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

al-'anqa' (simurgh)
Phoenix

(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 the spirit of the saint or the saint himself. Like this legendary bird which is purely a name without a form, al 'Anqa sometimes represents the primordial dust through which everything becomes manifest.


See also: Dust Friend of Allah Qaf
(Al Haba). 'The fine dust suspended in the air'. Al haba is a symbol of the universal plastic substance or the prima materia. This symbolism illustrates the double nature of the Spirit. Dust becomes visible only when a beam of light is refracted off it and the beam of light becomes visible only when it is refracted off the veil of dust. The created Spirit is like that beam of light, needing the universal plastic substance which is the cosmos.
(Wali). He is a Sufi saint. He is the one whom Allah has chosen as His friend. The wali is under Allah's dome, and nobody knows him except Allah. If any among the commonality declares war upon one of Allah's friends, then does Allah declare war upon that person.
This term refers to Mount Qaf, the mythical, cosmic mountain at the end of the created world where man may experience nearness on his Journey to Allah.

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