Calendar of Saints The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word “feast” in this context does not mean “a large meal, typically a celebratory one”, but instead “an annual religious celebration,...
What Is Heaven? Name and place of heaven The name of Heaven Heaven (Anglo-Saxon heofon, O.S. hevan and himil, originally himin) corresponds to the Gothic himin-s. Both heaven and himil are formed from himin by a regular change of consonants: heaven, by changing m before n into v; and himil, by changing n of the unaccented ending into l. Some derive heaven from the root ham, “to cover” (cf. the Gothic ham-ôn and the...
Waliyy And Awliyaullah (God’s Friend [Saint] And God’s Friends [Saints]) This article explains the meaning of Waliyy and Awliyaullah (God’s Friend [Saint] And God’s Friends [Saints]) in Sufism. Literally meaning a friend, a helper, a loyal one, or a guardian, a waliyy is one who is devoted to God with...
Walaya (Sainthood) Literally meaning a person, a community, or a country that is under the direction and rule of another, walaya (sainthood) denotes annihilation with respect to carnal selfhood and egoism in favor of awareness of being under the dominion of the All-Living, Self-Subsistent One and of the need to...
Barq (Lightning) Barq (lightning) is a light that flashes in an initiate during the first steps of the journey toward sainthood. This is the first invitation to those seeking nearness to God. The scholars of truth have related the emergence of lightning to the verse (20:9-10), Has there come to...
Visions Versus Hallucinations This article covers Visions Versus Hallucinations. A spiritual vision is usually a very pleasant, uplifting experience. People may “see” God, angels, saints, or indescribable light. Such a vision usually brings a new direction to life and leaves the individual with a “lighter” countenance, a greater joy in...
What Is Heaven? Heaven, or the heavens, is a common religious, cosmological, or transcendent place where beings such as gods, angels, spirits, Saint, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or live. According to the beliefs of some religions, heavenly beings can descend to earth or incarnate, and earthly beings can...