Sufi Classics · July 8, 2026

nasihat (Sufi Terminology)

The sign of a person who offers nasihat (sincere counsel) for the sake of Allah is that, with all his strength, he turns toward Allah, strives to understand His Book, acts according to His Book, follows the sunnah of His …

The sign of a person who offers nasihat (sincere counsel) for the sake of Allah is that, with all his strength, he turns toward Allah, strives to understand His Book, acts according to His Book, follows the sunnah of His Prophet, loves to obey without rebelling, and loves to remember (dhikr) without forgetting. The sign of offering nasihat to people is that you desire for others what you desire for yourself in obedience to Allah, and you find ugly for others what you find ugly for yourself in relation to disobedience to Allah. (Ādāb, 145)

nāsūt/abnāʾ-yi nawāsit Abnāʾ-yi nawāsit (children of the nāsūt): Nawāsit is the plural of nāsūt. By this, the emergence of humanity is meant. It is said that this was first used by Christians regarding Jesus, saying that he is covered with lāhūt (divinity) and nāsūt (humanity). Later, Shaykh al-Nūrī (Shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn Suhrawardī al-Maqtūl), and after him the Sufis who followed, used it, and it then became widespread. (Hayākil, 94)

The bellowing of a camel, the bleating of a ram, the bleating of a goat, the calling or speaking of a human—such sounds are things that have a share of the life that permeates objects. This life is called rūḥ (spirit); and rūḥ is so named because it is characterized by the life present in things. ...Lāhūt (divinity)... is thus named. ...Nāsūt (humanity) is the locus in which this rūḥ subsists... That is, nāsūt is the body. — Nāsūt is so called because the rūḥ subsists in it... that is, because the rūḥ stands by means of nāsūt (is sustained by the body), it is called rūḥ... As in the hadith, "It is a rūḥ from Him," (both lāhūt and nāsūt) are altogether called Tūl. (Sofyavi, 251)