and gnosis of God: the abodes, not charismatic gifts.
States can return repeatedly, but their possessor is praised in them only if they increase him in knowledge of God he did not possess. This is indispensable. That increase is the glimmer. If it does not raise him within the state, it is not a glimmer, even though the state is sound.
State is your being subsistent or annihilated, sober or intoxicated, in gathering or differentiation, absent or present. States are known: they are the chapters we have mentioned in this section. Concerning them God commanded His Prophet, God bless him and grant him peace, to say, “Say: My Lord, increase me in knowledge” [Ta Ha 20:114], through which he ascends to an abode with Him he did not possess.
These states are not particular to humans or this world’s abode. They are everlasting, in this world and the Hereafter, and belong to every creature. Glimmers are like the beginnings of unveilings. Hence they may remain fixed or quickly disappear, but they must increase whoever receives them in knowledge through which he ascends a degree with God Most High. This is a condition of glimmers.
(Sight Unrestricted by the Bodily Organ)
We said that a condition of the glimmer is perception through sight, not insight, in the state where sight is not restricted by the bodily organ confined to a particular direction, but through the reality of sight attributed to the rational soul. Another thing is added: the Real must be his sight. He is thus his witness and the clear proof from his Lord that his sight is not restricted
