“As referred to in some verses of the Qur’an, Sufis classify certainty in the three categories:

Certainty coming from knowledge: Having a strong, firm belief in or conviction of all the essentials of faith, primarily God’s Existence and Unity, acquired through correct observation and study of the relevant signs and evidence.

Certainty coming from direct observation or seeing: Having an indescribable degree of certainty and knowledge of God acquired through unveiling and observing the immaterial truths invisible to ordinary believers and on which the essentials of belief are based.

Certainty coming from direct experience: Being favored with God’s constant company, without any veils and in a way that only the one receiving this favor can perceive. Some have interpreted it as self-annihilation in God and gaining subsistence by Him.

These three degrees of certainty can be summed up in the following example: A person’s knowledge of death (before he or she dies) that is acquired by observing or studying the body in a biological context can be an example of certainty coming from knowledge. Witnessing some metaphysical phenomena, such as seeing the angel who has come to remove one’s soul and catching glimpses of the intermediate world of the grave, may be regarded as a kind of certainty coming from direct observation. The certainty gained by actually experiencing death is a certainty coming from direct experience.”¹⁾

“A person should always strive to deepen their faith. If our faith is currently at the level of ilm al-yaqin (knowledge-based certainty), we should work to elevate it to** ayn al-yaqin (vision-based certainty)**. And even then, we must not be content, but seek the paths that lead to haqq al-yaqin (truth-based, experiential certainty).”²⁾

“As we traverse the stages of knowledge—ilm al-yaqin, ayn al-yaqin, and haqq al-yaqin—wherever we touch within these levels, what we call ma‘rifah (true knowledge of God) is to reach a state where one hears, from that very station, the echo of ‘La ilaha illa Allah.’”³⁾

“After the initial stage, which we may describe as the transformation of information into true knowledge, the following point must be kept in mind:

You may reach an extraordinary depth of understanding on a theoretical level, attaining the rank of ilm al-yaqin and even rising to the horizon of ayn al-yaqin. However, if after attaining such an intellectual horizon you do not translate this knowledge into action, you will not be able to truly know the reality of Divinity—with all of its Names, Attributes, and Modes of Manifestation—and you will fail to become a sincere servant at the door of God.”⁴⁾

“Even those who have not yet reached fana’ fi’llah (annihilation in God), baqa’ bi’llah (subsistence through God), and ma‘allah (constant awareness of God), nor crossed the levels of ilm al-yaqin, ayn al-yaqin, and haqq al-yaqin to reach the One, yet are utterly sincere and pure-hearted—constantly turning to God with prayers like: ‘O Allah, grant me perfect faith! Complete Islam! Absolute sincerity! True devotion!’—such servants of renewal and reformation have never been left alone. Divine protection and care have always encompassed them.”⁵⁾

“Certainty based on vision refers to directly perceiving the meaning of theoretical facts without doubt, with all of a person’s faculties bearing witness to those truths.”⁶⁾

“Some have illustrated these levels as follows: Knowing theoretically that fire burns, cooks, and emits light is ilm al-yaqin. Seeing the glowing fire in the stove with one’s own eyes, and witnessing its heat and light directly, is ayn al-yaqin. When a pair of tongs is thrust into that fire until it glows red like the flames themselves, becoming indistinguishable from the fire, that state exemplifies haqq al-yaqin.”⁷⁾

“Certainty has levels: ilm al-yaqin, ayn al-yaqin, and haqq al-yaqin. If a person cannot intellectually ground their beliefs in evidence, they have no yaqin at all. Note carefully: not a lack of certainty, but no certainty whatsoever. For the starting point of certainty is knowledge. Anything below that is not worthy of a human; it is akin to the unreflective life of animals.”⁸⁾

“Ayn al-yaqin is the level at which one witnesses the manifestations of God upon the very face of creation. It is the station where a person exclaims, ‘By God, I behold Him in this very tree!’ Yet this perception depends on the individual’s own contemplation, intuition, and inner sense; in this respect it is not objective but wholly subjective. At this station, a person, like Majnun chasing after Layla, keeps ceaselessly pursuing God behind every bloom that bursts forth, every tree that stretches skyward, every bird’s chirp, every stream that babbles along—in short, behind everything, beyond all quantity and quality, beyond all contingent attributes. One keeps whispering, ‘This trace… this dream… this silhouette… perhaps yes, perhaps it is Him!’

As the Sage Bediüzzaman says, He is ‘hidden by the very intensity of His manifestation”’—that is, because He has no opposite or equal, the eyes cannot fully grasp Him, though He is more manifest than anything else. This is the station of striving to perceive Him in that paradoxical hiddenness born of His overwhelming clarity. Here, one cannot draw firm conclusions such as, ‘Up to this point is the realm of matter; beyond it lies the realm of the unseen,’ or ‘This far is cause; beyond is the caused.’ One cannot—because the inner sense has developed to the point where one beholds one’s Lord behind all existence. In the language of Sufism, this is reaching sayr ila’llah—the journey toward God.

At this station, everything is experienced as a unique delight, a distinct joy. Or perhaps one is in sayr fi’llah, the journey within God, a state of wonder wherein, like a dervish with cup in hand, one roams the horizons intoxicated with divine love. Or, as introduced into our spiritual lexicon through Imam Rabbani, one may reach sayr bi’llah—a rank granted only to those who attain the supreme degree of sainthood—where one walks in God while living among creation, charged with the duty of guiding and calling others to the Truth.

These are states beyond merely talking about ilm al-yaqin (certainty based on knowledge); they are the living, experiential realization of ayn al-yaqin in all its depth.” ⁹⁾

“There is also a kind of faith acquired by directly beholding the manifestations of God’s Names in the grand book of the universe, or by witnessing certain extraordinary works of God’s creation; this is what we call knowing and believing by way of ayn al-yaqin.

Sharing in the blessed, wonder-filled life and presence of the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, or even gazing at the countenances of those who, following his path, have attained sainthood, conveyed wondrous meanings to a person. Indeed, merely beholding their faces could suffice for one to attain that special state we call ayn al-yaqin.”¹⁰⁾

“We believe with all our heart that all of the Prophets—those more than one hundred thousand truthful Messengers of Yours and heralds of Your dominion—and saintly, purified scholars and saints are absolutely correct in their testimony to Your eternal treasures of Mercy and Benevolence and the extraordinarily exquisite manifestations of Your All-Beautiful Names in the world of permanence with certainty based on knowledge, and certainty based on vision, and certainty based on experience. What they have indicated is true and conforms with reality. They also believe and teach other servants of Yours that the greatest ray of Your Name the Ultimate Truth, Which is the origin, sun and preserver of all truths, is this greatest truth of Resurrection.”¹¹⁾

Certainty Based on Direct Experience (Haqq al-Yaqin)

Certainty Based on Knowledge (Ilm al-Yaqin)

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