The term ' means 'axis', 'pivot', or 'pole'. Qutb can refer to celestial movements and be used as an astronomical term or a spiritual symbol.

In Sufism, a is the perfect human being, al-Insan al-Kamil ('The Universal Man'), who leads the saintly hierarchy. The is the Sufi spiritual leader who has a divine connection with God and passes knowledge on which makes him central to, or the axis of, Sufism, but he is unknown to the world. There are five