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

al-mazahir al-ilahiyya
Divine places of Self-disclosure

(Al Mathahir al Ilahiyya). Allah is the Absolute. Every Face of Allah is contained with the Absolute. Faces of Mercy, Faces of Wrath, Faces of Beauty and Faces of Majesty. The divine places of Self-disclosure are those purified and radiant loci which have been cleansed of 'otherness' and are thus qualified to reflect the Beautiful and Merciful Divine Faces. Al Mathahir al Ilahiyya are the Perfect Men, the saints, the knowers and lovers of Allah, all of whom have turned in totality to the Beloved, to the One, to Allah.

See also: Ecstasy Friends of Allah Knowers of Allah Lover-Passionate Perfect Man Place of Allah's Self-disclosure Remembrance of Allah Sufi Singer

Ecstasy ( wajd )

(Wajd). These are the states which come upon the heart unexpectedly. They annihilate it from witnessing itself and others. Ecstasy is the descent of immense spiritual energy upon the slave. It overwhelms the senses, causing extreme physical reactions. Ecstasy is true when body, mind and heart are overcome by this descent. Wajd may manifest as intense joy, when Allah's Beauty dominates, or as intense grief, when His Majesty dominates. It is during the spiritual concert that the lover may experience ecstasy and more ecstasy. Ecstasy is a gift of Allah's Grace upon His lover. Without these gifts of wajd the lover would be unable to bear the intensity of longing and love contained within his heart.

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.

Knowers of Allah ( 'arifin )

(Al 'Arifin/'Urufa). They see and recognize Allah wherever they look. The knowers are bewildered. But this is not the bewilderment of being lost, rather it is the bewilderment of having found Allah. They know that He cannot be known. The knowers are nothing because they are everything.

Perfect Man ( al-insan al-kamil )

(Al Insan al Kamil). He is the viceregent of Allah, through whom Allah contemplates His Own Name-derived Perfection. The Perfect Man has actualized the divine form and in carrying the Trust has fulfilled his reason for being. It is through the Perfect Man that Allah enters the world. Al Insan al Kamil is also one of the names given to the Supreme Isthmus. Man consists of a body and a spirit which governs it. The cosmos also consists of a body and a spirit which governs it. Its spirit is the Perfect Man. Without him the cosmos is likened to a discarded body.

Place of Allah's Self-disclosure ( mazhar )

(Mathar). The person who experiences unveiling sees the lights as places of disclosure (mathar) within the imaginal realm. These lights abound according to the purity of the 'secret' of the one with unveiling. The cosmos is the place of manifestation of all the Names of Allah. Some of these places are manifest and others are hidden, but they are all nevertheless places of Allah's Self-disclosure (mathar).

Remembrance of Allah ( dhikrullah )

(Dhikrullah). Invocation of Allah through one of His Names or through His Words. The perfect dhikrullah, in which Allah becomes the seeing, the hearing, the speaking, the grasping of the one who remembers, is attained when every atom of the dhakir's being is absorbed and annihilated in the Remembrance of Allah. The dhakir becomes internally unified with the Absolute. Only then does Allah sit totally with the one who remembers Allah.

Sufi Singer ( qawwal )

(Qawwal). During the 'spiritual concert' (sama') the qawwal may be the means through which the hearer finds Allah in ecstasy. When this occurs it is true sama' because sama' is a bird which flies from Allah to Allah - Allah is the singer and Allah is the hearer. The barakah surrounding and emanating from the qawwal and his musicians is extremely potent. Its effect upon an audience can be profound even when the members of that audience are ignorant of, and oblivious to, the reality within the singer and the music. For the one who has been prepared and purified, through spiritual struggle and the Remembrance of Allah, the speech of the qawwal can send his heart soaring towards the spiritual realm, where a thousand subtleties and delicacies are opened to him.

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