In Section 31 of Kashf al-Mahjub, al-Hujwiri defines the paired terms hudur (presence) and ghayba (absence) and argues that they are reciprocal. Hudur means the presence of the heart through the guidance of certainty (yaqin), so that the ruling of the unseen (ghayb) becomes for the seeker like the ruling of the seen (ayan). Ghayba means the absence of the heart from all that is other than the Real, to the point that the seeker becomes absent from the self and no longer regards the self by the self. Its outward sign is turning away from the rulings of mere formal observances, just as the prophet is preserved from what is forbidden.

The central teaching is a strict reciprocity: absence from the self is presence with the Real, and presence with the Real is absence from the self; whoever is absent from the self is present with the Real, and whoever is present with the Real is absent from the self. Grasping this specific reciprocal definition, and its grounding in the divine drawing (ja...