It is the beginning. As Zunnūn al-Miṣrī said: The vārid (influx) that comes from the Real shakes the hearts. (Lumaʿ, 418)
Vārid is a praiseworthy thought (khāṭir) that comes to the servant’s qalb (the heart) without his own intention. Even those that are not of the category of khawāṭir (thoughts) are called vārid. Vārids sometimes come from the Real (God), sometimes from knowledge. Thus, vāridāt (plural of vārid) are more general than khawāṭir, for khawāṭir are specific to things of the type of address (khiṭāb) or those that carry this meaning. Vāridāt, however, also include such meanings as the influx of joy, the influx of sorrow, the influx of contraction (qabḍ), the influx of expansion (basṭ), and similar concepts. (Qushayrī, 47)
Vārid is the entry (ḥulūl) of meanings into the qalb. (Hujwīrī, 467)
vārid/vāridāt 1173
Vāridāt are more general than khawāṭir, because khawāṭir are specific to the types of address and request. Vāridāt sometimes manifest as a khāṭir, sometimes as an influx of joy, sometimes of sorrow, sometimes of contraction, sometimes of expansion.
Vārid is a praiseworthy thought that comes to the servant’s qalb in a ḥāl (spiritual state) without being contemplated. Vārid is also used for anything that comes to the qalb from any divine name. (Iṣṭilāḥ, 533)
According to the Sufis and to us, vārid is anything that comes to the qalb from any divine name. The views on this matter are based on its being vārid in the active participle form, not the past tense (warada). Such a thing can come with sobriety (ṣaḥw), intoxication (sukr), contraction, expansion, awe (hayba), intimacy (uns), and countless other states. All of these are vāridāt. However, the Sufis have used the term vārid specifically for the praiseworthy khawāṭir we have mentioned.
My brother, know that vārid is vārid together with that which is vārid. It cannot be limited by origination (ḥudūth) or pre-eternity (qidam). Allah, though He is the possessor of pre-eternity, has described Himself with the act of coming (ityān). Vurūd (arrival) is also a kind of coming. Vārid has various states in its coming. It can come suddenly, like an attack or a flash. It can also come over time, with signs and indications that point to the arrival of a certain state requiring the readiness (istiʿdād) of the locus. In this respect, whether it is existential (kawnī) or not, every divine vārid comes only with a benefit.
The general benefit for every vārid is the knowledge produced at the time of its arrival. It is not necessary that one feels joy or sorrow from it. This is the ruling of the vārid. Whether existential or not, the ruling of the vārid is only the knowledge produced. Anything beyond this expresses a meaning only inasmuch as it is vārid by means of that knowledge.
Allah comes on the Day of Resurrection (Qiyāmah) to separate and judge between people. Among people, there are those who will be judged in their favor due to felicity, and those who will be judged against due to wretchedness. This coming is singular, and the judgment is singular, but those judged are different. Vārid cannot be devoid of one of two states: either, at the moment of arrival, it is characterized by emanation (ṣudūr), thus being vārid in the sense of emanating from Him. This vārid must be an inspiration (ilhām) from Allah. Or, at the moment of arrival, it is not characterized by emanation, in which case it is a pre-eternal vārid. The arrival (vurūd) is a nisbah (relation) that occurs in the servant’s perspective.
The One (al-Wāḥid) is both the emanator and the vārid. Others are only vārid. Here, apart from the divine names, there is no pre-eternal vārid. If it is vārid in respect of its essence (ʿayn), the arrival does not differ. If it is vārid in respect of ruling, it differs due to the diversity of rulings. Undoubtedly, these are different realities. However, in what indicates His essence, there is no difference. Whether the vārid is pre-eternal or originated is the same. The vārid, however, must be originated. This is what remains at the moment of the vārid’s arrival and what the vārid leaves behind. This must be left behind. The reason is the ḥurmah (sanctity or prohibition; its remaining). Because there must also be another vārid that comes to it. Its acceptance by this person, or his turning away from those present, must also occur. In this way, the sanctity of the first vārid is not fulfilled. Therefore, after the arrival of the vārid, it departs. When the second vārid comes, the qalb is left completely empty and turns to this new vārid. Here, there is no khāṭir that binds and attracts it to itself.
Every vārid emanates with His sanctity and majesty. This vārid is praised as a good from Allah. Thus, this praise becomes that person’s felicity. In reality, when vāridāt are originated, they are outside the very breaths. That which comes as command and ruling is what the people of the path (ahl al-tarīq) recognize through vāridāt. The breaths carry the forms of these vāridāt. These are not originated vāridāt, but exist by their own nafs (the lower self). In fact, they are the forms of the breaths. These, however, differ in form due to the difference in the rulings of the divine names in those vāridāt. (Futūḥāt, II, 556)
The nafs is capable of receiving vāridāt. Vāridāt come with ḥāl (spiritual states). The generality of a ḥāl is impossible (muḥāl). Rather, each vārid has its own specific ḥāl. Therefore, while one experiences a state of intoxication (sukr), another experiences a state of sobriety (ṣaḥw). Neither sukr nor ṣaḥw is general. (Futūḥāt, IV, 414)
Vārid/vāridāt (Jāmiʿ): they are meanings that come to the servant’s qalb without contemplation. (Kāshānī, 47; Jāmiʿ, 103)
Vāridāt al-aṭāyā al-sābiqa min Allah (the vāridāt previously bestowed upon you by Allah) are those blessings that help you bear Allah’s rulings. For Allah judges you by what you love in yourself. So be patient in the path of Allah with what He loves in you! (Tanwīr, 5)
According to the Sufis, vārid is a messenger coming from the divine station to inform about what is distant. This is either rūḥāniyya (spirituality, angelic) or nāriyya (fiery, demonic). That is, it is either angelic or shayṭānī (satanic). The difference between an angelic and a satanic vārid is this: after the angelic one, there comes a coolness and delight. It does not leave with pain, its form does not change, and it leaves behind knowledge. After the satanic one, there comes bewilderment (ḥayrah), distress, blow, pain, and heaviness.
One of the virtuous said: Vārid is a praiseworthy thought that comes to the servant’s qalb without being intended. The same applies to it being from the direction of khawāṭir. These are specific to types of address or contain the meaning of address. Vārid can be an influx of joy, sorrow, contraction, expansion, or any other meaning. The crown of the gnostics (ʿārifīn), Abū Madyan, said: The vārid is not considered until its possessor speaks. (Rawḍa, 515)
When the vārid is angelic, it is followed by a coolness and delight. This was the state of the Prophet at the beginning of revelation. The Prophet was in worship in the cave of Ḥirāʾ. When Jibrīl (Gabriel) came to him, he was overtaken by a coolness. The Prophet came to the house of Khadīja, shivering from the cold, saying: "Cover me, cover me!" In this, that is, in the vārid, you do not feel pain. For the angelic vārid comes only according to your spirituality (rūḥāniyya), and that spirituality does not feel pain from it. For that vārid is of the same kind as the world of that spirituality, and even takes delight in it. However, due to the arrival of the vārid, the temperament changes, because when the vārid comes to the nafs, it is preoccupied with the management (tadbīr) of the related body and seizes it at once, so the temperament changes. (That vārid) does not change in form. Whether the vārid is in the world of images (ʿālam al-mithāl) or the world of abstracts (mujarradāt), the trace left by the vārid in you does not change in form. If it emanates from you, it leaves you in terms of knowledge. For the angelic vārid comes only with good. (Asfār, 113)
When the vārid is satanic, it crushes the limbs... Hers means to crush by striking. (The word harīsa, a dish made of meat and bulgur, or a kind of cake made of oil, sugar, and flour, is also derived from this root.) Pain, distress, bewilderment, and humiliation follow it. The form of this vārid in you does not change. (This vārid) leaves you by striking a blow. This is because Satan was created from blazing fire. When it comes to the qalb, the heart’s heat increases, it is overtaken by anxiety (the pulse rises), the blood boils due to the pressure of its flow, and because of the intensity of the movement and boiling of the blood, the veins and nerves fill. When it emanates at once, the joints become numb; the constriction of the veins subsides. This leads to pain and crushing of the limbs, and to distress due to the dominance of heat in the heart and hesitation in the nafs. For the nafs is actually prepared for the vārid that comes from the Real, but the vārid has come from Satan.
When the vārid is satanic, the nafs thinks it is divine and inclines to accept it. But it sees that the vārid changes form rapidly, for it is created from fire. This causes the nafs to fall into hesitation. Thus, when such a vārid comes, it leaves by striking a blow, for it has thrown the nafs into hesitation and changed its temperament. Afterward, humiliation follows, for Satan became humiliated when he was expelled and cursed. Its trace only conforms to his (Satan’s) nature. (Asfār, 114)
To ascend from one ḥāl to another is, after separating from it and moving to a higher ḥāl, never to return to the lower ḥāl. What is meant by this is that which comes with the ḥāl itself, of the type of divine vāridāt and maʿrifatullāh (experiential knowledge of God). These are not among the karāmāt (saintly wonders) given by Allah, but are among the maqāmāt (spiritual stations). Ḥāls return repeatedly. However, as long as the possessor of the ḥāl is in the ḥāl, he is not praised for increasing knowledge about Allah. This knowledge is necessary for him. The increase of this knowledge is a lāʾiḥa (manifestation of light). If there is no increase in this knowledge during the ḥāl, then the lāʾiḥa does not appear, even if the ḥāl is sound. Ḥāl is to be in one of the states of baqāʾ (subsistence), fanāʾ (annihilation), ṣaḥw, sukr, jamʿ (union), tafrīqa (separation), ghayba (absence), or ḥuḍūr (presence). (Asfār, 161)
Khawāṭir are the vārids of the Real and the ways of falsehood (bāṭil). Vāridāt arise by declaring the transcendence and tawhid (the oneness of God) of the Lord. This is the rabbānī (divine) vārid. Vāridāt can move the qalb with a certain act of obedience. This is the qalbī vārid. Vāridāt can move all types of obedience. This is the angelic vārid. Sometimes, vāridāt can be a vārid originating from the qalb or from the angel. More often, it comes from the angel; less often, from the qalb, for the purity of hearts is truly rare. (Qawānīn, 87)
Vārid comes like the dominance (ghalaba) of a sneeze over the one who sneezes. It does not come by intending, nor by striving (ghayrah). Vārid comes as a manifestation of the Name al-Qahhār. Therefore, it effaces attributes and traces. Vārid comes to the sālik (traveler) through awrād (regular litanies), and to the people of ināya (divine favor) without seeking or intending.
Vārid can come from angels and jinn. At the level of direct witnessing (ʿiyān), it comes from the Real. Vārid is a means to obtain knowledge of beneficial, precious, and rare things. Sayyidship (siyāda, lordship), perfection (kamāl) are attributes belonging to men (Sufis). There is a vast difference between the one who is advanced for the realization of aims and the one who is advanced for being purified of the accidents of his essence. Whoever seeks to be a master and make others his servants has lost good and become stubborn. (Qawānīn, 88)
Vāridāt, the plural of vārid, are praiseworthy thoughts that come to the servant’s qalb without subsequent learning. Vārid comes not from the direction of khāṭir, but rather from knowledge or the Real. Vāridāt are more general than khawāṭir, for khawāṭir are specific to types of address or contain the meaning of address. Vārid can be an influx of joy, sorrow, contraction, expansion, or similar things. (Jāmiʿ, 160)
(See also: khāṭir/khawāṭir or khatra/khaṭarāt; lawāʾiḥ-lawāmiʿ-tawāliʿ-tawāriq-shawāriq-qādiḥ)
vasf al-dhātī li’l-Ḥaqq – vasf al-dhātī li’l-khalq / Göl G3 a4
Vasf al-dhātī li’l-Ḥaqq (the essential attribute of the Real): the unity of uniqueness (jamʿ al-aḥadiyya), the necessity of existence (wujūb al-dhātī), and being independent of need for the worlds.
Vasf al-dhātī li’l-khalq (the essential attribute of creation): essential contingency (imkān al-dhātī, being created after non-existence) and essential poverty (faqr al-dhātī, being in need of another by essence). (Kāshānī, 50; Jāmiʿ, 103)
vāsita-yi fayḍ and vāsita-yi madad (means of effusion and means of aid)
Vāsita-yi fayḍ and vāsita-yi madad (means of effusion and means of aid) is the perfect human (insān al-kāmil), who is a link between creation and the Real in mutual relation. As stated in a qudsī hadith: "If not for you, I would not have created the worlds!" (Aclūnī, II, 164) (Kāshānī, 48; Jāmiʿ, 103)
waṣiyyat 1177 waṣiyyat (advice): The noble one said: I advise you to be dignified when speaking with the rich, and humble when speaking with the poor. Be humble and sincere. Ikhlas (sincerity) is to constantly see the Creator. Never accuse Allah regarding causes. Submit to Him in all things.
Do not violate your brother’s right by relying on the bond of love between you. Be humble, well-mannered, and generous in companionship with the poor. Kill your nafs so that you may attain life. The one among people closest to Allah is the one with the best character. The best of deeds is to guard the heart from turning toward anything other than Allah.
I always advise you to uphold truth and sabr (patient endurance). Two things suffice for you in this world: companionship with the poor.