Arifs are people who got themselves into trouble by having fallen in love. Their souls look into the other realm, their hearts look into the land of meaning. They reveal all their secrets to their Rabb. Their nafs have turned from the world; it has been purified.
Their souls have risen so high that they have abandoned any concern for ahirat (the afterworld). Their hearts are used to the dhikr (remembrance) of Allah, their souls are aflame in the muhabbat of Allah.
Their hearts are a source of reverence and dignity. Their tongues are the source of hamd (divine praise) and admiration; their souls are the mansion of love and muhabbat. Their nafs is perished before the Sultan of wisdom and firasat (foresight). Their thoughts mostly display contemplation and awareness, their words mostly present hamd for Allah.
Their only occupation is obedience and service to Allah. In whatever they look at, they see the truthful art of Allah, the Holder of dignity and power.
The road of the arifs are the road of Hz. Muhammad Mustafa (saws). They have let go of this world. Any trouble and pain they experience on this road feels sweet to them. Loyalty and justice dominate their every action.
They feel strange in this world. The hearts beating inside their chests feel strange; their cores inside feel strange. The sadness and loneliness of the exile never leaves them at peace. This strangeness and misery continues until they unite with al-Haqq. Their affairs are beyond the mind, and the only cure for their troubles is al-Haqq.
Arifs converse with their Rabb without tongues and mouths, their muhabbat keeps flowing inside. Their hearts are lonely; their minds work with divine light (noor), purified of low and selfish thoughts. Their desires have left the human dimension and achieved a divine nature. They live their lives on the soul level, purified of worldliness. Their words hold divine wisdom.
Allah hides His divine secrets in the hearts of His arifs. Their hearts are divine watchtowers. Allah has beautified their hearts with His being. Allah allows them to His divine presence, as the sultans of the realms of meaning, for the sake of the beauty in their souls.
Arifs have many signals, but few people recognize them. The most apparent sign they display in the world is that in their eyes, troubles and problems are sweet like honey, grief and sadness are delicious like dates. While everyone in the ahirat cries out, ‘My nafs! My nafs!’; they cry out ‘My Rabb! My Rabb! My desire! My desire!’
Arifs have these four signals:
The love of Allah is leaving any calculations behind for Allah, obedience to the declarations of the Qur’an, and the fear that their state will change.
The qull waits… The coward runs away… The lover fights… The arif loses himself in ecstasy!