ĀL (آل). Lit. “offspring, or posterity.” Used in Muslim works for the offspring of Muḥammad.
AL-AʿLA (الاعلى). “The Most High.” The title of the LXXXVIIth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, in the second verse of which the word occurs: “The name of thy Lord the Most High is celebrated.”
ʿALAM (علم). A standard or ensign. A term used for the flags and standards paraded during the Muḥarram. [[MUHARRAM], [STANDARDS].]
ʿĀLAM (عالم). The universe; world; condition, state of being.
| ʿĀlamu ʾl-arwāḥ | The world of spirits. |
| ʿĀlamu ʾl-k͟halq | The world; this life. |
| ʿĀlamu ʾl-bāqī | The future state. |
| ʿĀlamu ʾl-aʿz̤amah | The highest heaven. |
| ʿĀlamu ʾsh-shahādah | The visible world. |
| ʿĀlamu ʾl-g͟haib | The invisible world. |
| ʿĀlamu ʾl-maʿqūl | The rational world. |
The four mystic stages of the Ṣūfīs are—
| ʿĀlamu ʾn-nāsūt | The present world. |
| ʿĀlamu ʾl-malakūt | The state of angels. |
| ʿĀlamu ʾl-jabarūt | The state of power. |
| ʿĀlamu ʾl-lāhūt | The state of absorption into the Divinity. |
[[SUFIISM].]
ʿALĀMĀT (علامات). The greater signs of the resurrection. [[ʿALAMATU ʾS-SAʿAH], [RESURRECTION].]