The reality. In the writing of philosophers such as Ibn Sina (d. 1037), it means the true nature of something, its essential reality; for Sufis such as Abū Ismāʿīl al-Harawī al-Anṣārī (d. 1089), it is a profound reality discovered after the human soul’s union with God. This latter concept was understood in different ways by other mystics like al-Ḥallāj (d. 922) or Ibn ʿArabī (d. 1240). Yet others, like al-Hujwīrī (d. 1071), define it as the immutable profound reality, by contrast to sharīʿa (the law), seen as a reality that can undergo changes.
