It is a ḥāl (spiritual state) that lies in between. It has been said: Waqt (the moment) is when the servant, without his own choice, comes under the disposal of the Real (God).
It has also been said: Waqt is the requirement of the Real (God) and its manifestation upon you. It is said that waqt is a file that diminishes you but does not annihilate you.
It is also defined as: Waqt is everything that dominates you, and everything revolves under its authority and disposal.
The divine foundation of waqt is that Allah, Exalted is He, describes Himself as "Every day He is bringing about a matter (fi sha'nin)" (al-Rahman 55:29). In the ḥāl (spiritual state), waqt is the essence, and its existence is manifest upon the individual, that is, it appears in the cosmos. The acts (shu'ūn) of the Real (God) also manifest in the loci of possibility (mumkināt). Thus, in the truest sense, waqt is the ḥāl (spiritual state) you are in. The ḥāl you are in is identical to your capacity (isti'dād). The acts (shu'ūn) of the Real manifest in you according to your capacity. Thus, the act (sha'n) is, in essence, under His authority, for the ruling of possibility and the capacity of the possible has caused the act of the Real to be brought into existence therein. Do you not see that the impossible does not accept it?
The essence of waqt is not from the direction of the Real, but from the direction of creation (kawn). The ruling of decree applies only to the created. Thus, the owner of waqt is creation, and the ruling is the one specific to creation. (Futūḥāt, II, 528)
Waqt is the influxes (wāridāt) that manifest upon you in your current ḥāl (spiritual state). If it manifests through the disposal of the Real, you must show contentment (riḍā) and submit. Thus, you are under the ruling of waqt, and nothing else comes to your mind. If it is related to your own striving, then you should adhere to what is more important for you. Do not concern yourself with your past or your future, for striving to attain the past is to waste the present moment you are in. The same applies to being concerned with the future, for perhaps you will never attain it and will lose the moment as well. For this reason, the realized Sufi has said, "The Sufi is the son of the moment (ibn al-waqt); he fulfills the requirements of the moment." (Kāshānī, 53; Jāmiʿ, 104)
Waqt is the name of the envelope of the cosmos. Its first leaf is the time of true ecstasy (wajd) in which, through the light of grace, one may attain intimacy (uns). This moment is either a fire of longing kindled by the purity (ṣafā) of hope (rajāʾ), or by the sincerity of fear (khawf) as protection (ʿiṣma), or by the flame of love (maḥabba). Its second leaf is the wayfarer (sālik) who sets out on the path and walks between the states of transformation (talwīn) and establishment (tamkīn). The third is, in that moment, not the existence (wujūd) in Him, but the disappearance of discovery in forms. (Rawḍa, 491)
Waqt is nothing but the ḥāl (spiritual state) you are in at the present moment, without concern for past or future. This is the time between two non-existences (the past and the future). If your waqt and your ḥāl are the same, you are ibn al-waqt (the son of the moment). You come under the ruling of the moment. (1172) vakt-ı dâ'im
For He is existent, while you are non-existent. He is established, while you are but a figment (of imagination). If all your states are in witnessing obedience and servitude (ʿubūdiyya), you are among the people of establishment (tamkīn). If you are in the opposite state, you are among the people of transformation (talwīn). According to the first case, your waqt is nearness (qurb); in the second, your waqt is distance (buʿd).
Whatever state you are in, your waqt must grant you its influxes (wāridāt). The influxes of one whose waqt is nearness are at the level of nearness; the influxes of one whose waqt is distance are at the level of distance. One who abandons his state and grieves over the past is among the worshippers of non-existence, for he is preoccupied with what cannot return and has missed what his state required. This is the very essence of non-existence. The state of one who is preoccupied with the future is the same. (Asfār, 324)
(See also: ḥāl/ahwāl)