Maʿrifa is the knowledge of the gnostic, the ʿārif, gained by unveiling rather than study. It is contrasted with ʿilm, acquired knowledge. Sufi teachers held that maʿrifa is given to the purified heart and that it transforms the knower; ʿAṭṭār made it the third of his seven valleys.
Maʿrifa
Gnosis: the direct, experiential knowledge of God, distinguished from learned knowledge.
Also: Marifa, gnosis