The Language of the Future
Sufi Terminology
by Murshid F.A. Ali ElSenossi
waqi'a
Incident
(Waqi'a). This is a true dream or vision which derives from the essence of man. An Incident is identified with heralding visions and the 'beginnings of divine revelation'. An 'incident' may be seen in sleep, in annihilation or in wakefulness.
(Yaqzah). Awake and alert and aware. After having woken from the sleep of heedlessness and neglect, the slave must be in a state of constant alertness. He must be always prepared to receive whatever Allah Wills to send to him, whether it be His stern rebuke or His Loving-kindness. It is understanding what Allah 'says' in His rebuke.
(Fana'). Self-annihilation or self-effacement or dissolution or passing away from self. Through being joined to Allah, the Real; man is annihilated from himself - the 'limited existence' of the traveller is overpowered by the 'absolute existence' of Allah, so that the traveller becomes unaware of his own self and the creation. Fana' is the last stage on the ascent to Allah. When travelling to the Source, the seeker passes through different levels of fana', each of which brings him closer to his Goal. There are hundreds, even thousands, of fana's. Every time a form of ignorance is removed to be replaced by knowledge, the murid has experienced fana'. He has tasted the annihilation of an ignorance. And, every moment of existence is in fact a moment which is pregnant with its own particular knowledge. So, for the aware one, each moment can be a fana'. However, within the higher teaching of Tasawwuf there are three major types of fana', through which the murid must travel if he is to reach the Absolute. These are Annihilation in the Murshid/Spiritual Guide, Annihilation in the Messenger and Annihilation in Allah.
(Ru'yah) It is within a dream vision that much of the Sufi Teaching may be transmitted, from a higher realm, to the dreamer. Within a dream vision meanings become clothed in forms. The knower is the one who knows what Allah means by the observed image in the vision. He is true to his vision and gives it its due. The learner is the one who does not know what Allah means but he has the aptitude and capacity to advance to the level of knowledge. His ru'yah must be interpreted for him because he deems the vision to be true. In other words, he takes the observed images as veridical and corresponding to the external world, until Allah teaches him and he knows the meaning.
(Nawm). The hadith says, "Man is asleep and when he dies he wakes". The Sufi is the one who has died to self and is awake in the Supreme Self. Once man has awoken there is no more sleep. Within mystical poetry and Sufi songs the lover often complains to the Beloved Who has taken away his sleep and given him no rest for his limbs. In every moment of his existence each cell of the lover's body is restlessly pursuing the Beloved. Or sometimes this wakefulness is inexpressibly sweet "When You are here we stay up all night and when you are away I can't sleep. Praise be to Allah for these two insomnias!"
This term may also refer to the two ordinary kinds of sleep which are experienced by man. One is the type in which there is rest and ease from weariness, and the other is the type in which dreams occur. The second type is a transferral from the manifest side of sense perception to its nonmanifest side.
