Garden of the Sufis

Arif(arifi billah)
gnostic; the mature human being who has attained true knowledge of Allah

Ashk
a love with no end; ashkullah--Divine Love; the love of Allah

Beka
eternal; the eternal world; the annihilation of self or of self-seeking by an eternal union with Allah, together with service towards humankind

Beytigahi subhan
the house in which Allah is remembered; the heart of the human being

Beytullah
the house of Allah; the first special house of worship built by the Prophet Ibrahim; the direction that all Muslims must turn for worship; kible; in Tasawwuf, the heart of the Murshid

Biat
to take hand from your Murshid; to take an oath of allegiance; the reaffirmation of the ikrar, the promise that was given in the ezel, the time before creation, through the Murshid; the spiritual testimony of the ikrar in this world

Dervish
a student of Tasawwuf; a person who has eliminated duality in his heart and is trying to live the system of Allah's oneness

Edeb
good manners; the system and ways of living with good and beautiful ahlak; to your hand, to your tongue, to your waist, be of careful control

Ehli beyt
the Prophet Muhammed, Hz. Ali, Hz. Fatma, Hz. Hasan, Hz. Huseyin; also, the descendants from this lineage are sometimes called ehli beyt

Ezel
the moment before time or creation in which we were all one with Allah

Futuaat
salvation; the opening of the heart to Allah.

Garip
stranger; one away from his own country; poor, needy, strange. In Tasawwuf, "We have come from the world of beka, so in this world we are garip."

Hadis
the words of the Prophet Muhammed which came from the understanding of particular events; Hadisi Kudsi: Allah's words through the Prophet Muhammed outside of the Quran; Hadisi Sherif: the honored hadis; the words used by the Prophet Muhammed to open up verses of the Quran

Hak
Truth; the known and visible values and realities that Allah has created; everything that is deserved through working with loyalty

Hakikat
Reality; Truth; Divine Truths which are realized

Haram
forbidden; items that have been forbidden to people because of their harmfulness to both the spiritual and physical well-being; helal: that which is lawful; things that are spiritually and physically beneficial

Hidayet
spiritual guidance; the spiritual path of Islam

Himmet
blessing; an unseen lutuf that comes from Allah

Huzur
peace and tranquillity; when the mind and idrak combine, the Divine Pleasure is called huzur

Idrak
a comprehension, a reaching of maturity, an attaining; the name of the system in which one connects the thoughts to Allah by beautifying them

Ikrar
a promise given with decisiveness; the decisiveness that is proven through the promise; the declaration or promise that was made in the ezel, the time before creation, when Allah asked all the souls if He was their Lord and they all answered "Yes." The tie of love between Allah and ourselves.

Ilmi ledün
the infinite knowledge of Allah; Hz. Muhammed was the Sultan of ilmi ledün

Imtisal
to take one as an example; to follow that example through your condition; to take on the attributes of that example

Irfan
culture; spiritual knowledge; the gain that is arrived at through the application of knowledge to one's life

Kafir
unbeliever; the one who covers Hakikat; in Old Arabic a farmer was called kafir because he covered the seeds with earth

Khidr
the Green Man; the symbol of the attribute of Prophethood that is immortal; the inner meaning of Khidr is the essential body that one prepares for Allah

Kible
the direction of beytullah; the city of Mecca to which Muslims turn in prayer

Kudret
one of the 99 esma of Allah is Kadir, the Able; it manifests itself as the one who has the Divine Power to do whatever he needs to do; kudret is the name of this power

Kutb
chief center of spiritual influence; most imminent person; chief of Allah's saints on earth; every 200 years the kutb changes, and each kutb influences knowledge according to the times; there is only one kutb at a time, and each kutb has three helpers who are called kutb ul-aktab, or scribes

Makam
level, station; the place where the condition that you are in is lived; in Tasawwuf, the place where you sit with spiritual huzur

Marifet
the fourth Divine door in Tasawwuf; the station at which spiritual knowledge finds value; the knowledge that you have found before finds value inside of you at this point

Melamet
the condition of hiding one's spiritual maturity; the station of nothingness; in the presence of Allah, the knowledge that one does not exist

Meydan
public square or circle; in Tasawwuf, the spiritual gathering place

Miraj
Hz. Muhammed's ascent to arshu-âla, or the holy dimension of astronomical and astrological space; a spiritual ladder

Namaz
ritual prayer; selat

Nazargâh
the place from which the nazar, the look that transmits Allah's power, comes

Nefes
breath; in Tasawwuf, the Divine Energy that is given through the breath of the Murshid to the murid, or student

Nefs
the soul; the immature system within the human being that is a part of the Divine Existence; when the nefs is mature, then closeness to Allah is found

Noktayi süeyda
a black point located right underneath the bottom side of the heart, where hidden knowledge gathers in the human being's body

Nur
Divine Light; a light born from Divine Energy

Pir
elder, great one; in Tasawwuf, the name given to the one who establishes an Order

Rahmet
Allah's mercy, compassion, forgiveness and grace

Riza
contentment; in Tasawwuf, the understanding that everything that comes is good and comes from Allah; acceptance without complaint

Seha
generosity; sehavet: generosity; giving with the power that is born of the gönül

Selam
the peace of mercy.

Shiar
essential identity; spiritual calling.

Silsile
lineage, genealogy; in Tasawwuf, the list of the succession of saints and shaikhs from Hz. Muhammed to the present, in a particular Order; Silsile Sherife--the honored silsile

Sunnet
the path that has been cleansed; the traditions of Allah and all of the Prophets

Taj
crown; in Tasawwuf, the headpiece worn by the Pir of an Order and also, through the lineage, worn by the shaikhs of that Order; each Order attaches its own symbolic value to the taj

Takva
the fear of doing wrong which comes from loving someone and not wishing him to be disappointed or hurt by you

Tarikat
the Divine Path; a system of teaching religious rules with greater sensitivity; the Sufi orders are called tarikat; Tarike, singular; tarikat, plural

Tasawwuf
Sufism

Tejrid
an insulation from energy; for example, this may occur when one enters halvet, retreat

Tenzih
the knowledge that all that the Creator has created is free from defects

Teslim
submission; in Tasawwuf, where the nefs and the ruh, spirit, have come to an accord; teslimiyet is the connection that arises from such an accord

Tevhid
union, oneness

Zahir
the Manifest One, one of the 99 esma of Allah; external; the outward visibility of the characteristics of Allah's creation

Zikr
remembrance; repetition of Allah's Names; meditation through movement and chanting