You were. When Allah, who is the light of the heavens and the earth, manifested (tajallī) to you, this darkness no longer pleased you; thus, you became witnesses (shāhid) to your nafs (the lower self), to their realities in the ranks they occupied in the eternal realm. This witnessing is not the meaning of your external existence, but rather it manifested as the very essence of your external existence—nothing more than this.
Tajallī-istitār (the manifestation-concealment) 1027. You cannot deny our statement: 'We were existent in His ʿilm (divine knowledge), and the Real (al-Ḥaqq) manifested to you.' For you saw not the manifestation itself, but Him. The vision (ruʾya) is possible rationally, legally (according to the sharia), and through unveiling (kashf). For there is no doubt regarding ruʾya in the Hereafter. The Qur'an bears witness that Allah manifested to the mountain. There is never any contradiction to this in the Book and the Sunnah. (Asfār, 10)
Mukālama (divine conversation) is that which is cast into the heart through a lordly or angelic inspiration. It is neither possible to reject nor to deny this. The divine conversations of al-Ḥaqq with His servant, and His informing His servants of various matters, are accepted. No creature can reject this.
The sign of al-Ḥaqq's conversation with His servants is that the hearer knows necessarily (ḍarūrī) that this kalām (speech) is Allah's speech, and that hearing this speech is an imtihān (test) for him, and that it cannot be limited by any other aspect than the test itself; even if he hears it from one direction, it is not possible for it to be associated with any other direction. Do you not see that the address to Moses (Mūsā) was heard from the direction of the tree, yet the tree was not limited to one aspect? In terms of acceptability, angelic inspiration is close to lordly inspiration, but it does not have the same power; it is accepted only out of necessity. The situation regarding divine conversation that has come down from the Real (al-Ḥaqq) is not only sound (as evidence), but His other manifestations (tajalliyāt) are also of this kind. (Insān, I, 5)
When a light from the lights of al-Ḥaqq manifests (tajallī) to a servant, the servant immediately knows necessarily that, whether it relates to attribute, essence and knowledge, or to the very reality, it is a light of al-Ḥaqq. When something manifests to you, you immediately understand that it is the light, attribute, or Essence (Dhāt) of al-Ḥaqq. This is that manifestation; know that it is a sea without shore.
Regarding acting upon divine inspiration, the way of the beginner is to present it to the Book and the Sunnah. If he finds a witness for that inspiration in either of them, it is divine inspiration; if not, he should refrain from acting upon it, without denying the previous inspiration. The benefit of refraining is this: what he understood as divine inspiration may have been cast to him by Satan. In this case, he fears that it may truly be of this kind (deception) from Satan. Then he should adhere to the method that will open to him the ways of maʿrifa (gnosis, experiential knowledge of God) regarding this inspiration, and cling to it with firm attention and care. (Insān, I, 5)
Manifestation (tajallī) is the activity of the people of himma (spiritual aspiration). The strange and wondrous creatures imagined in the world of imagination and in this world, great magic, the ability of the people of Paradise to take on any color they wish, the wondrous remnants from the clay of Adam mentioned in Ibn ʿArabī's kitāb (book), walking on water, flying in the air, increasing the few, decreasing the many—these are all of the kind of manifestation. (Insān, I, 41)
The attribution (nisba) of manifestation (tajallī) to al-Ḥaqq is a divine matter. Its attribution to the servant is a ḥāl (spiritual state). However, this manifestation cannot be devoid of one of Allah's names or attributes dominating the servant. That which dominates is the name of the manifestation. If in this manifestation 1028 there is a tajallī-yi ḥayālī (imaginal manifestation)...
If none of the names or attributes of Allah that we know are present, and the name descends upon the walī (friend of God), then this manifestation is the very name with which al-Ḥaqq manifests to that walī. (Insān, I, 63)
Effusion (fayḍ) is the eternal and everlasting, perpetual manifestation. The world, if completed without the divine spirit (rūḥ), is like a mirror that has not been polished. With the divine spirit, it becomes as if polished. Just as a mirror, being bright, receives the image of what is before it and shows it to its owner, so too does the world, by receiving the divine spirit, accept the perpetual manifestation. This manifestation is the appearance of His very essence in that perfect locus. (Ṣūfyāvī, 16)
Veiling (satr) is for the common people, while manifestation (tajallī) is for the elect (khawāṣṣ). By satr is meant the removal of the veils that prevent witnessing. The possessor of manifestation is eternally endowed with the attribute of humility (khushūʿ). For the elect, satr is that the continuity of their manifestations remains with them. For them, the two states are verbally contradictory at first glance, but not in meaning. For manifestation is nothing but the removal of the jalālī (majestic) veils over the jamālī (beautiful) perfection (kamāl).
For the elect, satr is their being preserved from annihilation and burning, and their firmness in the maqām (spiritual station) of stability (thabāt). For if the satr of al-Ḥaqq were not upon them, He would not show them that manifestation during the appearance of the sovereignty of ḥaqīqa (inner reality), lest they perish. For when al-Ḥaqq is present, nothing of creation remains. (Jāmiʿ, 257)