(aṣḥāb al-tamkīn; idhn; mutamakkīn; tamkīn fi’l-talwīn)
Talwīn is the continual change of spiritual states (aḥwāl) in the servant. A group of Sufis say: The sign of ḥaqīqa (inner reality) is talwīn. For talwīn is the manifestation of the power of Allah, the All-Powerful, and it is to acquire gayret (spiritual striving) from Him. Talwīn also means taghyīr (to change). (Lumaʿ, 443)
Talwīn and tamkīn: Talwīn is the attribute of those who possess spiritual states (ḥāl), while tamkīn is the attribute of the people of ḥaqīqa (inner reality). As long as the servant is on the path, he is a possessor of talwīn, for he ascends from state to state, transitions from one attribute to another, and moves from one stage to another. When he attains union (wuṣūl), he settles in his station and becomes a possessor of tamkīn. Sufis recite the following poem on this subject:
I have traversed so many stations for your love
That intellects are bewildered before these stations
The possessor of talwīn is in a perpetual state of increase (rising in station). The possessor of tamkīn, on the other hand, has first attained union and then achieved ittiṣāl (connection; union and merging with what is attained). The sign of being in a state of ittiṣāl is to be completely annihilated (fanāʾ) from everything pertaining to oneself. (Qushayrī, 44)
One of the shaykhs said: Tamkīn is the removal of talwīn. Like ḥāl and maqām (spiritual station), talwīn is among the technical terms used by Sufis. In meaning, these are close to each other. What Sufis mean by talwīn is change and transition from one state to another. The intended meaning is this: The possessor of tamkīn is not hesitant. He has brought everything of his into presence. He has erased from his heart any thought regarding mā siwā (everything other than Allah). No action is required to change the ruling of his outward, nor does he need a state to change the ruling of his inward. For example, Moses (peace be upon him) was a possessor of talwīn. When the Real (al-Ḥaqq) manifested to him at Mount Ṭūr, he lost consciousness. (Hujwīrī, 451)
Talwīn and tamkīn: Talwīn is for the people of the qalb (heart), for they are under the veil of their hearts. The heart has various attributes, and these attributes have as many directions as the heart has aspects. In the people of the heart, as many talwīns appear as there are attributes. The manifestations pertaining to hearts and the people of the heart cannot surpass the world of attributes. The people of tamkīn, however, emerge from the calamities of states and tear the veils of the heart. Their spirits reach the flashes of the Light of the Divine Essence (al-Dhāt). Thus, since there is no change (taghayyur) in the Essence, talwīn disappears. For the Essence of the Real is free from entering originated things and from change. When the servant receives his share of the manifestations of the Essence and reaches the station of proximity (qurbiyya), talwīn is lifted from him. Then, talwīn occurs only in his nafs (lower self), for the nafs, due to its station of purity and sanctity, is now in the place of the heart. The talwīn that occurs in the nafs does not remove its possessor from his state of tamkīn, because the occurrence of talwīn in the nafs is due to the persistence of human forms. The continuous stability of tamkīn is due to the true discovery of ḥaqīqa.
The meaning of tamkīn is not that there is no change whatsoever in the servant. After all, the servant is a human being. In this ḥāl, the meaning of tamkīn is that the realities unveiled to him never depart or diminish, but rather, on the contrary, increase. When the attributes of talwīn-tamkīn manifest in the possessor of talwīn, some of the gifts he has acquired may diminish. In fact, in some states, ḥaqīqa may be hidden from him. His stability in the state he is in is according to the steadiness of his iman (faith), and his talwīn is in the increase of his states.
Talwīn is the change of the servant's states. According to the majority, this is a deficient station. In our view, however, it is the most perfect of stations. The state of the servant here is that which is described in the verse: "Every day He is bringing about a matter" (bayān in al-Rahmān 55:29).
Tamkīn, in our view, is to move away from talwīn and attain tamakkun (settling in stations, becoming a possessor of tamkīn). It has been said: Tamkīn is the state of the people of union (those who have attained Allah). (Iṣṭilāḥ, 535)
Talwīn, according to the majority, is a deficient station. It is the changes in the servant's states. Sufis recite the following poem:
You change from color to color every day
If someone says: The sign of ḥaqīqa is the disappearance of talwīn with the manifestation of istiqāma (uprightness). If talwīn did not increase with the manifestation of istiqāma, some gnostics would be warned in their knowledge. If this statement comes as "it did not increase," the matter is corrupted. This definition also includes those who say that talwīn is a deficient station. (Futūḥāt, I, 488)
Talwīn is to be veiled by a lofty or lowly station in which the traces of rulings or states are found. Its absence follows one another. The end of talwīn is the station of jamʿ (union) that comes with the manifestations of the Divine Names in the state of baqāʾ (subsistence in God) after fanāʾ (annihilation in God). However, Muḥyiddīn Ibn ʿArabī said: In our view, talwīn is the highest station, though for the majority it is a deficient station. For he meant by talwīn the differentiation that comes after jamʿ. If the abundance of differentiation does not veil the unity of jamʿ, then the differentiation that comes after jamʿ is the station of aḥadiyya (Divine Oneness). The discovery of ḥaqīqa is the meaning of the verse: "Every day He is bringing about a matter" (al-Rahmān 55:29). There is no doubt that it is the loftiest of stations. According to this group, it is also the ultimate end of tamkīn.
The lowest rung of transitions from state to state is its end point (Jāmī), the beginning of differentiation after jamʿ. This is so because, due to the appearance of traces of multiplicity (kathra) from the ruling of unity (waḥda), it is hidden from the view of the muwahhidīn (those who affirm Divine Oneness). There, things that are merely traces at the beginning of talwīn are not found. (Kāshānī, 157; Jāmīʿ, 89)
Talwīn is a sign of the possessor's realization, verification, divinity, and perfection. This is the view I approve and follow. A person's kamāl (perfection) is according to the tamkīn in his talwīn. We find tamkīn by this. We say: The tamkīn within talwīn is such that those who do not possess tamkīn cannot experience the state of talwīn in this way. For this reason, the Sufi community, even if it has not been discussed, has said that there is an increase in it. For limiting it in this way is of no benefit. This is the view of the aforementioned group. For in talwīn there is the manifestation of the power of the All-Powerful (Allah). From it, a striving (gayret) is unveiled to the servant. This increase is general, not detailed, and indicates the view we accept.
Talwīn is a Divine attribute. Every Divine attribute is a perfection. Therefore, no deficiency can ever be conceived in the Essence from any aspect or relation. Stations and actions are only completed by being adorned with Divine attributes. Surely, perfection in the absolute sense belongs to Allah. (Asfār, 272)
The mutamakkīn (one firmly established) rules over things. By remaining constant in his talwīn (transitioning from state to state) along with things, he is in a new mode of creation, for he is in the form of the Real (al-Ḥaqq). Allah, Exalted is He, is "in every moment in a state of creation." The stations, states, homelands, realities, and degrees of the mutamakkīn do not become confused. (Asfār, 310)
They (the Malāmatiyya) are the people of tamkīn fi’l-talwīn (tamkīn within talwīn). In their actions, they have taken the Real as their trustee, have attained the highest degrees of ʿubūdiyya (servitude), and have become absent from everything (withdrawn from all else). In matters of the world (dunyā), which is the abode of obligation and definition, they act according to the measure of servitude, and likewise in matters of the Hereafter. They do not display what is for the Hereafter in the world. They are the people of knowledge and ḥikma (wisdom), and possess forbearance and lack of spiritual ambition (himma). For himma is only for those who have not completed their gnosis and have not preferred the Balance (Mīzān) of Allah. May Allah be pleased with them—they are at the highest stations of gnosis, and their (deeds) fill the Balance most manifestly. They have encompassed everything, even the Real, whom nothing can encompass. (Asfār, 311)
The states do not affect the aṣḥāb al-tamkīn (the friends of tamkīn, i.e., the awliyāʾ in the station of tamkīn). For they are the firm and established awtād (spiritual poles). The Resurrection is but one of the states of humanity and one of the acts of the Real. They are those about whom Allah says: "The greatest terror will not grieve them." These are those whom even the prophets and messengers envy. For the greatest terror (al-fazaʿ al-akbar, the greatest terror of the Resurrection) grieves them. However, their grief is not for themselves, but for their communities. This is due to their tamakkun within the state of talwīn, by which they have attained a station higher than those who are not prophets. If words had any effect on them, the greatest terror would grieve them as well. (Asfār, 317)
Talwīn is the station of seeking, the search for the straight path (ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm). Tamkīn is the station of uprightness, that is, to remain firm upon this ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm. The people of talwīn are so named because, unlike the people of tamkīn, their attributes change as they seek the ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm. The people of tamkīn, however, have settled upon uprightness. Talwīn is the attribute of the people of states, tamkīn is the attribute of the people of ḥaqīqa. As long as the servant continues on the path, he is a possessor of talwīn, for he rises from state to state and transitions from attribute to attribute. When he attains union, he settles and becomes a possessor of tamkīn. The possessor of talwīn is eternally in a state of increase (growth in states). The possessor of tamkīn has attained union and achieved ittiṣāl. (Jāmīʿ, 220)
In the noble verse, the phrase bi idhni (by His permission), with the attribution of idhn (permission) to Allah, means to allow the occurrence of that which is permitted. If a word is added to idhn, it becomes a command. In the esoteric sense, it is a light in the heart by which the heart attains presence. The elect (khawāṣṣ) are distinguished from others by this thought. It is not evidence for the absence of infallibility. Sometimes, by the word idhn, the permission of will (mashīʾa) for all beings is intended. This is to relate the movement or stillness of things to the will of Allah, that is, every atom moves and rests only by His permission. The ruling of this idhn is not a proof when it contradicts the law of the sharia and the etiquette of ḥaqīqa. Reflect on this matter! (Qawānīn, 84)