Its passing away. The passing away of the kull (the whole) concerns only the attributes, and is a matter of mahw-isbāt/nafy-isbāt (annihilation-affirmation/negation-affirmation) of attributes. For as long as human existence remains, fanāʾ (annihilation) regarding the Divine Essence (dhāt) cannot be conceived. In that ḥāl (spiritual state), it is necessary to negate bad attributes and affirm good attributes. That is, regarding Allah the Exalted, one must affirm the meaning and negate the claim. For the claim arises from the emptiness of the nafs (the lower self). According to the customs of the Sufis, it is accepted that human attributes are overcome by the power of the Real (al-Ḥaqq). They say: The negation of human attributes is achieved by affirming the baqāʾ (subsistence) of the Real. (Hujwīrī, 460)
Nafy (negation) is that which necessitates the fanāʾ (annihilation) of everything negative (that is to be annihilated). Isbāt (affirmation) necessitates the existence of whatever is affirmed. (Hujwīrī, 468)
Mahw (effacement) is realized by the effacement of the attributes belonging to the nafs, while isbāt is possible through those things that direct the nafs toward the vessels that are the effects of (Divine) maḥabba (love). It can also be said: Mahw is to look at the nafs and what it relies upon with the perspective of fanāʾ, and to efface the forms and molds of actions; isbāt is to affirm the forms of actions by virtue of the existence bestowed by the Real. This state is realized not through the help of the servant's nafs, but through the Real, after Allah annihilates his nafsānī (egoic) attributes, and again through His affirmation. (ʿAwārif, 310)
Mahw is the disappearance of the attributes of habit. It has also been said to be the disappearance of the cause (ʿilla). It is also said to be that which the Real covers (satr) and negates (makes nonexistent). Isbāt is to fulfill the duties of servitude, or it is also said to be the affirmation of union (wuṣla). (Iṣṭilāḥ, 533)
According to the Sufi community, mahw is the removal of habitual attributes, together with the cause, as well as the removal of those attributes that the Real has covered and annihilated. As Allah the Exalted has said: "Allah eliminates what He wills or confirms, and with Him is the Mother of the Book." (al-Raʿd 13:39)
The establishment of mahw, which the jurists call abrogation (naskh), is a Divine abrogation. In this abrogation, Allah removes and annihilates that which had been established and existent.
Mahw in rulings is the end of the duration (life) of that ruling; mahw in things is the expiration of their duration. For Allah the Exalted has said: "Everything runs its course for a specified term." (al-Raʿd 13:38) The ruling continues until a specified time, then it ceases, but the thing itself remains. For Allah the Exalted has said: "For a specified term..." When the duration of the ruling reaches its appointed time, even if the thing itself remains, its duration cannot continue. In general matters, Allah removes the ʿādāt (customs) differently from particulars. Some customs are removed from the outward, some from the inward, but the attributes of customs remain upon the thing, or the qalb (the heart), or the person. This state is like the occurrence of transformation (masḥ) in the hearts, and the illusion of perfection (kamāl) while being the possessor of mahw. (Futūḥāt, II, 542)
Isbāt is the state upon which the whole world stands and is established. If someone, without a prophet, that is, apart from being attached to a prophet, wishes to remove the rulings of (physical) customs, he acts with disrespect and ignorance.
What people call the breaking of custom (kharq al-ʿāda) is in fact itself a custom. If the abrogation of customs is established as a custom, then—if isbāt is not present—customs are not truly annihilated. However, the possessor of isbāt must have reached the Real. For it is the possessor who establishes the rulings of customs.
Conformity is a condition of companionship. How can one who removes what he sees as wisdom (ḥikma) in its establishment be together with it, or reach it? Especially if the possessor of this station knows that Allah is the Judge, that He affirms what He does, even if the servant does not do or desire it, and that what the possessor does is affirmed by Him, then such a person is courteous. You will not be friends with one who disputes with you, nor will he be friends with you. If you still dispute with him, it is nothing but obstinacy. The possessor of isbāt is one who is constantly united with the Real. He affirms the rulings of customs, because he sees them. Yet, it is not possible for him to remove the rulings of customs or to desire their annihilation. (Futūḥāt, II, 542-543)
Nafy: Its meaning is that nothing existed before His existence. Knowledge pertains to the impossibility of anything preceding the existence of the Real, and we have known this. Just as we know that the attributes present in us, such as priority (awwaliyyat), are also a ḥaqīqa (inner reality) present in us. We also know negation, for some things exist and then cease to exist. The transition of these things from state to state, from place to place, from perspective to perspective, becomes clear to us. Thus, we have understood the reality of negation and priority. Then we applied negation to priority and described the Real by it (i.e., we said the Real has no priority). Priority is a negative attribute. A thing is known by its like and its opposite. (Tadbīrāt, 208)
I understood Him through negation
I could not understand through affirmation
without falling into doubt
When we attained the bewilderment (ḥayra) that sustains us
since most see it as torment
I remained in the fire of nature in His sight
For this reason, for a long time
I did not devote most of them, nor did I speak
The places of manifestation are those who submit
I tasted the essence of witnessing (mushāhada)
I drank its essence to the full
I witnessed Him
with a completely different witnessing
from the form of our contract
a wondrous state in the world of witnessing
mahw-isbāt/nafy-isbāt
If you had remained in the absence of His unseen
or become dust
"All things will perish except His Face." (al-Qaṣaṣ 28:88)
To perish in the Face of the Real is truer
If it is for the Face of the Everlasting, it is fitting
"Every thing will perish" is not a punishment
It passed from "lā" and became "illā"
Whoever is in "illā" is not annihilated
He who is in the Divine Presence
is rejected at the door of nothingness
(Mathnawī, I, 120)
Everything is perishing except the Essence of Allah. Since you have not perished in His Essence, do not seek existence.
Whoever perishes in Our Essence, in Our reality, escapes perishing and finds baqāʾ (subsistence).
For he is in "illā"; he has passed beyond "lā". Those whose station is "illā" do not perish, that is, they cannot be annihilated in the Real. (Note: In the phrase of tawhid (the oneness of God), "Lā ilāha illā Allah" (There is no god but Allah), the words of acceptance and denial are both present. When we say "Lā ilāha", we deny any god but Allah. In "illā Allah", we affirm and accept the existence of Allah. Some who utter these words of tawhid only deny other gods but do not say "Only Allah exists". Such people have passed beyond "lā" but are stuck at "illā". However, the believer (muʾmin) who finds the path of salvation denies everything other than Allah, including himself, and considers them nonexistent. (Şefik Can)
For this reason, whoever claims existence at the door of the Real by saying "I" and "we" is expelled from that door and wanders in the station of "lā". (Mathnawī, I, 196)
The reality of nafy and isbāt... This is the second path, the most beneficial, the most virtuous, and the most effective. Nafy and isbāt is the phrase "Lā ilāha illā Allah". This blessed phrase protects its reciter not only from open shirk (associating partners with God) but also from hidden shirk, and makes that person pure and purified. At the same time, this phrase detaches the hearts from the attachments of elements, cleanses the nafs from the disgrace of animal attributes, and continually opens to the one who recites it the realities of truthfulness, ikhlas (sincerity), knowledge of the unseen, and various Divine manifestations. (Jāmiʿ, 137)
Murāqaba (spiritual vigilance) expresses the meaning of nafy and isbāt directly, without considering the letters of the phrase of tawhid. For murāqaba, in its inward aspect, is the affirmation of the unity of Divine existence, which is the doctrine of the people of secrets. This meaning is precisely the meaning of "illā Allah". For the result of nafy and isbāt is murāqaba.
The reality of nafy and isbāt with the qalb is as follows: The one who performs dhikr (remembrance of God) first says with the tongue of the qalb, rejecting all attachments of the qalb, "lā ilāha" (there is no god), and then again with the tongue of the qalb, affirms the existence of the unity and uniqueness of the Real in his qalb by saying "illā Allah" (except Allah). In this kind of nafy and isbāt, there is no need to hold one's breath in order to be present with the mentioned (Allah) and to forget all else. If this nafy and isbāt is taking place, there is no need to hold the breath. What is required in nafy and isbāt is to be present with the mentioned (Allah) and to forget all else. If the one who performs dhikr utters these two names (nafy and isbāt) in this way, a purity and cleanliness arises within him, and he becomes one of those who know Allah and reach Him. (Jāmiʿ, 233)
mahw al-arbāb al-sarāʾir (the effacement of the people of secrets) is the removal of causes and afflictions. In return, there is the affirmation of union (wuṣla). This occurs when the forms of the servant's attributes, morals, and actions are effaced through the manifestation of the forms of the Real's attributes, morals, and actions. As is stated in the sacred hadith: "I become his hearing with which he hears and his sight with which he sees." (Kāshānī, 79; Jāmiʿ, 96)
mahw al-arbāb al-ẓāhir/mahw al-arbāb al-zawāhir (the effacement of the people of the outward) is the removal of bad habits and morals, the establishment of the rulings of servitude in their place, and the acquisition of good character. (Kāshānī, 79; Jāmiʿ, 96)
mahw al-ʿubūdiyya/mahw ʿayn al-ʿabd (the effacement of servitude and the effacement of the very self of the servant) is the removal of the connection of existence with the entities (aʿyān). For the aʿyān, by the ruling of worldliness (ʿālamiyya), appear at the level of oneness (wāḥidiyya) and are related to the Essence (dhāt).
For this reason, the aʿyān are nothing but the nonexistences from which the existence of the Real eternally manifests. The aʿyān, though their existence is possible, are things that are nonexistent in themselves but have traces in their manifest existence and known form.
Existence (wujūd) is nothing but the Real Himself. Relation (iḍāfa) is a relation that has no existence outside. Actions and effects pertain only to existence, for the nonexistent cannot act. Thus, there is no agent or existent other than the Real. Accordingly, Allah, in so far as He is determined and related to the form of the servant, is the worshipped (maʿbūd) in an absolute sense, and the servant is the worshipper (ʿābid) in a limited sense. The servant himself continues in his nonexistence. Thus, the servant is effaced, and servitude (ʿubūdiyya) is effaced as well.
As Allah the Exalted says: "And you did not throw when you threw, but Allah threw." (al-Anfāl 8:17) Do you not read the verses: "There is no private conversation among three but that He is the fourth of them. Nor among five but that He is the sixth of them." (al-Mujādila 58:7) and "They have certainly disbelieved who say, 'Allah is the third of three.'" (al-Māʾida 5:73)? Allah says in the verse that He is the fourth of three, but denies being the third of three. For if He were one of them, His existence would have to be possible like theirs. But Allah is exalted and sanctified above this. Because He is the fourth, He differs from them in the reality of their existence or the determination of their essence (i.e., He is different in essence and not identical in attributes). (Kāshānī, 80; Jāmiʿ, 96)