A accomplishment of His purpose : Ibn `Arabi believes that God's purpose is to have knowledge of Himself. He possesses this knowledge by knowing Himself through the medium of His creatures. By the very fact of being one of God's creatures, you help Him to fulfill His purpose. ` alam al-shahadat: The phenomenal world. Animal soul: In Arabo-Persian usage, nafs ("soul", "self") is used both for the immortal soul of a human, which survives death, and also for the carnal, or lower, soul. associator: Someone who offers his adoration to anything besides the one God. Hence polytheists and idolaters are associators. However on a more subtle level, anyone who adores God with an impure love is an associator too. For instance someone who adores God, not for His Self alone, but in expectation of some other reward, is also an associator. B baqa : persistence (often used in connection with fana to refer to a sort of re-birth that follows ego death; i.e. to persist ...