The Language of the Future

Sufi Terminology by Murshid F.A. Ali ElSenossi

qurb an-nawafil
Nearness of Supererogatory Works

(Qurb an-nawafil) is the lowest of the four stations of Perfection. The slave who performs the supererogatory works attains this proximity. While retaining his own reality he is completely dominated by Allah's Oneness and becomes qualified by His Attributes. Allah manifests Himself with His Name, the Inward, so that He remains hidden within the lover. The agent and subject is the lover and Allah's Presence within him is manifested by Allah becoming the lover's faculties. The Beloved becomes the lover's sight, voice etc.

See also: Nearness Perfection Perfect Man Senses Supererogatory good works

(Qurb). Proximity or nearness to Allah. Qurb is the reality of the Station of Perfection, 'Two Bows' Length'. It is the limit of the slave's ascent before annihilation in Allah. One of the bewilderments of the Journey is that through having knowledge of his distance from Allah the slave is actually brought near. Slavehood indicates this distance which brings nearness. The slave must cling to perfect courtesy by honouring and respecting the Truth that, 'the slave remains the slave and the Lord remains the Lord'.
Nearness

(Ihsan). Excellence or perfection or sanctifying virtue or spiritual beauty. Ihsan has three degrees: 1).To do the good that should be done with one's property, words, acts and states. 2). To worship with total presence like one was actually seeing one's Lord. 3). To contemplate Allah in all things, at all times and always. Perfection is the third rung on the seven-runged ladder of Knowledge. These seven levels are Islam, Iman; Ihsan; 'Ilm al yaqin; 'Ayn al yaqin; Haqq al yaqin; Islam. (Surrender, Faith, Perfection, Knowledge of Certainty, The Eye of Certainty, The Truth of Certainty and Total Surrender and Submission).
Perfection

(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.
Perfect Man

(Hiss). The faculty of sensation or the domain of the senses. The senses act as a veil over Reality and it for this reason that the lover of Allah supplicates to have his senses removed! But, because man has been placed within the domain of the senses he has been given the means to purify his senses and draw closer to his Lord. Through the Remembrance of Allah the veil over his senses may be removed to reveal the Reality of those senses. When immersed in the dhikr his senses may be burned away and replaced by Allah. The Hadith Qudsi says, "... Then, when I love him, I am his hearing through which he hears, his sight through which he sees, his hand through which he grasps and his foot through which he walks".
Senses

(Nawafil al Khayrat). Through the Infinite Grace of Allah the sincere practising of the nawafil al khayrat may result in the spiritual perfection in which the slave's hearing, sight, speech etc. are negated. He then hears, sees and speaks through Allah. This is the Nearness of supererogatory works.
Supererogatory good works
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