It is a ḥāl (spiritual state). In this maqām (spiritual station), there is joy and glad tidings. A certain person has said: I am amazed at a creature who seeks a price for you! I am amazed at how he finds intimacy with that which is other than God (mā siwā)!
Junayd says: The signs of the perfection of love are these: to remember Him constantly in the qalb (the heart) with joy, to feel delight and longing for Him, to develop intimacy with Him, to prefer Him over loving one's own nafs (the lower self), and to show riḍā (contentment with God's decree) with everything He does. The sign of having attained intimacy with Allah is to take pleasure in solitude, to savor supplication, and to devote oneself to intimacy to such a degree that one cannot even think of the world and what is in it. This state should not be interpreted as intimacy with people, but should be arranged within reasonable bounds. Maḥabba (love) should not be interpreted as love for created beings. If it were so, it would fall within the scope of thoughts, for longing (shawq) is also a state of thought. Shawq is seeking presence in the Beloved, warming to Him, tasting from Him, feeling comfort in Him, and finding life in Him. (Kūt, TI, 64)
Heyba (awe) and uns (intimacy) are two ḥāl (spiritual states) above qabḍ (constriction) and basṭ (expansion). Just as qabḍ is a station above khawf (fear), and basṭ is a degree above rajāʾ (hope), so heyba is loftier than qabḍ, and uns is more perfect than qabḍ. The right of heyba is ghayba (absence). Every possessor of heyba is in a state of ghayba. The people of heyba differ according to their states in ghayba; for some, ghayba lasts long, for others, it is brief.
As for uns-heyba, the right of uns is ṣaḥw (sobriety). Everyone who possesses uns is a possessor of ṣaḥw. The people of ṣaḥw differ according to their temperaments in the states of shurb (spiritual drinking). Thus it has been said: The lowest degree of uns is that even if the sālik (traveler) is in the midst of blazing fires, his state of uns is not disturbed or clouded. (Qushayrī, 36)
Uns and heyba are two of the ḥāl (spiritual states) of the fuqaraʾ (the poor ones) on the path of Truth, and mean the following: When the Exalted Truth (God) manifests in the servant's qalb with the witness of jalāl (majesty), the servant's share in this is heyba; when He manifests in the servant's qalb with the witness of jamāl (beauty), the servant's share is uns. Those who are people of heyba are in weariness due to His jalāl, while those who are people of uns are in joy due to His jamāl. There is a difference between a qalb burning with the fire of maḥabba from His jalāl and a qalb shining with the light of witnessing from His jamāl.
Some of the mashāyikh (spiritual masters) have said that heyba is the degree of the ʿārifūn (gnostics), while uns is the degree of the murīdūn (aspirants, disciples). Thus, the more firmly one's foot is established in the presence of the Truth and in the transcendence of His attributes, the stronger the power of heyba over his qalb, and the more his temperament flees from uns. For uns occurs with those of the same kind. Since it is impossible for the servant to be of the same kind and form as the Truth, just as the state of uns with Him cannot be conceived, so too Allah's uns with creation is impossible.
If uns is to be possible, it is only possible through His dhikr (remembrance of God). To remember Him is not to be Him. He is one thing, His remembrance is another. For remembrance is a quality of the servant.
As for maḥabba, intimacy with anything other than Allah is falsehood, a mere claim and delusion. Likewise, the heyba that results from witnessing is a kind of ʿaẓama (majesty). ʿAẓama is an attribute of Allah. In this ḥāl (spiritual state), there is a great difference between the servant whose state is with his own nafs and the servant whose state is with the baqāʾ (subsistence in God) of the Truth after his own fanāʾ (annihilation in God). (Hujwīrī, 456)
Allah the Exalted has said: "And when My servants ask you concerning Me, indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me." (al-Baqara 2:186). Uns points to the comfort of proximity (qurb).
There are three degrees of uns. The first degree is intimacy with the witnesses (shawāhid). This uns is to find beauty in dhikr, to be nourished by samāʿ (spiritual audition), and to be aware of spiritual indications (ishārāt).
The second degree of uns is intimacy through the light of kashf (unveiling). This uns is to surpass the previous degree, for the power of hayamān (ecstatic bewilderment) purifies this uns, and the wave of fanāʾ strikes this uns. This kind of uns dominates the minds of one group and removes the endurance to be patient from another, loosening their bonds of knowledge. In this regard, a report has come through a dua (supplication): I seek refuge in You from harmful distress and misleading tribulation, and I ask You for longing to meet You.
The third degree of uns is the witnessing of the Presence about which nothing can be said, no description can be indicated, and whose reality cannot be comprehended.