It becomes fixed. That which is not fixed cannot be a ḥāl (spiritual state), but can only be lawāmiʿ (flashes) and tawāli (successive moments). (On the other hand, it has also been said:) Ḥāl cannot be fixed, because it changes; if it becomes fixed, it is a maqām (spiritual station).
It has been said: The nafas (breath) belongs to the muntahī (the one who has reached the end), the waqt (moment) to the mubtadiʾ (the beginner), and the ḥāl is the attribute of the mutawassiṭ (the one in between). The ishāra (indication) made here is that, for the beginner, from time to time, an inspiration comes from Allah. The intermediate is the one to whom the ḥāl dominates, thus he is the possessor of ḥāl. The one who has reached the end is the possessor of nafas, because the ḥāl has become firmly established in him. The states of presence (ḥuḍūr) and absence (ghayba) are not transient. The states of ecstasy (wajd) have become stabilized along with their breaths. All of these are states pertaining to their people.
Ḥāl is that which comes without any thought or effort. Its immediate disappearance and, if it does not purify (the heart), the succession of similar states following one another, are among its conditions. Sometimes, however, states do not follow one another. For this reason, a difference of opinion has arisen. The one who experiences a situation where similar states follow one another says that it is continuous. The one who experiences a situation where similar states do not follow one another is of the opinion that it is not continuous. It has been said: Ḥāl is the change of attributes upon the servant. (Iṣṭilāḥ, 530)
Man has many states. But there are two states called qabḍ (constriction) and basṭ (expansion) that encompass all of them. Whether you say fear (khawf) and hope (rajāʾ), or awe (wahsha) and intimacy (uns), or majesty and taʾnīs (feminine gentleness), whichever you say. Whether the ʿārif (gnostic), or the possessor of tamkīn (steadfastness) or talwīn (changeability), or a murīd (aspirant), (in summary) whoever it may be, it is not possible for a servant to be constantly in these states without any cause or reason. (Rūḥ, 39)
Ḥāl is in the intellect. The intellect is not in the nafs (lower self) but in the rūḥ (spirit). The rūḥ possesses the angel. The angel possesses knowledge, insight, inspiration, good fortune, the hereafter, remembrance (dhikr), truth, and certainty. (Rūḥ, 40)
The only way to attain the knowledge of states (ʿilm al-aḥwāl) is through taste (dhawq). The intellect is not capable of defining it. Just as it is not possible to know the sweetness of honey, the bitterness of patience, the pleasure of sexual union, love, ecstasy, 308 ḥāl/aḥwāl
the delight of longing and the like by means of a proof. These knowledges—unless a person is characterized by them and tastes them—cannot be known. For example, someone whose sense of taste is once dominated by the taste of bile, will experience the same taste again at another time. (However) this is not so, because bile has only touched the sense of taste once. (Futūḥāt, I, 69)
The sciences of states (ʿulūm al-aḥwāl) are a knowledge between the science of secrets and the science of intellects. Most of those who accept the science of states are people of experience. This knowledge is closer to the science of secrets than to rational and theoretical sciences. However, it is also close to the one who classifies necessary (ḍarūrī) and rational sciences. In fact, it is itself that very thing. But intellects only reach this knowledge through what they hear from a knower, a prophet, or a walī (friend of God). For this reason, it is distinguished from necessary knowledge. However, for those who witness it, this knowledge is necessary. When it appears beautiful to you, when you accept it and have iman (faith) in it, rejoice at its necessary unveiling to you. You know no other way than this. The qalb (heart) only finds relief from things whose truth is certain. Here, there is no path for the intellect, because its comprehension is not possible. But when a protected (maʿṣūm) person brings it, the heart of the intelligent person finds relief. From the word of a non-protected person, only the one with taste finds pleasure. (Futūḥāt, I, 71)
Ḥāl is every attribute that occurs at a certain time, such as intoxication (sukr), effacement (maḥw), absence (ghayba), contentment (riḍā), without being tied to that time. Its existence may also be tied to a certain condition. In this case, patience (sabr) in the face of affliction, gratitude (shukr) in the face of blessing (here, affliction and blessing are the conditions, patience and gratitude are the states), and when the condition ceases, it also ceases. These situations are divided into two types: One type, such as piety (warāʿ) and repentance (tawba), is the perfection of a person in both outward and inward. The other type is the perfection of a person only in the inward, but if the outward conforms to the inward in this matter, there is no harm. To this, asceticism (zuhd) and reliance upon God (tawakkul) can be given as examples. However, on the path to Allah Most High, a maqām (station) can never be only outward without being inward. (Futūḥāt, I, 72)
What is ḥāl? We say: Ḥāl is that which comes to the heart without any effort or striving. Its immediate disappearance and the succession of similar states for the purification of the heart are among its conditions. But sometimes, they do not follow one another. For this reason, a difference of opinion has arisen among the Sufi community regarding the continuity of states. Those who hold the view that similar states follow one another, but do not realize that they are only similar, believe that the state is continuous and that it derives from ḥulūl (indwelling). Those who say that the similars do not follow one another believe that it is not continuous and that, when it disappears, it derives from the word ḥāl in the sense of change.
It has been said: Ḥāl is the change of attributes upon the servant. If these attributes become fixed and permanent, this is a maqām (station).
If you ask, What is a maqām? We say: A maqām is nothing other than fully realizing the rights of the situation one is in. The goal of its possessor is not the next station. This is adab (spiritual courtesy).
If you ask, What is adab? We say: By adab is sometimes meant the courtesy of the sharia, sometimes the courtesy of service, and sometimes the courtesy of the Real (God). The courtesy of the sharia is to fully observe the outward of the religion. These are the limits of Allah. The courtesy of service is, while advancing in service, to become annihilated from seeing what proceeds from oneself. The courtesy of the Real is to know what belongs to Allah and what belongs to oneself. The one who has adab is the one who is under the ruling of the moment or who knows his moment.
If you ask, What is the moment (waqt)? We say: The moment is to live in the present without looking to the past or the future. This is the understanding of the moment among the people of the path.
If you ask, What is the path (ṭarīq) according to the Sufis? We say: It is to fulfill legitimate rights of the kind of concessions in matters where no concession is given, and of the rank of strictness. Only those who possess strictness fulfill concessions of the rank of strictness. It is wrong for most of the people of the path to be permitted to act with concessions. (Futūḥāt, II, 130)
According to the Sufi community, ḥāl is that which comes to the heart without any effort or striving. If it continues, a change and transformation occurs in the attributes of the possessor of the state. Some of the Sufis believe that the state continues, while others believe that its continuation is not possible.
According to the theologians, the state, like an accident (ʿaraḍ), has no subsistence outside the time it exists, and every state is followed by a similar one. Thus, it is thought to be continuous, although in reality it is not. This is correct, but similars arising from it come in succession so rapidly that they cannot be imagined.
Those who say that the state is derived from the word ḥulūl (indwelling) are of the view that it is continuous and forms a permanent attribute that never disappears. For them, if it disappears, it is not a state. This is the view of those who defend the continuity of the state.
Another has said: Allah has not left me in a single state continuously for forty years. This has happened even though I did not want it. The Imam, alluding to the continuity of contentment (riḍā), has said that contentment is among the states. What the Imam has said may be true, but it is a distant possibility on the path to Allah Most High. What can be expressed in the words of this master must be that Allah has kept him constantly in a certain state outwardly for forty years. It is not possible for this to be the case regarding inward states that are condemned by the sharia. On the contrary, the moments regarding this matter do not disappear, and are preserved by acts of obedience and things with which Allah is pleased.
I also encountered a very truthful person, a possessor of state on the path of Abū Yazīd al-Bisṭāmī, who, moreover, might have fallen into pride regarding his observance of adab in this occupation. He once said to me: For fifty years, no evil thought considered reprehensible by the sharia has come to my nafs (lower self). This is a divine protection (ʿiṣma). The word of this master is also of this kind; thus, states are not acquired, but bestowed. 310 ḥāl/aḥwāl
Know that ḥāl, in terms of Allah's acts and His turning to the cosmos, is a divine attribute. Even for an instant, it is not possible to think of anything additional regarding Him. He has said about Himself: "Every day He is upon some task." (Qur'an, al-Raḥmān 55:29) (Futūḥāt, II, 379)
The realities are the subtleties in which those who are attached and show interest to the world become lost. Ḥāl is the attachment of the murīd (aspirant). Unveiling (kashf) is the end for one who has not tasted greater delight... (Latāʾif, 46)
The states (aḥwāl) are certain gifts that come to the servant from his Lord. This is either as a result of righteous deeds that purify the heart and cleanse the nafs (lower self), or it is bestowed upon the servant purely as a grace. The reason it is called a state is that, through the help of attaining to hidden attributes and nearness to Allah, some negative actions of the servant, forms and degrees belonging to created things, are changed. (Kāshānī, 26; Jāmiʿ, 75)
Ḥāl is that which comes to the hearts as a complete gift, without any effort or striving. Such as sadness, fear, expansion, constriction, longing, taste, etc. It disappears with the manifestation of the attributes of the nafs (lower self). Whether it is followed by a similar state or not is the same. If it continues, it becomes a faculty and is called a maqām (station). (Kāshānī, 57; Jāmiʿ, 81)
' Hope (rajāʾ) is among the stations of the wayfarers and the states of the seekers. Therefore, a fixed and established attribute is called a station (maqām). If it is transient and not established, it is called a state (ḥāl). Yellowness, as with jaundice, is fixed; as with shame and illness, it is transient—there are two types. The characteristics of the heart are also divided in this way. That which is not fixed is called a state, because it disappears immediately. This is a state that applies to every attribute of the heart... (Qudāma, 316)
The rank of the Sufis: They desire to reach what is indicated by remembrance (dhikr). The Sufis remember Allah with the remembrances they desire. This, the indications of what their nafs (lower self) points to in what they remember...