canonical islamic mysticism Arabic

Fayd فيض

effusion (default in Akbarian cosmology per Chittick convention; the overflowing self-disclosure of the Real that constitutes the differentiated created order without partition or diminution of the source)

Fayd (فيض) — Doctrinally load-bearing in the commentary tradition (Qunawi onward). The Akbarian fayd is differentiated from the Plotinian emanation by its non-diminishing character — the Real does not lose anything by the effusion — and by its frame within the wahdat al-wujud doctrine (the effusion does not produce a second substance; it is the Real’s self-disclosure under the aspect of differentiated multiplicity). “Emanation” is forbidden as a default rendering because it imports the Plotinian assumption of ontological-descent-through-degradation that the Akbarian doctrine deliberately resists. The al-fayd al-aqdas (the Most Holy Effusion — the eternal self-disclosure of the Real to itself, constituting the aʿyan thabita) is a load-bearing Akbarian term that comes up in the Fass Nuh commentary tradition; preserve “Most Holy Effusion” as the canonical English when this paired term appears.

Etymology

[STUB: editor to author etymology, root, and morphological notes.]

Cross-tradition resonance

Related terms across traditions (each relation is a stub the editor expands):

  • Proodos (christian-mysticism) — [STUB: editor to expand — shared-procession-frame]
  • Shefa (jewish-mysticism) — [STUB: editor to expand — shared-emanative-influx]

Primary sources

[STUB: editor to list locus classicus and other canonical attestations.]

Scholarly literature

[STUB: editor to list standard secondary scholarship.]

Tradition
islamic mysticism
Language
Arabic
Script
Arabic
Last revised
2026-05-02

Hekhal Editorial

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Hekhal Editorial. "Fayd." Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition. Last modified May 2, 2026. https://hekhal.org/lexicon/fayd.