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

umm al-kitab
Mother of the Book

(Umm ul Kitab). This is the Eternal Prototype of the Revealed Book. It is the unfathomable depth of the Divinity and the endless unfolding of Knowledge of Allah. The Perfect Man is a book. He is the epitome of the Mother of the Book.


See also: Beautiful Model Inscribed Book Perfect Man Presence of the Essence
(Uswa hasana). The Holy Prophet Muhammad al Mustapha (May the Salutations of Allah be upon him and Peace) is the beautiful model. Through his perfect example man is given the means of drawing closer, and yet closer, to Allah. The degrees of such nearness depend upon the manner and attitude in which one follows the beautiful model. Those who love Allah and His Messenger more than anything, more than life itself, are the slaves who follow Muhammad al Mustapha in their outer lives and in their inner realities. To approach Allah, the slave must first meet the Holy Prophet Muhammad. This meeting is a Mystery. The Holy Prophet Muhammad, the beautiful model, becomes the slave's inner reality through the unveiling of the Reality of Muhammad. The hadith says, "Who has seen me has seen Allah".
(Al Insan al Kamil). He is the viceregent of Allah, through whom Allah contemplates His Own Name-derived Perfection. The Perfect Man has actualized the divine form and in carrying the Trust has fulfilled his reason for being. It is through the Perfect Man that Allah enters the world. Al Insan al Kamil is also one of the names given to the Supreme Isthmus. Man consists of a body and a spirit which governs it. The cosmos also consists of a body and a spirit which governs it. Its spirit is the Perfect Man. Without him the cosmos is likened to a discarded body.
(Al Hadarat al Dhatiyyah). The Presence of the Essence is the Absolute Unknowableness, Sheer Being, Pure Ipseity, the Unknown of the Unknown. This is the Presence of the Mother of the Book. Below it, in the Presence of the All-Compelling, the Mother of the Book becomes the Inscribed Book (al Kitab al Mastur), in that it appears as chapters.

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