Glossary of Key Transliterated Terms

ab father

‘abā’ cloak

abad eternal end

Abadī Eternal

abjad science of letters and numbers

‘adad number

‘adam non-being

adhān call for prayer

‘adl justice

af ‘āl actions

afqah more knowledgeable in Islamic law

afrād individuals

Āḥād singly reported narrations

aḥdayn the two Testaments

aḥkām juridical rulings

Ahl al-Bayt Household of the Prophet, the 14 Infallibles

aḥqāf sandy deserts

al-akbar greater

akhbārī traditionalist

Ākhir al-zamān end of the universe

akhlāq ethics

a’lam more knowledgeable

‘Ālam realm, world

‘Ālam al-amr Realm of Command, immaterial world

‘Ālam al-khalq Realm of Creation, corporeal world

‘Ālam al-mithāl imaginal world, intermediate realm

‘alaqah blood-clot

al-’Alīm All-Knower

Āl-i Yāsīn the family of Yāsīn (ahl al-bayt)

‘allāmah most learned (title)

‘Allāmah Ṭabāṭabā’ī

alwāḥ Tablets

‘āmmah Sunni Muslims

amthāl wa ṣuwar ideas and forms

ānā’ al-layl wa aṭrāf al-nahār day and night

anāniyyah ‘I-ness’, egocentricity

anṣār supporters

aqānīm elements, principles

‘Āqil knower

‘aql intellect, reason, beings that are immaterial in essence and action

al-’aql al-awwal First Intellect

‘ara
accident

al-’ara
al-mufāriq separable accident

‘arḍī horizontal, lateral

arwāḥ spirits

aṣālah principality, primacy

asbāb causes, instruments

Asfār the shortened name of Mullā Ṣadrā’s book

ashrāṭ al-sā’ah signs of the Resurrection

‘Āshūrā’ 10th of Muḥarram, martyrdom of Imam Ḥusayn

al-aṣl al-qadīm primordial Origin

asmā’ names

al-asmā’ al-ḥusnā beautiful names

athar effect, trace

awliyā’ saints, friends of God

awra’ more self-restraint

Āyah sign, verse

al-a’yān al-thābitah Permanent Archetypes

Āyat al-Kursī Throne Verse

‘ayn entity, essence

al-’ayn al-thābit Permanent Archetype

‘ayn al-yaqīn vision of certitude

‘ayniyyah union, sameness

azal eternal beginning

Azalī Beginningless

badī’ rhetoric, eloquence

baḥt pure, sheer

balāghah eloquence

baqā’ subsistence

barzakh intermediate world between this world and Resurrection or between the realms of intellect and matter

basāṭah simplicity

basīṭ simple, not compound

basīṭ al-ḥaqīqah kull al-ashyā’ a simple reality is all things

bāṭin inward, esoteric, hidden

bayḍā whiteness

bay’ah allegiance

bayān eloquence, rhetoric

bi-abī anta wa ummī may my father and mother be sacrificed for thee

bi al-fi’l in-act, actualised

Biḥār al-Anwār Majlisī’s book

Bilqīs Queen of Sheba

burhān demonstration, deductive proof

Dajjāl a being prophesised to emerge at the end of the world

amīr pronoun

dār al-bawār abode of loss

da’wah call, message

dhāt essence

dhikr invocation, remembrance

Dhikurt a tribe in Iraq

du’ā’ supplication, prayer

dunyā this transient world

Fahlawiyyūn ancient sages of Persia

fākihah fruit

fanā’ annihilation

farsakh approx. 5.375 km

faṣāḥah eloquence

faṣl differentia

fi’l action

fiqh Islamic law, jurisprudence

fiṭrah nature

al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyyah Ibn al-‘Arabī’s book

al-Ghāfir Forgiver

ghayr other

ghayriyyah otherness

ghayūr jealous, protective

ghīrah jealousy, protectiveness

ḥadīth tradition, narration

ḥādith originated, created

ḥads intuition, guess

ḥajj pilgrimage of Mecca

al-Ḥakīm All-Wise

ḥākim al-shar’ religious ruler

ḥalū’ intolerant

al-ḥamdu li-llāh all praise be to Allah

ḥanīfan musliman an upright submitter

ḥaqīqah reality

al-ḥaqīqah al-mushakkikah graded reality

ḥaqīqī real

al-Ḥaqq the Truth, the Real

ḥaram shrine, sanctuary

al-ḥarkat al-jawhariyyah transubstantial motion

ḥasbunā kitāb Allāh the book of Allah is sufficient for us

ḥāshiyah gloss, annotation

ḥawāmīm chapters 40-46 of the Qur’ān

ḥawāriyyūn Apostles (of Jesus)

ḥayāt life

hay’ah traditional astronomy

hayūlā prime matter

al-ḥijāb al-aqrab the closest screen

ḥikmah philosophy, wisdom

al-ḥikmat al-’amaliyyah practical wisdom

ḥikmat al-ishrāq School of Illumination

al-ḥikmat al-naẓariyyah theoretical wisdom

ḥiss sensation, sense

ḥudūth origination, createdness

al-ḥudūth al-zamānī temporal createdness

huwa he

Huwa Hū He is He

huwiyyah identity

ibn son

idhn permission

idhn al-dukhūl permission of entrance

iḥḍār summoning

iḥtiyāṭ religious precaution

i’jāz miracle

ijmā’ consensus of scholars

ijtihād independent (juristic) judgment

ilāh deity, god

‘illat al-fā’ilī efficient cause

‘illat al-ghāyī final cause

‘ilm knowledge, science

al-’ilm al-fi’lī objectified knowledge

al-’ilm al-ḥuḍūrī presential and immediate knowledge

‘ilm al-yaqīn knowledge of certitude

ilqā’ throw, cast

il-Yāsīn Elias, or the family of Yāsīn (Ahl al-Bayt)

imām leader

imān faith, belief

imkān al-ashraf possibility of the higher realms

‘ināyah grace, mercy

inniyyah being, existence

insān human being

insāniyyah humanity

intizā’ derive, abstract

i’rāb inflectional morphology

irādī voluntary

‘irfān mysticism, gnosticism, Sufism

irhāṣ a supernatural act before its usual time

‘ishq love

ism name

‘iṣmah infallibility, innocence

al-Ism al-A’ẓam God’s Greatest Name

istikhdām to use as an instrument

al-istithnā’ al-mufarragh an exception that only states the exception, but not what is excepted

al-istithnā’ al-munqaṭi’ an independent sentence in the form of an exception

istiṭrādiyyah a separate sentence in the middle of another

i’tibār nominality, conceptuality

i’tibārī notional, conceptual, mental, unreal

i’tibāriyyāt mental abstractions

iṭlāq unconditionality

‘izzat al-nafs one’s sense of dignity and nobility

jabarūt invincibility, realm of immaterial intellects

jadal dialectics

jāhiliyyah Age of Ignorance, pre-Islam Arabia

jāmi’ a being that is existentially superior to the other beings of its kind

jān spirit (Persian)

jannat al-dhāt Garden of Essence

jannat al-liqā’ Garden of Vision

jannat al-na’īm Garden of Great Bounty

jāthimīn flat down on the floor

jawhar substance, a quiddity that would not need a carrier to exist

jazū’ fretful, impatient

jins genus

jism body

jismāniyyat al-ḥudūth, rūḥāniyyat al-baqā’ bodily in origination and spiritual in subsistence

juz’iyyah particular, specific

kabā’ir major sins

al-kabīr big, great

kamāl perfection, excellence

kamā qāla qā’iluhum as one of them has said

karāmah charismatic power, miracle

katharāt pluralities, multiplicities

kathrah plurality, multiplicity

kātib scribe, writer

khalīfah successor, heir

al-Khāliq Creator

khalsah trance

kharābāt the ‘ruins’, realm of liberated souls and people of spirituality and divine gnosis

khārij advanced studies, beyond the regular curriculum

khāriq al-’ādah supernatural event, miracle

khāṣṣah Shi’a Muslims

khaṭābah rhetorics, sermon

khayāl imaginative faculty

al-khayru fī mā waqa’a the good is in that which happened

khulūd eternity

khums one fifth, a religious due

kufr infidelity, disbelief, ingratitude

kullī universal, general (masculine)

al-kullī al-ṭabī’ī a general concept that can have multiple instances – whether mental or external

kulliyyah universal, general (feminine)

kun be (imperative)

kursī Throne, traditional table-heater

kuttāb scribes, writers

al-laff wa al-nashr al-murattab elaboration of previously mentioned topics in the same order

lāhūt divinity, realm of manifestation of God’s Names

lā huwa illā Hū there is no he but Him

lā ilāha illā Hū there is no deity but He

lawḥ Tablet

liqā’ vision, meeting

ma’ānī semantics

māddah matter

mafhūm concept, notion

Mahādī al-Khamsah the Five Mahdīs

maḥḍ sheer, absolute

māhiyyah quiddity, ‘whatness’

maḥmūl predicate

māhuwī essential, based on quiddity

ma’iyyah togetherness, concomitance

majāz something metaphorical and unreal

malak al-mawt Angel of Death

malakūt divine realms (in general), imaginal world and the realm of angels (in particular)

ma’lūl effect, caused

ma’lūm known

ma’nā meaning, spirit

manqūl transmitted sciences, narrations

mansūkh abrogated

manū’ selfishly restrictive

manzil station

maqām station

ma’qūl intellectual sciences

mar’ā pasture, plants

marfū’ a narration with unmentioned line of transmitters, unconnected to the Imam

ma’rifah gnosis, knowledge

marja’ reference, source of emulation in Islamic legal rulings

ma’rūf well-known, prominent

maṣlaḥah expediency, welfare

mathānī repeated

mawḍū’ subject

mawjūd existent, being

mawlawiyyah mastership

maẓhar epiphany, manifestation

mi’īn ‘hundreds’ chapters

minbar pulpit

minnah obligation, a favour involving humiliation

miṣdāq (external) instance

mithāl imaginal world, realm of forms

mubāhalah mutual cursing

mu
ghah crushed tissue

mufaṣṣal differentiated, ‘extended’ chapters

mughālaṭah sophistry

muḥākimāt reviews, assessments

muḥarrik mover, cause of motion

muḥāsabah self-reckoning

muḥkam solid, clear

al-Muḥyī Vivifier

muhr clay prayer stone

mujarrad immaterial, disentangled

mu’jizah miracle

mujmal undifferentiated, concise, non-detailed

mujtahid a jurist who can extract and interpret shariah rulings

mukāshafāt unveilings, clairvoyances

mukhlaṣ chosen, one who is purified and made sincere by Allah

mumkin al-wujūd contingent being

muqarrabīn intimate servants of Allah

muqaṭṭa’ah disjointed letters

mursal a narration with incomplete line of transmitters

murāqabah self-vigilance, watchfulness

musabbiḥāt glorification chapters

muṣḥaf written pages bound together

mushāhadāt spiritual visions

mushā’irah a game of poetry

mustafīḍah narrations reported by more than three transmitters, but not mutawatir

mutaḥarrik moving object

mutashābih analogous, ambiguous

mutawātir repeatedly reported narrations, such that their credibility is certain

muṭlaq absolute, unconditional

muttaqīn self-restrained individuals

muttaṣil connected

al-nafas al-raḥmāniyyah the Merciful’s Breath

nafs soul, self, ego

al-nafs al-ammārah evil commanding soul

al-nafs al-nāṭiqah rational soul, intellect

al-nafs al-qudsiyyah sacred soul, the highest stage of intuition

Nahj al-Balāghah a collection of sermons, letters, and short sayings by Imam ‘Alī

naḥw syntax, grammar

Najrān a city in Yemen

naql narrations, transmitted sciences

naqṣ imperfection, deficiency

na’īm great bounty

nāsikh abrogating

naskh abrogation

naw’ species, kind

Naẓm al-Sulūk Ibn al-Fāri
’s poem

ni’mah bounty, boon, blessing

nisā’ al-nabī the wives of the Prophet

nūr light

nuzūl descension, descent

qab
al-rūḥ death, spirits being captured

qāḍī al-quḍāt supreme judge

qadīm primordial

al-Qādir Powerful

qahhāriyyah dominance

qalam Pen

qalb heart

qarā’in external evidence

qasr imposed, forced and non-natural movement

qaws arc

qaws al-nuzūl Arc of Descent

qaws al-ṣu’ūd Arc of Ascent

qiblah direction of prayer, toward the Ka’bah in Mecca

Qibṭī Pharaoh’s tribe

Qirā’ah recitation

qiṣār ‘short’ chapters

qiyāmah resurrection

qul say (imperative)

qurb proximity, nearness

al-qurrā’ al-sab’ah the seven well-known reciters

rak’ah unit of prayer

al-Rāziq Sustainer

riḍā satisfaction

rijāl science of narrators

riwāyah narration, tradition

ri’y plants, pasture

rubūbiyyah lordship

rūḥ spirit

al-Rūḥ al-Amīn Trustworthy Spirit

al-rūḥ al-nāṭiqah rational spirit, intellect

Rūḥ al-Qudus Holy Spirit

ruhbāniyyah monasticism

rukn a corner of the Ka’bah

ruwaybi
ah ignoble and insignificant individuals

sab’an shidādā seven firm heavens

sabbaḥa glorified

sabbiḥ glorify (imperative)

al-ṣaghīr small

saḥābah Companions of the Prophet

ṣāḥib al-amr Director of God’s Command (Imam Mahdī)

Ṣaḥīfah page(s) of writing, book of supplications

Ṣaḥīḥ collection of authenticated narrations

sahm al-Imām Imam’s Share, half of the khums

sakīnah composure, calmness

sālik wayfarer

samūm poisonous or hot deadly winds

sardāb cellar

sawād blackness

sayr ilā al-khalq bi al-ḥaqq journey toward the creation by the Truth

sayr wa sulūk spiritual journey and wayfaring

sayyid a descendant of the Prophet

Shād-Ābād a village near Tabrīz

shādhdhah single and un- common recitations

shādhdhah ghayra ma’rūfah non-famous single recitations

shafā’ah intercession

shakhṣ person

shakhṣiyyah personal (feminine), personality

shākilah formation, nature

sha’n al-nuzūl circumstances in which a verse was revealed

shar’ religion

sharḥ commentary

sharr evil, bad

Shī’ah Shi’a Muslims

Shifā’ Ibn Sīnā’s book

Shimirt a tribe in Iraq

shi’r poem, poetry

shirk polytheism, idolatry

Sibṭī Children of Israel

ṣiddīqīn the truthful

ṣifah attribute, quality

ṣifāt attributes, qualities

ṣirāfah absoluteness

al-ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm the straight path

ṣirf absolute, sheer

sunnah tradition, custom

sūrah chapter of the Qur’an

ṣūrah form

al-ṣūrat al-naw’iyyah special form

ṣu’ūd ascent

al-suwar al-’atā’iq ancient chapters

ta’abbud obedience, submission

ta’ayyun determination, entification

al-ta’ayyun al-ismiyyah nominal determination

ṭab’ nature

tabdīl transformation

ṭabī’ah nature

ṭabī’ī natural

tābi’īn Followers, those who saw the Companions of the Prophet

ta
arru’ petition, supplication

tafsīr exegesis, commentary

tafwīḍ entrustment

taghāyur otherness

taḥaqquq realisation, substantiation

taḥlīl analysis

taḥrīf distortion

al-Tā’iyyah al-Kubrā Ibn al-Fāri
’s poem

tajallī manifestation, epiphany

tajarrud immateriality, transcendence

tajassum al-a’māl embodiment of actions

tajrīd abstraction

takāthur rivalry in amassment

takrār recurrence

ṭalabah student of religion

tamthīl symbolism, similitude

tamyīz contradistinction

taqiyyah concealing one’s beliefs

taqwā self-restraint, God-fear

ṭarf look, glance, eye

tark al-awlā abandonment of a preferred action

tarkīb wa mushtaq combination and derivation

tasalsul infinite regression

taṣarruf take control, change

tashakhkhuṣ personality, individuality

tashayyu’ Shi’ism

tashkīk gradation

taslīm submission

Taṭhīr Purification

tawakkul God-reliance

tawḥīd unity, monotheism

ṭayy al-ar
instantaneous self-transportation

thanā yathī bend, fold

ṭīnah nature

ṭiwāl ‘lengthy’ chapters

ṭūlī vertical, longitudinal

Ṭūr Mount Sinai

‘ubūdiyyah servitude

al-’ubūdiyyat al-maḥḍah sheer servitude

‘ūdhah protective charm

u’iddat prepared

ukhuwwah brotherhood

ūlū al-arḥām relatives

ummah nation, community

‘uqūl intellects, beings that are immaterial in essence and action

‘urafā’ mystics, gnostics, Sufis

ustād teacher, master

ustād-i ‘āmm general master

uṣūl fundamentals, principles of jurisprudence

uṣūl al-dīn fundamental beliefs

Uthūlūjiyā Aristotle’s Theology

waḥdah unity, oneness

al-waḥdah al-shakhṣiyyah personal unity

waḥdahu lā sharīka lah He is One and there is no partner for Him

wāḥid one, singly reported narrations

al-wāḥidu lā yaṣduru minhu illā al-wāḥid from One, there emerges only one

wahm illusion

waḥy revelation

wajh face

wājib al-wujūd Necessary Being

wajjahtu wajhiya li-llāh I have turned my face to Allah

walī guardian, saint

wālid father

wāqi’iyyah reality, actuality

wāridāt intuitions of the heart

al-wasīṭ intermediate

wayl woe

wijdān conscience, heart

wilāyah guardianship

wujūd being, existence

al-wujūd al-munbasiṭ expansive being, Universal Soul

al-wujūd al-shakhṣī personal being

yaghnaw resided, dwelt

yā Huwa yā man lā huwa illā Hū O He! O Who there is no he but Him

Ya’jūj and Ma’jūj Gog and Magog

Yamāmah a land in the Arabian Peninsula

yakūn become

yaqīn certitude

yartadda ilayka ṭarfuk your look returns to you

yusabbiḥu glorifies

yawm day

ẓāhir apparent, outward

zakāh alms, a religious due

ziyārah pilgrimage