Tasawwuf Glossary

Islam > Glossary > Tasawwuf

Spirituality and purification of the heart. Discover 288 definitions of Tasawwuf terms from classical sources.

glossary Tasawwuf

Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM

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288 terms

Tasawwuf terms - letter A

201 terms

عُصْبَة
'Asaba
The plural of ’asib, as talaba and toullab, fajira and foujjara, zalim...
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اعترف
Aatrf
With the thing: to acknowledge it; in the Quran: "And others have ackn...
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اغتاب
Aghtab
Someone: mentioning his faults behind his back, faults that he conceal...
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أدب
Al-adb
It denotes the knowledge of that by which one guards against all kinds...
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أذان
Al-adhan
In language: announcement in general. In the Law: informing of the ent...
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أفق الأعلى
Al-afq al-aʿlā
The end of the station of the spirit: it is the presence (hadra) of on...
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أغلال
Al-aghlal-
It is treachery in a thing entrusted. Al-Shafi'i said: 'if one betraye...
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اجتهاد
Al-ajthad
Linguistically: the exertion of one's utmost effort; technically: the ...
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أمن
Al-amn
The absence of expectation of harm in the time to come....
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أنس
Al-ans
Anisa bihi wa ilayhi anasan: he found tranquility in him or her, and h...
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أنثى
Al-anthā
The lower of the two categories of mating animals, according to Al-Hur...
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استدراج
Al-astdraj
That God grant His servant the granting of his need, one time after an...
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استقامة
Al-astqama
It is the state of a line whose assumed parts coincide with one anothe...
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استعارة المكنية
Al-astʿara al-mknya
It is the implicit comparison of one thing to another in the heart....
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اعتكاف
Al-aʿtkaf
In language it is the act of remaining and confinement (al-ihtibas). I...
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احتمال
Al-aḥtmal-
Exerting the soul in good deeds....
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بغض
Al-bghḍ
It is the aversion of the soul from a thing which is shunned. It is th...
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براذين
Al-bradhyn
Plural of baradhun, which is the horse of the non-Arabs....
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بواده
Al-bwadh
That which suddenly strikes the heart from the unseen at first glance,...
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ذبذب
Al-dhbdhb
Dhikr (remembrance of Allah), because it oscillates, meaning it moves,...
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ذكر
Al-dhkr
With kasra: what is done with the tongue; with damma: what is done wit...
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ذوق
Al-dhwq
It is a power issuing from the nerve spread over the body of the tongu...
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فقه
Al-fiqh
In language: understanding the speaker's intent from his words. In usa...
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فكر
Al-fkr
The ordering of known matters so as to lead to an unknown....
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فطنة
Al-fṭna
Like understanding, Al-Jawhari said it, and As-Sa'di said: the man sho...
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غلة
Al-ghla
What the public treasury collects and the merchants take, in dirhams....
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غرور
Al-ghrwr
It is the soul's settling into what accords with vain desire and towar...
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غشاوة
Al-ghshawa
That which settles on the face of the heart's mirror as rust, blunts t...
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غشي
Al-ghshy
A state in which sensation and movement are suspended due to a weaknes...
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غيبة
Al-ghyba
The heart's absence from knowledge of what passes of the creatures' st...
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غين
Al-ghyn
Below the rayn, which is rust; for rust is a thin veil that disappears...
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غضب
Al-ghḍb
A change that occurs at the boiling of the heart's blood, so that reli...
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هباء
Al-hbaʾ
It is that in which Allah opened the bodies of the world, while having...
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هيبة
Al-hyba
Awe that induces submission, arising from the perception of an immense...
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إدراك
Al-idrak
The encompassing of a thing in its completeness....
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إغماء
Al-ighmaʾ
It is a torpor not original, without narcotic, that removes the workin...
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إحسان
Al-ihsan
It is the realization of servanthood through witnessing the Presence o...
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إخلاص
Al-ikhlas
In language: abandoning ostentation in acts of worship. In usage: puri...
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إلهام
Al-ilham
What is cast into the heart by way of effusion. It has been said: ilha...
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إلياس
Al-ilyas
It is used to express constriction, for he is Idris, and due to his as...
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إمامان
Al-imaman
The two persons, one of whom is to the right of the Ghawth, meaning th...
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إيمان
Al-iman
In language: affirmation of the heart. In the Law: belief of the heart...
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إنابة
Al-inaba
Extracting the heart from the darkness of ambiguities. And it has been...
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إنسان الكامل
Al-insan al-kaml
He is the summation of all divine and cosmic worlds, universal and par...
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إقرار
Al-iqrar
In the Sharia: the informing of another's right against oneself....
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إرادة
Al-irada
An attribute necessitating upon the Living a state from which the act ...
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إسلام
Al-islam
Humility and submission to what the Messenger (may Allah's peace and b...
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استغفار
Al-Istighfar
Appropriating good deeds and turning toward them, and counting corrupt...
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إضمار قبل الذكر
Al-iḍmar qbl al-dhkr
It is permissible in five instances: the first is in the pronoun of th...
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إحداث
Al-iḥdath
The bringing into existence of a thing preceded by time....
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جدي
Al-jdy
With a fatha and sometimes a kasra, the male offspring of a goat when ...
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جهل البسيط
Al-jhl al-bsyṭ
It is the absence of knowledge regarding that which one is expected to...
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جن
Al-Jinn
"Janna": he concealed himself. "Janna" and "jununa": he went mad; and ...
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جرح المجرد
Al-jrḥ al-mjrd
It is that by which a witness is declared corrupt, without necessitati...
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جحد
Al-jḥd
That which is required by lam for the negation of the past, and this c...
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كابوس
Al-kabws
It is when a person imagines in their sleep a vision that weighs upon ...
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خاطر
Al-khaṭr
What comes to the heart of address, or the influx in which the servant...
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خبر نوعان
Al-khbr nwʿan
Mursal (loose) and Musnad (supported). The Mursal is that which the na...
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خشوع والخضوع والتواضع
Al-khshwʿ wal-khḍwʿ wal-twaḍʿ
They have the same meaning, and in the terminology of the people of tr...
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خشوع
Al-khushu'
In language: a masdar taken from khashi'a, which is stillness, serenit...
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خوف
Al-khwf
Expecting the befalling of a disliked thing or the passing of a belove...
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خيال
Al-khyal-
A faculty that retains what the common sense grasps of the forms of se...
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خيلاء
Al-khylaʾ
With a damma on the dotted Kha and an elongated alif on the measure of...
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خضر
Al-khḍr
It is used to express expansion and despair of contraction, for his te...
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خصم
Al-khṣm
Verbal noun: I disputed him, meaning I contended with him as an advers...
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كلام
Al-klam
What contains two words by predication (isnad)....
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كيف
Al-kyf
An enduring mode in the thing, requiring neither division nor relation...
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كيفيات النفسانية
Al-kyfyat al-nfsanya
It has been said: They are the qualities specific to the essences of a...
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لغو
Al-lghw
Speech whose consideration is void, and which has no meaning regarding...
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لوامع
Al-lwamʿ
Radiant lights that shine for beginners among those with weak and appa...
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لوح
Al-lwḥ
It is the Manifest Book and the Universal Soul. The Tablets are four: ...
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لطيفة الإنسانية
Al-lṭyfa al-insanya
It is the speaking soul named by them as the heart. In reality, it is ...
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مجاهدة
Al-mjahda
In language: fighting; in religious law: warring against the soul that...
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ملامية
Al-mlamya
They are those who do not let what is within their inner selves appear...
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منافسة
Al-mnafsa
Striving to attain a good similar to that which another has reached....
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مقبولات
Al-mqbwlat
These are propositions accepted from someone in whom one trusts, eithe...
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مرض
Al-mrḍ
It is what befalls the body and removes it from its proper equilibrium...
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موت
Al-mwt
An existential attribute created the opposite of life; and in the usag...
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موت الأبيض
Al-mwt al-abyḍ
Hunger, because it illuminates the inner self and whitens the face of ...
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موت الأحمر
Al-mwt al-aḥmr
Opposing the desires of the soul....
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معَاد
Al-mʿaad
A verbal noun and a noun of place, meaning the return and the orientat...
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معنوي
Al-mʿnwy
It is that which has no share for the tongue, but is rather a meaning ...
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محادثة
Al-mḥadtha
The discourse of Allah addressed to the knowers from the world of sove...
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محبة
Al-mḥba
A state that no discourse can express. It has been said: it is the Bel...
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نفس
Al-nfs
It is the subtle vaporous (bukhari) substance bearing the power of lif...
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نفس الأمَّارة
Al-nfs al-amaara
It is that which inclines towards the physical nature, commands sensua...
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نفس الإنساني
Al-nfs al-insany
It is the first perfection of a natural, organic body, inasmuch as it ...
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نفس المطمئنة
Al-nfs al-mṭmʾna
It is the one that has been illuminated by the light of the heart unti...
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نفس الناطقة
Al-nfs al-naṭqa
It is the substance immaterial in its essence while being compared to ...
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نفس النباتي
Al-nfs al-nbaty
It is the primary perfection of a natural organic body in terms of its...
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نفس القدسية
Al-nfs al-qdsya
It is the soul that possesses the faculty to evoke everything possible...
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نفس الرحماني
Al-nfs al-rḥmany
It refers to the general existence extended over entities concretely, ...
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نفس الحيواني
Al-nfs al-ḥywany
It is the first perfection of a natural organic body, inasmuch as it p...
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نسك
Al-nsk
Worship, and every right belonging to Allah the Most High, as stated i...
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نسيان
Al-nsyan
It is heedlessness of a known thing outside the state of drowsiness: i...
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قَرَن
Al-qaran
In the vagina: a bar preventing the passage of the penis: a thick glan...
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قبيح
Al-qbyḥ
It is that which is associated with blame in the immediate and punishm...
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قلب
Al-qlb
A subtle divine reality (latifa rabbaniyya) that has its attachment in...
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قتل
Al-qtl
An act by which the soul flows away....
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قوامع
Al-qwamʿ
Everything that subdues the human being against the demands of nature,...
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ران
Al-ran
It is the veil that stands between the heart and the realm of holiness...
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رَّتَق
Al-rataq
With fatha of the ta': occlusion of the womb by a bone or the like; th...
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ربو
Al-rbw
It is shortness of breath....
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رداء
Al-rdaʾ
In the terminology of the masters: the manifestation of the attributes...
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رفع
Al-rfʿ
To raise. And according to the specialists in arithmetic, it is the ex...
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رجل
Al-rjl
The male of the sons of Adam who has passed the limit of childhood by ...
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رقيقة
Al-rqyqa
It is the spiritual subtlety. It may refer to the subtle intermediate ...
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روح
Al-rwḥ
With the people, "tarwihan": he prayed the tarawih prayer with them. T...
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روح الأعظم
Al-rwḥ al-aʿẓm
He is the human spirit, the manifestation of the divine Essence from t...
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روح الإنساني
Al-rwḥ al-insany
It is the knowledgeable and perceptive subtle entity of the human bein...
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رياء
Al-ryaʾ
Abandoning sincerity in the work, regarding in it other than God....
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ريب
Al-ryb
A noun meaning doubt and not a verbal noun, although it may be made a ...
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رضا
Al-rḍa
The joy of the heart in the face of bitter decrees....
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سبحة
Al-sbḥa
With the fatha, it designates tasbih, prayer, and dhikr. It is sometim...
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سفاهة
Al-sfaha
Derived from as-safah (lightness), which originally means lightness of...
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سفر
Al-sfr
In language: covering the distance. In law: going out with the intent ...
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سفر الأول
Al-sfr al-awl
It is the lifting of the veils of multiplicity from the face of onenes...
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شَّاة
Al-shaaa
Pertains to sheep, if Allah the Most High wills....
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شاهد
Al-shahd
In language: the present one. In the usage of these people: what was p...
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شجرة
Al-shjra
The perfect man governing the structure of the total body: gathering t...
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شلل
Al-shll
Inability of the hand and leg to function due to an affliction affecti...
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شحناء
Al-shḥnaʾ
Animosity with which the soul is filled. Al-Fayyumi said: hostility an...
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سِّرّ
Al-sir
It is what is concealed: the inner secret (sarrira), intercourse, reme...
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سكر
Al-skr
It is that which comes from date water, that is, fresh dates, when it ...
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سكينة
Al-skyna
What the heart experiences as tranquility upon the descent of the unse...
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تَّمَنِّي
Al-tamaniy
Falsehood; a tafa''ala form from 'mana yamni' (he estimated), when he ...
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تَّسْبِيح
Al-tasbiyḥ
When it is intended to mean glorification (tanzih) and pure remembranc...
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تدليس
Al-tdlys
It is the spiritual subtle essence (latifa ruhaniyya); it may also be ...
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تواضع
Al-twaḍʿ
The belittling and humbling of the soul in relation to the greatness o...
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توبة
Al-twba
The turning back to Allah by untying the knot of obstinacy from the he...
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توبة النصوح
Al-twba al-nṣwḥ
It is a strict commitment never to return to the like of it. Ibn Abbas...
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توكل
Al-twkl
It is trust in what is with Allah, and despair of what is in people's ...
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توقي
Al-twqy
To avoid a thing....
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تصور
Al-tṣwr
The occurrence of the thing's image in the intellect....
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وَدْي
Al-wady
With a sukun on the unmarked letter, and al-Jawhari reported: a kasrah...
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ورقاء
Al-wrqaʾ
The universal soul, which is the Preserved Tablet, the tablet of decre...
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ورع
Al-wrʿ
It is shunning the doubtful things for fear of falling into the forbid...
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وُقُوف القلبي
Al-wuquwf al-qlby
Among the Sufis, an expression denoting the awakening and presence of ...
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ياقوتة الحمراء
Al-yaqwta al-ḥmraʾ
It is the universal soul, due to the mixture of its luminous nature wi...
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ياس
Al-yas
It is used to express constriction (al-qabd), because Idris, due to hi...
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يقين
Al-yqyn
In language: knowledge free from doubt. As a technical term: believing...
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يسر
Al-ysr
The thing: became soft and compliant. The pregnant woman: her delivery...
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يتم
Al-ytm
With damma and fatha, and sukun on the second letter. Damma on the fir...
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زمرد
Al-zmrd
The Universal Soul, when potentiality multiplied both from the aspect ...
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زيتون
Al-zytwn
It is the soul disposed to ignite with the light of holiness due to th...
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عدالة
Al-ʿdal-a
In language: uprightness; in the Law: keeping straight on the path of ...
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عداوة
Al-ʿdawa
It is what settles in the heart as an intent to harm and take revenge....
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عذر
Al-ʿdhr
That with which the obligation cannot be carried out according to what...
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عجب
Al-ʿjb
It denotes the conceit (tasawwur) that one deserves a rank to which on...
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علم
Al-ʿlm
It is the firm belief conforming to reality. The philosophers said: it...
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عمرية
Al-ʿmrya
Similar to the Wasilites, except that they declared both factions to b...
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عقل
Al-ʿql
It is the deletion of the fifth mobile letter of the foot mafa'ilun, w...
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عقل الهيولاني
Al-ʿql al-hywlany
It is the pure readiness to perceive intelligibles, and it is a pure f...
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عقل بالملكة
Al-ʿql bal-mlka
It is the knowledge of necessities, and the soul's readiness thereby t...
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عرض
Al-ʿrḍ
The existent that needs, in order to exist, a locus, that is, a substr...
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عزلة
Al-ʿzla
It is leaving the company of creatures by seclusion and withdrawal....
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ضرورة
Al-ḍrwra
Derived from 'darr' (harm), which is what befalls without any possibil...
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ضياء
Al-ḍyaʾ
It is the plural of diya', like sawt and siyat, hawd and hiyad; or the...
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ضحك
Al-ḍḥk
An unstable quality arising from the spirit's sudden motion outward, d...
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حَالَات
Al-ḥaal-aat
These are the non-entrenched psychological dispositions, such as writi...
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حَدَث
Al-ḥadath
Al-hadith (the new); hence: 'beware of innovation (al-hadath) in Islam...
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حال
Al-ḥal-
Linguistically: the end of the past and the beginning of the future. T...
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حجاب
Al-ḥjab
Everything that veils what you seek; and with the people of truth: the...
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حلم
Al-ḥlm
It is composure at the blaze of anger; it has also been said: deferrin...
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حمد الحالي
Al-ḥmd al-ḥal-y
It is that which pertains to the spirit and the heart, such as being c...
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حملة
Al-ḥmla
The transition of the human soul to its possible perfection according ...
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حمية
Al-ḥmya
Guarding the sacred and religion from taint....
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حقد
Al-ḥqd
The demand for vengeance; its precise sense: when anger, unable to fin...
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حس المشترك
Al-ḥs al-mshtrk
It is the faculty in which the forms of particular sensible perception...
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حسن
Al-ḥsn
It is a thing's being congenial to nature, such as joy; a thing's bein...
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حسرة
Al-ḥsra
It is reaching the extreme in intense sorrow, such that the heart rema...
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حياة
Al-ḥyaa
It is a quality obliging the one qualified by it to know and to have p...
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حزن
Al-ḥzn
It is what arises from contraction, at the occurrence of a disliked th...
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حضور
Al-ḥḍwr
Absence from creation due to the dominance of the remembrance of Allah...
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صدر
Al-ṣdr
It is the first part of the first hemistich in a poetic verse....
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صِّفَات النفسية
Al-ṣifaat al-nfsya
There is a disagreement in their definition. Those who believe in stat...
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طب الروحاني
Al-ṭb al-rwḥany
It is the science of the perfections of hearts, their flaws, their dis...
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طبيب الروحاني
Al-ṭbyb al-rwḥany
He is the shaykh well-versed in that medicine, capable of guiding and ...
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طرف
Al-ṭrf
With two fathas — language: a part of a thing, its side and end; it is...
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اضطراب
Aladtrab
In matters, hesitation....
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احتلام
Alahtlam
What the sleeper sees in dreams. A name for what the sleeper sees rega...
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علامة البلوغ
Alama alblwgh
In the Hanafi school: for the boy, wet dreams and emission of fluid. F...
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بابية
Albabya
A religion whose followers claim to be Muslims, attributed to Mirza Al...
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بيت المقدس
Albyt almqds
The heart pure from attachment to anyone other than Allah....
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حج الأكبر
Alhj alakbr
It is the pilgrimage preceded by the standing at 'Arafat; in the Qur'a...
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حسنى
Alhsna
Al-husna: feminine of al-hasan. In the Noble Quran: 'To Allah belong t...
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جان
Aljan
Al Jinn. And in the Noble Quran: (And on that Day neither man nor jinn...
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مشهور في الشهادة
Almshhwr fy alshhada
Among the Ibadis: the testimony of the people of the ensemble is three...
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مسترابة
Almstraba
Al-mustrabah: she who has not yet menstruated although she is at the a...
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صاحب بالجنب
Alsahb baljnb
(See s-h-b.) Al-junub: the distant one. In the noble Quran: "and she s...
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تقاص
Altqas
In wounds: wounding with the like. Qisas (retaliation): inflicting upo...
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أمر بالمعروف
Amr bil-ma'ruf
Guidance to the saving orientations, and forbidding the blameworthy: r...
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عند أهل الحقيقة
And ahl alhqyqa
The absence of the heart from the knowledge of what passes of the stat...
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أرش
Arsh
It is a name of wealth due for what is below life....
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أسكن
Askn
Such a one: he inhabited. The mobile: stopped its movement. A such a o...
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استراب
Astrab
Istiraba regarding him: to see in him what arouses doubt. Ar-rayb: sur...
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تقوى
At-taqwa
In language: the state of one who shields himself, that is, who takes ...
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توحيد
At-tawhid
In language: the judgment that a thing is one, and the knowledge that ...
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زكاة
Az-zakat
In language: increase. In the Law: it denotes the obligation of a port...
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حصرت
Ḥaṣarat
Hasarat the she-camel, in hasran: her duct became constricted; she is ...
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طهر
Ṭahr
'Tuhran, tahara': negation of impurity and filth; being free of all th...
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Tasawwuf terms - letter B

5 terms

Tasawwuf terms - letter D

1 terms

Tasawwuf terms - letter F

1 terms

Tasawwuf terms - letter G

1 terms

Tasawwuf terms - letter H

4 terms

Tasawwuf terms - letter I

7 terms

Tasawwuf terms - letter J

5 terms

Tasawwuf terms - letter K

2 terms

Tasawwuf terms - letter M

8 terms

Tasawwuf terms - letter N

4 terms

Tasawwuf terms - letter Q

5 terms

Tasawwuf terms - letter R

6 terms

Tasawwuf terms - letter S

13 terms

Tasawwuf terms - letter T

12 terms

Tasawwuf terms - letter W

9 terms

Tasawwuf terms - letter Y

2 terms

Tasawwuf terms - letter Z

2 terms

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم Mon 21 Jumada al-Awwal
الاثنين 21 جمادى الأولى
أحدب متناقص Waning Gibbous Day 22 / 29.5
Illumination 52%
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الله أكبر Allah is the Greatest

إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ وَمَلَٰٓئِكَتَهُۥ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى ٱلنَّبِىِّ ۚ يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ صَلُّوا۟ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا۟ تَسْلِيمًا

God and His angels shower their blessings on the Prophet. O believers, you should also send your blessings on him, and salute him with a worthy greeting.

Al-Ahzab 33:56

Blessings on the Prophet ﷺ