It is its existence. The fourth level is its existence in writings. Except for the level of knowledge, according to our knowledge, the true existence of Allah corresponds to these levels. The level of knowledge, however, is to perceive what is presently before us (to comprehend it). (Inshā', 7)
My word is my secret
I am the same as His existence (wujūd)
When you see, it is my likeness
I am the likeness of His witnessing (shuhūd)
Thus is my gratitude
If I give thanks, it is for His increase
The state closest to my being
The one who is the jugular vein
I am between the will of my Beloved and the murīd (aspirant, disciple)
Even if I am His servant
I am a nonexistence without His existence
With my existence, it became established with me
The eye that looks at the likeness of His existence
I looked at the likeness of Your existence
I could not see the eternal (qadīm)
I could only see the originated (ḥādith)
I think there is a bayān (clear exposition) between us
Kelüs speaks of veils
I likened myself to those who seek my reality
As if desiring day and night with longing
Sometimes, so that it may be taken from Him
He gives it to the unseen
It appears opened, but is not seen
Can causes other than the Eternal (Qadīm) cease to exist?
We clearly see it as originated (ḥādith)
Nonexistence (ʿadam) is an addition upon the essence of the nonexistent (māʿdūm), a duwujūd-ʿadam (existence of nonexistence) that is added to the essence of what does not exist. Just as an attribute subsists with the thing described, so too does it subsist with the nonexistent. (Asfār, 7)
Wujūd (existence) is a name for knowing the reality of a thing. Its first subtlety is the existence of ladunnī knowledge (esoteric knowledge). This, in terms of the soundness of unveiling the Real (al-Ḥaqq), eliminates knowledge based on witnessing (mushāhada); when ladunnī knowledge comes, there is no longer a place for witnessing.
The second is the existence of the Real (al-Ḥaqq) as the very same wujūd. There is nothing that can indicate this. The third is the existence of a station that, through its pre-eternal absorption, effaces the image of wujūd. (Rawḍa, 496)
In answer to the question: "Do we have another existence apart from our essence?" it was said: No. Because what is outside us (the world external to us) is a purely imagined realm. For if it were among the existents (mumkināt, contingent beings), the statement about it would be like the statement about us. If it were among the impossible (muḥāl) or nonexistent (māʿdūm) contingent beings, then your statement: "We are outside" would mean: "We are in nonexistence (ʿadam)." In that ḥāl (spiritual state), it is not correct for it to be the same as the Necessary (wājib). (Asfār, 7)
The "levels of wujūd"—the Zāti (Essential) manifestation, Ahadiyya (Oneness), and Absolute Existence (Wujūd-i Muṭlaq)—are the first essential descents. We have authored a book on the maʿrifa (gnosis, experiential knowledge) of Absolute Existence and named it al-Wujūdu'l-Muṭlaq al-Muʿarraf bi'l-Wujūdi'l-Ḥaqq (The Absolute Existence Known as the Existence of the Real). Those seeking knowledge on this matter may refer to that book. This ahadiyya manifestation is the very reality of the Pure Essence (Zāt). However, it is not the first level, for at that level, existence (wujūd) has become determined for the Essence (Zāt). The first ʿamā (cloud of non-determination), which is the ahadiyya manifestation, is superior to the level where existence is ascribed to itself (nisba).
Know that the ahadiyya manifestation is a link between outwardness (ẓāhir) and inwardness (bāṭin). That is, there must be a third place between outwardness and inwardness, just as we see an imaginary line between shadow and sun. For this reason, the verifiers have called it the "greatest isthmus" (barzakhiyyat-i kubrā).
Ahadiyya is a barzakh (isthmus) between inwardness and outwardness. This is none other than the reality of the Muhammadan Reality (ḥaqīqa Muhammadiyya), and it is also expressed as the sphere of walāya (felek-i walāya), "fa-kāba qawsayni aw adnā" (He was two bow-lengths away or even nearer, Qur'an al-Najm 53:9), absolute knowledge (ʿilm-i muṭlaq), pure affair (shaʾn-i ṣirf), and the station of pure love (ʿishq-i mujarrad) in relation to the lover and beloved (nisba). The term "absolute knowledge" also refers to this: knowledge that has no relation to the knower or the known. Likewise, from Absolute Existence is meant existence that is not ascribed to pre-eternity (qidam) or origination (ḥudūth). Thus, you should understand that this level is none other than the ahadiyya of union (ahadiyyat-i jamʿ), in which all considerations, relations, attributions, and the inwardness of other names and attributes fall away. Some call it the level of huwiyya (He-ness), for in the second manifestation (shaʾn-i thānī) particular to the Essence (Zāt), names and attributes are absent. (Marātib, 14)
Nonexistence (ʿadam) never removes the possible nonexistence from the essence of the possible. Rationally and according to the sharia (sacred law), it is impossible for realities to undergo change. There is no correctness in transferring one to another in any respect, for this is impossible in every way. What Shaykh Muhyiddin (Ibn Arabi) and his followers have said about the Necessary Essence (Dhāt) is astonishing. The Essence is not subject to any ruling, unknown and is absolute existence (wujūd).
Nevertheless, they have affirmed the encompassing, nearness, and togetherness (maʿiyya) of the Essence. This ruling is nothing but a ruling that exalts and declares the Essence transcendent. The correct view in this matter is the nearness of knowledge and proximity as stated by the scholars.
Although the world is the locus where the perfections of the attributes and the manifestations of the names are seen, as those of the people of the unity of existence (tawhid al-wujūdī) have asserted, the manifest is not the same as the locus of manifestation, nor is the shadow the same as the original. (Maktūbāt, I, 42)
Know that for the followers of this exalted tariqa (Sufi path), the outward tawhid is divided into two: tawhid of witnessing (tawhid-i shuhūdī) and tawhid of existence (tawhid-i wujūdī).
Tawhid-i shuhūdī is the witnessing of the One (al-Wāḥid), that is, the sālik (traveler) witnessing that the existence he perceives is nothing other than the One. Tawhid-i wujūdī is for the sālik to know and believe that existence is one, and to believe that all existence apart from Him is nonexistence, and to consider it as such. While believing that all else is nonexistent, one also believes that they are loci and manifestations of this One. Tawhid-i wujūdī is of the level of knowledge of certainty (ʿilm al-yaqīn), while tawhid-i shuhūdī is of the level of eye of certainty (ʿayn al-yaqīn). This tawhid is one of the necessary principles of this tariqa. Thus, the state of fanāʾ (annihilation in God) cannot be realized without tawhid-i shuhūdī, and tawhid-i shuhūdī cannot be realized without ʿayn al-yaqīn. The witnessing of ahadiyya in all its dominance requires seeing nothing but Him. Tawhid-i wujūdī, however, is not like this, i.e., it is not necessary. ʿIlm al-yaqīn can be attained even without this maʿrifa (gnosis). For ʿilm al-yaqīn, in its initial aim, does not require the negation of everything other than Him. This state, when the knowledge of the One is dominant by way of overpowering, necessitates the elimination of everything other than Him. (Maktūbāt, I, 56)
O son, listen to this difficult-to-understand secret! The very exalted and transcendent essential perfections at the level of the Essence (Hazrat-i Dhāt) are the same as the Essence itself. For example, the attribute of knowledge at this level is the same as the Essence. Will, power (qudra), and other attributes are likewise. Again, at this level, the Essence is entirely knowledge and entirely power. That is, the Essence is not partly knowledge, partly power, etc. At that level, division and partition are impossible. The perfections derived from the Essence, when detailed at the level of knowledge (martaba), become manifest in detail by His knowledge, and thus, along with the subsistence (baqāʾ) of the exalted and transcendent Essence (without any increase or decrease in His Essence), a distinction arises between these two levels. Compared to the summary and undifferentiated unity (waḥdāniyya) of the first level, in this (second) level, there is nothing that is not included in this detail and distinguished (made distinct and different from each other). On the contrary, all perfections, each of which is individually the same as the Essence, have entered the level of knowledge, have acquired a shadow existence (zillī wujūd) at this second level, and have been named as attributes. The existence of this shadow existence is possible only through its origin, the Essence.
According to the author of the Fuṣūṣ (Ibn Arabi), the fixed entities (aʿyān-i thābita) are precisely those detailed perfections that have acquired an intellectual existence at this level of knowledge. In my view…