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Qutb

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Qutb

Qutb, Qutub, Kutb, Kutub or Kotb (Arabic: قطب‎), means 'axis', 'pivot' or 'pole'[1] In Sufism, a Qutb is a perfected Prophet, a perfect manifestation of spirit, and the means by which "Divine revelation...is transmitted."[2]

Syncretic Terms

Notes

"There are five Qutbs per era and they are infallible and trusted spiritual leaders. They are only revealed to a select group of mystics because there is a "human need for direct knowledge of God." [3]

"The Qutb as a cosmic Principle is head of an invisible hierarchy of Prophets and Saints which extends from the Pole, the Spirit of Muhammadd, through the manazil (mystic "stations") in such a way that it remains the One Principle, even as it manifests completely in the Perfect Man and in progressively less perfect manifestations as Spiritual Masters (Pirs), Sufis, and all rational beings.".[4]

"The one Rational Principle is manifested in such a perfect degree in certain men that they deserve to be called the "Vice-regent" of God (al-Khalifa), the "Image" of God (ai-Sura), and even God himself; "Only two beings rightly call themselves God: God Himself who calls Himself Allah in His Books, and the Perfect Man like Bayazld.'"[5]

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Footnotes

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qutb
  2. Little, John T. “Al- Insān al-Kāmil: The Perfect Man According to Ibn al-ʻArabī.” The Muslim World 77, no. 1 (January 1987): 51.
  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qutb
  4. Little, John T. “Al- Insān al-Kāmil: The Perfect Man According to Ibn al-ʻArabī.” The Muslim World 77, no. 1 (January 1987): 51.
  5. Little, John T. “Al- Insān al-Kāmil: The Perfect Man According to Ibn al-ʻArabī.” The Muslim World 77, no. 1 (January 1987): 31.

Such an idea is heretical in Islam, so those who espoused is, like Al-Insan al-Kamil,took pains to obscure /distance themselves from the implications. It did not always work.