They remain occupied with considering the dalīl (proof, evidence) until they reach the medlūl (that which is indicated, the object of proof). Once they attain the medlūl, Allah Most High shows them another dalīl, and this process continues. As Allah Most High has said: "We will show them Our signs in the horizons and within themselves" (al-Fuṣṣilat 41:53). Allah states in the verse that He will show them signs, and that this is not a single sign; then He continues with bayān (clear exposition): "So that it becomes clear to them that it (the Qur'an) is the truth."
This clarification is the realization of the dalīl and the emergence of the medlūl. This is an issue in which there are various unveilings (mukāshafa) and openings (futūḥ) present within itself. Indeed, to some Sufis, both the dalīl and the medlūl have been granted as kashf (unveiling). The dalīl has never been given to them without the medlūl. Some scholars have even asserted that the wahbī (bestowed) sciences, which can only be reached by reason, are only granted to those who are given their dalāʾil (proofs). For these sciences are connected to those dalīl by way of reason.
muhāḍara-mukāshafa-mushāhada Some Sufis have said: Allah grants knowledge that can only be attained by reason and its dalīl, without the dalīl. For the aim is not the dalīl, but the medlūl. If knowledge that could be attained through reasoning is granted without a dalīl by Allah Most High, then there is no need for the dalīl. Sometimes, we know the dalīl corresponding to the emergence of the medlūl in the nafs (the lower self), and that these two cannot be combined.
The idea that dalīl and medlūl cannot coexist is incorrect. What cannot be combined with the medlūl is looking at the same dalīl with the same perspective. For one who looks at the dalīl may lose, find, or attain the medlūl.
The servant's muhāḍara (presence) sometimes occurs together with the divine cosmic names. That is, Allah Most High sometimes describes Himself, and sometimes the world, with the cosmic names. (Futūḥāt, II, 546)
Muhāḍara is the qalb (the heart) finding presence with the Real (al-Ḥaqq) in receiving effusion from the names of Allah Most High. (Kāshānī, 81; Jāmiʿ, 97)
Mukāshafa, among those who engage with esoteric sciences, is the resting place of the secret. The first subtlety that leads to sound verification is mukāshafa. This mukāshafa is continuous. The second, which is even more preferable in its continuity, is mushāhada (witnessing). The third is the unveiling not of knowledge, but of sight. The aim of this mukāshafa is mushāhada. (Rawḍa, 493)
Mushāhada is the removal of the ḥijāb (veil) (barrier). The first subtlety is the mushāhada of maʿrifa (gnosis) that occurs at the boundaries of knowledge, in the flashes of the light of ecstasy (wajd). This leads to the fanāʾ (annihilation in God) of union (jamʿ). The second subtlety is direct witnessing (ʿiyān mushāhada). This mushāhada severs connections with the witnesses (shahāhid, i.e., the world) and clothes one in sacred attributes. The third is the mushāhada that draws (attracts) to the very essence of union (ʿayn al-jamʿ). (Rawḍa, 494)
This group, by the statement of seeing things through the dalāʾil (proofs) of tawḥid (the oneness of God), intends His aḥadiyya (absolute oneness) in every existent. This is the very dalīl of the aḥadiyya of the Real. This dalīl is not a mirror, but a dalīl to aḥadiyya. (Asfār, 65)
Mushāhada is seeing the shāhid (witness) from the Real in the qalb (the heart). Mushāhada that is bound to the sign and the condition of ruʾya (vision) is not like this. For this reason, Moses (peace be upon him) said: "My Lord, show Yourself to me so that I may look at You" (al-Aʿrāf 7:143); he did not say, "Let me mushāhada You." For He (God) cannot be seen, but can be mushāhada. What was hidden from Moses was shown to him. (Asfār, 66)
Mushāhada only occurs when the Real manifests in the servant's qalb. How can you know Allah through mushāhada when there is someone else in your qalb, when you are thinking of another, and when you are distant from mushāhada of Him except when you are lost in another? This is the very essence of not knowing Him. Do not be among the ignorant! Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds! (Asfār, 330)
Mushāhada is the qalbs becoming aware of what Allah has informed from the unseen. (Jāmiʿ, 54)
muhāḍara-mukāshafa-mushāhada
Mushāhada is of three kinds: The mushāhada of the common people is with the Real; the mushāhada of the elite (khawāṣṣ) is for the Real; the mushāhada of the elite of the elite is the Real. Mushāhada with the Real is seeing things through their dalāʾil; mushāhada for the Real is seeing the Real in things; mushāhada of the Real is seeing the Real without anything (without intermediary). (Jāmiʿ, 62)
It has been said: Mushāhada is the perception of the unseen by the lights of secrets, thanks to the cleansing of the qalbs from filth and impurities, and from opposites and others in the watchfulness (murāqaba) of the Compeller (Allah). Thus, due to the purity of maʿrifa and the strength of yaqīn (certainty), it is as if one is looking at the unseen through a thin veil. For this reason, it is said that mushāhada is born from murāqaba. No one has explained the reality of mushāhada more than this. (Jāmiʿ, 253)
Mukāshafa sometimes means contemplation, sometimes mushāhada, and sometimes becoming aware of the secrets of the servants. In reality, it is firāsa (spiritual discernment). (Qawānīn, 94)
The occurrence of a thought in a person's mind is among the gifts of mukāshafa. Thus, one finds a writing on the edge of his garment commanding or forbidding him. Such a situation occurred to Abū Madyan: when the thought of divorcing his wife came to his mind, Abū al-ʿAbbās (al-Mursī) saw written on the shaykh's garment: "You must not divorce your wife." A similar event happened to Ibn ʿArabī: while he was busy writing a book, he was addressed: "Write this section, which is very subtle in description and very difficult to understand." From that moment, he did not know what to write. Eventually, this state left him, and he saw before him a tablet of light with green lines written on it. Then that tablet rose upwards and disappeared.
Among these is also the discovery of the unseen from the world of the senses. No veil or darkness can prevent it from being aware of what people do even in the remotest corners of their houses. Also among the unveilings (mukāshafāt) is this: when a person who commits adultery, drinks wine, steals, or falls into kufr (disbelief) comes to one of the people of mukāshafa, or walks towards sin or commits oppression, the person of mukāshafa sees this act written on the limb with which the act is committed. This station was generally present in Ibn ʿArabī's shaykh, Abū Yazīd. This mukāshafa is present among the realized possessors of verāʾ (abstention from what is doubtful).
Also among the people of mukāshafa is this: when a person moves or stands on his side, from this they know his rank and, in terms of existence, where this rank will reach. They assert with certainty that this rank belongs to this person, and the situation turns out as they said. They never err in this. It is agreed that this state was established in some shaykhs. Abū Madyan al-Maghribī ordered a man who moved in his assembly to be expelled and said: "After such-and-such years, you will see his state." He told some present in detail: "He will claim to be the Mahdī." And after twenty years, it happened as he said. This is among the sciences of ladunnī (divinely inspired) ilhām (inspiration).
muhaddathūn The unveilings of one who, while awake, has honey, milk, and water flow to him from a tree and drinks it are also of this kind. The unveilings of one in whom the world of abstracted (mujarrad) meaning manifests from matter are also of this kind. The unveilings of those who are aware of the secrets of trees, minerals, and others are also of this kind. They know the properties, secrets, and harms of every stone. The unveilings of those who are granted the station of fahm (understanding) by Allah and who hear His verses correctly are also of this kind. They hear the speech of inanimate beings at various levels and abolish their ʿādāt (habits). Miracles are of two kinds: one is directed to the hearer, the other to the person himself. The miracle directed to the hearer is his understanding of its reality. The one directed to himself is his speaking with it in his own nafs through karāma (a saintly wonder). The pebbles glorifying Allah in the palms of some Companions (ṣaḥāba) is of this kind. When the servant attains this station, he hears all existents glorifying Allah in the language of speech, just as Zayd and ʿAmr (i.e., any person) speak. The unveilings of one to whom the world of plants is disclosed are also of this kind. Every tree and herb speaks to him with its harmful and beneficial properties and says: "O servant of Allah, I am beneficial in this way, I am harmful in that way." (Nabhānī, I, 31)
Our Master Junayd said: Mushāhada is of three kinds: mushāhada from the Lord, mushāhada for the Lord, and mushāhada of the Lord.
According to another classification, mushāhada is of three kinds: mushāhada of the Real with the Real, which is the contemplation of the unity of Allah's Essence by the conscience through inference; mushāhada for the Real, which is to contemplate the Real in the becoming of existents and in all creatures and to know that He is free from deficiencies; and mushāhada of the Real before things, which is to see Him before things. This mushāhada is a kind of vision abstracted from the quality that is superior to kashf (unveiling). (Riḥla, 211)
(See also: ilhām; ʿilm al-yaqīn, ʿayn al-yaqīn, ḥaqq al-yaqīn; kashf/kushūfāt; yaqīn)