The Language of the Future
Sufi Terminology
by Murshid F.A. Ali ElSenossi

rahbah
Terror

(Rahbah) is the immediate terror of the threat of punishment being realized. It is also the hidden terror of unstable and valueless knowledge and the secret terror that what was known before will become a certainty.


See also: Fear Holy dread Names of Majesty Severity
(Khawf). Fear acts as a warning of something terrifying in the future. In the initial stages of the Spiritual Journey the murid experiences great fear of the treachery of his own self, and also the fear of falling short of his Murshid's directions. However, when this fear is complimented with hope the murid finds the courage and the strength with which to attack the inner enemies. Fear of Allah leads to Knowledge of Allah which opens into Love of Allah. The lover who has found Allah fears losing Allah. Such a fear may overcome the lover who has found Allah in ecstasy during the sama'.
(Khashya). This is the type of terror and awe and dread which brings man near to Allah. It is the awe of Allah's Majesty, His Incomparability and Utter Unknowableness.
(Asma Jalaliyyah). These Names relate to Allah's Incomparability and are demanded by the very fact of Allah's Being and our nonexistence. The Names of Majesty include such Names as The Tremendous (al 'Azim), The Overpowering (al Qahhar). When the traveller is under the influence of a spiritual state in which a Name of Majesty dominates he is utterly overwhelmed.

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