Az-Zahir (Sufism)

The believer is aware of Allah in His outwardness, as manifest to those who have been given wisdom and reason. As light makes manifest and yet is not seen, so He is manifest by what He has created but is Himself veiled by His own light. One sees what is closest. One is closest to one's self. As man is Allah's best creation and all creation is in man, then seeing His attributes in the perfect creation one is one sees Allah the manifest and has complete faith.

A mode of mystical awareness in the Sufi tradition associated with the seventy-fifth of the ninety-nine names of Allah. Contemplation of this name in the Naqshbandiyya order follows the stages of minor and major saintship, and the internal spiritual state is strengthened and widened.