Kashf كشف

Kashf (كشف) — “Revelation” is forbidden because it is reserved for wahy (prophetic revelation in the technical sense). Kashf is the contemplative unveiling available to the gnostic; the distinction is doctrinally load-bearing in Akbarian Sufism’s relation to prophetology.

Etymology

[STUB: editor to author etymology, root, and morphological notes.]

Cross-tradition resonance

[STUB: editor to author cross-tradition resonances.]

Primary sources

• Qur’an 50:22 — “We have removed from you your cover, so your sight, this Day, is sharp”, fa-kashafna ‘anka ghita’aka.
• Hujwiri, Kashf al-Mahjub, Introduction, pp. 4-5 — “unveiling (kashf) is destruction of the veiled object, just as the veil destroys revelation”, in Nicholson’s 1911 translation.
• Hujwiri, Kashf al-Mahjub, chapters XV-XXV — the second half of the book is ordered as the uncovering of eleven veils, from the gnosis of God to audition.

Scholarly literature

[STUB: editor to list standard secondary scholarship.]

Hekhal Editorial. "Kashf." Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition. Last modified October 24, 2026. https://hekhal.org/lexicon/kashf.

Hekhal Editorial. 2026. "Kashf." Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition. https://hekhal.org/lexicon/kashf.

Hekhal Editorial. "Kashf." Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition, Oct 24, 2026, hekhal.org/lexicon/kashf.

Hekhal Editorial. (2026). Kashf. Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition. https://hekhal.org/lexicon/kashf

@misc{hekhal-lexicon-kashf-2026,
  author       = {{Hekhal Editorial}},
  title        = {{Kashf}},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {{Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition}},
  url          = {https://hekhal.org/lexicon/kashf},
  urldate      = {[date accessed]}
}