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

wajd
Ecstasy

(Wajd). These are the states which come upon the heart unexpectedly. They annihilate it from witnessing itself and others. Ecstasy is the descent of immense spiritual energy upon the slave. It overwhelms the senses, causing extreme physical reactions. Ecstasy is true when body, mind and heart are overcome by this descent. Wajd may manifest as intense joy, when Allah's Beauty dominates, or as intense grief, when His Majesty dominates. It is during the spiritual concert that the lover may experience ecstasy and more ecstasy. Ecstasy is a gift of Allah's Grace upon His lover. Without these gifts of wajd the lover would be unable to bear the intensity of longing and love contained within his heart.


See also: Desire Inviting ecstasy Longing-Intense Lover- Passionate Madman Passionate love of Allah Sufi Singer Sufi Song
(Irada) is the pain of love in the heart. There is no free choice involved with desire because when it fills the heart the lover is overwhelmed. He is compelled to seek the Beloved with all of his being. The murid is 'the one who desires Knowledge of Allah'.
(Tawajud). Inviting ecstasy or 'rushing out to meet ecstasy half way'. The spiritual concert is one of the most powerful means through which ecstasy may be invited. The lover of Allah always contains an inner movement of yearning towards Allah. When Allah keeps His lover at a distance, this inner movement may be very slight. In his longing to be with his Beloved the lover of Allah will use all the available means to 'find' Allah again. This is tawajud. The hadith says, "Weep, and if ye weep not, then try to weep".
(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 said that breath is a movement of yearning towards the Beloved and within the breathing enjoyment is experienced. The breathing of the ecstatic who is under the pull of the Divine Attraction bears witness to this. The Reality of shawq is that the luminous fire takes over the heart and there is no medicine for it except for meeting of the Beloved. The intense fire in the heart comes about because of the separation between the one who desires and the One who is desired. When the meeting takes place, the fire of longing will be extinguished. In the state of secretness, what increases is the witnessing of the Beloved, and shawq has no place there. One of the lovers of Allah said 'Do you desire Allah?' he answered 'No', because you only desire that which is absent from you and my Beloved is always present with me. The unification of this factor is in the unification of the spiritual resolve towards Allah and the continous journeying to Him - that is 'To worship Allah like you see Him, and if you do not see Him, be certain that He sees you'. He is with you in the present moment, for this reason, you do not desire Him, because you are with Him. Shawq is he need of the heart to meet the Beloved.
(Majdhub). He is the one who is under the influence of Divine Attraction (jadhba). The power of this Attraction brings about spiritual intoxication (sukr) and indifference to all that is 'other-than-Allah'. In being drawn towards Allah the majdhub experiences excessive ecstasy. The Divine Attraction can descend with great force during the 'spiritual audition' (sama') when the hearer becomes thoroughly intoxicated by his yearning and love of Allah.
('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.
(Qawwal). During the 'spiritual concert' (sama') the qawwal may be the means through which the hearer finds Allah in ecstasy. When this occurs it is true sama' because sama' is a bird which flies from Allah to Allah - Allah is the singer and Allah is the hearer. The barakah surrounding and emanating from the qawwal and his musicians is extremely potent. Its effect upon an audience can be profound even when the members of that audience are ignorant of, and oblivious to, the reality within the singer and the music. For the one who has been prepared and purified, through spiritual struggle and the Remembrance of Allah, the speech of the qawwal can send his heart soaring towards the spiritual realm, where a thousand subtleties and delicacies are opened to him.
(Qawwali). A Sufi song and music. Through the rhythms of qawwali the listener may be opened to inrushes of knowledge and awareness through which he reaches ecstasy. If he 'finds' Allah within this ecstasy then he has experienced the true 'spiritual concert'.

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