Qutb

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Qutb (Arab., ‘pole, axis’). In Islam, especially among Sūfīs, the idea of a central axis around which the interests of the world revolve. The centrality is that of God's will and word, manifested through a great saint or caliph (e.g. the first four). Thus it is not held that the individual is without fault or flaw, but rather that at certain moments the qutb is manifest through him.