batin (bāṭin)

(Language: Arabic)

Short Description: Inner, hidden

Long Description: The “inner learning” (al-‘ilm al-bāṭin), which means esoteric or Sufic learning, is distinguished from the “outer learning” (al-‘ilm aẓ-ẓāhir) of the Doctors of the Law. Al-Bāṭin, “The Inner,” is one of the Names of God in the Qur’ān.

Sources: Introduction to Sufi Doctrine (by Titus Burckhardt)

Notes & References: See Form and Substance in the Religions (Chapter “The Cross of Space and Time in Koranic Onomatology”)