160 AN INTRODUCTION TO SUFI DOCTRINE

mahabbah (love) and al-makhafah (fear) make up the Sufi
triad of motives or qualities which lead towards God.
Mevlevi: dervish order founded by Maulana Jalal ad-Din Rimi.

Mishkah : niche, tabernacle. Cf. the surat of the “Light’’: “God
is the light of the heavens and of the earth. The symbol
or His Light is like a tabernacle (mishkah); in the tabernacle
there is a lamp, the lamp is in a glass; the glass is like a
brilliant star” etc. (XXIV, 35).

al-mudhakkarah : spiritual talk, the action of recalling (dhikr) to
one another divine truths,

Muhyi-d-Din ibn ‘Arabi (sometimes: ibn al-‘Arabi) al-Hatimi,
al-Andaliisi, surnamed ash-Sheikh al-Akbar (The greatest
master), 1165-1240. Wrote numerous Sufi treatises of which
the most famous is his Fusiis al-Hikam and the most rich
in content his Futithat al-Mekkiyah.

al- mumkinat : plural of mumkin: the possibilities. In logic a
distinction is made between mumkin (possible), wajib
(necessary) and j@iz (contingent); from the metphysical
point of view the possible amounts principially to the
necessary, since of necessity every possibility has the reality
that conforms to its nature.

al-murshid: the spiritual master; literally : he who leads straight.

Nafas ar-Rahman: “The Outbreathing of the Campassionate,”
also called an-Nafas Ralhmani: * The Merciful Qutbreath-
ing” ; Divine Mercy considered as manifesting principle
and thus as the quasi-maternal power of God.

nafassa : to breathe, breathe out, dilate console.

an-nafs: the soul, the psyche, the subtle reality of an individual,
the “I’’. As opposed to the spirit (rith) or to the intellect,
(‘agl) the nafs appears in a negative aspect, because it is
made up of the sum of individual or egocentric tendencies.
But a distinction is made between :—

1. an-nafs al-haywaniyah: the animalsoul, the soul
as passively obedient to natural impulsions ;

2. an-nafs al-ammarah: “the soul which com-