Glossary
ahl al-Bayt
literally, “people of the house”; members of the Prophet Muhammad’s family, especially those martyred at the Battle of Karbala in 680.
Ashura
literally, “ten”; the tenth day of the Islamic month of Muharram, marking the martyrdom of Ali ibn Abi Talib’s son Husayn at the Battle of Karbala.
awliya’
plural of wali, literally, “friend”; friends of God, holy men, saints.
baba (Turkish)
literally, “father”; term used for revered spiritual leaders and saints in some Sufi orders.
baraka
blessing, spiritual power, charisma deriving from God and, in Sufi context, transmitted through saints.
basmala
word for the phrase bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim, translated as “In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate.” It is recited by Muslims before any action or speech.
çelebi (Turkish)
descendant of Jalal al-Din Rumi. By extension, the head of some Sufi orders in Türkiye.
darga (Persian, Urdu)
literally, “doorway”; Sufi institution such as a residence or shrine with a lodge and/or a tomb.
darvish (Persian) or dervish (Turkish)
literally, “door-seeker”; originally a mendicant; generic term for a Sufi.
deg or dig (Urdu)
large cauldron used for feeding visitors to a shrine.
dhikr or zikri
literally, “remembrance of God”; recollection, invocation of God. Ritual chanting of the Sufis.
divan (Persian, Turkish)
a collection of poetry by a single author.
du‘a
supplication, invocation; personal or communal prayer.
Irfan
knowledge, wisdom, and spiritual insight.
futuwwa or futuvvat (Persian)
chivalry institutionalized into organizations for ethical purposes.
hajj
annual pilgrimage to Mecca; one of the Five Pillars of Islam.
Isra’
night journey of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Jerusalem.
khadim
steward with special duties within an order; resident attendant at a shrine.
khanqa or khanaqa (Persian)
Sufi lodge, often part of a larger building.
langar (Urdu)
free kitchen attached to a Sufi institution.
levha (Turkish)
literally, “panel”; calligraphy destined to be hung on a wall, usually of a religious nature.
madrasa
place of study; traditional institution for Islamic instruction.
mannat (Urdu)
a vow made to a saint after a wish comes true.
mawlana (Persian) or mevlana (Turkish)
literally, “our master”; honorific title given to certain high-ranking religious figures. If capitalized, the name for Rumi in the Islamic world.
mawlid
literally, “birth”; birthday celebration for the Prophet Muhammad, a member of the ahl al-bayt, or a saint.
mihrab
niche in the qibla wall of a mosque or place of prayer, indicating the direction of Mecca.
mi‘raj
ascension; journey of the Prophet Muhammad to the heavens and the Throne of God.
muraqqa‘
album including individual calligraphies, paintings, and drawings.
muthanna
literally, “bifold”; mirror calligraphy, usually of a religious nature.
pir (Persian)
elder; spiritual leader, synonym for shaykh and saint.
qawwali (Urdu)
derived from the Arabic word for “speech”; popular devotional music, especially in South Asia.
sajjada nashin or gaddi nashin (Urdu)
literally “sitting on prayer carpet” or “sitting on the seat” of the deceased shaykh or wali; heir apparent of order.
sama‘ or sema‘ (Turkish)
literally, “hearing” or “listening”; ritual performance, often including music, recitation, singing, and dance.
shahada
literally, “witnessing”; essential Islamic declaration of faith.
shaykh
elder; spiritual guide or leader.
silsila
chain of spiritual succession; Sufi genealogy.
Sufi
literally, “wearer of wool”; generic name for a Muslim mystic.
sunna
to follow the Prophet Muhammad’s example.
sura
a chapter of the Qur’an.
taj
literally, “crown”; name for an item of headgear, associated with Sufism to distinguish orders and ranks within them.
tariqa
the Sufi path; a Sufi order.
tasawwuf
literally, to “become a Sufi”; Sufism.
takiyya or tekke (Turkish)
lodge; a residential and teaching center for Sufis. It may include the tomb of a shaykh.
türbe (Turkish)
literally, “soil”; a tomb or mausoleum.
urs
literally, “wedding”; union of a deceased holy person with God.
wali (Arabic) or vali (Persian) or veli (Turkish)
literally, “friend”; a friend of God; a holy man; a saint.
waqf
pious endowment; support in perpetuity, generally for religious institutions.
wird
litany, often specific to a Sufi order.
zawiya or zaviya (Persian, Turkish)
residence of a shaykh, often part of a larger religious complex.
ziyara
literally, “visiting”; visitation; regional or local pilgrimage to a holy person’s tomb.
Transliteration and Dates
The website relies on M. A. Abdel Haleem, The Qur’an, Oxford World’s Classics (Oxford University Press, 2005) for Qur’anic quotations and on Franklin D. Lewis, Rumi: Swallowing the Sun. Poems Translated from the Persian (Oneworld, 2013) for Rumi’s quotations. (It uses a simplified transliteration of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish words and names, making no distinction between emphatic and non-emphatic letters generally used by specialists and academics. Similarly, short strokes above letters used to mark short and long vowels of the Arabic alphabet are not used either. The letter ayn is rendered by a single opening quotation mark (‘) but is omitted in the initial position: Ali for ‘Ali. The letter hamza is rendered by a closing quotation mark (’) as in Qur’an. Apart from a few exceptions, Muslim names and words current in modern English are used as commonly understood. All the dates are given in the Common Era calendar. When the Muslim Hijra calendar is used, the date is followed by AH (for the Latin, Anno Hegirae).