Arabic terms

15 terms in Arabic and transliteration.

Reading the transliteration

ʿ (ʿayn) is a voiced sound from deep in the throat; ʾ (hamza) is a catch in the breath, as in “uh-oh”. A macron (ā, ī, ū) marks a long vowel. Dotted ḥ is a breathy h; dotted ṣ, ḍ, ṭ and ẓ are heavier versions of s, d, t and z. kh is the “ch” of “loch”, gh a soft gargled r, and q a k said far back in the throat.

al-ḥaqqالحق: Truth (Sufism). What is so; the agreement of thought with reality, and in some traditions reality itself.
al-insān al-kāmilالإنسان الكامل: The perfect human being (Sufism). In the school of Ibn ʿArabī, the human being who fully reflects all the names of God.
Allāhالله: God (Islam). The supreme being of theistic traditions: creator, sustainer and object of worship.
baqāʾبقاء: Baqāʾ (Sufism). In Sufism, subsistence in God after the passing away of the self.
dhikrذكر: Dhikr (Sufism). The remembrance of God, above all by the repetition of divine names.
fanāʾفناء: Fanāʾ (Sufism). In Sufism, the passing away of the self in God.
ʿishqعشق: ʿIshq (Sufism). Passionate love, in Sufism the love that draws the soul to God.
maʿrifaمعرفة: Knowledge (Sufism). Justified understanding; in contemplative traditions, also knowledge by identity.
nafsنفس: Self (Sufism). What one is, beneath roles, thoughts and body.
ṣaḥwصحو: Sobriety and intoxication (Sufism). Two Sufi descriptions of the mystic’s state: the ecstatic “drunkenness” of union, and the sober return to the world with God.
sukrسكر: Sobriety and intoxication (Sufism). Two Sufi descriptions of the mystic’s state: the ecstatic “drunkenness” of union, and the sober return to the world with God.
tawḥīdتوحيد: Tawḥīd (Islam). The oneness of God, the first principle of Islam; for the Sufis, also the unification of the heart.
Unity (Islam). Oneness, in the sense of wholeness, identity or union.
waḥdat al-shuhūdوحدة الشهود: Waḥdat al-shuhūd (Sufism). The “unity of witnessing”: Aḥmad Sirhindī’s teaching that the mystic’s experience of oneness is real as experience, not as a unity of being.
waḥdat al-wujūdوحدة الوجود: Waḥdat al-wujūd (Sufism). The “oneness of being”, the teaching associated with Ibn ʿArabī and his school.
wujūdوجود: Being (Islamic philosophy). The fact or act of existing; the subject of ontology.

The whole glossary