(Akhira). The hereafter is the next life in which are found the Bridge, the Scales, Paradise and Hell. For the traveller on the Spiritual Path the reality of the things and events of the hereafter may be experienced here and now, in this life. Paradi...
('Alam al Amr). Spiritual World or the Universe of Command. The Realm which is without time and matter. The world of command is that which takes its existence from Allah without secondary cause.
('Alam ash Shahadat). The World of Witnessing. This is within the Imaginal Realm where spirits become corporealized and appear to Prophets and saints in visions. It is also called 'Alam-i-shuhud.
('Alam-i 'ulwi). The World of the Spirits. There is a relationship between the World of the Spirits and the essence of man's heart. Through this relationship, which is a secret of Allah, the heart of a purified man may soar towards that spiritual rea...
(Al 'Aleen). Those of a higher order. The superior spirits. The angels closest to Allah. 'Aleen are those spiritual beings who, due to their luminous constitution, transcend, by their own essence, being 'elemental'.
('Aliyyah) Exaltedness and sublimity. This term indicates every Divine Name which has a relation to an angel or a spiritual existence.
(Anqa/Simurgh). The mythical griffon or phoenix which dwells on Mount Qaf. It is the greatest of birds and lives at the world's end. It symbolizes the wind in and with which Allah spiritually opens the material bodies of the world. It is a symbol of ...
(Al Ard). In comparing the earth with the heavens, the earth is the physical body of clay which is destined to decay and death and the heavens are the spirit (contained within the body) which is eternal and luminous. The earth is also the place of th...
(Ard Allah al wasi'a). Allah's wide and vast earth. The secondary causes have been established and they are not abolished for anyone, not even for a friend of Allah. But, Allah gives to His slaves and friends, a light with which they can walk in the ...
(Ard al Haqiqat) is the World of Imagination. It is within this realm that the spirits of the friends of Allah encounter each other.
(Al 'Arif). The knower (of Allah). He is the complete and perfect man. The 'arif has been given Divine Knowledge (ma'rifa), and 'Ma'rifa is a light which Allah casts into the heart of whomsoever He Wills'. All is a gift from Allah. The Knower is the ...
(Al 'Arsh). Allah, Who is without place, created a heaven called 'The Throne' where He could 'sit' in order for man to supplicate and seek his needs from Allah. This Throne upon which Allah 'sits' is the seat of those Divine Names that are bound to ...
(Arwah). Spirits or spiritual realities. These may be corporealized within the Realm of Imagination.
(Asas). A house will not stand firm without a solid foundation. Starting from the foundation the murid methodically reconstructs his entire being. The building process starts with his first spiritual practices (awrad). If these are approached and fu...
(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 tra...
