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

intiqal
Transferral

(Intiqaal). Transferral or passage. On the Journey of Return the friends of Allah pass from station to station. In moving to a higher station they do not depart from the lower one, rather their passage is with the lower one. It is the same with knowledge. One does not become ignorant of a former knowledge when a new knowledge is attained. It is a passage from knowledge to knowledge, from station to station.

See also: Friends of Allah Sleep Station

Friends of Allah ( awliya )

(Awliya). The friends of Allah. These are His Saints. Their knowledge is not derived from reflection. Allah has purified them of that type of knowledge. They possess the opening of unveiling through Allah, the Real, Himself. The awliya are those with unbroken awareness of Allah. These Perfect Men have attained to the highest of all human degrees.

Sleep ( nawm )

(Nawm). The hadith says, "Man is asleep and when he dies he wakes". The Sufi is the one who has died to self and is awake in the Supreme Self. Once man has awoken there is no more sleep. Within mystical poetry and Sufi songs the lover often complains to the Beloved Who has taken away his sleep and given him no rest for his limbs. In every moment of his existence each cell of the lover's body is restlessly pursuing the Beloved. Or sometimes this wakefulness is inexpressibly sweet "When You are here we stay up all night and when you are away I can't sleep. Praise be to Allah for these two insomnias!" This term may also refer to the two ordinary kinds of sleep which are experienced by man. One is the type in which there is rest and ease from weariness, and the other is the type in which dreams occur. The second type is a transferral from the manifest side of sense perception to its nonmanifest side.

Station ( Manzil )

Manzil - see 'Waystation'.

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