Qast And ‘Azm (Decision And Resolution) This article explains the meaning of Qast and ‘Azm (Decision and Resolution) in Sufism. Qast means confidence, determination, choosing, and advancing straight toward a destination, thinking and reasoning moderately and deliberately, and living a moderate and balanced life. For Sufis, this term represents an...
Irada, Murid, and Murad (Will, the Willing One, and the Willed One) This article explains the meaning of Irada, Murid, and Murad (Will, the Willing One, and the Willed One) in Sufism. Irada (will) is both a verb and a noun. As a verb, it means to choose between two...
Yaqin (Certainty) Yaqin (certainty) means having no doubt about the truth of a matter and arriving at accurate, doubtfree knowledge through exact verification. Used also to mean verification, seeking certainty, examining, and exerting strenuous effort to arrive at certainty, certainty is a spiritual station that a traveler on the path...
Basira and Firasa (Insight and Discernment) This article covers Basira and Firasa (Insight and Discernment). Literally meaning perception, intelligence, discretion, evidence, and witness, insight (basira) is defined as having an eye of the heart open, deep perception, an ability to see consequences just at the beginning of an act, or...
Sakina And Itmi’nan (Serenity And Peacefulness) This article explains the meaning of Sakina and Itmi’nan (Serenity and Peacefulness) in Sufism. Literally meaning calmness, silence, steadiness, solemnity, familiarity, subsidence of waves and tranquillity, sakina (serenity) is the opposite of flightiness, restlessness, and wavering or indecision. In the language of Sufism, serenity...
Spiritual Journey “Spiritual Journey” is an agreeable luminous joyful and spiritual sacred truth. This truth has been proclaimed taught and described in thousands of books written by the scholars among the people of illumination and those who have had unfolded to them the reality of creation who have told us...
Key Concepts In The Practice Of Sufism The aspect of Fethullah Gülen’s “mission” or personality as a trainer of the human soul may be seen most profoundly and comprehensively in Emerald Hills of the Heart or Key Concepts In The Practice Of Sufism, a four-volume compilation of his writings that...
Ihsan (Perfect Goodness) Ihsan (Perfect Goodness) has two literal meanings, doing something well and perfectly and doing someone a favor, and is sometimes used in the Qur’an and the Sunna with either meaning. At other times, as pointed out in the reflections on Heart while describing the Prophet Joseph’s consciousness...
The Heart and Some of Its Dynamics This article covers The Heart and Some of Its Dynamics in Sufi terminology. The heart (Kalb) is a spiritual resource with two aspects; through one it turns toward the world of spirits, through the other it connects with the world of physical bodies....
Dhikr (Recitation of God’s Names) This article is all about Dhikr (Recitation of God’s Names). Literally meaning mentioning, remembrance, and recollection, in the speech of the Sufis dhikr denotes regular recitation of one or some of God’s Names in the same recitation session. Some spiritual or Sufi orders prefer to...
Rida (Resignation) Rida (resignation) means showing no rancor or rebellion against misfortune, and accepting all manifestations of Destiny without complaint and even better peacefully. In other words, one should welcome all things and events, even those normally associated with distress and terror. Another beautiful definition of resignation is having or...
Inbisat (Expansion) Inbisat (Expansion), Literally meaning growing larger and deeper, spreading and expanding, Sufis use inbisat to signify the relaxing of one’s heart, to the extent allowed by the Shari’a, so that it can embrace everybody and make them pleased or contented with one’s gentle words and pleasant manners. In...
Day Of Arafah The Day of Arafah (يوم عرفة, Yawm Arafah) is an Islamic holiday that falls on the 9th day of Dhu al-Hijjah of the lunar Islamic Calendar. It is the second day of the Hajj pilgrimage and the day after is the first day of the major Islamic holiday of Eid...
Stoning Of The Devil The Stoning of the Devil (رمي الجمرات ramy al-jamarāt, “throwing of the jamarāt [place of pebbles]”) is part of the annual Islamic Hajj pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. During the ritual, Muslim pilgrims throw pebbles at three walls (formerly pillars), called jamarāt, in the city of Mina just east of Mecca. It...
History Of The Hajj The History of the Hajj is not clear as there is no evidence of its existence in its current practice until the start of islam in the mid 7th century. Islamic writers claim it started from the time of Abraham through the establishment of the Islamic Hajj by Islamic...
Mount Arafat Mount Arafat or Mount Arafah (جَبَل عَرَفَات transliterated Jabal ʿArafāt) is a granite hill about 20 km (12 mi) east of central Mecca in the plain of Arafat. Mount Arafat reaches about 70 m (230 ft) in height, and is also known as the “Mount of Mercy” (جَبَل ٱلرَّحْمَة, Jabal Ar-Raḥmah). According to Islamic tradition, the hill is the place...
Tawhid (Unity) Tawhid (Unity), derived from wahda (oneness), means unifying, regarding as one, believing in God‘s Oneness or Unity, and sincerely accepting the reality that there is no deity but God. The Sufis add to these meanings the ideas of seeing only He Who is the One, and knowing, mentioning,...
Tawadu (Humility) This article covers Tawadu (Humility) in Sufi terminology. Tawadu (modesty and humility) is the opposite of arrogance, pride, and haughtiness. It can also be interpreted as one’s awareness of one’s real position before God, and as letting that realization guide one’s conduct toward God and with people. If...
Sidq (Truthfulness) Meaning true thought, true words and true actions, sidq (Truthfulness), is reflected in the life of a traveler on the path to God as follows: he or she does not lie or tell a falsehood, lives according to truthfulness, and strives to be a trustworthy representative of loyalty to God....
Haya (Modesty) Sufis use haya (modesty), which literally means shame, bashfulness, and refraining from saying or doing anything improper or indecent, to describe one who, out of fear and awe of God, seeks to avoid displeasing Him. It urges one to be more careful, self-possessed, and self-controlled, for such restraint,...