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

miskin
Bereft

(Miskin). Poor and utterly and totally bereft. This miskin is the slave who is at the absolute extremity of need of Allah. He has been stripped of everything and exists purely to manifest the All-Comprehensive Name 'Allah'.


See also: Destitute Poor Servitude Slave
(Muflis/Miskin). The one who is utterly destitute and bereft. The Muflis is the true Muhammadan friend, that great Sufi who is utterly destitute of everything other than Allah. His worship and his sacrifice, his living and his dying are for Allah Alone.
(Al Fuqara). The indigents or the poor. This term refers to the spiritual poverty of travellers on the Sufi Path. These travelling murids who are in need of their Spiritual Guide or Murshid, display their poverty towards him, and in so doing, they make firm his poverty towards Allah.
('Ubada). Servitude and bondage. This is the fulfilment and consummation of slavehood ('ubudiyya) when the slave loses himself in the Will of his Lord. 'Ubada is 'the Nearness of obligatory works' which is one of the four stations of Perfection. To realize 'ubuda is to be gifted with a very high degree of Knowledge of Allah. To know that 'the slave is the slave and the Lord is the Lord' is the supreme form of spiritual courtesy towards Allah. The Holy Prophet Muhammad al Mustapha (May the Salutations of Allah be upon him and Peace) is the Beloved of Allah and His Chosen One. No one is more perfect than him. No one can attain to his Knowledge. Yet Allah says in The Qur'an, "Glory be to Him Who carried His slave by night" (17:1). The slave is in bondage ('ubuda). Bondage is Perfection. Bondage is Knowledge.
('Abd). The slave (and worshipper) is the one who is in a state of total and utter submission to the Will of Allah. After having been annihilated in Allah where all duality vanished and distinctions were erased, he returns to creation with perfect courtesy and with the Truth of Certainty that 'the Lord is the Lord and the slave is the slave'. When 'abd is translated as 'servant' it carries the implication that the servant can leave the service of his Master, if he so desires. However, the 'slave' is in total bondage, being utterly dependent upon his Master. All buying and selling transactions have been terminated. The slave belongs to Allah, completely, perfectly and unconditionally.

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