umūr-i kulliyya (Universal Affairs)

Umūr-i kulliyya (universal affairs) are the common attributes, interconnected with one another, that exist between the servant and Allah. If these attributes do not have existence in their own entities—that is, if they do not possess an external existence of their own—then, "these are undoubtedly known and existent in the mental sense. They have existence in the mind. These are inner (bāṭinī) attributes. Because they are conceivable (maʿqūl), it is not possible for them to exist externally. However, they do not depart from existence itself (wujūd); that is, they are inseparable from it. These universal affairs, therefore, have judgment and effect, for they are the forms of the Divine Names. For this reason, they have become the cause (ʿilla) of all those who possess actual existence (wujūd-i ʿaynī). In fact, universal affairs, in terms of external existence, are identical to it and not other than it. Their interconnection is extremely subtle. The perfection (kamāl) and ultimate end of this interconnection is union (ittiḥād). (Sofyavi, 27)