Hayba and the Divine Face
The Moses paradigm: The Quranic account of Moses at the burning bush (20:11-12: ‘Remove your sandals — you are in the holy valley of Tuwa’) and at al-Tur when asking to see Allah (7:143: ‘And when Moses came to Our appointed meeting and his Lord spoke to him, he said: My Lord, show Yourself to me that I may look at You. He said: You shall not see Me — but look at the mountain… and the mountain crumbled) are the paradigmatic Quranic hayba moments: the experience of divine jalal at the nearest point of encounter.
Hayba-uns as jalal-jamal: The classical pairing: divine jalal produces hayba (the soul’s awestruck prostration before divine power); divine jamal produces uns (the soul’s tender drawing-near to divine love). The mystical path moves through both: the early path is often dominated by hayba (the enormity of what the mystic has encountered); the mature path integrates both — the soul can be simultaneously overawed and intimately comfortable in the divine presence.
See also: Al Jalal Wal Jamal, Al Khashya, Al Khawf, Al Uns, Mahabbah, Tasawwuf, Al Wajd
Hayba Before the Imam
The Imam’s jalal: In Ismaili devotional life, the mumin’s encounter with the Imam (in ziyarat — pilgrimage/visit) produces a specific quality of hayba: the simultaneous sense of being in the presence of something overwhelmingly great (divine light channeled through the Imam’s person) and of being deeply personally known and welcomed. This hayba is not experienced as fear of punishment but as awe at the divine baraka manifested in the Imam’s person — a hayba that, paradoxically, fills the mumin with love rather than dread.
See also: Imamah, Understanding Walayah, Barakah, Mahabbah, Wali Al Asr, Al Tajaliyyat, Al Uns
See also: Al Khashya, Al Khawf, Al Uns, Mahabbah, Tasawwuf, Al Wajd, Imamah, Understanding Walayah, Barakah, Wali Al Asr, Al Tajaliyyat