For the forgetting of māsiwā (mā siwā Allāh, everything other than Allah) to be possible, what is required is tawhid-i shuhūdī (the witnessing of the oneness of God). Moreover, it is within the realm of possibility that a sālik (wayfarer) may traverse from bidāya (the beginning) to nihāya (the end) in sulūk (spiritual journey), and yet none of the sciences or maʿrifa (experiential knowledge of God) of tawhid-i wujūdī (the oneness of being) ever manifest in him; on the contrary, he may even reach a point where he denies these sciences altogether.
In this humble one's view, the path of the person whose sulūk is possible without the manifestation of these maʿārif (gnoses) is shorter than the path of the one whose sulūk occurs with the manifestation of these maʿārif. Furthermore, most sāliks on this (shuhūdī) path reach the sought-after goal, whereas most sāliks on other paths remain stranded along the way. These see but a drop from the ocean, fall into the delusion of union with the shadow instead of the original, and thus are deprived of this union. I too have understood this meaning through various experiences. Allah is the one who inspires what is right. Although this poor one's journey was along the second path and he took great delight in the manifestation of the sciences and maʿrifa of tawhid-i wujūdī, since his state was encompassed by the ināya (divine favor) of the Real and his journey was a mahbūbī (beloved-centered) journey, by Allah's help and ināya he crossed the valleys and deserts of this path, surpassed the stages of shadows, and, again with Allah Most High's tawfīq (divine enabling) and assistance, reached the essence.
However (Maktūbāt, 1, 287)
Note: It has been established through investigation that although existents are multiple and everything other than Him exists, the realization of fanāʾ (annihilation in God) and baqāʾ (subsistence in God), and the attainment of walāya sughrā (lesser sainthood) and walāya kubrā (greater sainthood) is possible.
Fanāʾ is not the negation or total eradication of siwā (everything other than Allah), but its forgetting. The requirement of fanāʾ is not the annihilation of māsiwā and its reduction to nothingness, but that it appears as if lost. Although this kalām (discourse) is apparent, it has remained hidden from most of the khawāṣṣ (spiritual elite). What, then, can be said of the ʿawāmm (common people)? For they have mistaken tawhid-i shuhūdī for tawhid-i wujūdī, and have made the maʿrifa of waḥdat al-wujūd (the unity of being) a condition of the tariqa (Sufi path). As a result, they have considered those who believe in the multiplicity of existence to be both astray and misguiding. Indeed, the majority of them have thought that the maʿrifa of the Real is exclusive to tawhid-i wujūdī, and have imagined that witnessing unity in the mirrors of multiplicity stems from perfection in this matter. (Maktūbāt, I, 288)
Tawhid-i wujūdī (the oneness of being): This consists of taste (dhawq), longing (shawq), spiritual influx (wārid), the clarity and soundness of the esrār (secrets) of maʿiyya (being with God), absence (ghayba), absorption (istighrāq), dance (raqs), audition (samāʿ), ecstasy (wajd), and spiritual agitation (tawājūd). All of these pertain to the journey of the subtlety of the heart (qalb). This journey is initially within the circle of possibility. Attraction (jadhb), presence (ḥuḍūr), jamʿiyyat (spiritual collectedness), spiritual influxes (wāridāt), unveiling of created things (kawnī kashf), unveiling of spirits (rūḥānī kashf), unveiling of the imaginal world (ʿālam al-mithāl), and journeying through the world of dominion (ʿālam al-mulk) are among the characteristics of this circle. The world of mulk consists of those beneath the celestial spheres, while the world of malakūt comprises the angels, spirits, jinn, and those above the heavens; all of these are included in the circle of possibility. Such extraordinary phenomena are witnessed in the lower half of the circle of possibility. This is called āfāqī seyr (journey through the horizons).
True kamāl (perfection) of presence, jamʿiyyat, powerful attractions, journeying through the shadows of the divine names and attributes, and witnessing the manifestations of divine acts occur in the second circle. These are the names of the circle of walāya sughrā (lesser sainthood). The sign that the heart has reached the circle of walāya sughrā is the disappearance of its orientation toward higher maqāms (spiritual stations), its encompassing of the six directions, its witnessing of its unique being with the Exalted Allah with a unique awareness, and its discovery of the secrets of wujūdī tawhid. This witnessing arises from the sālik's abundant worship, spiritual struggles, abandonment of beloved and familiar things, constant dhikr (remembrance of God) and contemplation, and the dominance of his love and affection for his true Beloved.
Just as the heart is drawn and turns toward the Exalted Real, if all these struggles and the abandonment of the nafs's (lower self's) desires are in accordance with the sunnah of the Prophet, they purify the sālik's inner self from māsiwā, cleanse his heart from the stains of heedlessness, so that his inner self becomes a mirror reflecting the shadows of Allah's necessary names and attributes. But the sālik, who is a miskīn (destitute) lover, has not seen his Beloved. His love for Him has come through contemplating His attributes and watching their shadows in the mirror. For this reason, he speaks in ecstatic utterances (shathiyāt), sees the image of his Beloved in the mirror of his inner self, enters the state of absence (ghayba), and falls into awe (dahsha). The illusion of union (wuṣla) enters his secret, and due to his intense thirst, he becomes unable to distinguish between the original and the shadow.
In this state, he speaks of ittihād (union) and ainiyya (identity), and makes such claims. This state of ruʾya (vision) reaches such a point that he can no longer see himself and openly begins to say, "Subḥānī (Glory be to me)..." and "Ana'l-Ḥaqq (I am the Real)." In a sacred hadith it is reported: "I treat My servant according to how he thinks of Me." The servant in this ḥāl (spiritual state), once he emerges from it, is no longer blamed and is included among Allah's majdhūb (attracted) friends (awliyāʾ). (Jāmiʿ, 64)
Tawhid, in language, is to judge and know that something is one. Just as when you ascribe someone to bravery you say, "I made him brave," so too, when you describe someone as being one, you say, "I made him one (wahhadtu)." According to the people of reality, tawhid is to strip Allah's Essence from everything that can be conceived or imagined by the intellect or mind. For Allah to be one means to negate division from His Essence, and to remove resemblance and shirk (associating partners with God) from His Essence and attributes (i.e., not likening Allah to created things and not associating partners with Him).
Tawhid has both an expression (ibāra) and a meaning (maʿnā). Its expression is the word of ikhlas (sincerity), and its meaning is the very ikhlas regarding that expression. This is to strip oneself, upon recalling its expression, from both worlds and from human attributes. (Jāmiʿ, 153)
When Abū'l-Fayḍ Dhū'n-Nūn al-Miṣrī was asked what tawhid is, he replied: "Tawhid is to know Allah's power, which does not mix with things, does not enter into things, and does not blend with their nature; to know His creation, which does not unite with things; to know that the cause of everything is Allah's creation, and that there is no defect in His creation. In the highest heavens and the lowest earth, there is no manager (mudabbir) other than Allah Most High. Whatever comes to your imagination or conception, Allah is different from that." (Nabhānī, II, 215)
His tawhid is enumeration (taʿdād, counting, reciting tasbīḥ), but my tawhid is ifrād (making one, singling out). If you wish to be immersed in the sea of ifrād and be on the shore with ifrād, then perform your tawhid without yourself. In that case, the otherness of the other disappears. The ghayn (veil)...