(Diya). Brightness. This term means 'Wisdom of the Light' or 'seeing with the Eye of the Real'. Diya is not the Light Itself but is from that Light.
(Du'a'). Du'a is the private and personal supplication of the slave to his Lord. "Your Lord has said Call upon Me and I will answer you" (The Qur'an 2:260). "Call upon Allah, or call upon Rahman (the Merciful), By whatever name ye call upon Him, (it ...
(Dunya). The corporal world is this life. It is all that distracts man from the Remembrance of Allah and the Truth. It is the veil with which He conceals Himself from His creation. Dunya is whatever is closest to one's lower self. In itself 'the worl...
(Fadl). Benevolence and bounty and gift. The cosmos itself, which is the very manifestation of engendered existence, derives from Allah's benevolence and bounty. It is a gratuitous gift of His Infinite Mercy (Rahma).
(Fai'l). The agent or actor. Allah, The Truth, never ceases being the Agent of existence in the possible things. All the engendered things are His covering, while He is the One Who Acts from behind this covering. 'So jealous is Allah all others are d...
(Faajir). Depending upon the root from which fajir derives it can mean either 'a man who commits sinful acts of infidelity' or 'a man who manifests or unveils what is veiled'. That is, he can either be a disbeliever or he can be one who manifests the...
(Fana'). Self-annihilation or self-effacement or dissolution or passing away from self. Through being joined to Allah, the Real; man is annihilated from himself - the 'limited existence' of the traveller is ov...
(Fana Fillah). Annihilation in Allah. This is the final stage on the Journey of Return to Allah. The being of the lover is annihilated and absorbed into the Being of the Beloved. From here onwards there is endless travelling with the Infinite unfoldi...
(Fana fil Murshid/Shaykh). Fallen man cannot, by his own resources, reach Annihilation in Allah.. He requires a Spiritual Guide, a Murshid, who is a pure receptacle for the Divine Outpouring which emanates from the Holy Prophet Muhammad. This Outpou...
(Fana fi Rasul). Annihilation in the Messenger, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (May the Salutations of Allah be upon him and Peace). 'No one will meet Allah before meeting the Prophet'. After annihilation into the Self of the Murshid, the seeker journeys,...
(Faqir). The one who is poor and needy towards Allah. In gaining the knowledge that Allah is the One and Only, Who is Self-sufficient and Independent, the faqir attains to the condition of perfect slave. The faqir is the one who 'delivers his trust (...
(Faqr). Indigence and spiritual poverty and destitution and neediness. True poverty is to own nothing, not even one's own self. Spiritual Poverty is to 'know' that Allah is the Independent One Who is in need of nothing. Spiritual Poverty is to belong...
(Fasl) is a separation you do not hope for from your Beloved. It is a differentiation from Allah after a state of identification or unification with Allah. It is full of torment and anguish. However, for the People of Solitude, the great Sufis, who ...
(Fath). This is one of the forms of direct knowledge by which Allah 'opens the door' to the Unseen World. It is the direct knowledge of Allah disclosing Himself to the heart. This 'opening through tasting' is a knowledge which belongs exclusively to ...
(Fayd). Divine effusion or overflow or emanation. One of the ways of gaining knowledge is through this Divine Emanation. It is a bestowal from Allah to the heart of His Perfect slave, the Perfect Man. The world itself remains in existence due to this...
