensome to the heart that has intimacy with Allah is anything that prevents retreat.
What is the sign of uns? It is said: The most evident sign of uns is feeling distress at mingling with people, and being weary of being with them. Even if he mingles with people, he is still as if alone. He is only with them bodily; his heart is alone. Know that if intimacy persists and becomes established by prevailing, and if the agitation of longing does not disturb it, nor does the fear of change or veil (ḥijāb) disrupt its order, then this state brings about an expansiveness and joy in speech, action, and intimate supplication with Allah. Sometimes, due to a lack of awe and boldness, it may also lead to coarse words and actions. This state can be seen in those at the station of intimacy, as well as in those who have not reached this station but try to present themselves as such in word and deed. Such words may lead them to kufr (disbelief). (Qudāma, 377)
Awe (hayba) is the presence of reverence (taʿẓīm) in the heart. This reverence prevents one from looking at anything other than the Beloved. It is an essential station that does not depart from love (maḥabba). At the moment of manifestation, it strengthens the attributes of majesty (jalāl). However, in the absence of witnessing, it ceases. (Rawḍa, 643)
Uns is the joy of the heart that arises from beholding the beauty of the Beloved, without feeling rivalry. It is a state that requires the lover’s alertness and the delight of his moment. One in this state fears the troubles that would humiliate him. (Rawḍa, 650)
Shaykh Ibn ʿArabī said: According to one group, uns is the expansiveness and joy that comes to the servant from the Truth. This state of expansion (basṭ) sometimes occurs with unveiling (kashf) and with veiling (ḥijāb). Uns is a state that arises in the heart due to the manifestation of beauty (jamāl). According to the majority, this state arises from the manifestation of beauty. This is only one of their errors. Because they cannot distinguish between truth and falsehood, they make such mistakes. Not all of the people of Allah, though their witnessing is sound, possess the capacity for discernment and furqān. But the real issue is to know what it is that is being witnessed.
Intimacy with Allah Most High has certain signs among those who possess uns. This is a point where people of the path (ahl al-ṭarīq) often err. When the state of uns arises in them, they immediately assume it is uns with Allah. When this state disappears, they think uns with Allah has also disappeared. According to us and the majority, the person’s uns is actually related to his own state, not to Allah. The reason is that when the state of intimacy with Allah arises in a servant, it always persists in him. For this reason, some Sufis have said: Whoever finds intimacy with Allah when alone, but loses it in a crowd, has found intimacy with solitude, not with Allah.
Also know that, according to the verifiers (muḥaqqiqūn), uns is not valid with the name Allah itself. Uns is only with another divine name, not with the name Allah. In fact, the whole world is in a state of uns with Allah, but is unaware that the state of uns it is in is with Allah. For one to be aware of uns, it must either be continuous or one must transition into uns. (Asfār, 78)
States (aḥwāl) are given to their possessors only from this heaven. Whether they are of majesty, like contraction (qabḍ), awe (hayba), and fear (khawf), or of beauty, like expansion (basṭ), uns, and hope (rajāʾ), in reality they are one. (Asfār, 164)
Uns is a light without darkness, a fortress without breach. (Jāmiʿ, 54)
Uns is of three kinds: the uns of the common people (ʿawām) is with people; the uns of the elite (khawāṣṣ) is with the remembrance of Allah (dhikr Allāh); the uns of the most elect (khawāṣṣ) is with the Truth (al-Ḥaqq). Uns with people is actual. Uns with the remembrance of Allah is beneficial. Uns with the Truth is an illuminating light. (Jāmiʿ, 62) 1146 uns-hayba
The essence of uns is to find comfort in nearness (qurb) and the ease of uns. The servant in this state finds comfort and attains tranquility as he witnesses his progress in his spiritual journey (sulūk). Its...