Discover the meaning of the term Qutb (قطب) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 3 min readSometimes called ghawth, for the distressed’s recourse to him: the Unique who is Allah’s regard’s object each era, given the greatest talisman from Him; he circulates the universe, its inward and outward ends, as the spirit circulates the body; in his hand the most general effusion’s balance: his weight follows his knowledge, his knowledge the Truth’s, the Truth’s the unconstituted quiddities: he pours the life-spirit.
With damma: the star upon which the qibla is built, the people’s chief and the thing’s guarantor and its orbit, so in…
A star upon which the qibla oriented: a body between al-Jadi and al-Farqadain, the sphere turning on it: small, white, never leaving its place. Said: the qoutb ever at the four Benat Na’ch’s center, a small star never departing, al-Jadi and al-Farqadain turning on it. The north polar star is the bright star at the lesser Benat Na’ch’s (Little Bear’s) tail’s end, by which north aimed, being in the terrestrial north pole’s zenith. Said: qoutb no star, but a sky-portion near the Jadi.
Sometimes called ghawth, for the distressed’s recourse: the Unique who is Allah’s regard’s object each era, given the greatest talisman from Him; circulating the universe, its inward and outward ends, as the spirit the body; in his hand the most general effusion’s balance: his weight follows his knowledge, his knowledge the Truth’s, the Truth’s the unconstituted quiddities: pouring the life-spirit on the universe above and below; he is Israfil’s heart in his angelic portion carrying life’s and sensation’s matter, not in his humanness; Jibril’s ruling in him that of the rational soul in human genesis, Mikail’s the attractive power’s, ’Azra’il’s the repelling power’s.
With qaf strengthened and ta mute, plural aqtab and qoutoub and qoutba: the erected axle fixed in the millstone’s lower plate, the upper turning on it.