Ḥāl
Definition
Hal — literally 'state' — refers to a transient condition of the heart produced by spiritual experience: joy, grief, contraction, expansion, longing, awe, or love. In the context of sama', the hal is what good spiritual listening is supposed to produce in the prepared heart — a genuine inner movement toward Allah that is neither manufactured nor suppressed. Al-Ghazali argues that the spiritual path involves the cultivation and management of these hal-states: welcoming the genuine ones, not performing the absent ones, and exercising the wisdom to know which states are signs of genuine spiritual progress and which are signs of spiritual confusion or ego-driven performance.
As understood in the classical tradition of Imam al-Ghazali and the scholars of his school.
How the scholars use Ḥāl.
-
"The statement "knowledge occupies him at times" means it distracts him from the path to establishing the state, because knowledge is diverse in its attachments, thus it divides. The state, however, unifies because it calls one to annihilation, where the authority of the state prevails. The statement "and the state carries him at times" means that sometimes the state overpowers him, making him carried by the strength and authority of the state over the path."
— Ibn al-Qayyim, Volume Three
-
"Statement on the Functions of the Guide and Teacher Know that a person in their knowledge has four states, just like their state in acquiring wealth. For one possessing wealth has a state of gaining, thus being an earner, a state of saving what they have earned, thus being free from asking, a state of spending on themselves, thus benefiting, and a state of giving to others, thus being generous and benevolent, which is their noblest state."
— Imam al-Ghazali, Book 1: The Book of Knowledge
-
"Similarly, knowledge is acquired just as wealth is acquired. It has a state of seeking and acquiring, a state of possessing that frees one from asking, a state of insight which is contemplating what has been obtained and enjoying it, and a state of enlightenment for others, which is the noblest state. One who learns, acts, and teaches is called great in the kingdom of the heavens, for they are like the sun which illuminates others while being bright in itself, and like musk which perfumes others while being fragrant."
— Imam al-Ghazali, Book 1: The Book of Knowledge
Appears in
1 book in the library
Hear the term in context.
Every book above uses Ḥāl the way the classical scholars meant it. Listen with the full Study Kit in the app.