Sufi Classics · July 8, 2026

kına (Sufi Terminology)

They are those who return. These are the ones who distinguish between the people (ḥalq) and the Real (God). Another group, however, returns from Allah to the community; these are the most perfect. The return of the first …

They are those who return. These are the ones who distinguish between the people (ḥalq) and the Real (God). Another group, however, returns from Allah to the community; these are the most perfect. The return of the first group is a return from Allah to Allah in Allah. The return of the second group is a return from Allah to the people, among the people. The third group, on the other hand, returns from Allah to the gathered ones (the community), within the community. The return of these three groups of people is to Allah, without any difference among them. For they are ...not separate from Him... that is, not separate from Allah... They have become shāhid (witnesses) to the diffusion of the realities of wujūd (existence) into realities. ...In terms of existence, they are with Him... that is, with Allah. ...Only with Allah... It is with His Essence. That Essence is nothing but the Absolute Existence determined by the realities of the worlds. ...His manifest attributes are also... again, by means of the determination of His Essence, or it is the very determination that appears in His attributes. ...His acts also... proceed from His attributes. (Asfār, 42)

rad? Radi is when the servant manifests the attributes of the Real (God) through bāṭil (false) ways. Allah the Exalted says on this matter: "I shall turn away from My signs those who behave arrogantly on the earth without right..." (al-Aʿrāf, 7:146). It is reported that the word radi means destruction. Allah the Exalted says in a sacred hadith: "Pride is My cloak and ʿaẓama (majesty) is My lower garment. Whoever contends with Me regarding either of them, I will destroy him." (Muslim, Taḥrīm al-kibr, 10; Abū Dāwūd, Mā jāʾa fi'l-kibr, 4; Ṭayālisī, 314). (Kāshānī, 149; Jāmiʿ, 84)