Sidi writes:
My Master Ahmad ibn Ujayba al-Mughrabí, may Allah be pleased with him, said, 'The pious tongue without a pious heart is sinfulness and a straying from the Truth. The pious heart without the pious tongue is an imperfect completion, but the pious heart and the pious tongue is a completion above all completions.'

I said, 'What benefit is there in a pious tongue without a pious heart? Have you ever seen anybody who is satisfied with the words, but without the station (maqam); with speech, but without actions? Does the tongue have no need of faith, or has hearing no need of seeing Allah?'

The Imam of the grammarians, Síbawayhí, answered, saying:

Talking with a pure Arabic tongue
Will not save a man on the Day of Judgment.
Is grammar of any benefit if the heart is lacking in Allah?
Compare this with one who does not speak Arabic
But whose heart is devoted to Allah.

About Arabic and the Transliteration

Arabic is an ancient language closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic, similar to English’s relationship to German and French. The Arabic script is perfect for the rendering of this divine language; however, rendering Arabic words into our Roman letters can be difficult. We are grateful to Shaykh Nooruddeen Durkee’s adaptation of a standard academic transliteration system to the purposes of spiritual recitation.

For ease of use on this website, we have further adapted the MESA system.

' is the glottal stop. Say any English word starting with a vowel: if you listen carefully, you should hear or feel a faint discontinuity of breath at the very beginning before the vowel. This is also the sound in the middle of uh-oh.

th is exactly like “th” in the English words thought and thing.

h is a rough aspirant made in the pharynx, like a cat’s hiss.

kh is a noisy sound like the Scottish loch or Hebrew l’chaim.

dh is exactly like “th” in the words this and that.

r is made lightly with the tip of the tongue, like Spanish pero; doubled (rr), it is rolled more strongly, like Spanish perro.

sh is exactly like “sh” in sheep and show.

s d t dh are “emphatic” counterparts to s d t and dh. Constrict the back of your mouth as you articulate the letters. This gives the vowels around the letters a heavy or dull sound.

‘ is distinctive of Arabic. You can articulate it by making a long “aaaah” tone and tilting your head back until you look straight up. The place where your tongue falls back in your throught is the seat of this sound. It will sound strangled.

gh is the voiced counterpart to kh and is similar to a heavy French or German r.

q is similar to “c” in cough, pronounced further back in the mouth and having a wet quality.

All other letters are similar to their sounds in English spelling: s as in seen, l as in lamb, etc.

A long vowel is marked with a bar (â î û) and is held for two beats, while a short vowel (a i u) is held for one beat.

a â are normally like the “a” in bat. After h kh s d t dh gh q and in the name Allâh, pronounced like “a” in father.

When the Name is preceded by an i, the long â is pronounced like in bat. This is indicated by italicizing a, as in al-hamdu li-llâh.

When w comes after a short a, the sound is like in tow or know, and so we indicate this with ow.

When y comes after a short a, the sound ranges from “i” in bite to “ai” in bait.

i î are like “ee” in beet. u û are like “oo” in boot.

Dashes indicate grammatically separate words or particles pronounced as one unit.
Bismi-llâhi-r-rahmâni-r-rahîm sounds like bismillâhir rahmânir rahîm.

Double consonants like in Allâh are both pronounced with a slight pause between them, like unnerve, irregular.

When n precedes certain letters, its sound becomes softened into a buzz, held for two beats. This is indicated with ñ.

When certain consonants are not followed by a vowel sound, they are pronounced emphatically, resulting in a slight ‘echo’ as the tongue changes position; you can think of this as a slight ‘uh’ sound. This is indicated with å.

 

baqá': abiding; subsisting; going-on. It is to be aware of one's essential self and the alterities (appearances of other-than-Allah). In this state, the Sufi traveller on the path comes to sense his self-identity and sense what is around h im without being mindless of the states of the creation that occur around him. So it is sobriety and presence after intoxication and absence.

dhikr: dhikr Allah, the remembrance of God; remembrance of the tongue, the heart, and silent remembrance. Often spelled zikr based on Turkish, Persian and Indian pronunciation.

dín: (deen) the religion; the complete life-transaction; what you give your life for and for what reward.

faná': annihilation; passing away. The way-station in which the changing spiritual and psychological states of the voyagers disappear and their abiding stations come to naught, until that which has never existed (illusion) perishes, and that which has alwayse been abides and remains. It does not mean the nullification of the conscience of the human, or the obliteration of the essence itself, nor the effacement of the Sufi's attributes. Nor does it mean that all things become one thing so that obedience becomes like disobedience, or what Allah commands becomes like what He forbids. Disobedience passes away and obedience abides.

fiqh: literally "discrimination" or "discernment"; Islamic legal science and the understanding of application of holy law. The faqih or jurisprudent applies knowledge of the letter and spirit of the Qur'an, hadith, the practices of the early generations of Muslims, and methods of reconciling apparently contradictory texts based on circumstance and nuance of language. Specific rulings on practical matters are summarized in many works of fiqh such as Reliance of the Traveler and the Epistle of Ibn Abi Zayd (off-site link).

hadíth: sayings, reports and traditions of the Messenger of Allah, our Master Muhammad, peace be upon him. There is an enormous literature of hadith collections and secondary literature establishing the lines of oral transmission, the reliability of the narrators, the circumstances of the narrations and the legal implications. The sunnah is known by studying the hadith and following the scholars well-versed in its sciences.

jalál: Divine majesty, rigor and contraction. The manifestation of the transcendence of Allah and His dissimilarity toward creation. "There is no thing like unto Him." His Jalál qualities include greatness, power, holiness and might. When the seeker is in a Jalál station, his heart is contracted and he can but cry to his Lord.

jamál: Divine beauty, ease, and expansion. The manifestation of the immanence of Allah, glorious is He, His mercy by which we come to know Him through Divine qualities hidden in human qualities: mercy, intimacy, peace, guidance. The Jalál and the Jamál are the complementary poles of the path, His two Hands in which the seeker's heart is held.

nafs: This word contains all the things that come from your self --your perception, your hearing, your feeling, the voices in your mind, and the desires of your heart that say this and that or ask why or what. The

qalb: the heart, derived from the verb qalaba meaning "to turn"; the heart is that which can turn in witnessing between the spirit and the dense world.

qiblah: facing. The ritual direction of prayer and remembrance. The first qiblah was toward Adam as the angels prostrated to him in accordance with the order of Allah; the qiblah of the Sufis is toward the House of God in Makkah (Mecca), wherever one may be physically or spiritually. "Qiblah is between east and west." Across North America, the physical realization of qiblah is usually considered north-east.

Qur'án: the Reading; the Recitation par excellence. The final and complete heavenly text given to humanity. The speech of the Divine, uncreated, containing everything in creation, finding human expression of some six thousand áyát (signs, proofs) in the Arabic language. A physical book containing the text of the Qur'án is not called "a Qur'án" for there is only one Qur'án, but is called a mushaf, text. "He governs the affair; He makes clear the signs so that you may be certain of the meeting with your Lord."

rúh: the spirit. The secret of God in every appearance of the appearance of existence.

sharí‘ah: Divine law, obligations and proscriptions for humanity, containing every public, private, family, social & national aspect of human life in perfect mercy and justice. Sidi writes of the Sufis, "Their Path is the Straight Path, and it is the Law of the one upon whom are the best of prayers, and the sweetest greetings: 'This is My Straight Way, so follow it.' He has walked with them on the righteous Path until the end: 'And unto your Lord is the ending.'"

shaytán: (shaitan) the sneaking whisperer who whispers divisivelys into the hearts of humanity from among the jinn and humanity. A human or spirit wholely given over to evil; their chief is Iblis.

sunnah: literally custom or practice, that which is estemed and ancient. The habit and practice of the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad, peace be upon him, including character, manners, ritual actions, and political and legislative actions. The Messenger's practice is the complete presence of the Qur'án; by following the sunnah & listening in our hearts for its inner meaning, we learn to read the signs of God in the horizons and in ourselves.

taríqah: (tariqa, tariqat) the path of purification of the heart, removing every ugly character trait & manifesting the Divine traits: mercy, forgiveness, generosity, wisdom, patience, and so on. "A tariqah" is a structure or method for following this cleaning of the heart, usually following a great master of the past who established a lineage. A true guide shows seekers of God to how to follow the path to completion in Allah; the characteristics of a master include that his disciples themselves can guide others to God completely. Finally, "tariqah" is the organization or institution of people following the inner guidance of a lineage.

tajallí

tawbah: repentence by returning to divine reality; asking God to cover onesself in His qualities and hiding the base qualities. The one who makes tawbah completely turns away from his illusion, resolving with true sincerity never to return, and turns to face his Lord. To turn in repentance is the source and foundation of every station and the key to every state. It is the most important of all the stations, for he who has no repentance, has no state or station.

tawhíd: the Unity and Oneness of Allah, glorious and exalted is He. It is the slave's becoming realized in Divine qualities by passing away from human qualities, in such a way that in his [final] state, he is as he was in his original state, and that he is as he was before he existed. "I become His ear by which he hears, his eyes by which he sees, his hand by which he holds and his foot by which he walks. If he asks Me any thing I shall give him." Tawhíd to the Shadhuliyyah is based on seeing the Real in everything, singling Him out as possessing the ultimately true existence.

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