Gathering and separation (al-jam' wa'l-farq)

"Gathering" (jam') and "separation" (farq) are a pair of Sufi terms. Ibn Taymiyya explains them in his remarks on sayings of Shaykh Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani in volume 10 of Majmu' al-Fatawa: before a person witnesses the unity of lordship he sees creatures as having acts by which his heart is scattered, and he follows his desire in what he wants – this is the "first separation", the natural one; when he witnesses that God is the creator, lord and owner of everything – the witnessing of destiny – he leaves that separation through this "gathering". ^{1 2}

Ibn Taymiyya relates that this station was the point of dispute between al-Junayd ibn Muhammad and some of his Sufi companions. They agreed on witnessing the unity of lordship and called it the station of gathering; al-Junayd then mentioned to them the "second separation" after this gathering, the separation of the law: that you want what you are commanded and do not want what you are forbidden, and witness that God alone deserves worship and that He is worshipped by obeying His messengers, so that you distinguish the commanded from the forbidden and His friends from His enemies, and witness the unity of divinity. ¹ They disputed with him over this separation: some denied it, some did not understand it, and some claimed that the one who spoke of it had not reached it. ^{1 3}

Ibn Taymiyya says that many shaykhs end at that gathering – the unity of lordship and annihilation in it – as in the words of the author of Manazil al-Sa'irin, for all his eminence and though he certainly upheld command and prohibition, even if they may claim this is for the sake of the common people. ³ He lists their positions: some contradict themselves; some say that keeping to the command is for the good of the common people; some call this "the station of disguise"; some say that true realisation is to have gathering witnessed in the heart and separation present on the tongue; some see this as the end of the gnostics' path; and some think that willing command and prohibition belongs to the beginning, while at the end nothing remains but willing destiny. ^{3 4}

He holds that the last view in reality amounts to dropping worship and obedience, since worship of God and obedience to His Messenger lie in carrying out the command of the law, not in going along with what is decreed, even if it is unbelief, wickedness or sin; and he says that this is how many wayfarers came to be helpers and guards of unbelievers and the wicked, having witnessed destiny with them and not witnessed command and prohibition. ⁴ He notes that some say whoever witnesses destiny is freed from blame, citing al-Khidr. ⁴ He holds that perfection in friendship with God is to use breaches of the ordinary in upholding the lawful command and prohibition, and that such breaches are blameworthy if they come about by other than lawful means or are used to reach something forbidden. ⁴

The definitions of gathering, separation and "the gathering of gathering" from the Sufis' own books, al-Junayd's text from his letters, and academic studies have not yet been added.