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

du'a
Supplication

(Du'a'). Du'a is the private and personal supplication of the slave to his Lord. "Your Lord has said Call upon Me and I will answer you" (The Qur'an 2:260). "Call upon Allah, or call upon Rahman (the Merciful), By whatever name ye call upon Him, (it is well) for to Him belong the Most Beautiful Names" (The Qur'an 17:110). This personal form of prayer gives to the worshipper the opportunity to pour out his heart, expressing his longings, his fears, and his intense need of his Lord. In so doing man can rid himself of accumulated poisons and emotional debris which block the celestial channel between himself and Allah Almighty. Sitting, with head bowed and palms upturned in an attitude of readiness to receive the barakah from above, man may become a symbol, not only of spiritual poverty but also one of supreme trust.

See also: Beautiful Model Independence 'My Lord, increase me in knowledge' Poor Receive

Beautiful Model ( uswa hasana )

(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".

Independence ( ghina )

(Ghina). Independence, wealth and in need of nothing. Allah, as the Essence, is perfectly Independent and in need of nothing. He knows Himself and we know nothing of Allah in His Essence. The essential attribute of creation is poverty (faqr) which is the opposite of wealth (ghina). We are dependent upon, and in need of, Allah. Independence from creation belongs to the Essence from Eternity-without-Beginning. Poverty towards Allah in His Independence belongs to the possible thing in its state of non-existence from Eternity-without-Beginning. Due to the 'renewal of creation in each instant' the entities are constantly poor and needy towards Allah in each instant. Within each smallest duration of time in the cosmos the entities are in utter need and poverty. The knower of Allah knows his essential poverty and Allah's Essential Wealth. He is the true faqir.

Poor ( al-fuqara )

(Al Fuqara). The indigents or the poor. This term refers to the spiritual poverty of travellers on the Sufi Path. These travelling murids who are in need of their Spiritual Guide or Murshid, display their poverty towards him, and in so doing, they make firm his poverty towards Allah.

Receive ( iqbal )

(Iqbal). 'Receive' or 'turn towards'. When Allah created the Intellect He said to it 'Receive' (iqbal) (or 'turn towards [Me]'.) When it had received He said to it 'Transmit' (or 'turn away [from Me]') and it transmitted. The First Intellect is synonymous with the Supreme Pen, which is none other than the Reality of Muhammad. The terms 'receive' and 'transmit' indicate the function of Mediator or Supreme Barzakh between the Unseen World and the World of manifestation.

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