(Hadd). Limit or definition signifies the distinction between the slave and his Lord. After having emerged from the ecstasy of Union with the Beloved, the knower disciplines his self and sets limits upon it in order to hold tightly to the reins of pe...
(Mahdud). Everything that is 'other-than-Allah' is limited. Only Allah is Independent of the Worlds. The slave is the one who is limited. 'The slave is the slave and the Lord is the Lord'. The limited is the limited and the Limitless is the Limitles...
Sama' - see 'Spiritual Concert'.
(Hizb). Prayer or litany. The litany is of great protective power as with the famous 'Litany of the Sea' (Hizb al Bahr) of Shaykh Abu'l-Hasan ash-Shadhili.
(Al Hayy). The Living, the Perfectly Alive. One of the Beautiful Names of Allah.
(Mahall). Locus or dwelling place or place of manifestation. Each human heart is a locus in which the Being of Allah discloses Itself. The radiance of His Self-disclosure depends upon the purity of the heart in the way that water takes on the colour...
(Wahshat). Loneliness and estrangement. This is experienced when the lover of Allah is far from Allah's intimacy. It is the loneliness of seeing 'other-than-Allah'. It is a condition of intense contraction. During such lonliness the lover may seek t...
(Raghbah). This is the longing of the lover's secret for the Beloved. "And when you are free, still labour hard and to thy Lord turn (all) thy attention" (The Qur'an 94:7-8).
(Shawq). Intense longing and yearning for the Beloved. Shawq is a yearning to behold the Beloved, and a longing for nearness to the Beloved, and a longing for union with the Beloved, and an intense longing for increase in perpetual longing. It is sai...
(Muttala'). Observation of the created world, when the observer has the eye of the Real, the veil of glory. It is blindness and bewilderment.
(Maula). The Holy Prophet Muhammad (May the Salutations of Allah be upon him and Peace) said, "Whose lord I am, his lord is Ali".
(Rabb al Arbab). Each thing has its own lord. Those who are misguided are approved of by their own lord but condemned by Allah, Who is Lord of all lords. Each thing's lord is the particular Face that Allah has turned towards it. The majority of mank...
(Dhul Jalali wal Ikram). The Lord of Majesty and Bounty. One of the Beautiful Names of Allah.
(Al Rabb). The Lord. Allah is the Lord of all existent things and all things are His vassals). The Lord of any vassal is the Face of Allah turned towards it. Each thing's Lord is the specific Self-disclosure which Allah gives to it, and all of this d...
(Al Maulay). The Lord, Master. One of the beautiful Names of Allah.
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