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

('Inayah). The Grace of Allah surrounds us. We are immersed in His Loving-Kindness. Each step of the Journey of Return to Allah is taken through His Grace. Without Allah we can do nothing.

(Shukr). Gratitude or thankfulness. The station of gratitude indicates an all-pervading awareness of the immensity of Allah's Grace upon His slave. The man who combines gratitude with patience is the man of wisdom.

(Hubb). Love is the motivating force of Allah's Self-disclosure which is His creation of the creation. This is indicated in the Hadith Qudsi "I was a Hidden treasure and I loved to be known and so I created the creation". It is this love (Hubb) which motivates the lover (Muhibb) to turn towards the Beloved (Mahbub) with a total turning.

(Rahma). Mercy and compassion. There are two kinds of mercy. The first is an essential mercy or the mercy of free-gift which Allah bestows upon all creatures without distinction. The second is a specific mercy or the mercy of obligation which Allah gives to those slaves who are deserving of it. When the slave has been blessed with the 'opening of unveiling' he sees, smells, tastes, touches and hears Allah's Rahma, which not only surrounds him, but also penetrates every atom of his being.

('Ishq). Intense, overflowing and passionate love of Allah. Some say that 'ishq cannot arise without actual vision of the Beloved. 'Ishq is the highest stage before absorption in Allah. It is as rare as the red sulphur. It burns away everything of the lover ('Ashiq) transforming him into the beloved. After annihilation in Allah and absorption in Allah, where all is blindness and there is no longer any vision, the lover is separated from the Beloved and his 'ishq burns afresh. Passionate love of Allah is without limit.

(Talaqqa). Receiving the knowledge which descends upon the slave from Allah. Such a receiving is not a taking. The hands of the slave are upturned and opened in readiness to receive whatever Allah Wills to send. The hands should never reach forward in expectancy to take these gifts from Allah. The Divine Mercy pours down like rain. The drops fall into the opened hand. Grasping fingers cannot catch them.

(Fikr). Reflection or the power of thought and cogitation. It is the ability to put together the details accumulated by the senses and acquired through the imagination. Fikr is a quality possessed only by man, and even though it is one of the means through which he can obtain knowledge of Allah, ultimately, True Knowledge of the Absolute comes through 'unveiling', 'opening', 'taste', 'insight' and 'witnessing'.

(Wilayah/Walayah). Wilayah is the sainthood of the great friends of Allah (awliya). It is a Divine gift and the height of human perfection. The distinguishing mark and basis of sainthood is gnosis, not holiness or piety. The friend upon whom sainthood is bestowed has no choice in this. All is the Grace of Allah. The degree of his Knowledge of Allah, through which his sainthood descended, is also a gift from Allah. Wilayah is privacy with Allah. This privacy is indicated in the words of Muhammad al Mustapha, may the Salutations of Allah be upon him and peace, "There is a time for me with Allah, in which neither the nearest angel nor a sent Prophet is contained". Wilayah is 'seeing Allah through Allah'. The Friends of Allah, those upon whom wilayah has been bestowed, open up what the Prophets left closed. They are the mouthpieces of the Prophets. Through them the fragrant musk and the sweet honey of the Teaching of the Holy Prophet Muhammad continues to fill the world. Within wilayah there is an hierarchical order at whose peak is the Pole.

(Adab) is spiritual courtesy and gracious behaviour of the Path and perfect refinement of words and deeds. Adab is giving each thing and each moment its proper due. The science of the higher teaching is based upon adab, which encompasses all of human life. It extends from right behaviour with regard to the Sacred Law (Shari'a), right behaviour with one's fellow travellers, proper conduct towards the teaching and one's teacher, and reaches to unceasing spiritual courtesy to Allah Himself. The proper courtesy towards the Law is to stay within its boundaries, the proper conduct with regards to good actions is to complete the action and disconnect from it. Adab with regard to the Real is knowing what belongs to oneself and what belongs to Allah. Each moment and each situation has it's own adab. It has been said that the higher teaching is all adab and the greater your understanding and implementation of proper conduct is, the higher you are in the teaching.