The concepts of “maqam” and “hal” in Sufism

Abstract

The paper deals with the origins of “maqam” (position) and “hal” (state of being) in terms of the Qur'an and the hadiths, their definition, sequence, object and variety. Many important Sufi works such as Abu Nasr Sarraj`s work of “al-Luma fit-tasavvuf”, Khwaja Abdullah Ansari`s work of “Sad Meydan”, Farid-al-Din Attar’s works of “Musibat-nama” and “Mantiq al-Tayr” has been involved in this research. Author also explains the reasons of the calling of the “maqam” such as squares, apartments, constellations, light, springs, sea etc. in the Gnostic literature.