If you are in felicity, your moment is felicity. If you are in joy, your moment is joy; if you are in sorrow, your moment is sorrow. By this, the master wishes to say that the moment is that which holds sway over a person.
With the term 'moment' (waqt), the Sufis mean the present time in which one finds oneself. For this reason, the Sufi community has said: The moment is that which lies between two times. That is, here, the two times are the past and the future.
They say: The Sufi is the child of the moment (ibn al-waqt). What is meant by this is: he occupies himself with the most necessary task in that state, and does what the moment requires. It has been said: Neither the past nor the future occupies the faqir's moment. He is only occupied with the moment in which he is present. It has also been said: To be occupied with the time of the past is to lose a second moment.
The Sufis also mean by 'moment' (waqt) the divine dispositions that befall them outside of their own will, and they say: So-and-so is under the rule of the moment. That is, he has surrendered to that which comes from the unseen (ghayb), outside his own will.
They mean to say that he has submitted to something that has come to him from outside his own will. However, this is only the case when there is no command or requirement from Allah Most High relating to the rights of the sharia (sharia, the sacred law) upon them. For to neglect what is commanded, to attribute the matter to divine decree in this regard, and to remain indifferent in the face of committed faults is to depart from the religion.
One of the sayings of the Sufis is: The moment is a sword. That is, just as the sword is sharp, so too the moment enables the effect and dominance of the divine disposition over the servant to manifest. (Qushayri, 33-34)
Nafas (breath) is to gladden the hearts with subtle graces (lata'if) coming from the unseen. Those who possess nafas (possessors) are more delicate and pure than those who possess ḥāl (spiritual state). The possessor of the moment is the one who has just begun, while the possessor of nafas is at the final stage. The possessor of ḥāl is between the two. For this reason, ḥāls are intermediaries, while nafas is the ultimate point of ascent. Moments are for those who possess the qalb (the heart), ḥāls are for those who possess the ruh (the spirit), and nafas is for those who possess the sirr (the innermost secret)... (Qushayri, 46)
The moment is that in which the servant, with respect to himself, is free from thoughts of the past and the future. That is, a divine influx (wārid) from God reaches his heart. This influx gathers his heart within itself. So much so that in his unveiling, neither the past nor the future comes to his mind. In this state, no one can attain the power to reach this point. People cannot know how the matter unfolded beforehand, nor how its end will come.
Those who are the people of the moment (arbāb al-waqt) say: Our knowledge cannot comprehend what is before and after, the pre-eternal and the everlasting. For us, there is joy (surūr) with God in the moment. For if we occupy ourselves with tomorrow, or if a thought about yesterday passes through our hearts, we are prevented from realizing the moment.