Glossary of Sufi terms

Most glossaries of Sufism define terms in the abstract. This one defines them from the sources: every entry is built from passages in the complete translations published here, and every quotation links to the chapter it came from, so you can read around it.

The framework

• Ḥāl and MaqāmState and station: what is given and what is earned. The distinction that organises most Sufi vocabulary.
• ʿIlm and MaʿrifatKnowledge and gnosis. One is learned; the other, al-Hujwīrī says, “cannot be acquired by ordinary means.”
• TawḥīdDeclaring the unity of God — which, on al-Hujwīrī’s account, cannot be done without knowledge of it.

The self and its states

• Nafs and RūḥThe lower soul and the spirit. “The source of the blameable qualities in man is nafs.”
• Fanā and BaqāPassing away and subsistence. What is annihilated is the attributes, not the person.
• Qabḍ and BasṭContraction and expansion: two states no human act can induce or banish.

The practice

• Zuhd and TawakkulRenunciation and trust in God. The order between them cannot be skipped.
• SamāʿAudition. Al-Ghazali defends it, al-Hujwīrī hedges it, Suhrawardī calls it an innovation.
• Khirqa and MurīdThe patched frock and the disciple who receives it, read as an allegory of the whole path.
• KarāmātThe miracles of the saints, and why the tradition that affirms them is wary of them.