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

al-khalifah
Viceregent

(Al Khalifah). The viceregent of Allah is the perfected human being who has fulfilled his reason for being. He has carried the Trust which Allah offered to him, the Trust of being the locus of manifestation for the Name 'Allah'. The viceregent is the Perfect Man in whom Allah contemplates His own Name-derived Perfection. No one is called khalifah except through the perfection of the Divine Form within him. It is through His khalifah that Allah enters the world.


See also: Abiding in Allah Beautiful Model Blessing Compulsion Distress Freedom Perfect Man Poor Reality of Attraction Restriction Servitude Slave Trust
(Baqa). Subsistence with Allah for perpetuity. After the stage of annihilation in Allah, Allah either keeps His slave in this Station of stations or He sends him back to the world to perfect the still imperfect ones. Abiding is the slave's return to humanity in the robes of honour. Now he sees Allah established in everything and at all times. Baqa' corresponds to the third and final stage of 'self-annihilation'. This is the condition of the Slave and the Friend.
(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".
('Inam). Allah created man only to worship and know Allah. Man's creation is a blessing from Allah, firstly through having been given existence, secondly through having been brought out of the darkness and distress of non-existence, thirdly through having been given the possibility of assuming the traits (takhalluq) of the Divine Names and lastly in being made Allah's representative (khalifah) on earth. The blessings which Allah showers upon mankind are infinite. In knowing just how blessed they are, the truly Blessed Ones amongst His slaves continually supplicate for Allah to shower His Eternal Blessings upon the Best of creation, the Holy Prophet Muhammad - May the Salutations of Allah be upon him and Peace.
(Idtirar). Compulsion (as opposed to free choice). The angels are servants of Allah, but only by compulsion. Man is a servant of Allah by compulsion (idtirar) through his obligatory works and he is a servant by free choice (ikhtiyar) through his supererogatory works.
(Karb) is that metaphysical state of pressure and yearning for release which occurs for non-existent entities just before their creation. It is the divine sigh of the Nafas ar-Rahman, the Breath of the All Merciful, which brings relief and removes the distress by bestowing the entities with existence. This situation is somewhat reversed for the knower and lover of Allah who has been annihilated in the Source and sent back to the creation to fulfil his duty as Viceregent. It is said that the Sufi is uncreated, and while striving to fulfil his responsibilities towards the creation, he nonetheless experiences the distress (karb) of pressure and yearning for release to return, eternally, to Allah. He spends all of his moments trying to get back to where and how he was before he was!
(Hurriyyah). This is the ultimate freedom of being a slave of Allah. Such a slave is the noble soul who is emancipated from his lower self. In finding himself to be a slave he discovers his own essential non-existence and is therefore free. But, the paradox of this condition is that once freedom (Hurriyah) is realised it immediately opens up the knowledge that there is no freedom, for only the Essence Itself is Independent of the worlds.
(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 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.
(Haqiqat al Jadhbah). This is the power which enables one to draw anything to himself, from inanimate objects to humans. Haqiqat al jadhbah is of immense power and is only given to the spiritually advanced and mature Man. Such a Man is the only one who understands the reality of this Divine Power and therefore knows how to use it.
('Ubada). Servitude and bondage. This is the fulfilment and consummation of slavehood ('ubudiyya) when the slave loses himself in the Will of his Lord. 'Ubada is 'the Nearness of obligatory works' which is one of the four stations of Perfection. To realize 'ubuda is to be gifted with a very high degree of Knowledge of Allah. To know that 'the slave is the slave and the Lord is the Lord' is the supreme form of spiritual courtesy towards Allah. The Holy Prophet Muhammad al Mustapha (May the Salutations of Allah be upon him and Peace) is the Beloved of Allah and His Chosen One. No one is more perfect than him. No one can attain to his Knowledge. Yet Allah says in The Qur'an, "Glory be to Him Who carried His slave by night" (17:1). The slave is in bondage ('ubuda). Bondage is Perfection. Bondage is Knowledge.
('Abd). The slave (and worshipper) is the one who is in a state of total and utter submission to the Will of Allah. After having been annihilated in Allah where all duality vanished and distinctions were erased, he returns to creation with perfect courtesy and with the Truth of Certainty that 'the Lord is the Lord and the slave is the slave'. When 'abd is translated as 'servant' it carries the implication that the servant can leave the service of his Master, if he so desires. However, the 'slave' is in total bondage, being utterly dependent upon his Master. All buying and selling transactions have been terminated. The slave belongs to Allah, completely, perfectly and unconditionally.
(Amanat). The Trust was offered to the heavens and the earth, but they refused to carry it, but mankind accepted the Trust. The Trust is to act as a locus of manifestation of the All-Comprehensive Name 'Allah'. The Perfect Man is the one who fulfills this Trust and in so doing becomes worthy of being Allah's representative on this earth.

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