تبتّل
Tabattala
To devote oneself wholly to God, in purity and single-minded worship; the noun is tabtil.
What it means
The verb tabattala comes from a root meaning to cut off or separate. In religion it means to detach oneself from distractions and to give oneself fully to God. Faruqi describes it as to pursue a life of total purity and devotion to God. The Quran says to the Prophet, “Remember the name of your Lord and devote yourself to Him with complete devotion (tabtīlan)” (73:8).
The devotion it asks is inward and does not require leaving society. The Quran criticises the monasticism that people invented without a command from God (57:27). The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) refused when a Companion wished to give up marriage, and said that he himself prayed and slept, fasted and broke the fast, and married (Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim).
Often misunderstood as
Tabattul is sometimes read as a call to celibacy and withdrawal, though the Prophet explicitly rejected giving up marriage and ordinary life.
What the sources say
In reports from the early scholars, the word was glossed as devoting oneself to God and cutting the heart off from others in the act of worship. The Prophet forbade the Companion Uthman ibn Mazʿun from living in abstinence, and said that he was sent with a gentle and tolerant religion (Sahih al-Bukhari and Musnad Ahmad).
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 24, listed as TABATTALA. The definition is restated here.