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Qutb, Qutub, Kutb, Kutub or Kotb (Arabic: قطب) means 'axis', 'pivot' or 'pole'.[1] Qutb can refer to celestial movements and be used as an astronomical term or a spiritual symbol.[2] In Sufism, a Qutb is the perfect human being, al-Insān al-Kāmil ('The Universal Man'), who leads the saintly hierarchy.[citation needed] The Qutb is the Sufi spiritual leader who has a divine connection with God and passes knowledge on which makes him central to, or the axis of, Sufism, but he is unknown to the world.[3] 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".[1]
According to the Institute of Ismaili Studies, "In mystical literature, such as the writings of al–Tirmidhi, Abd al–Razzaq and Ibn Arabi (d. 1240), [Qutb] refers to the most perfect human being who is thought to be the universal leader of all saints, to mediate between the divine and the human and whose presence is deemed necessary for the existence of the world."[4]
- ^ a b Esposito, John L. (2003). The Oxford dictionary of Islam. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.
- ^ Hobson, J. Peter (2001). The Concise Encyclopaedia of Islam. London, England: Stacey International & Cyril Glasse. p. 374.
- ^ Brill, E.J. (1938). Encyclopaedia of Islam. A Dictionary of the Geography, Ethnography and Biography of the Muhammadan peoples. Netherlands: Leiden. pp. 1165–1166. ISBN 90-04-09796-1.
- ^ A glossary of terms, The Institute of Ismaili Studies Archived 2010-10-09 at the Wayback Machine