Absence (ghaybat) and presence (hudur)
Ali Hujwary has informed us in Kashaf-al-Mahjub that these terms, although opposed to each other, express the same meaning from different points of view. “Presence” is the “presence of heart,” as a proof of intuitive faith (yaqin), so that what is hidden from it has the same force as what is visible to it. “Absence” is “absence of heart from all things except God” to such an extent that it becomes from itself forever.
God is the Lord of the human heart: when a Divine rapture (jadhbat) overpowers the heart of the seeker, the absence of his heart becomes equivalent to its presence (with God); partnership (shirkat) and division (qismat) disappears, and relationship to “self” comes to an end, as one of the Shaykhs has said in a verse:
“Thou art the Lord of my heart, Without any partner: How, then, can it be divided?”
Mansur Hallaj had preferred “absence” over “presence.” At the same time, Shibli, Abu Hamza, and others say, “Thou art the greatest of all veils between thee and God: when thou hast become absent from thyself, the evils implicit in thy being are annihilated in thee, and thy state goes a fundamental change: the ‘stations’ of novices become a veil to thee; thine eye is closed to thyself and to all that is other than God, and thy human attributes are consumed by flame of proximity to God (qurbat).
This is the state of absence in which God drew thee from loins of Adam, and caused thee to hear His exalted word, and distinguished thee by the honorary robe of Unification and the garment of contemplation; so long as thou wert absent from thyself, thou wert present with God face to face, but when thou becamest present with thine own attributes, thou becamest absent from thy proximity to God. Thy “Presence” is thy perdition. God has said,
“And now are ye come unto us alone, as We created you at first.” (Qur’an, 6:94)
However, Harith, Junayd, Sahl, and others hold “presence” superior to “absence.” They have argued that all excellences are bound up with “presence,” and as “absence” from oneself is the way leading to “presence” with God, the way becomes imperfection after you have arrived at the goal. “Presence” is the fruit of “absence,” but what light is to be found in “absence” without “presence”?
“The ‘absent’ one is not he who is absent from his dwelling But he who is absent from all desire The ‘present’ one is not he who has no desire, But he who hath no heart (no thought of worldly things) So that his desire is ever fixed on God.”
Absence involves the sorrow of being veiled, while presence entails the joy of revelation, and the former state can never be equal to the latter. Abu Sa `id has said,
“The clouds of separation have been cleared away from the moon of Love, And the light of morning has shone forth from the darkness of the Unseen.”
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