In Islamic mysticism, one of a group of 70 holy men or saints hidden throughout the world, whose righteousness sustains the world according to Sufi belief.
From Arabic 'abdal,' the plural of 'badal' meaning 'substitute' or 'replacement,' referring to divine substitutes who intercede for humanity. The concept is central to Sufi cosmology.
Islamic mysticism imagined 70 unknown righteous people secretly holding up the entire world—a beautiful counterpart to Christian ideas about hidden saints, showing how different religions independently developed concepts of invisible moral anchors.
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