The Language of the Future

Sufi Terminology by Murshid F.A. Ali ElSenossi

makanah
Rank

(Makanah). Elevation is of two kinds one is elevation in rank (makanah) and the other is elevation in place (makan) and mankind is described by both. Elevation in rank (makanah) pertains to knowledge, for it is through Knowledge of Allah that the knower rises in degrees of nearness to Allah.

See also: Knowers of Allah People of Allah Place

(Al 'Arifin/'Urufa). They see and recognize Allah wherever they look. The knowers are bewildered. But this is not the bewilderment of being lost, rather it is the bewilderment of having found Allah. They know that He cannot be known. The knowers are nothing because they are everything.
Knowers of Allah

(Ahl Allah). This title embraces the entire humanity, but there are many degrees within the Ahl Allah. These are the various levels of 'knowing Allah', for it is in knowing Allah that one is brought near to Allah. Amongst humanity there are people who do not want to know Allah, and there are people who do not know Allah, and people who do want to know Allah and at the higher levels there are the people who do know Allah. The men of this last group, the knowers of Allah ('arifin), occupy numerous ascending levels in their 'knowing'.
People of Allah

(Makan). Elevation is of two kinds one is elevation in rank (makanah) and the other is elevation in place (makan) and mankind is described by both. Elevation in place pertains to works and worship, for it is through works and worship that man is elevated in the degrees of Paradise. The term makan is also applied to a resting-spot or waystation in the expanse, which exists only for the people of Perfection, who have actualized the stages and states and passed beyond them to the stage above Majesty and Beauty. They have neither substantial attribute nor relational characteristic.
Place
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