d. 251 - 500 H
Short Biographies [2] d. 251 - 500 H
SARI AL-SAQATI [d.253 H - 867 CE]
ABU YAZID AL-BISTAMI [d.261 H - 874 CE]
SAHL AL-TUSTARI [d.283 H - 896 CE]
JUNAYD, AL-BAGHDADI [d.297 H - 910 CE]
IBN MANSUR AL HALLAJ [d.309 H - 922 CE]
ABU JA'FAR AL-TAHAWI [d.321 H - 933 CE]
ABU AL-HASAN AL-ASH'ARI [d.324 H - 935 CE]
ABU MANSUR AL-MATURIDI [d.333 H - 945 CE]
ABU BAKR ASH-SHIBLI [d.334 H - 946 CE]
ABU 'ALI AL-DAQQAQ [d.412 H - 1021 CE]
ABUL HASAN AL-KHARQANI [d.425 H - 1033 CE]
ABD 'AL-QAHIR AL-BAGHDADI [d.429 H - 1038 CE]
ABU SA'ID ABU'L KHAYR [d.440 H - 1049 CE]
ABU AL-FARMADHI AT-TUSI [d.447 H - 1055 CE]
ABU AL-QASIM AL-QUSHAYRI [d.464 H - 1072 CE]
'ALI UTHMAN AL-HUJWIRI [d.469 H - 1077 CE]
IBN AL-JUWAYNI [d.478 H - 1085 CE]
'AL-HARAWI AL-ANSARI [d.481 H - 1088 CE]
plenty more to come
Sari al-Saqati
Shaykh Sari al-Saqati: [d.253H/867CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
One of the friends and companions of BISHR AL-HAFI Radi Allahu anhu, Sari al-Saqati was one of those who bore affection for the creatures of God and of those who preferred others above themselves.
In his book Wafayat al-'a'yan, Ibn Khallikan writes that Sari once said, "It is thirty years that I have been seeking forgiveness for one phrase, Praise be Allah's, that I allowed to pass my lips." When asked to explain he replied, "One night the bazaar caught fire, and I left my house to see if the fire had reached my shop. When I heard that my shop was safe, I said, 'Praise be Allah's'. Instantly I was brought to my senses with the realization that, granted my shop was unharmed, should I not have been thinking about others'?"
Sa'di is referring to this same story (with slight variations) where he says:
One night someone's chimney kindled a fire, And I heard that half of Baghdad had burnt down. One said, thank God that in the smoke and ashes, My shop has not been damaged. A man who had seen the world replied, O selfish man, Was your grief for yourself and no other? Would you be satisfied that a town should burn down by fire, If your own dwelling were left unscathed?
Shaykh Sari as-Saqati was the pupil and disciple (murid) of MAROOF AL-KARKHI, and the teacher and maternal uncle of JUNAYD OF BAGHDAD. Sari has many sayings on mystical unity (tawhid), love of God and other matters. It was also he who said: "Like the sun, the 'arif shines on all the world; like the earth, he bears the good and evil of all; like water, he is the source of life for every heart; and like fire he gives his warmth to all and sundry." Shaykh Sari as-Saqati died in [d.253H/867CE] at the age of ninety-eight.
Shaykh Sari as-Saqati Radi Allahu anhu also states:
"Tassawuf is the name of three qualities:
1. His 'Nur of Marifah' (Knowledge of Allah) must not extinguish his 'Nur of Wara' (Piety).
2. Never speak from the knowledge of Batin (Interior) that may contradict the Zahir (Exterior) -Qur'an al kareem and Hadith.
3. Do not let Karaamats (Miracles) caste a veil on those things which Allah has made Haraam."
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Bayazid al-Bistami
Al-Bistami, Abu Yazid [d.261H/874CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
Also known as Bayazid. Prominent paradigm of "intoxicated" Sufism from the north eastern Iranian town of Bistam. Early education included Hanafi legal thought. Best known for "ecstatic utterance" [shath], several hundred of which are attributed to him by Sufi historians & theorists.
Bayazid Radi Allahu anhu's grandfather was a Zoroastrian from Persia. BayazidRadi Allahu anhu made a detailed study of the statutes of Islamic law (shari'a)and practiced a strict regimen of self-denial (zuhd). All his life he was assiduous in the practice of his religious obligations and in observing voluntary worship. He urged his students (murid's) to put their affairs in the hands of Allah and he encouraged them to accept sincerely the pure doctrine of tawhid (the Oneness of God). This doctrine consisted of five essentials: to keep the obligations according to the Qur'an and Sunnah, to always speak the truth, to keep the heart free from hatred, to avoid forbidden food and to shun innovations (bid'a).
Bayazid Radi Allahu anhu said the ultimate goal of the Sufi is to experience the vision of Allah in the Hereafter. One of his sayings was,
"I have come to know Allah through Allah, and I have come to know what is other than Allah with the light of Allah."
He said, "Allah has granted his servants favours for the purpose of bringing them closer to Him. Instead they are fascinated with the favours and are drifting farther from Him." And he said, praying to Allah, "O Allah, You have created this creation without their knowledge and You have placed on them a trust without their will. If You don't help them who will help them?"
Of tasawwuf .... Bayazid said:
"It is to give up rest and to accept suffering."
Many Muslim scholars in his time, and many after his time, said that Bayazid al-Bistami was the first one to spread the Reality of Annihilation(fana'). Even the most heretical and puritan of scholars, Ibn Taymiyya, who came in the 7th Century A.H., admired Bayazid for this and considered him to be one of his masters.
Ibn Taymiyya said about him,
"There are two categories of fana': one is for the perfect Prophets and saints, and one is for seekers from among the saints and pious people(saliheen). Bayazid al-Bistami Radi Allahu anhu is from the first category of those who experience fana', which means the complete renunciation of anything other than God. He accepts none except God. He worships none except Him, and he asks from none except Him."
He continues, quoting Bayazid saying,
"I want not to want except what He wants."
When Bayazid Radi Allahu anhu died [261 H.], he was over seventy years old. Before he died, someone asked him his age. He said: "I am four years old. For seventy years I was veiled. I got rid of my veils only four years ago." Shaykh 'Abdullah Daghestani, referred to this saying in his encounter with Khidr alayhi asalam, who told him, as he was pointing to the graves of some great scholars in a Muslim cemetary: "This one is three years old; that one, seven; that one, twelve." It is said he is buried in two places, one is Damascus and the other is Bistam in Persia. The secret of the Golden Chain was passed from Bayazid al-Bistami Radi Allahu anhu to Abul Hassan al-Kharqani Radi Allahu anhu.
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Sahl al-Tustari
Sahl ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Yunus, Abu Muhammad al-Tustari [d.283H/896CE]'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
Al-Tustari by GF Haddad © [with some of his sayings]
Al-Tustari is named by al-Dhahabi "the master of knowers (shaykh al-'arifin), the ascetic sufi (al-suufi al-zahid)... He has a firm foothold in the path." He related that when he was three years old he would wake up at night to watch his uncle Muhammad ibn al-Sawwar pray. He spent his early years with his uncle and Dhu al-Nun al-Misri Radi Allahu anhu whom he met during pilgrimage.
AL-QUSHAYRI Radi Allahu anhu said:
"He had no peer in his time for correctness of transaction and superlative Godwariness, and he was a person of karamat."
He narrates from 'Umar ibn Wasil al-Basri that Sahl said: "My uncle once told me: 'Remember Allah Who created you.' I said: 'How should I remember him?' He replied: 'Say in your heart, whenever you are alone at night, three times, without moving your tongue: Allah is with me; Allah is looking at me; Allah is watching me.'" This became his lifelong devotion. He memorized the Qur'an al kareem by the age of seven. He used to practice perpetual fasting and prayed all night. He reached a point where he broke his fast only once every twenty-five nights on one dirham's worth of barley bread for twenty years. Hence his saying: "Hunger is Allah's secret on His earth. He does not confide it to one who divulges it." To a shaykh who told him that whenever he performed ablution the water that dripped from him changed into sticks of gold he said: "Children are given rattles." He also said:
1. "The ignorant one is dead, the forgetful one is asleep, the sinner is drunk, and the obstinate one is destroyed."
2. "We have six principles: Holding fast to the Qur'an al kareem; taking the Sunnah as a guide; eating what is licit; quitting from harm and avoiding sins; repentence; fulfillment of obligations."
3. "Whoever speaks about what does not concern him will be prohibited from obtaining truthfulness; whoever busies himself with superfluity will be prohibited from obtaining true fear of Allah; and whoever entertains bad opinions will be prohibited from obtaining certitude. Whoever is prohibited from obtaining these three, he is destroyed."
4. "Among the manners of the most truthful and trustful saints (al-siddiqin) is that they never swear by Allah, nor commit backbiting, nor does backbiting take place around them, nor do they eat to satiation. If they promise, they are true to their word, and they never speak in jest."
5. "None truly knows ignorance except a 'alim faqih zahid 'abid hakim."
6. "Allah does not open the heart of a servant if it still contains three things: loving to remain [in the world], love of wealth, and concern about tomorrow."
7. Asked when the faqir attains relief from his ego he replied: "When he no longer sees any time other than the time he is in."
8. "Allah is the qibla of intention; intention is the qibla of the heart; the heart is theqibla of the body; the body is the qibla of the limbs; and the limbs are the qibla ofdunya."
9. "When the servant abides in a specific sin, all his good deeds are admixed with his egotism (hawa). His good deeds are not purified as long as he abides in a single sin. He will not deliver himself from his egotism until he ousts from himself all that he knows to be abhorred by Allah."
10. "Lukewarmth is heedlessness; dread is vigilance; hardness is death."
11. Asked in what consisted the solace of hearts, he replied: "The coming of revelation: {Woe unto those whose hearts are hardened against remembrance of Allah} (39:22)."
12. "Whoever disputes reliance upon Allah (al-tawakkul), disputes belief (iman); and whoever disputes earning (al-takassub), disputes the Sunnah." He defined truetawakkul as "Forgetting tawakkul."
13. "Sit with one whose limbs address you, not his mouth." (1)
14. "Life is four kinds. The life of angels consists in obedience. The life of Prophets consists in 'ilm and the anticipation of revelation. The life of truthful and trustful saints (al-siddiqin) consists in following guidance (al-iqtida'). And the life of the remainder of the people - whether knowledgeable, ignorant, ascetic, or devoted to worship - consists in eating and drinking."
15. "Good deeds both the righteous (al-barr) and the disobedient (al-fajir) perform; none but the siddiq avoids disobedience."
16. He addressed the special insight of saints with the poetic verse:
The hearts of Knowers have eyes
That see what onlookers cannot see.
Al-Tustari considered the audition and study of the hadith of the Prophet Salla Allahu 'alayhi wa Sallam the highest pursuit as is evident from the following sayings:
1. From Ibn Durustuyah: Sahl said to the scholars of hadith:
"Endeavor not to meet Allah except with your inkwell in hand."
2. To Abu Dawud: "Bring out for me your tongue with which you narrate the Prophet's hadiths so that I may kiss it," whereupon Abu Dawud drew out his tongue and al-Tustari kissed it.
3. Asked until when should a man write down the hadith of the Prophet, he replied: "Until death, and the rest of his ink is poured into his grave."
4. From 'Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Daqiqi: "Whoever desires this world and the next, let him write down the hadith, for it contains the good of this world and the next."
Al-Tustari Radi Allahu anhu addressed the issue of Allah's establishment (istiwa') over the Throne in the manner of Imam al-Ash'ari, by declaring it a divine act that is neither qualified nor enquired about: "Reason alone cannot point to One Who is without beginning and without end above a Throne that is brought into being. Allah erected the Throne as a sign and as tidings for us so that by it the hearts should be guided to Him without trespassing. He did not require the hearts to obtain knowledge of its exact nature. Therefore, His establishment over it is unqualified (la kayfa lahu) and it is impermissible to ask: 'How does istiwa' apply to the Creator of istiwa'?' The believer must only accept and submit, due to the Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam's saying: 'He is over His Throne' (2) (innahu 'ala 'arshihi)."
Al-Dhahabi quotes the above but expresses caution elsewhere in his Siyar and in Mukhtasar al-'Uluw, in commentary of a similar statement by 'Uthman ibn Sa'id al-Darimi (d. 280):
In his book al-Naqd he said: "The Muslims all agree that Allah is above His Throne, above His heavens." I say: The clearest thing on this topic is Allah's saying: {The Merciful established Himself over the Throne} (20:5). Therefore, let it pass as it came, just as we learned to do from the school of Salaf.(3) Al-Darimi's book also contains bizarre findings in which he exaggerates the affirmation [of the divine Attributes], concerning which, silence would have been more in keeping with the way of the Salaf both then and now." (4) End of al-Dhahabi's words.
On the same subject Ibn Hajar said:
When we say: "Allah is above the Throne," it does not mean that He is touching it or that He is located on it or bounded by any side of the Throne. Rather, it is a report which is transmitted as is, and so we repeat it while at the same time negating any modality, for {There is nothing whatsoever like unto Him} (42:11), and from Him comes all success.
Al-Tustari authored a renowned Sufi commentary of the Qur'an which has been translated into English. In it he gives the following explanations:
- {And give me from Your presence a sustaining Power} (17:80): "A tongue that speaks on Your behalf, and on behalf of no-one else."
- {Forsake the outwardness of sin and the inwardness thereof} (6:120): "The outwardness of sin is its enactment; the inwardness, its love."
NOTES
1] I.e. one who benefits others not through discourse but through states of being, in action or in repose, in public or in private, in solace and in hardship.
2] See the "hadith of the groaning of the Throne" narrated from Jubayr ibn Mut'am from his father from his grandfather, and also the "hadith of the mountain-goats" Narrated from al-'Abbas.
3] Al-Dhahabi, Siyar (10:643).
4] Al-Dhahabi, Mukhtasar al-'Uluw (p. 214).
End of the biographical notice on the master of knowers al-Tustari by the scribe in need of his Lord's mercy Hajji Gibril.
Main sources: Al-Qushayri, Risala p. 16-17; Abu Nu'aym, Hilya al-Awliya 10:198-222 #544; al-Dhahabi, Siyar A'lam al-Nubala' 10:647-649 #2369.
Blessings and peace on the Prophet, his Family, and all his Companions.
By Shaykh Gibril F Haddad
Source : http://www.abc.se/~m9783/tust_e.html
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Junayd, al-Baghdadi
Abu al-Qasim ibn Muhammad Junayd, al-Baghdadi [d.298H/910CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l ridwan
Al-Junayd ibn Muhammad ibn al-Junayd, Abu al-Qasim al-Qawariri al-Khazzaz al-Nahawandi al-Baghdadi al-Shafi'i (d. 298). The Imam of the World in his time, shaykh of the Sufis and "Diadem of the Knowers," he accompanied his maternal uncle SARI AL SAQATI, al-Harith al-Muhasibi, and others. Abu Sahl al-Su'luki narrates that as a boy al-Junayd heard his uncle being asked about thankfulness, whereupon he said: "It is to not use His favours for the purpose of disobeying Him." He took fiqh from Abu Thawr - in whose circle he would give fatwas at twenty years of age - and, it was also said, from Sufyan al-Thawri.
He once said:
"Allah did not bring out a single science on earth accessible to people except he gave me a share in its knowledge."
He used to go to the market every day, open his shop, and commence praying four hundred rak'as until closing time. Other hallmarks are an emphasis on constant ritual purity & fasting. Taught that the goal of Tasawwuf was not loss of self but the return to daily life transformed by a vision of Allah through the loss of self & constant remembrance of Allah's presence. Devoted to fulfillment of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala's will as expressed in theQur'an al kareem & Sunnah.
Among his sayings about the Sufi Path:
"Whoever does not memorize the Qur'an and write hadith is not fit to be followed in this matter. For our science is controlled by the Book and the Sunna."
To Ibn Kullab who was asking him about tasawwuf he replied:
"Our madhhab is the singling out of the pre-eternal from the contingent, the desertion of human brotherhood and homes, and obliviousness to past and future." Ibn Kullab said: "This kind of speech cannot be debated." His student Abu al-'Abbas ibn Surayj would say, whenever he defeated his adversaries in debate: "This is from the blessing of my sittings with al-Junayd."
AL-QUSHAYRI relates from al-Junayd the following definitions of tasawwuf:
* "Not the profusion of prayer and fasting, but wholeness of the breast and selflessness."1
* "Tasawwuf means that Allah causes you to die to your self and gives you life in Him."
* "It means that you be solely with Allah with no attachments."
* "It is a war in which there is no peace."
* "It is supplication together with inward concentration, ecstasy together with attentive hearing, and action combined with compliance [with the Sunna]."
* "It is the upholding of every high manner and the repudiation of every low one."
FURTHER READING
BY Shaykh Gibril Haddad
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Mansur al-Hallaj
Abu al-Mughith al-Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj [d.309H/922CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
Al-Hallaj (d.309H/922CE) was a Persian writer and teacher of Sufism. His full name was Abu al-Mughith al-Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj. He was born around 858CE in Tur, Iran to a wool seller. His father lived a simple life, and this form of lifestyle greatly interested the young al-Hallaj. As a youngster he memorized the Qur'an and would often retreat from worldly pursuits to join other mystics in study. Al-Hallaj would later marry and make a pilgrammige to Makkah. After his trip to the holy city, he traveled extensively and wrote and taught along the way. He travelled as far as India and Central Asia gaining many followers, many of which accompanied him on his second and trips to Makkah. After this period of travel, he settled down in the Abbasid capital of Baghdad.
Among other Sufis, Al-Hallaj was not an anomaly, just some felt it was inappropriate to share mysticism with the masses, yet Al-Hallaj openly did so in his writings and through his teachings. He would begin to make enemies, and the rulers saw him as a threat. This was exacerbated by times when he would fall into trances which he attributed to being in the presence of God. During one of these trances, he would utter Ana al-Haqq, meaning that "I am the Truth", which was taken to mean that he was claiming to be God, as Al-Haqq is one of the Ninety Nine Names of Allah. This utterance would lead him to a long trial, and subsequent imprisonment for eleven years in a Baghdad jail. In the end, he would be tortured and publicly crucified by the Abbasid rulers for what they deemed as a heresy. Many accounts tell of Al-Hallaj's calm demeanor even while he was being tortured, and indicate that he forgave those who had executed him.
He died on March 26TH, 922CE. His writings are very important to only Sufis, but to all Muslims. His example is seen by some as one that should be emulated, especially his calm demeanor in the face of torture and his forgiving of his tormentors.
FURTHER READING, ON THE DOCTRINE OF MANSUR AL HALLAJ
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Imam al-Tahawi
Imam Abu Ja'far al-Tahawi [d.321H - 933CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
Imam Abu Ja'far Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Azdi, known as Imam al Tahawi al-Misri after his birthplace in Egypt, is among the most outstanding authorities of the Islamic world on hadithand jurisprudence (fiqh). He lived at a time when both the direct and indirect disciples of the Four Imams of law were teaching and practicing. This period was the greatest age ofHadith and fiqh studies, and Imam Tahawi alayhir rahman studied with all the living authorities of the day.
Imam al-Tahawi (239-321h) can be said to represent the creed of both ASHARI'S and MATURIDIS, especially the latter, as he was also following the Hanafi madhhab. We have therefore chosen to include the entire translated text of his Statement of Islamic Doctrine commonly known as the 'aqida tahawiyya'. This text, representative of the viewpoint of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah, has long been the most widely acclaimed, and indeed indispensable, reference work on Muslim beliefs.
Al-Badr al-'Ayni alayhir rahman said that when Ahmad died, Tahawi was 12; when Bukhari died, he was 27; when Muslim died, he was 32; when Ibn Majah died, he was 44; when Abu Dawud died, he was 46; when Tirmidhi died, he was fifty; when Nisa'i died, he was 74. Kawthari relates this and adds the consensus of scholars that Tahawi allied in himself completion in the two knowledges of hadith and fiqh, a consensus that included, among others, al-'Ayni and al-Dhahabi, with only the misguided IBN TAYMIYYA singling himself out in his opinion that Tahawi was not very knowledgeable in hadith. This is flatly contradicted by Ibn Kathir alayhir rahman who says in his notice on Tahawi in 'al-Bidaya wa al-nihaya' :
"He is one of the trustworthy narrators of established reliability, and one of the massive memorizers of hadith."
Imam al Kawthari alayhir rahman calls Ibn Taymiyya's verdict "another one of his random speculations" and states: "No-one disregards Tahawi's knowledge of the defective hadith except someone whose own defects have no remedy, and may Allah protect us from such."1
Read al 'Aqida al Tahawiya
Dr Gibril F. Haddad
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Imam al Ash'ari
Imam Abu al Hasan al Ash'ari [d.324H/935CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
'Ali ibn Isma 'il ibn Abi Bishr Ishaq ibn Salim, Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari al-Yamani al-Basri al-Baghdadi (260-324), a descendent of the Yemeni Companion Abu Musa al-Ash'ari, was in the first half of his scholarly career a disciple of the Mu'tazili teacher Abu 'Ali al-Jubba'i, whose doctrines he abandoned in his fortieth year after asking him a question al-Jubba'i failed to resolve over the issue of the supposed divine obligation to abandon the good for the sake of the better (al-salih wa al-aslah).
At that time he adopted the doctrines of the sifatiyya, those of Ahl al-Sunna who assert that the divine Attributes are obligatorily characterized by perfection, unchanging, and without beginning, but He is under no obligation whatsoever to abandon the good for the sake of the better. He left Basra and came to Baghdad, taking fiqh from the Shafi'i jurist Abu Ishaq al-Marwazi (d.340).
He devoted the next twenty-four years to the refutation of "the Mu'tazila, theRafida, the Jahmiyya, the Khawarij, and the rest of the various kinds of innovators" in the words of al-Khatib. His student Bundar related that his yearly expenditure was a meager seventeen dirhams. Some of al-Ash'ari's books up to the year 320 as listed by himself in al-'Umad ("The Supports"):
* Adab al-Jadal ("The Etiquette of Disputation").
* Al-Asma' wa al-Ahkam ("The Names and the Rulings"), which describes the divergences in the terminology of the scholars and their understanding of the general and the particular.
* Al-Dafi 'li al-Muhadhdhab ("The Repelling of 'The Emendation'"), a refutation of al-Khalidi's book by that title.
* Al-Funun ("The Disciplines"), a refutation of atheists. A second book bearing that title was also written, on the disciplines of kalam.
* Al-Fusul ("The Sub-Headings") in twelve volumes, a refutation of the philosophers, perennialists, and members of various religions such as Brahmans, Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians. It contains a refutation of Ibn al-Rawandi's claim that the world exists without beginning.
By Shaykh Gibril Haddad
Further reading : http://www.livingislam.org/ashari_e.html
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Imam al-Maturidi
Shaykh al-Islam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi [d.333H/945CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Mahmud Abu Mansur al-Samarqandi al-Maturidi al-Hanafi (d.333H) of Maturid in Samarqand, Shaykh al-Islam, one of the two foremost Imams of themutakallimun of 'Ahl al-Sunna', known in his time as the Imam of Guidance (Imam al-Huda), he studied under Abu Nasr al-'Ayadi and Abu Bakr Ahmad al-Jawzajani. Among his senior students were 'Ali ibn Sa'id Abu al-Hasan al-Rustughfani,1 Abu Muhammad 'Abd al-Karim ibn Musa ibn 'Isa al-Bazdawi, and Abu al-Qasim Ishaq ibn Muhammad al-Hakim al-Samarqandi. He excelled in refuting the Mu'tazila in Transoxiana while his contemporary ABU AL-HASAN AL-ASH'ARI did the same in Basra and Baghdad. He died in Samarqand where he lived most of his life. The founder of the Egyptian Muniriyya Salafiyya Press, Munir 'Abduh Agha wrote:
"There is not much [doctrinal] difference between Ash'aris and Maturidis, hence both groups are now called Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama'a."2
Al-Maturidi surpasses IMAM AL-TAHAWI as a transmitter and commentator of Imam Abu Hanifa's legacy in kalâm. Both al-Maturidi and al-Tahawi followed Abu Hanifa and his companions in the position that belief (al-iman) consists in "conviction in the heart and affirmation by the tongue," without adding, as do Malik, al-Shafi'i, Ahmad ibn Hanbal and their schools, "practice with the limbs." Al-Maturidi, as also related from Abu Hanifa, went so far as to declare that the foundation of belief consisted only in conviction in the heart, the tongue's affirmation being a supplementary integral or pillar (rukn za'id).3
Among al-Maturidi's works:
* Kitab al-Tawhid on the doctrine of Ahl al-Sunna. In it he states the following:
"The Muslims differ concerning Allah's place. Some have claimed that Allah is described as being 'established over the Throne' ('ala al-'arshi mustawin), and the Throne for them is a dais (sarir) carried by the angels and surrounded by them [as in the verses]: {And eight will uphold the Throne of their Lord that day, above them} (69:17) and {And you see the angels thronging round the Throne} (39:75) and {Those who bear the Throne, and all who are round about it} (40:7). They adduced as a proof for that position His saying: {The Merciful established Himself over the Throne} (20:5) and the fact that people raise their hands toward the heaven in their supplications and whatever graces they are hoping for. They also say that He moved there after not being there at first, on the basis of the verse {Then He established Himself over the Throne} (57:4).
"Others deny the ascription of place to Allah, whether one place or every place, except in the metaphorical senses that He preserves them and causes them to exist.
"Shaykh Abu Mansur [al-Maturidi] - may Allah have mercy on him - says: The sum of all this is that the predication of all things to Him and His predication - may He be exalted! - to them is along the lines of His description in terms of exaltation ('uluw) and loftiness (rif'a), and in terms of extolment (ta'zim) and majesty (jalal), as in His saying: {the Sovereignty of the heavens and the earth} (2:107, 3:189, 5:17-18, 5:40 etc.) {Lord of the heavens and the earth} (13:16, 17:102, 18:14, 19:65, etc.), "God of all creation" (ilah al-khalq), Lord of the worlds (1:2, 5:28, 6:45, 6:162, 7:54, etc.), "above everything" (fawqa kulli shay') and so forth. As for the predication of specific objects to Him, it is along the lines of His specific attribution with generosity (al-karama), high rank (al-manzila), and immense favor (al-tafdil) for what is essentially meant to refer to Him, as in His sayings {Lo! Allah is with those who keep their duty unto Him} (16:128), {And the places of worship are only for Allah} (72:18), {The she-camel of Allah} (7:73, 11:64, 91:13), "The House of Allah" (bayt Allâh), and other similar instances. None of these examples is understood in the same way as the predication of created object to one another....
"Abu Mansur - may Allah have mercy on him! - further says: The foundation of this issue is that Allah Almighty was when there was no place, then locations were raised while He remains exactly as He ever was. Therefore, He is as He ever was and He ever was as He is now. Exalted is He beyond any change or transition or movement or cessation! For all these are portents of contingency (hudth) by which the contingent nature of the world can be known, and the proofs of its eventual passing away....
"Furthermore [concerning the claim that Allah is on the Throne], there is not, in the context of spatial elevation, any particular merit to sitting or standing, nor exaltation, nor any quality of magnificence and splendor. For example, someone standing higher than roofs or mountains does not deservedly acquire loftiness over someone who is below him spatially when their essence is identical. Therefore, it is not permissible to interpret away the verse [20:5] in that sense, when it is actually pointing to magnificence and majesty. For He has said {Verily, it is your Lord Who created the heavens and the earth} (7:54, 10:3, 21:56) thereby pointing to the extolment of the Throne, which is something created of light, or a substance [or jewel] the reality of which is beyond the knowledge of creatures. It was narrated that the Prophet - Allah bless and greet him - while describing the sun, said: "Gibril brings it, in his hand, some of the light of the Throne with which he clothes it just as one of you wears his clothes, and so every day that it rises"; he also mentioned that the moon receives a handful of the light of the Throne.4 Therefore, the predication of istiwa' to the Throne is along two lines: first, its extolment in the light of all that He said concerning His authority in Lordship and over creatures; second, its specific mention as the greatest and loftiest of all objects in creation, in keeping with the customary predication of magnificent matters to magnificent objects, just as it is said: "So-and-so has achieved sovereignty over such-and-such a country, and has established himself over such-and-such a region." This is not to restrict the meaning of this sovereignty literally, but only to say that it is well-known that whoever owns sovereignty over this, then whatever lies below it is meant a fortiori."5
* Kitab Radd Awa'il al-Adilla, a refutation of the Mu'tazili al-Ka'bi's book entitled Awa'il al-Adilla;
* Radd al-Tahdhib fi al-Jadal, another refutation of al-Ka'bi;6
* Kitab Bayan Awham al-Mu'tazila;
* Kitab Ta'wilat al-Qur'an ("Book of the Interpretations of the Qur'an"), of which Ibn Abi al-Wafa' said: "No book rivals it, indeed no book even comes near it among those who preceded him in this discipline."7 Hajji Khalifa cites it as Ta'wilat Ahl al-Sunna and quotes as follows al-Maturidi's definition of the difference between "explanation" (tafsir) and "interpretation" (ta'wîl):
"Tafsir is the categorical conclusion (al-qat') that the meaning of the term in question is this, and the testimony before Allah Almighty that this is what He meant by the term in question; while ta'wil is the preferment (tarjih) of one of several possibilities without categorical conclusion nor testimony."8
* Kitab al-Maqalat;
* Ma'akhidh al-Shara'i` in Usul al-Fiqh;
* Al-Jadal fi Usul al-Fiqh;
* Radd al-Usul al-Khamsa, a refutation of Abu Muhammad al-Bahili's exposition of the Five Principles of the Mu'tazila;9
* Radd al-Imama, a refutation of the Shi'i conception of the office of Imam;
* Al-Radd 'ala Usul al-Qaramita;
* Radd Wa'id al-Fussaq, a refutation of the Mu'tazili doctrine that all grave sinners among the Muslims are doomed to eternal Hellfire.
Most of the Hanafi school follows al-Maturidi in doctrine, but he evidently achieved lesser fame than al-Ash'ari because the latter entered into countless debates to defeat the opponents of Ahl al-Sunna while al-Maturidi, as Imam al-Kawthari said, "lived in an environment in which innovators had no power." The absence of a notice on Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi in al-Dhahabi's Siyar is a major omission in that masterpiece of biographical history.
NOTES1 He narrated from Imam Abu Hanifa the saying: kullu mujtahidin musibun wa al-haqqu 'inda Allahi wahid which means "Every scholar who strives [towards truth] is correct [whatever his finding], even if the truth in Allah's presence is one." Accordingly, al-Rustughfani differed with al-Maturidi who considered that the mujtahid is wrong in his ijtihâd if his finding differs from the truth. Ibn Abi al-Wafa', Tabaqat al-Hanafiyya (p. 310, 362-363).
2 In Namudhaj min al-A'mal al-Khayriyya (p. 134).
3 Al-Tahawi, `Aqida §62: "Belief consists in affirmation by the tongue and acceptance by the heart." See "Ibn Abi al-'Izz," Sharh al-`Aqida al-Tahawiyya (4th ed. p. 373-374, 9th ed. p. 332). See also Risala Abi Hanifa ila `Uthman al-Batti in 'Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghudda, Namadhij (p. 21-28).
4 Something similar is narrated - without naming the angel - as part of a very long hadith from Ibn 'Abbas by Abu al-Shaykh with a very weak chain in al-'Azama (4:1163-1179). Another hadith states: "The Messenger of Allah - Allah bless and greet him - told me that the sun, the moon, and the stars were created from the light of the Throne." Narrated from Anas by Abu al-Shaykh in al-'Azama (4:1140). See also al-Suyuti's al-Haba'ik fi Akhbar al-Mala'ik.
5 Al-Maturidi, Kitab al-Tawhid (p. 72).
6 Cf. Hajji Khalifa, Kashf al-Zunun (1:518).
7 Ibn Abi al-Wafa', al-Jawahir al-Mudiyya (p. 130).
8 In Hajji Khalifa, Kashf al-Zunun (1:334-335).
9 The "Five Principles" of the Mu'tazila are:
Hajji Gibril F. Haddad
Main sources:Al-Lacknawi, al-Fawa'id al-Bahiyya fi Tarajim al-Hanafiyya p. 319-320 #412; Ibn Abi al-Wafa', al-Jawahir al-Mudiyya fi Tabaqat al-Hanafiyya p. 130, 310, 362-363; Al-Kawthari, introduction to al-Bayadi's Isharat al-Maram.
Allah bless and greet our Master Muhammad, his Family, and all his Companions.
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as-Shibli
Abu Bakr ash-Shibli [d.334H/946CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa’l-ridwan
Abu Bakr ash-Shibli was a famous Sufi and Maliki faqih. The shaykh of the Sufis and Imam of the people of knowledge of the inward about whom there are miraculous reports and rare traditions. He was one of those with great skill in the sciences of the Shari'a. There is a disagreement about his name. It is said to be Dulaf ibn Jahdar or Ibn Ja'far. Other things are said. His family was from Khorasan, from a village there called Shibla. He was born in Samarra or Baghdad. He grew up in Baghdad. Abu Bakr al-Khatib said, "His uncle was the Amir of the Amirs in Alexandria." As-Sulami said, "Ash-Shibli was the chamberlain of the Khalif al-Muwaffiq. His father had been the chamberlain in Baghdad." Abu 'Abdu'r-Rahman said: "He was a man of knowledge and a faqih in the school of Malik. He wrote out many hadiths. He mentioned that the beginning of his repentance was in the assembly of Khayr an-Nassaj. He kept the company of al-Junayd and the shaykhs of his time. He was unique in his age in state and knowledge. He transmittedhadith with isnad." He related from Muhammad ibn Mahdi al-Basri. 'Ali ibn Muhammad al-Hammal, al-Husayn ibn Ahmad as-Saffar, Isma'il ibn al-Husayn ibn Bandar, Abu'l-Hasan 'Ali ibn al-Muthanna al-'Anbari, Abu Sahl as-Sa'luki, Abu Bakr ar-Razi and Abu Bakr al-Abhuri related from him.
As-Sulami said, "While al-Muwaffiq was in power, one day ash-Shibli attended the assembly of Khayr an-Nassaj. He returned to Nihawand where he the governor. Ash-Shibli said to them, 'I have been appointed over your city, so put me in the lawful.' They did that. They tried to have him accept something from them, but he refused." Abu 'Abdullah ar-Razi said: "The shaykhs of Iraq say, 'The wonders of Baghdad in Sufism are three: the indications (isharat) of ash-Shibli, the fine sayings of al-Murta'ish and the stories of Ja'far, i.e. al-Khuldi.
Ash-Shibli was asked about asceticism. He said, "It is the heart turning away from things to the Lord of things."
Abu Bakr al-Abhuri said, "I heard him say once, 'If someone does not guard his secrets with the Truth, the eye of the reality will rarely be unveiled for him.'."
He was asked about the most extraordinary thing. He said, "A slave who recognises his Lord and then rebels against Him."
He said, "Tasawwuf is the heart resting in the fans of purity, the thoughts being enveloped by the curtain of fidelity, and taking on the character of generosity and joy in the encounter."
He said, "Tasawwuf is love of the Majestic and hatred of the insignificant and following descent and fear of reversal."
He was asked, "Who is the Sufi?" and he replied, "The one who does not ask, does not repel and does not store up." It was said, "Who is the faqir?" He said, "The one who is at home with non-existence as he is at home with oneness."
He also said, "Tasawwuf is to curb your senses and guard your breaths."
He was asked about this world and said, "A pot boiling and beauty decaying."
He was asked about sincerity and abandoning artifice. He said, "It is that you do not articulate any words of other-than-Him nor look at other than his Lord nor see for yourself any protector but your Lord."
FURTHER RECOMMENDED READING http://www.sunnah.org/history/Scholars/ash-shibli.htm
FROM QADI IYADS TARTIB AL-MADARIK
TRANSLATED BY AISHA BEWLEY
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Abu 'Ali al-Daqqaq
Abu 'Ali al-Daqqaq ibn Ishaq al-Naysaburi [d.412H/1021CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
Abu 'Ali al-Daqqaq, al-Hasan ibn 'Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Ishaq al-Naysaburi, was a great Ashari scholar, teacher and father-in law of IMAM ABU AL-QASIM AL-QUSHAYRI and the foremost Sufi shaykh in his time. An Arabized Persian from Naysabur, he took usul there and fiqh from Marw at the hands of al-Khudari and Abu Bakr al-Qaffal al-Marwazi. He then took tasawwuffrom Abu al-Qasim al-Nasrabadhi. Al-Qushayri relates that his knees would shake in his presence. In his Risala he relates from him the following sayings:
About tasawwuf :
"This path is fit only for those persons whose spirits Allah has used to sweep the dunghills."
About the Sufi:
"If the dervish had nothing left but his spirit and he offered it to the dogs at this door, not one dog would pay it any attention."
Abu Ali al-Daqqaq also said:
"The tree that grows by itself, without having been planted, grows leaves but no fruit. If it does grow fruit its fruit is not like the fruit of trees that have been planted."
Regarding remembrance, Abu Ali al-Daqqaq said,
"The practice of remembering Allah is a proclamation of office. Whoever has been made successful in remembrance has been granted the proclamation and whoever has been denied remembrance has been dismissed from office."
Allah Most High has said,
"Those who remember Allah standing and sitting and lying on their sides. . ." (Surah 3 Al-Imran: Verse 191).
Once Abu Abd al-Rahman asked Abu Ali al-Daqqaq, ''Which is more perfect, the practice of remembrance (dhikr) or meditation (fikr )?" Abu Ali al-Daqqaq inquired, "What do you say?" Abu Abd al-Rahman said, "It seems to me that dhikr is more perfect than fikr because remembrance is known to be an attribute of the Truth, whereas meditation is not. Whatever is an attribute of the Truth is more perfect than something that is specific to the creation." Abu Ali al-Daqqaq was pleased with this.
Abu Ali al-Daqqaq recited the following to a dervish:
I would not have remembered You, but a care drove me-
Heart and soul and secret-into Your remembrance.
It was as if Your watcher was whispering to me
"Beware, O Rememberer! Woe to you! Beware!"
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al-Kharqani
Abul Hassan Ali ibn Ja'far al-Kharqani [d.425H/1033CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
"Mayest Thou deign to be sweetness and let life be bitter!
If Thou art content, what matter that men be angry.
Let everything between me and Thee be cultivated,
Between me and the worlds let all be desert!
If Thy love be assured, all is then easy,
For everything on earth is but earth."
Anonymous
He was the Ghawth (Arch-Intercessor) of his time and unique in his station. He was theQiblah (focus of attention) of his people and an Ocean of Knowledge from which saints still receive waves of light and spiritual knowledge. He devoided himself of everything except Allah's Oneness, refusing for himself all titles and aspirations. He would not be known as a follower of any science, even a spiritual science, and he said:
"I am not a rahib (hermit). I am not a zahid (ascetic). I am not a speaker. I am not a Sufi. O Allah, You are One, and I am one in Your Oneness."
Of knowledge and practice he said:
"Scholars and servants in the lower world are numerous but they don't benefit you unless you are engaged in the satisfaction of Allah's desire, and from morning to night are occupied with the deeds that Allah accepts."
About being a Sufi he said:
"The Sufi is not the one who is always carrying the prayer rug, nor the one who is wearing patched clothes, nor the one who keeps certain customs and appearances; but the Sufi is the one to whom everyone's focus is drawn, although he is hiding himself."
"The Sufi is the one who in the daylight doesn't need the sun and in the night doesn't need the moon. The essence of Sufism is absolute nonexistence that has no need of existence because there is no existence besides Allah's existence."
He was asked about Truthfulness (Sidq). He said,
" Truthfulness is to speak your conscience."
Of the heart he said:
"What is the best thing? The heart which is always in Remembrance of God (dhikr Allah)."
"The best of hearts is the heart which contains nothing but the presence of Allah, Almighty and Exalted."
"Today it will have been 40 years that Allah has been looking in my heart and has seen nothing except Himself. I have had nothing in my heart nor my breast except Allah for 40 years; and while my ego is asking for cold water and a drink of milk, I have not allowed it that for 40 years in order to control myself."
"The vision with the eyes of the head doesn't bring happiness, but the vision with the eyes of the heart and the secret that Allah gives to the soul will bring out that happiness."
Of BA-YAZID AL BISTAMI he said:
"When Abu Yazid said, 'I want not to want' that is exactly the wanting which is real desire (irada).
He was asked, "Who is the appropriate person to speak aboutfana' (annihilation) and baqa' (permanence)?" He answered, "That is knowledge for the one who is as if suspended by a silk thread from the heavens to the earth and a great cyclone comes and takes all trees, houses, and mountains and throws them in the ocean until it fills the ocean. If that cyclone is unable to move the one who is hanging by the silk thread, then he is the one who can speak on fana' and baqa'."
One time Sultan Mahmoud al-Ghazi visited Abul Hassan and asked his opinion of Bayazid al-Bistami. He said, "Whoever follows Bayazid is going to be guided. And whoever saw him and felt love towards him in his heart will reach a happy ending." At that Sultan Mahmoud said, "How is that possible, when Abu Jahl saw the Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa sallam and he was unable to reach a happy ending but rather ended up in misery?" He answered, "It is because Abu Jahl didn't see the Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'Sallam but he saw Muhammad bin 'Abdullah. And if he saw the Messenger of Allah he would have been taken out of misery into happiness. As Allah said, "You see them looking at you but without clear vision" [7:198]. He continued with the saying already quoted, "The vision with the eyes of the head..."
Other sayings of his:
"Ask for difficulties in order for tears to appear because Allah loves those who cry," referring to the advice of the Beloved Prophet Muhammad Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam to cry much.
"In whatever way you ask Allah for anything, still the Qur'an is the best way. Don't ask Allah except through the Qur'an."
"The Inheritor of the Beloved Prophet Muhammad Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam is the one who follows his footsteps and never puts black marks in his Book of Deeds."
Abul-Hasan al-Kharqani died on Tuesday, 10th of Muharram in 425 H. (1033CE). He was buried in Kharqan, a village of the city of Bistam in Persia. He passed on the Secret of the Golden Chain to Abu 'Ali al-Fadl bin Muhammad al-Farmadhi at-Tusi (q).
source: http://www.naqshbandi.org/chain/7.htm
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'Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi
Imam Abu Mansur 'Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi [d. 429H/1038CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
'Abd al-Qahir ibn Tahir ibn Muhammad, Abu Mansur al-Naysaburi al-Tamimi al-Baghdadi al-Shafi'i al-Ash'ari (d. 429), al-Ustadh, the imam, jurist, scholar of principles and kalam, man of letters, poet, prosodist, grammarian, and mathematician, praised by Shaykh al-Islam Abu 'Uthman al-Sabuni as "one of the imams of the principles of the Religion and foremost authorities of Islam by consensus of its most eminent and competent scholars."
He is al-Bayhaqi's senior and the exact contemporary of Abu Dharr al-Harawi and IBN AL-JUWAYNI among the third-generation Ash'ari imams. He came to Naysabur with his father and spent his entire fortune in support of the scholars of knowledge until he became able to teach in seventeen different disciplines. He was Abu Ishaq al-Isfarayini's senior student and, together with Abu Sahl al-Su'luki, they staunchly defended the position related from al-Shafi`i that "the Book cannot be abrogated by the Sunna."1 Abu Mansur succeeded Abu Ishaq al-Isfarayini as headmaster in the mosque of 'Aqil, where al-Bayhaqi, ABU AL-QASIM AL-QUSHAYRI and Nasir al-Marwazi studied under him. He narrated hadith from al-Isma'ili and Abu Ahmad ibn 'Adi. Among 'Abd al-Qahir's works:
1. Ahkam al-Wat' al-Tamm, also known as Iltiqa' al-Khitanayn, a book on sexual ethics and pertaining laws in Islam, in four volumes.
2. Bulugh al-Mada min Usul al-Huda
3. Fada'ih al-Karramiyya
4. Fada'ih al-Mu'tazila
5. al-Fakhir fi al-Awa'il wa al-Awakhir
6. al-Farq Bayn al-Firaq, his major heresiological reference-work together with the Milal. In it he states the following positions:
- "It is obligatory to declare as unbeliever someone who says that Allah has limits." The anthropomorphist creed is that "Allah has limits that He knows of."
- "Ahl al-Sunna reached consensus that Allah, the Flawless, the Exalted, is not bounded by location." He then reports the saying of Imam Ali al Murtaza radi Allahu ta'ala anhu :
- "Allah created the Throne as an indication of His power, not for taking it as a place for Himself."
Know that Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama'a are divided in eight groups of people... the sixth group being the 'Sufi Ascetics' (al-zuhhad al-sufiyya), who have seen things for what they are and therefore have abstained, who have known by experience and therefore have taken heed truly, who have accepted Allah's allotment and contented themselves with what is within reach.
They have understood that hearing, sight, and thought are all accountable for their good and their evil and subject to reckoning to an atom's weight. In consequence they have harnessed themselves with the best harness in preparation for the Day of the return. Their speech has run the two paths of precepts and subtle allusions in the manner of the People of Hadith but without the pursuit of idle discourse. They neither seek self-display in doing good, nor do they leave doing good out of shyness. Their religion is the declaration of singleness and the disavowal of similitude. Their school is the commital of matters to Allah, reliance upon Him, submission to His order, satisfaction with what they have received from Him, and shunning all objection to Him.
'Such is the bounty from Allah, He bestoweth it upon whom He will, and Allah is of infinite bounty' (57:21, 67:4).(1)
Imam 'Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi alayhir rahman writes in 'Usul al-din':
The book 'Tarikh al-Sufiyya' (History of the Sufis, more commonly known as 'Tabaqat al-Sufiyya' or layers of the Sufis) by Abu 'Abd al-Rahman Sulami comprises the biographies of nearly a thousand sheikhs of the Sufis, none of whom belonged to heretical sects and all of whom were of the Sunni community, with the exception of only three of them: Abu Hilman of Damascus, who pretended to be of the Sufis but actually believed in incarnationism (hulul); HUSAYN IBN MANSUR AL-HALLAJ, whose case remains problematic, though IBN ATA' ALLAH, Ibn Khafif, and Abu al-Qasim al-Nasir Abadi approved of him [as did the Hanbalis Ibn 'Aqil, Ibn Qudama, and al-Tufi]; and al-Qannad, whom the Sufis accused of being a Mu'tazili and rejected, for the good does not accept the wicked.(2)
Toward the end of Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi's life the Turkmen dissension forced him out of Naysabur to Isfarayin, where he died [d.429 HIJRI] and was buried next to his teacher Abu Ishaq al-Isfarayini.
Main sources: Ibn 'Asakir, Tabyin Kadhib al-Muftari (p. 249-250); al-Dhahabi, Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'(13:372 #3991); Ibn al-Subki, Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al-Kubra (5:136-148 #468).
(1) 'Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi, al-Farq bayn al-firaq (Beirut: dar al-kutub al-'ilmiyya, n.d.) 242-243.
(2) 'Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi, Usul al-din p. 315-16.
Bismillah al-Rahman al-Raheem
was-salaat was-salaam 'alaa Rasul-illah wa 'alaa alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam
Dr GF HADDAD
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Abu Sa'id Abu'l-Khayr
Abu Sa'id ibn Abu'l-Khayr [d.440H/1049CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
Shaykh Abu Sa'id ibn Abu'l-Khayr, was an early Sufi shaykh who at different stages of his life was an ascetic, an antinomian ecstatic, and a spiritual guide. He received a Sufi transmission from Abu al-Fadl al-Hasan (or ibn al-Hasan) al-Sarakhsi, whom Abu Sa'id called his "pir" (a Persian word refering to a spiritual guide and often equivalent to "shaykh"). After the death of Abu al-Fadl, Abu Sa'id looked to Abu 'Abbas al-Qassab (the butcher), whom Abu Sa'id called "shaykh," for spiritual guidance.
The hagiography Asrar al-tawhid is one of the two major sources for what we know of his life and teachings. It has been translated as The Secrets of God's Mystical Oneness by John O'Kane. A collection of quatrains (ruba'iyat) is attributed to Abu Sa'id.
Abu Sa'id Abu'l-Khayr writes:
If I am travelling, my Friend during this travel is You.
If I am at home, my Companion at home is You.
In short, wherever I am and wherever I travel
I am thinking of nobody except of You.
Gar dar safaram toi rafiq-e safaram
Var dar hazaram toi anis-e hazaram
Al-qisse be har kojaa ke baashad gozaram
Joz to nabud hichkasi dar nazaram
Get up in the night as lovers disclose their secrets at night,
Sit near to the door of the Friend and to His roof take a flight;
Wherever there is a door, it is closed at night,
Except for the door of the Friend, which is open at night.
Shab khiz keh 'aasheqaan ba shab raaz konand
Gird-e dar o baam-e dust parwaaz konand
Har jaa keh dari bud ba shab dar bandand
Ella dar-e dust raa keh shab baaz konand
translated and contributed by Mohammed Siraj Elschot [source]
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al-Farmadhi at-Tusi
Abu 'Ali al-Fadl bin Muhammad al-Farmadhi at-Tusi [d.447H/1055CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
"O child! said Luqman the Wise,
Do not let the rooster be more watchful than you,
calling Allah at dawn while you are sleeping."
He is right, he who said:
"The turtle-dove wept on her branch in the night
And I slept on--what lying, false love is mine?
If I were a true lover, never would turtle-doves overtake me.
I am the dry-eyed lover of his Lord, while animals weep!"
Ghazali, Ayyuha-l-walad.
He is called the Knower of the Merciful and the Custodian of Divine Love. He was a scholar of the Shafi'i school of jurisprudence and a unique 'arif (endowed with spiritual knowledge). He was deeply involved in both the School of the Salaf(scholars of the First and Second Centuries) and that of the Khalaf (later scholars), but he made his mark in the Science of Tasawwuf. From it he extracted some of the heavenly knowledge which is mentioned in Qur'an in reference to al-Khidr alaihis asalam: "and We have taught him from our Heavenly Knowledge" [18:65].
Sparks of the light of jihad an-nafs (self-struggle) were opened to his heart. He was known everywhere in his time, until he became a very famous shaykh in Islamic Divine Law and theology. The most famous shaykh of his time, as-Simnani, said about him, "He was the Tongue of Khurasan and its shaykh and the master in lifting up and raising the station of his followers. His associations were like gardens full of flowers, in which knowledge flowed from his heart and took the hearts of his listeners into a state of joy and happiness." Among his teachers wasAL-QUSHAYRI, the celebrated Sufi Master, and al-Ghazali al-Kabir who said about him, "He was the shaykh of his time and he had a unique way of reminding people. No one surpassed him in his eloquence, delicacy, ethics, good manners, morality, nor his ways of approaching people." The son of the latter, ABU HAMID AL-GHAZALI, nicknamed Hujjat ul-Islam - the Proof of Islam, took much from Farmadi in his Ihya 'Ulum ad-Din.
One time he said, "I entered behind my teacher, al-Qushayri, to the public bath, and from the well I took for him a bucket of water which I had filled from the well myself. When my teacher came he said, 'Who brought the water in the bucket?' I kept quiet, as I felt I had committed some disrespect. He asked a second time, 'Who brought the water?' I continued to keep quiet. He asked a third time, 'Who filled that bucket with water?' I finally said, 'I did, my teacher.' He said, 'O My son, what I received in seventy years, I passed to you with one bucket of water.' That meant that the heavenly and divine knowledge which he had struggled for seventy years to acquire he passed to my heart through one glance."
On behaviour towards one's master he said:
"If you are true in your love of your shaykh, you have to keep respect with him."
On spiritual vision he said:
"For the 'arif (Knower) a time will come wherein the light of knowledge will reach him and his eyes will see the incredible Unseen."
"Whoever pretends he can hear, yet cannot hear the glorification of birds, trees and the wind, is a liar."
"The hearts of the people of Truth are open, and their hearing is open."
"Allah gives happiness to His servants when they see His Saints." This is because the Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam said, "Whoever sees the face of a knower of God, sees me," and also, "Whoever sees me, has seen Reality." Sufi Masters have named the practice of concentrating on the face of the sheikh(tasawwur), and it is done to the end of fulfilling that state.
"Whoever looks after the actions of people will lose his way."
"Who prefers the company of the rich over the company of the poor, Allah will send him the death of the heart."
Imam Ghazali reports, "I heard that Abul Hasan al-Farmadhi said, 'the Ninety-nine Attributes of Allah will become attributes and descriptions of the seeker in the way of Allah.'"
He died in 447 H. and he was buried in the village of Farmadh, a suburb of the city of Tus. He passed on the Secrets of the Golden Chain to Abu Ya'qub Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Yusuf ibn al-Husayn al-Hamadani (q).
source : http://www.naqshbandi.org/chain/8.htm
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al Qushayri
Abu al-Qasim Abd al Karim bin Hawazin al Qushayri [d.464H/1072CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l -ridwan
Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri radi Allahu anhu was born in July 986 CE [d.1072 CE] in northwestern Iran in the province of Khurasan, the richest center of eastern Islamic civilization down to the 13th century C.E. An exemplary scholar and sufi intellectually grounded in the Qur'an, Qur'anic exegesis and Traditions. He went and taught in Baghdad until 1063 C.E., later to return to Khurasan where he died.
Al-Qushayri radi Allahu anhu was also a recognised muhaddith who transmitted hadith to pupils by the thousands in Naysabur, in which he fought the Mu'tazilauntil he flew to Makkah to protect his life. Al-Qushayri was the student of the great Sufi Shaykh ABU 'ALI AL-DAQQAQ radi Allahu anhu. He was also a mufassir who wrote a complete commentary of the Qur'an entitled 'Lata'if al-isharat bi tafsir al-Qur'an' (The subtleties and allusions in the commentary of the Qur'an). Al-Qushayri radi Allahu anhu is famous for authoring ''The Risalah'' a Sufi textbook of the highest order where Sufi practices, states and stations, rules of travel, dreams and advice to the spiritual seeker, among other topics are related to Qur'anic verses, Traditions of the Beloved Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah upon him) and sayings of early Sufis. This was a book that Mawlana Rume radi Allahu anhu read and recommended to his students as a book popular among Sufis. 'The Risalah' has been described as one of the early complete manuals of the science of tasawwuf.
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al-Hujweri
Sayyad 'Ali bin Uthman al-Hujweri, [d.469H/1077CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
Hadrat Sayyad Ali bin Uthman al-Hujweri, Data Ganj Bakhsh (Bestower of Spiritual Treasures) belonged to a place called Hujwer in the town of Ghazna, Afghanistan. He lived during the 5th century A.H. (11th century C.E.) and was well versed in all the Islamic sciences such as Tafsir (exegesis) of the Qur'an, Hadith (Traditions of the Prophet), Fiqh (Muslim Law) and dogmatic theology (Ilmu Kalam). Al-Hujweri's spiritual lineage traces back to JUNAID AL-BAGHDADI through the three intermediaries al-Husri, an-Nasrabi, and Shibli.
In the course of his spiritual journey to God, he journeyed physically to many countries, often alone and with hardship. These places included Turkestan, Transoxania, Iran, Iraq, and Syria where he met innumerable Sufi shaykhs, many of whom he has mentioned in his book 'Kashful Mahjub.' He went to Lahore in the later part of this life to spread Islam, converting large numbers of Hindus into Muslims. He passed away in Lahore in 469 A.H. (1077 C.E.) where his maqam currently stands, visited by people of all walks of life, from near and far. Also popularly known as 'Data Sahib'.
Kashful Mahjub;
Originally in Persian, was written at the request of a student of Sufism at that time. He had asked the shaykh to compile a comprehensive study on tasawwuf (Sufism) as a guide for spiritual aspirants. Although al-Hujweri was a master in the science of Islamic scholasticism and his judgements based on logic, the conclusions he arrived at were the result of his deep spiritual experience, where he has shown the absence of any conflict between true Sufism and Islamic Shariah.
Starting from the life of the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam'sbrimful experience of Divine nearness, Presence, Union and Communion, this book describes the spiritual experiences of the Companions of the Prophet, Companions of the Companions (tabi'in), their Companions (taba-tabi'in), and the Imams (heads) of the four schools of Islamic law (Ahl as-Sunnah wal Jama'ah ), showing in truth, "when Sufism was made to leave Islam," and that it is not the so called question of "when Sufism 'entered' Islam." This book also explains the various aspects of Sufism in a thorough yet simple manner.
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'Imam al Haramayn' al-Juwayni
'Imam al Haramayn' Abi Muhammad al-Juwayni al-Naysaburi al-Shafi'i, [d.478H/1085CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
'Abd al-Malik ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Yusuf, Abu al-Ma'ali ibn Rukn al-Islam Abi Muhammad al-Juwayni al-Naysaburi al-Shafi'i, known as Imam al-Haramayn and Ibn al-Juwayni [d.419-478h],ABU HAMID AL-GHAZALI teacher, the jurist, scholar of legal pinciples, expert in kalam and debate and 'Shaykh al-Islam'. Al-Juwayni was a Sunni Shafi'i hadith and kalam scholar. He was described as :
"the Glory of Islam, absolute Imam of all Imams, main authority in the Law, whose leadership is agreed upon East and West, whose immense merit is the consensus of Arabs and non-Arabs, upon the like of whom none set eyes before or after," (IMAM IBN AL-'ASAKIR)
"whose work forms the connecting link between the respective methods of the Salaf and Khalaf" (al-Kawthari).
He is the main figure among the fifth generation of al-Ash'ari's students. Al-Bakhirzi compared him to al-Shafi'i and al-Muzani in fiqh, al-Asma'i in manners, HASAN AL-BASRI in preaching eloquence, and al-Ash'ari in kalâm. Ibn 'Asakir mentioned it and said: "Truly he is above that by far." Ibn al-Subki said: "Whoever thinks that there is anyone in the Four Schools that comes near his clarity of speech has no knowledge of him." "He felt bound to follow neither al-Ash'ari nor al-Shafi'i." Abu al-Ma'ali's father is considered, like him, a major authority of the Shafi'i school and among Ash'ari scholars.
Famous for his intelligence, eloquence, learning, and charisma, Abu al-Ma'ali began to teach in Naysabur immediately after his father's death, only twenty and still a student in al-Bayhaqi's school. He took usûl from Imam Abu al-Qasim al-Iskaf al-Isfarayini and read the Qur'an under Abu 'Abd Allah al-Khabbazi. He took hadith first from his father, then from Abu Hassan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Muzakki, Abu Sa'd 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Hamdan al-Nasrawi, Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Yahya al-Muzakki, Abu Sa'd 'Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Hasan ibn 'Aliyyak, Abu 'Abd al-Rahman Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Nili, Abu Nu'aym al-Asbahani, and others.
Abu al-Ma'ali fled from Naysabur at a time when the anthropomorphist governor al-Kunduri and other Mu'tazili and Shi'i-inclined Hanafis used to curse the Companions as well as Imam al-Ash'ari from the pulpit every Jum'a. Among those imprisoned or compelled to leave at that time were Abu Sahl al-Bastami, al-Furati, Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri, al-Bayhaqi, and others of the Shafi'is. He travelled to Baghdad, then Makkah where he taught and wrote for four years, earning his nickname of Imam of the two Sanctuaries. He then returned to Naysabur as the unchallenged grand mufti and headmaster of the newly-built Nizamiyya school where he remained for the next thirty years, forming generations of Shafi'i jurists and Ash'ari scholars and writing the following works:
Imam al-Haramayn was humble and acknowledged his debt even to the unschooled if he had learned something from them, never belittling anyone. Inversely, he did not hide or gloss over his disapproval of something he disapproved of, even when it came to the words of his father or those of the famous imams.
The grammarian al-Mujashi'i said: "I never saw anyone crave after knowledge more than this imam. Truly he pursues knowledge for the sake of knowledge." Ibn 'Asakir related: "His pleasure and leasure consisted in the sessions of knowledge." "Whenever he spoke of spiritual states and probed the sciences of the Sufis in his early morning gatherings, he wept and made everyone weep at his words." Among his sayings:
"I do not eat or sleep out of habit, but only if sleep overcomes me whether by night or by day, and only if I need to eat, whatever the time."
"I did not utter one word of kalam before first memorizing twelve thousand folios of the words of the qadi Abu Bakr [al-Baqillani] alone."
Ibn al-Sam'ani in Dhayl Tarikh Baghdad narrated from Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Abi 'Ali al-Hamadhani that Imam al-Haramayn said: "I read fifty thousand times fifty thousand [folios]. Then I left behind the people of Islam and their Islam of outward sciences in those books. I took to the vast sea and probed what Muslims deem prohibited to probe. I did all this in the pursuit of truth. I used, in bygone times, to flee from imitation. Now I have returned from all this to the word of truth: 'Cling to the faith of old women' ('alaykum bi dîn al-'aja'iz). If Allah does not catch me with His immense kindness so that I shall die with the faith of old women and my final end be sealed with the uprightness of the 'People of Truth' and the pure declaration: la ilaha illallah - then woe to al-Juwayni's son!"
Al Juwayni was Ashari to the last, strongly condemning anthropomorphism. He died of jaundice and was buried in his house after a huge throng attended his funeral bare-headed. Unrestrained manifestations of grief by four hundred of his over-zealous students lasted for days in Khurasan. Ibn 'Asakir said:
"I believe that the marks of his hard work and striving in Allah's Religion shall endure until the rising of the Hour."
By Dr GF Haddad [Read the full page]
Main sources: Ibn al-Subki, Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al-Kubra 5:165-222 #477; Ibn 'Asakir, Tabyin Kadhib al-Muftari p. 272-278; al-Dhahabi, Siyar A`lam al-Nubala' 14:16-21 #4313.
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al-Harawi al-Ansari
Shaykh Abu Isma'il 'Abd Allah al-Harawi al-Ansari [d. 481H/1088CE] alayhi al-rahmah wal-ridwan
A Sufi shaykh, hadith master (hafiz), and Qur'anic commentator (mufassir) of the Hanbali school, one of the most fanatical enemies of innovations, and a student of Khawaja ABU AL-HASAN AL-KHARQANI (d.425) the grandshaykh of the early Naqshbandi Sufi path. He is documented by AL-DHAHABI in his Tarikh al-islam and Siyar a'lam al-nubala', Ibn Rajab in his 'Dhayl tabaqat al- hanabila', and Jami in his book in Persian 'Manaqib-i Shaykh al-Islam Ansari.'
He was a prolific author of Sufi treatises among which are:
'Manazil al-sa'irin', on which Ibn Qayyim wrote a commentary entitled Madarij al-salikin;
'Tabaqat al-sufiyya' (Biographical layers of the sufi masters), which is the expanded version of the earlier work by Abu 'Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami (d. 411) bearing the same title.
'Kitab 'ilal al-maqamat' (Book of the pitfalls of spiritual stations), describing the characteristics of spiritual states for the student and the teacher in the Sufi path;
'Kitab sad maydan' (in Persian, Book of the hundred fields), a commentary on the meanings of love in the verse: 'If you love Allah, follow me, and Allah will love you!'(3:31). This book collects al-Harawi's lectures in the years 447-448 at the Great Mosque of Herat (in present-day Afghanistan) in which he presents his most eloquent exposition of the necessity of following the Sufi path.
'Kashf al-asrar wa 'uddat al-abrar' (in Persian, the Unveiling of the secrets and the harness of the righteous), in ten volumes by al-Maybudi, it contains al-Harawi's Qur'anic commentary.
SARI AL-SAQATI [d.253 H - 867 CE]
ABU YAZID AL-BISTAMI [d.261 H - 874 CE]
SAHL AL-TUSTARI [d.283 H - 896 CE]
JUNAYD, AL-BAGHDADI [d.297 H - 910 CE]
IBN MANSUR AL HALLAJ [d.309 H - 922 CE]
ABU JA'FAR AL-TAHAWI [d.321 H - 933 CE]
ABU AL-HASAN AL-ASH'ARI [d.324 H - 935 CE]
ABU MANSUR AL-MATURIDI [d.333 H - 945 CE]
ABU BAKR ASH-SHIBLI [d.334 H - 946 CE]
ABU 'ALI AL-DAQQAQ [d.412 H - 1021 CE]
ABUL HASAN AL-KHARQANI [d.425 H - 1033 CE]
ABD 'AL-QAHIR AL-BAGHDADI [d.429 H - 1038 CE]
ABU SA'ID ABU'L KHAYR [d.440 H - 1049 CE]
ABU AL-FARMADHI AT-TUSI [d.447 H - 1055 CE]
ABU AL-QASIM AL-QUSHAYRI [d.464 H - 1072 CE]
'ALI UTHMAN AL-HUJWIRI [d.469 H - 1077 CE]
IBN AL-JUWAYNI [d.478 H - 1085 CE]
'AL-HARAWI AL-ANSARI [d.481 H - 1088 CE]
plenty more to come
Sari al-Saqati
Shaykh Sari al-Saqati: [d.253H/867CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
One of the friends and companions of BISHR AL-HAFI Radi Allahu anhu, Sari al-Saqati was one of those who bore affection for the creatures of God and of those who preferred others above themselves.
In his book Wafayat al-'a'yan, Ibn Khallikan writes that Sari once said, "It is thirty years that I have been seeking forgiveness for one phrase, Praise be Allah's, that I allowed to pass my lips." When asked to explain he replied, "One night the bazaar caught fire, and I left my house to see if the fire had reached my shop. When I heard that my shop was safe, I said, 'Praise be Allah's'. Instantly I was brought to my senses with the realization that, granted my shop was unharmed, should I not have been thinking about others'?"
Sa'di is referring to this same story (with slight variations) where he says:
One night someone's chimney kindled a fire, And I heard that half of Baghdad had burnt down. One said, thank God that in the smoke and ashes, My shop has not been damaged. A man who had seen the world replied, O selfish man, Was your grief for yourself and no other? Would you be satisfied that a town should burn down by fire, If your own dwelling were left unscathed?
Shaykh Sari as-Saqati was the pupil and disciple (murid) of MAROOF AL-KARKHI, and the teacher and maternal uncle of JUNAYD OF BAGHDAD. Sari has many sayings on mystical unity (tawhid), love of God and other matters. It was also he who said: "Like the sun, the 'arif shines on all the world; like the earth, he bears the good and evil of all; like water, he is the source of life for every heart; and like fire he gives his warmth to all and sundry." Shaykh Sari as-Saqati died in [d.253H/867CE] at the age of ninety-eight.
Shaykh Sari as-Saqati Radi Allahu anhu also states:
"Tassawuf is the name of three qualities:
1. His 'Nur of Marifah' (Knowledge of Allah) must not extinguish his 'Nur of Wara' (Piety).
2. Never speak from the knowledge of Batin (Interior) that may contradict the Zahir (Exterior) -Qur'an al kareem and Hadith.
3. Do not let Karaamats (Miracles) caste a veil on those things which Allah has made Haraam."
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Bayazid al-Bistami
Al-Bistami, Abu Yazid [d.261H/874CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
Also known as Bayazid. Prominent paradigm of "intoxicated" Sufism from the north eastern Iranian town of Bistam. Early education included Hanafi legal thought. Best known for "ecstatic utterance" [shath], several hundred of which are attributed to him by Sufi historians & theorists.
Bayazid Radi Allahu anhu's grandfather was a Zoroastrian from Persia. BayazidRadi Allahu anhu made a detailed study of the statutes of Islamic law (shari'a)and practiced a strict regimen of self-denial (zuhd). All his life he was assiduous in the practice of his religious obligations and in observing voluntary worship. He urged his students (murid's) to put their affairs in the hands of Allah and he encouraged them to accept sincerely the pure doctrine of tawhid (the Oneness of God). This doctrine consisted of five essentials: to keep the obligations according to the Qur'an and Sunnah, to always speak the truth, to keep the heart free from hatred, to avoid forbidden food and to shun innovations (bid'a).
Bayazid Radi Allahu anhu said the ultimate goal of the Sufi is to experience the vision of Allah in the Hereafter. One of his sayings was,
"I have come to know Allah through Allah, and I have come to know what is other than Allah with the light of Allah."
He said, "Allah has granted his servants favours for the purpose of bringing them closer to Him. Instead they are fascinated with the favours and are drifting farther from Him." And he said, praying to Allah, "O Allah, You have created this creation without their knowledge and You have placed on them a trust without their will. If You don't help them who will help them?"
Of tasawwuf .... Bayazid said:
"It is to give up rest and to accept suffering."
Many Muslim scholars in his time, and many after his time, said that Bayazid al-Bistami was the first one to spread the Reality of Annihilation(fana'). Even the most heretical and puritan of scholars, Ibn Taymiyya, who came in the 7th Century A.H., admired Bayazid for this and considered him to be one of his masters.
Ibn Taymiyya said about him,
"There are two categories of fana': one is for the perfect Prophets and saints, and one is for seekers from among the saints and pious people(saliheen). Bayazid al-Bistami Radi Allahu anhu is from the first category of those who experience fana', which means the complete renunciation of anything other than God. He accepts none except God. He worships none except Him, and he asks from none except Him."
He continues, quoting Bayazid saying,
"I want not to want except what He wants."
When Bayazid Radi Allahu anhu died [261 H.], he was over seventy years old. Before he died, someone asked him his age. He said: "I am four years old. For seventy years I was veiled. I got rid of my veils only four years ago." Shaykh 'Abdullah Daghestani, referred to this saying in his encounter with Khidr alayhi asalam, who told him, as he was pointing to the graves of some great scholars in a Muslim cemetary: "This one is three years old; that one, seven; that one, twelve." It is said he is buried in two places, one is Damascus and the other is Bistam in Persia. The secret of the Golden Chain was passed from Bayazid al-Bistami Radi Allahu anhu to Abul Hassan al-Kharqani Radi Allahu anhu.
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Sahl al-Tustari
Sahl ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Yunus, Abu Muhammad al-Tustari [d.283H/896CE]'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
Al-Tustari by GF Haddad © [with some of his sayings]
Al-Tustari is named by al-Dhahabi "the master of knowers (shaykh al-'arifin), the ascetic sufi (al-suufi al-zahid)... He has a firm foothold in the path." He related that when he was three years old he would wake up at night to watch his uncle Muhammad ibn al-Sawwar pray. He spent his early years with his uncle and Dhu al-Nun al-Misri Radi Allahu anhu whom he met during pilgrimage.
AL-QUSHAYRI Radi Allahu anhu said:
"He had no peer in his time for correctness of transaction and superlative Godwariness, and he was a person of karamat."
He narrates from 'Umar ibn Wasil al-Basri that Sahl said: "My uncle once told me: 'Remember Allah Who created you.' I said: 'How should I remember him?' He replied: 'Say in your heart, whenever you are alone at night, three times, without moving your tongue: Allah is with me; Allah is looking at me; Allah is watching me.'" This became his lifelong devotion. He memorized the Qur'an al kareem by the age of seven. He used to practice perpetual fasting and prayed all night. He reached a point where he broke his fast only once every twenty-five nights on one dirham's worth of barley bread for twenty years. Hence his saying: "Hunger is Allah's secret on His earth. He does not confide it to one who divulges it." To a shaykh who told him that whenever he performed ablution the water that dripped from him changed into sticks of gold he said: "Children are given rattles." He also said:
1. "The ignorant one is dead, the forgetful one is asleep, the sinner is drunk, and the obstinate one is destroyed."
2. "We have six principles: Holding fast to the Qur'an al kareem; taking the Sunnah as a guide; eating what is licit; quitting from harm and avoiding sins; repentence; fulfillment of obligations."
3. "Whoever speaks about what does not concern him will be prohibited from obtaining truthfulness; whoever busies himself with superfluity will be prohibited from obtaining true fear of Allah; and whoever entertains bad opinions will be prohibited from obtaining certitude. Whoever is prohibited from obtaining these three, he is destroyed."
4. "Among the manners of the most truthful and trustful saints (al-siddiqin) is that they never swear by Allah, nor commit backbiting, nor does backbiting take place around them, nor do they eat to satiation. If they promise, they are true to their word, and they never speak in jest."
5. "None truly knows ignorance except a 'alim faqih zahid 'abid hakim."
6. "Allah does not open the heart of a servant if it still contains three things: loving to remain [in the world], love of wealth, and concern about tomorrow."
7. Asked when the faqir attains relief from his ego he replied: "When he no longer sees any time other than the time he is in."
8. "Allah is the qibla of intention; intention is the qibla of the heart; the heart is theqibla of the body; the body is the qibla of the limbs; and the limbs are the qibla ofdunya."
9. "When the servant abides in a specific sin, all his good deeds are admixed with his egotism (hawa). His good deeds are not purified as long as he abides in a single sin. He will not deliver himself from his egotism until he ousts from himself all that he knows to be abhorred by Allah."
10. "Lukewarmth is heedlessness; dread is vigilance; hardness is death."
11. Asked in what consisted the solace of hearts, he replied: "The coming of revelation: {Woe unto those whose hearts are hardened against remembrance of Allah} (39:22)."
12. "Whoever disputes reliance upon Allah (al-tawakkul), disputes belief (iman); and whoever disputes earning (al-takassub), disputes the Sunnah." He defined truetawakkul as "Forgetting tawakkul."
13. "Sit with one whose limbs address you, not his mouth." (1)
14. "Life is four kinds. The life of angels consists in obedience. The life of Prophets consists in 'ilm and the anticipation of revelation. The life of truthful and trustful saints (al-siddiqin) consists in following guidance (al-iqtida'). And the life of the remainder of the people - whether knowledgeable, ignorant, ascetic, or devoted to worship - consists in eating and drinking."
15. "Good deeds both the righteous (al-barr) and the disobedient (al-fajir) perform; none but the siddiq avoids disobedience."
16. He addressed the special insight of saints with the poetic verse:
The hearts of Knowers have eyes
That see what onlookers cannot see.
Al-Tustari considered the audition and study of the hadith of the Prophet Salla Allahu 'alayhi wa Sallam the highest pursuit as is evident from the following sayings:
1. From Ibn Durustuyah: Sahl said to the scholars of hadith:
"Endeavor not to meet Allah except with your inkwell in hand."
2. To Abu Dawud: "Bring out for me your tongue with which you narrate the Prophet's hadiths so that I may kiss it," whereupon Abu Dawud drew out his tongue and al-Tustari kissed it.
3. Asked until when should a man write down the hadith of the Prophet, he replied: "Until death, and the rest of his ink is poured into his grave."
4. From 'Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Daqiqi: "Whoever desires this world and the next, let him write down the hadith, for it contains the good of this world and the next."
Al-Tustari Radi Allahu anhu addressed the issue of Allah's establishment (istiwa') over the Throne in the manner of Imam al-Ash'ari, by declaring it a divine act that is neither qualified nor enquired about: "Reason alone cannot point to One Who is without beginning and without end above a Throne that is brought into being. Allah erected the Throne as a sign and as tidings for us so that by it the hearts should be guided to Him without trespassing. He did not require the hearts to obtain knowledge of its exact nature. Therefore, His establishment over it is unqualified (la kayfa lahu) and it is impermissible to ask: 'How does istiwa' apply to the Creator of istiwa'?' The believer must only accept and submit, due to the Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam's saying: 'He is over His Throne' (2) (innahu 'ala 'arshihi)."
Al-Dhahabi quotes the above but expresses caution elsewhere in his Siyar and in Mukhtasar al-'Uluw, in commentary of a similar statement by 'Uthman ibn Sa'id al-Darimi (d. 280):
In his book al-Naqd he said: "The Muslims all agree that Allah is above His Throne, above His heavens." I say: The clearest thing on this topic is Allah's saying: {The Merciful established Himself over the Throne} (20:5). Therefore, let it pass as it came, just as we learned to do from the school of Salaf.(3) Al-Darimi's book also contains bizarre findings in which he exaggerates the affirmation [of the divine Attributes], concerning which, silence would have been more in keeping with the way of the Salaf both then and now." (4) End of al-Dhahabi's words.
On the same subject Ibn Hajar said:
When we say: "Allah is above the Throne," it does not mean that He is touching it or that He is located on it or bounded by any side of the Throne. Rather, it is a report which is transmitted as is, and so we repeat it while at the same time negating any modality, for {There is nothing whatsoever like unto Him} (42:11), and from Him comes all success.
Al-Tustari authored a renowned Sufi commentary of the Qur'an which has been translated into English. In it he gives the following explanations:
- {And give me from Your presence a sustaining Power} (17:80): "A tongue that speaks on Your behalf, and on behalf of no-one else."
- {Forsake the outwardness of sin and the inwardness thereof} (6:120): "The outwardness of sin is its enactment; the inwardness, its love."
NOTES
1] I.e. one who benefits others not through discourse but through states of being, in action or in repose, in public or in private, in solace and in hardship.
2] See the "hadith of the groaning of the Throne" narrated from Jubayr ibn Mut'am from his father from his grandfather, and also the "hadith of the mountain-goats" Narrated from al-'Abbas.
3] Al-Dhahabi, Siyar (10:643).
4] Al-Dhahabi, Mukhtasar al-'Uluw (p. 214).
End of the biographical notice on the master of knowers al-Tustari by the scribe in need of his Lord's mercy Hajji Gibril.
Main sources: Al-Qushayri, Risala p. 16-17; Abu Nu'aym, Hilya al-Awliya 10:198-222 #544; al-Dhahabi, Siyar A'lam al-Nubala' 10:647-649 #2369.
Blessings and peace on the Prophet, his Family, and all his Companions.
By Shaykh Gibril F Haddad
Source : http://www.abc.se/~m9783/tust_e.html
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Junayd, al-Baghdadi
Abu al-Qasim ibn Muhammad Junayd, al-Baghdadi [d.298H/910CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l ridwan
Al-Junayd ibn Muhammad ibn al-Junayd, Abu al-Qasim al-Qawariri al-Khazzaz al-Nahawandi al-Baghdadi al-Shafi'i (d. 298). The Imam of the World in his time, shaykh of the Sufis and "Diadem of the Knowers," he accompanied his maternal uncle SARI AL SAQATI, al-Harith al-Muhasibi, and others. Abu Sahl al-Su'luki narrates that as a boy al-Junayd heard his uncle being asked about thankfulness, whereupon he said: "It is to not use His favours for the purpose of disobeying Him." He took fiqh from Abu Thawr - in whose circle he would give fatwas at twenty years of age - and, it was also said, from Sufyan al-Thawri.
He once said:
"Allah did not bring out a single science on earth accessible to people except he gave me a share in its knowledge."
He used to go to the market every day, open his shop, and commence praying four hundred rak'as until closing time. Other hallmarks are an emphasis on constant ritual purity & fasting. Taught that the goal of Tasawwuf was not loss of self but the return to daily life transformed by a vision of Allah through the loss of self & constant remembrance of Allah's presence. Devoted to fulfillment of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala's will as expressed in theQur'an al kareem & Sunnah.
Among his sayings about the Sufi Path:
"Whoever does not memorize the Qur'an and write hadith is not fit to be followed in this matter. For our science is controlled by the Book and the Sunna."
To Ibn Kullab who was asking him about tasawwuf he replied:
"Our madhhab is the singling out of the pre-eternal from the contingent, the desertion of human brotherhood and homes, and obliviousness to past and future." Ibn Kullab said: "This kind of speech cannot be debated." His student Abu al-'Abbas ibn Surayj would say, whenever he defeated his adversaries in debate: "This is from the blessing of my sittings with al-Junayd."
AL-QUSHAYRI relates from al-Junayd the following definitions of tasawwuf:
* "Not the profusion of prayer and fasting, but wholeness of the breast and selflessness."1
* "Tasawwuf means that Allah causes you to die to your self and gives you life in Him."
* "It means that you be solely with Allah with no attachments."
* "It is a war in which there is no peace."
* "It is supplication together with inward concentration, ecstasy together with attentive hearing, and action combined with compliance [with the Sunna]."
* "It is the upholding of every high manner and the repudiation of every low one."
FURTHER READING
BY Shaykh Gibril Haddad
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Mansur al-Hallaj
Abu al-Mughith al-Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj [d.309H/922CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
Al-Hallaj (d.309H/922CE) was a Persian writer and teacher of Sufism. His full name was Abu al-Mughith al-Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj. He was born around 858CE in Tur, Iran to a wool seller. His father lived a simple life, and this form of lifestyle greatly interested the young al-Hallaj. As a youngster he memorized the Qur'an and would often retreat from worldly pursuits to join other mystics in study. Al-Hallaj would later marry and make a pilgrammige to Makkah. After his trip to the holy city, he traveled extensively and wrote and taught along the way. He travelled as far as India and Central Asia gaining many followers, many of which accompanied him on his second and trips to Makkah. After this period of travel, he settled down in the Abbasid capital of Baghdad.
Among other Sufis, Al-Hallaj was not an anomaly, just some felt it was inappropriate to share mysticism with the masses, yet Al-Hallaj openly did so in his writings and through his teachings. He would begin to make enemies, and the rulers saw him as a threat. This was exacerbated by times when he would fall into trances which he attributed to being in the presence of God. During one of these trances, he would utter Ana al-Haqq, meaning that "I am the Truth", which was taken to mean that he was claiming to be God, as Al-Haqq is one of the Ninety Nine Names of Allah. This utterance would lead him to a long trial, and subsequent imprisonment for eleven years in a Baghdad jail. In the end, he would be tortured and publicly crucified by the Abbasid rulers for what they deemed as a heresy. Many accounts tell of Al-Hallaj's calm demeanor even while he was being tortured, and indicate that he forgave those who had executed him.
He died on March 26TH, 922CE. His writings are very important to only Sufis, but to all Muslims. His example is seen by some as one that should be emulated, especially his calm demeanor in the face of torture and his forgiving of his tormentors.
FURTHER READING, ON THE DOCTRINE OF MANSUR AL HALLAJ
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Imam al-Tahawi
Imam Abu Ja'far al-Tahawi [d.321H - 933CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
Imam Abu Ja'far Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Azdi, known as Imam al Tahawi al-Misri after his birthplace in Egypt, is among the most outstanding authorities of the Islamic world on hadithand jurisprudence (fiqh). He lived at a time when both the direct and indirect disciples of the Four Imams of law were teaching and practicing. This period was the greatest age ofHadith and fiqh studies, and Imam Tahawi alayhir rahman studied with all the living authorities of the day.
Imam al-Tahawi (239-321h) can be said to represent the creed of both ASHARI'S and MATURIDIS, especially the latter, as he was also following the Hanafi madhhab. We have therefore chosen to include the entire translated text of his Statement of Islamic Doctrine commonly known as the 'aqida tahawiyya'. This text, representative of the viewpoint of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah, has long been the most widely acclaimed, and indeed indispensable, reference work on Muslim beliefs.
Al-Badr al-'Ayni alayhir rahman said that when Ahmad died, Tahawi was 12; when Bukhari died, he was 27; when Muslim died, he was 32; when Ibn Majah died, he was 44; when Abu Dawud died, he was 46; when Tirmidhi died, he was fifty; when Nisa'i died, he was 74. Kawthari relates this and adds the consensus of scholars that Tahawi allied in himself completion in the two knowledges of hadith and fiqh, a consensus that included, among others, al-'Ayni and al-Dhahabi, with only the misguided IBN TAYMIYYA singling himself out in his opinion that Tahawi was not very knowledgeable in hadith. This is flatly contradicted by Ibn Kathir alayhir rahman who says in his notice on Tahawi in 'al-Bidaya wa al-nihaya' :
"He is one of the trustworthy narrators of established reliability, and one of the massive memorizers of hadith."
Imam al Kawthari alayhir rahman calls Ibn Taymiyya's verdict "another one of his random speculations" and states: "No-one disregards Tahawi's knowledge of the defective hadith except someone whose own defects have no remedy, and may Allah protect us from such."1
Read al 'Aqida al Tahawiya
Dr Gibril F. Haddad
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Imam al Ash'ari
Imam Abu al Hasan al Ash'ari [d.324H/935CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
'Ali ibn Isma 'il ibn Abi Bishr Ishaq ibn Salim, Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari al-Yamani al-Basri al-Baghdadi (260-324), a descendent of the Yemeni Companion Abu Musa al-Ash'ari, was in the first half of his scholarly career a disciple of the Mu'tazili teacher Abu 'Ali al-Jubba'i, whose doctrines he abandoned in his fortieth year after asking him a question al-Jubba'i failed to resolve over the issue of the supposed divine obligation to abandon the good for the sake of the better (al-salih wa al-aslah).
At that time he adopted the doctrines of the sifatiyya, those of Ahl al-Sunna who assert that the divine Attributes are obligatorily characterized by perfection, unchanging, and without beginning, but He is under no obligation whatsoever to abandon the good for the sake of the better. He left Basra and came to Baghdad, taking fiqh from the Shafi'i jurist Abu Ishaq al-Marwazi (d.340).
He devoted the next twenty-four years to the refutation of "the Mu'tazila, theRafida, the Jahmiyya, the Khawarij, and the rest of the various kinds of innovators" in the words of al-Khatib. His student Bundar related that his yearly expenditure was a meager seventeen dirhams. Some of al-Ash'ari's books up to the year 320 as listed by himself in al-'Umad ("The Supports"):
* Adab al-Jadal ("The Etiquette of Disputation").
* Al-Asma' wa al-Ahkam ("The Names and the Rulings"), which describes the divergences in the terminology of the scholars and their understanding of the general and the particular.
* Al-Dafi 'li al-Muhadhdhab ("The Repelling of 'The Emendation'"), a refutation of al-Khalidi's book by that title.
* Al-Funun ("The Disciplines"), a refutation of atheists. A second book bearing that title was also written, on the disciplines of kalam.
* Al-Fusul ("The Sub-Headings") in twelve volumes, a refutation of the philosophers, perennialists, and members of various religions such as Brahmans, Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians. It contains a refutation of Ibn al-Rawandi's claim that the world exists without beginning.
By Shaykh Gibril Haddad
Further reading : http://www.livingislam.org/ashari_e.html
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Imam al-Maturidi
Shaykh al-Islam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi [d.333H/945CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Mahmud Abu Mansur al-Samarqandi al-Maturidi al-Hanafi (d.333H) of Maturid in Samarqand, Shaykh al-Islam, one of the two foremost Imams of themutakallimun of 'Ahl al-Sunna', known in his time as the Imam of Guidance (Imam al-Huda), he studied under Abu Nasr al-'Ayadi and Abu Bakr Ahmad al-Jawzajani. Among his senior students were 'Ali ibn Sa'id Abu al-Hasan al-Rustughfani,1 Abu Muhammad 'Abd al-Karim ibn Musa ibn 'Isa al-Bazdawi, and Abu al-Qasim Ishaq ibn Muhammad al-Hakim al-Samarqandi. He excelled in refuting the Mu'tazila in Transoxiana while his contemporary ABU AL-HASAN AL-ASH'ARI did the same in Basra and Baghdad. He died in Samarqand where he lived most of his life. The founder of the Egyptian Muniriyya Salafiyya Press, Munir 'Abduh Agha wrote:
"There is not much [doctrinal] difference between Ash'aris and Maturidis, hence both groups are now called Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama'a."2
Al-Maturidi surpasses IMAM AL-TAHAWI as a transmitter and commentator of Imam Abu Hanifa's legacy in kalâm. Both al-Maturidi and al-Tahawi followed Abu Hanifa and his companions in the position that belief (al-iman) consists in "conviction in the heart and affirmation by the tongue," without adding, as do Malik, al-Shafi'i, Ahmad ibn Hanbal and their schools, "practice with the limbs." Al-Maturidi, as also related from Abu Hanifa, went so far as to declare that the foundation of belief consisted only in conviction in the heart, the tongue's affirmation being a supplementary integral or pillar (rukn za'id).3
Among al-Maturidi's works:
* Kitab al-Tawhid on the doctrine of Ahl al-Sunna. In it he states the following:
"The Muslims differ concerning Allah's place. Some have claimed that Allah is described as being 'established over the Throne' ('ala al-'arshi mustawin), and the Throne for them is a dais (sarir) carried by the angels and surrounded by them [as in the verses]: {And eight will uphold the Throne of their Lord that day, above them} (69:17) and {And you see the angels thronging round the Throne} (39:75) and {Those who bear the Throne, and all who are round about it} (40:7). They adduced as a proof for that position His saying: {The Merciful established Himself over the Throne} (20:5) and the fact that people raise their hands toward the heaven in their supplications and whatever graces they are hoping for. They also say that He moved there after not being there at first, on the basis of the verse {Then He established Himself over the Throne} (57:4).
"Others deny the ascription of place to Allah, whether one place or every place, except in the metaphorical senses that He preserves them and causes them to exist.
"Shaykh Abu Mansur [al-Maturidi] - may Allah have mercy on him - says: The sum of all this is that the predication of all things to Him and His predication - may He be exalted! - to them is along the lines of His description in terms of exaltation ('uluw) and loftiness (rif'a), and in terms of extolment (ta'zim) and majesty (jalal), as in His saying: {the Sovereignty of the heavens and the earth} (2:107, 3:189, 5:17-18, 5:40 etc.) {Lord of the heavens and the earth} (13:16, 17:102, 18:14, 19:65, etc.), "God of all creation" (ilah al-khalq), Lord of the worlds (1:2, 5:28, 6:45, 6:162, 7:54, etc.), "above everything" (fawqa kulli shay') and so forth. As for the predication of specific objects to Him, it is along the lines of His specific attribution with generosity (al-karama), high rank (al-manzila), and immense favor (al-tafdil) for what is essentially meant to refer to Him, as in His sayings {Lo! Allah is with those who keep their duty unto Him} (16:128), {And the places of worship are only for Allah} (72:18), {The she-camel of Allah} (7:73, 11:64, 91:13), "The House of Allah" (bayt Allâh), and other similar instances. None of these examples is understood in the same way as the predication of created object to one another....
"Abu Mansur - may Allah have mercy on him! - further says: The foundation of this issue is that Allah Almighty was when there was no place, then locations were raised while He remains exactly as He ever was. Therefore, He is as He ever was and He ever was as He is now. Exalted is He beyond any change or transition or movement or cessation! For all these are portents of contingency (hudth) by which the contingent nature of the world can be known, and the proofs of its eventual passing away....
"Furthermore [concerning the claim that Allah is on the Throne], there is not, in the context of spatial elevation, any particular merit to sitting or standing, nor exaltation, nor any quality of magnificence and splendor. For example, someone standing higher than roofs or mountains does not deservedly acquire loftiness over someone who is below him spatially when their essence is identical. Therefore, it is not permissible to interpret away the verse [20:5] in that sense, when it is actually pointing to magnificence and majesty. For He has said {Verily, it is your Lord Who created the heavens and the earth} (7:54, 10:3, 21:56) thereby pointing to the extolment of the Throne, which is something created of light, or a substance [or jewel] the reality of which is beyond the knowledge of creatures. It was narrated that the Prophet - Allah bless and greet him - while describing the sun, said: "Gibril brings it, in his hand, some of the light of the Throne with which he clothes it just as one of you wears his clothes, and so every day that it rises"; he also mentioned that the moon receives a handful of the light of the Throne.4 Therefore, the predication of istiwa' to the Throne is along two lines: first, its extolment in the light of all that He said concerning His authority in Lordship and over creatures; second, its specific mention as the greatest and loftiest of all objects in creation, in keeping with the customary predication of magnificent matters to magnificent objects, just as it is said: "So-and-so has achieved sovereignty over such-and-such a country, and has established himself over such-and-such a region." This is not to restrict the meaning of this sovereignty literally, but only to say that it is well-known that whoever owns sovereignty over this, then whatever lies below it is meant a fortiori."5
* Kitab Radd Awa'il al-Adilla, a refutation of the Mu'tazili al-Ka'bi's book entitled Awa'il al-Adilla;
* Radd al-Tahdhib fi al-Jadal, another refutation of al-Ka'bi;6
* Kitab Bayan Awham al-Mu'tazila;
* Kitab Ta'wilat al-Qur'an ("Book of the Interpretations of the Qur'an"), of which Ibn Abi al-Wafa' said: "No book rivals it, indeed no book even comes near it among those who preceded him in this discipline."7 Hajji Khalifa cites it as Ta'wilat Ahl al-Sunna and quotes as follows al-Maturidi's definition of the difference between "explanation" (tafsir) and "interpretation" (ta'wîl):
"Tafsir is the categorical conclusion (al-qat') that the meaning of the term in question is this, and the testimony before Allah Almighty that this is what He meant by the term in question; while ta'wil is the preferment (tarjih) of one of several possibilities without categorical conclusion nor testimony."8
* Kitab al-Maqalat;
* Ma'akhidh al-Shara'i` in Usul al-Fiqh;
* Al-Jadal fi Usul al-Fiqh;
* Radd al-Usul al-Khamsa, a refutation of Abu Muhammad al-Bahili's exposition of the Five Principles of the Mu'tazila;9
* Radd al-Imama, a refutation of the Shi'i conception of the office of Imam;
* Al-Radd 'ala Usul al-Qaramita;
* Radd Wa'id al-Fussaq, a refutation of the Mu'tazili doctrine that all grave sinners among the Muslims are doomed to eternal Hellfire.
Most of the Hanafi school follows al-Maturidi in doctrine, but he evidently achieved lesser fame than al-Ash'ari because the latter entered into countless debates to defeat the opponents of Ahl al-Sunna while al-Maturidi, as Imam al-Kawthari said, "lived in an environment in which innovators had no power." The absence of a notice on Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi in al-Dhahabi's Siyar is a major omission in that masterpiece of biographical history.
NOTES1 He narrated from Imam Abu Hanifa the saying: kullu mujtahidin musibun wa al-haqqu 'inda Allahi wahid which means "Every scholar who strives [towards truth] is correct [whatever his finding], even if the truth in Allah's presence is one." Accordingly, al-Rustughfani differed with al-Maturidi who considered that the mujtahid is wrong in his ijtihâd if his finding differs from the truth. Ibn Abi al-Wafa', Tabaqat al-Hanafiyya (p. 310, 362-363).
2 In Namudhaj min al-A'mal al-Khayriyya (p. 134).
3 Al-Tahawi, `Aqida §62: "Belief consists in affirmation by the tongue and acceptance by the heart." See "Ibn Abi al-'Izz," Sharh al-`Aqida al-Tahawiyya (4th ed. p. 373-374, 9th ed. p. 332). See also Risala Abi Hanifa ila `Uthman al-Batti in 'Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghudda, Namadhij (p. 21-28).
4 Something similar is narrated - without naming the angel - as part of a very long hadith from Ibn 'Abbas by Abu al-Shaykh with a very weak chain in al-'Azama (4:1163-1179). Another hadith states: "The Messenger of Allah - Allah bless and greet him - told me that the sun, the moon, and the stars were created from the light of the Throne." Narrated from Anas by Abu al-Shaykh in al-'Azama (4:1140). See also al-Suyuti's al-Haba'ik fi Akhbar al-Mala'ik.
5 Al-Maturidi, Kitab al-Tawhid (p. 72).
6 Cf. Hajji Khalifa, Kashf al-Zunun (1:518).
7 Ibn Abi al-Wafa', al-Jawahir al-Mudiyya (p. 130).
8 In Hajji Khalifa, Kashf al-Zunun (1:334-335).
9 The "Five Principles" of the Mu'tazila are:
- Tawhid entailing a denial of the Divine "Attributes of Meanings" (sifat al-ma'anî) and of the vision of Allah Most High by the believers in the next world - although both tenets are mentioned in the Qur'an;
- 'Adl or Divine Justice, entailing the position that Allah Most High cannot possibly create the evil deeds of His servants, therefore they are in charge of their own destinies and create the latter themselves through a power which Allah deposited in them - a denial of the verse {Allah creates you and what you do} (37:95);
- Reward and Punishment, entailing the belief that Allah Most High, of necessity, rewards those who do good and punishes those who do evil, and He does not forgive grave sinners unless they repent before death, even if they are Muslims - a denial of the verses that state explicitly that Allah forgives whom He wills and punishes whom He wills and a denial of the intercession of the Prophet - Allah bless and greet him - for grave sinners among the Muslims;
- Belief, whereby they held that grave sinners were considered neither believers nor disbelievers and so construed for them a "half-way status" between the two (al-manzila bayn al-manzilatayn) in Hellfire;
- Commanding good and forbidding evil is obligatory upon the believers, and this is the sole principle in which they are in agreement with the majority of Muslims.
Hajji Gibril F. Haddad
Main sources:Al-Lacknawi, al-Fawa'id al-Bahiyya fi Tarajim al-Hanafiyya p. 319-320 #412; Ibn Abi al-Wafa', al-Jawahir al-Mudiyya fi Tabaqat al-Hanafiyya p. 130, 310, 362-363; Al-Kawthari, introduction to al-Bayadi's Isharat al-Maram.
Allah bless and greet our Master Muhammad, his Family, and all his Companions.
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as-Shibli
Abu Bakr ash-Shibli [d.334H/946CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa’l-ridwan
Abu Bakr ash-Shibli was a famous Sufi and Maliki faqih. The shaykh of the Sufis and Imam of the people of knowledge of the inward about whom there are miraculous reports and rare traditions. He was one of those with great skill in the sciences of the Shari'a. There is a disagreement about his name. It is said to be Dulaf ibn Jahdar or Ibn Ja'far. Other things are said. His family was from Khorasan, from a village there called Shibla. He was born in Samarra or Baghdad. He grew up in Baghdad. Abu Bakr al-Khatib said, "His uncle was the Amir of the Amirs in Alexandria." As-Sulami said, "Ash-Shibli was the chamberlain of the Khalif al-Muwaffiq. His father had been the chamberlain in Baghdad." Abu 'Abdu'r-Rahman said: "He was a man of knowledge and a faqih in the school of Malik. He wrote out many hadiths. He mentioned that the beginning of his repentance was in the assembly of Khayr an-Nassaj. He kept the company of al-Junayd and the shaykhs of his time. He was unique in his age in state and knowledge. He transmittedhadith with isnad." He related from Muhammad ibn Mahdi al-Basri. 'Ali ibn Muhammad al-Hammal, al-Husayn ibn Ahmad as-Saffar, Isma'il ibn al-Husayn ibn Bandar, Abu'l-Hasan 'Ali ibn al-Muthanna al-'Anbari, Abu Sahl as-Sa'luki, Abu Bakr ar-Razi and Abu Bakr al-Abhuri related from him.
As-Sulami said, "While al-Muwaffiq was in power, one day ash-Shibli attended the assembly of Khayr an-Nassaj. He returned to Nihawand where he the governor. Ash-Shibli said to them, 'I have been appointed over your city, so put me in the lawful.' They did that. They tried to have him accept something from them, but he refused." Abu 'Abdullah ar-Razi said: "The shaykhs of Iraq say, 'The wonders of Baghdad in Sufism are three: the indications (isharat) of ash-Shibli, the fine sayings of al-Murta'ish and the stories of Ja'far, i.e. al-Khuldi.
Ash-Shibli was asked about asceticism. He said, "It is the heart turning away from things to the Lord of things."
Abu Bakr al-Abhuri said, "I heard him say once, 'If someone does not guard his secrets with the Truth, the eye of the reality will rarely be unveiled for him.'."
He was asked about the most extraordinary thing. He said, "A slave who recognises his Lord and then rebels against Him."
He said, "Tasawwuf is the heart resting in the fans of purity, the thoughts being enveloped by the curtain of fidelity, and taking on the character of generosity and joy in the encounter."
He said, "Tasawwuf is love of the Majestic and hatred of the insignificant and following descent and fear of reversal."
He was asked, "Who is the Sufi?" and he replied, "The one who does not ask, does not repel and does not store up." It was said, "Who is the faqir?" He said, "The one who is at home with non-existence as he is at home with oneness."
He also said, "Tasawwuf is to curb your senses and guard your breaths."
He was asked about this world and said, "A pot boiling and beauty decaying."
He was asked about sincerity and abandoning artifice. He said, "It is that you do not articulate any words of other-than-Him nor look at other than his Lord nor see for yourself any protector but your Lord."
FURTHER RECOMMENDED READING http://www.sunnah.org/history/Scholars/ash-shibli.htm
FROM QADI IYADS TARTIB AL-MADARIK
TRANSLATED BY AISHA BEWLEY
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Abu 'Ali al-Daqqaq
Abu 'Ali al-Daqqaq ibn Ishaq al-Naysaburi [d.412H/1021CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
Abu 'Ali al-Daqqaq, al-Hasan ibn 'Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Ishaq al-Naysaburi, was a great Ashari scholar, teacher and father-in law of IMAM ABU AL-QASIM AL-QUSHAYRI and the foremost Sufi shaykh in his time. An Arabized Persian from Naysabur, he took usul there and fiqh from Marw at the hands of al-Khudari and Abu Bakr al-Qaffal al-Marwazi. He then took tasawwuffrom Abu al-Qasim al-Nasrabadhi. Al-Qushayri relates that his knees would shake in his presence. In his Risala he relates from him the following sayings:
About tasawwuf :
"This path is fit only for those persons whose spirits Allah has used to sweep the dunghills."
About the Sufi:
"If the dervish had nothing left but his spirit and he offered it to the dogs at this door, not one dog would pay it any attention."
Abu Ali al-Daqqaq also said:
"The tree that grows by itself, without having been planted, grows leaves but no fruit. If it does grow fruit its fruit is not like the fruit of trees that have been planted."
Regarding remembrance, Abu Ali al-Daqqaq said,
"The practice of remembering Allah is a proclamation of office. Whoever has been made successful in remembrance has been granted the proclamation and whoever has been denied remembrance has been dismissed from office."
Allah Most High has said,
"Those who remember Allah standing and sitting and lying on their sides. . ." (Surah 3 Al-Imran: Verse 191).
Once Abu Abd al-Rahman asked Abu Ali al-Daqqaq, ''Which is more perfect, the practice of remembrance (dhikr) or meditation (fikr )?" Abu Ali al-Daqqaq inquired, "What do you say?" Abu Abd al-Rahman said, "It seems to me that dhikr is more perfect than fikr because remembrance is known to be an attribute of the Truth, whereas meditation is not. Whatever is an attribute of the Truth is more perfect than something that is specific to the creation." Abu Ali al-Daqqaq was pleased with this.
Abu Ali al-Daqqaq recited the following to a dervish:
I would not have remembered You, but a care drove me-
Heart and soul and secret-into Your remembrance.
It was as if Your watcher was whispering to me
"Beware, O Rememberer! Woe to you! Beware!"
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al-Kharqani
Abul Hassan Ali ibn Ja'far al-Kharqani [d.425H/1033CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
"Mayest Thou deign to be sweetness and let life be bitter!
If Thou art content, what matter that men be angry.
Let everything between me and Thee be cultivated,
Between me and the worlds let all be desert!
If Thy love be assured, all is then easy,
For everything on earth is but earth."
Anonymous
He was the Ghawth (Arch-Intercessor) of his time and unique in his station. He was theQiblah (focus of attention) of his people and an Ocean of Knowledge from which saints still receive waves of light and spiritual knowledge. He devoided himself of everything except Allah's Oneness, refusing for himself all titles and aspirations. He would not be known as a follower of any science, even a spiritual science, and he said:
"I am not a rahib (hermit). I am not a zahid (ascetic). I am not a speaker. I am not a Sufi. O Allah, You are One, and I am one in Your Oneness."
Of knowledge and practice he said:
"Scholars and servants in the lower world are numerous but they don't benefit you unless you are engaged in the satisfaction of Allah's desire, and from morning to night are occupied with the deeds that Allah accepts."
About being a Sufi he said:
"The Sufi is not the one who is always carrying the prayer rug, nor the one who is wearing patched clothes, nor the one who keeps certain customs and appearances; but the Sufi is the one to whom everyone's focus is drawn, although he is hiding himself."
"The Sufi is the one who in the daylight doesn't need the sun and in the night doesn't need the moon. The essence of Sufism is absolute nonexistence that has no need of existence because there is no existence besides Allah's existence."
He was asked about Truthfulness (Sidq). He said,
" Truthfulness is to speak your conscience."
Of the heart he said:
"What is the best thing? The heart which is always in Remembrance of God (dhikr Allah)."
"The best of hearts is the heart which contains nothing but the presence of Allah, Almighty and Exalted."
"Today it will have been 40 years that Allah has been looking in my heart and has seen nothing except Himself. I have had nothing in my heart nor my breast except Allah for 40 years; and while my ego is asking for cold water and a drink of milk, I have not allowed it that for 40 years in order to control myself."
"The vision with the eyes of the head doesn't bring happiness, but the vision with the eyes of the heart and the secret that Allah gives to the soul will bring out that happiness."
Of BA-YAZID AL BISTAMI he said:
"When Abu Yazid said, 'I want not to want' that is exactly the wanting which is real desire (irada).
He was asked, "Who is the appropriate person to speak aboutfana' (annihilation) and baqa' (permanence)?" He answered, "That is knowledge for the one who is as if suspended by a silk thread from the heavens to the earth and a great cyclone comes and takes all trees, houses, and mountains and throws them in the ocean until it fills the ocean. If that cyclone is unable to move the one who is hanging by the silk thread, then he is the one who can speak on fana' and baqa'."
One time Sultan Mahmoud al-Ghazi visited Abul Hassan and asked his opinion of Bayazid al-Bistami. He said, "Whoever follows Bayazid is going to be guided. And whoever saw him and felt love towards him in his heart will reach a happy ending." At that Sultan Mahmoud said, "How is that possible, when Abu Jahl saw the Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa sallam and he was unable to reach a happy ending but rather ended up in misery?" He answered, "It is because Abu Jahl didn't see the Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'Sallam but he saw Muhammad bin 'Abdullah. And if he saw the Messenger of Allah he would have been taken out of misery into happiness. As Allah said, "You see them looking at you but without clear vision" [7:198]. He continued with the saying already quoted, "The vision with the eyes of the head..."
Other sayings of his:
"Ask for difficulties in order for tears to appear because Allah loves those who cry," referring to the advice of the Beloved Prophet Muhammad Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam to cry much.
"In whatever way you ask Allah for anything, still the Qur'an is the best way. Don't ask Allah except through the Qur'an."
"The Inheritor of the Beloved Prophet Muhammad Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam is the one who follows his footsteps and never puts black marks in his Book of Deeds."
Abul-Hasan al-Kharqani died on Tuesday, 10th of Muharram in 425 H. (1033CE). He was buried in Kharqan, a village of the city of Bistam in Persia. He passed on the Secret of the Golden Chain to Abu 'Ali al-Fadl bin Muhammad al-Farmadhi at-Tusi (q).
source: http://www.naqshbandi.org/chain/7.htm
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'Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi
Imam Abu Mansur 'Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi [d. 429H/1038CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
'Abd al-Qahir ibn Tahir ibn Muhammad, Abu Mansur al-Naysaburi al-Tamimi al-Baghdadi al-Shafi'i al-Ash'ari (d. 429), al-Ustadh, the imam, jurist, scholar of principles and kalam, man of letters, poet, prosodist, grammarian, and mathematician, praised by Shaykh al-Islam Abu 'Uthman al-Sabuni as "one of the imams of the principles of the Religion and foremost authorities of Islam by consensus of its most eminent and competent scholars."
He is al-Bayhaqi's senior and the exact contemporary of Abu Dharr al-Harawi and IBN AL-JUWAYNI among the third-generation Ash'ari imams. He came to Naysabur with his father and spent his entire fortune in support of the scholars of knowledge until he became able to teach in seventeen different disciplines. He was Abu Ishaq al-Isfarayini's senior student and, together with Abu Sahl al-Su'luki, they staunchly defended the position related from al-Shafi`i that "the Book cannot be abrogated by the Sunna."1 Abu Mansur succeeded Abu Ishaq al-Isfarayini as headmaster in the mosque of 'Aqil, where al-Bayhaqi, ABU AL-QASIM AL-QUSHAYRI and Nasir al-Marwazi studied under him. He narrated hadith from al-Isma'ili and Abu Ahmad ibn 'Adi. Among 'Abd al-Qahir's works:
1. Ahkam al-Wat' al-Tamm, also known as Iltiqa' al-Khitanayn, a book on sexual ethics and pertaining laws in Islam, in four volumes.
2. Bulugh al-Mada min Usul al-Huda
3. Fada'ih al-Karramiyya
4. Fada'ih al-Mu'tazila
5. al-Fakhir fi al-Awa'il wa al-Awakhir
6. al-Farq Bayn al-Firaq, his major heresiological reference-work together with the Milal. In it he states the following positions:
- "It is obligatory to declare as unbeliever someone who says that Allah has limits." The anthropomorphist creed is that "Allah has limits that He knows of."
- "Ahl al-Sunna reached consensus that Allah, the Flawless, the Exalted, is not bounded by location." He then reports the saying of Imam Ali al Murtaza radi Allahu ta'ala anhu :
- "Allah created the Throne as an indication of His power, not for taking it as a place for Himself."
Know that Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama'a are divided in eight groups of people... the sixth group being the 'Sufi Ascetics' (al-zuhhad al-sufiyya), who have seen things for what they are and therefore have abstained, who have known by experience and therefore have taken heed truly, who have accepted Allah's allotment and contented themselves with what is within reach.
They have understood that hearing, sight, and thought are all accountable for their good and their evil and subject to reckoning to an atom's weight. In consequence they have harnessed themselves with the best harness in preparation for the Day of the return. Their speech has run the two paths of precepts and subtle allusions in the manner of the People of Hadith but without the pursuit of idle discourse. They neither seek self-display in doing good, nor do they leave doing good out of shyness. Their religion is the declaration of singleness and the disavowal of similitude. Their school is the commital of matters to Allah, reliance upon Him, submission to His order, satisfaction with what they have received from Him, and shunning all objection to Him.
'Such is the bounty from Allah, He bestoweth it upon whom He will, and Allah is of infinite bounty' (57:21, 67:4).(1)
Imam 'Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi alayhir rahman writes in 'Usul al-din':
The book 'Tarikh al-Sufiyya' (History of the Sufis, more commonly known as 'Tabaqat al-Sufiyya' or layers of the Sufis) by Abu 'Abd al-Rahman Sulami comprises the biographies of nearly a thousand sheikhs of the Sufis, none of whom belonged to heretical sects and all of whom were of the Sunni community, with the exception of only three of them: Abu Hilman of Damascus, who pretended to be of the Sufis but actually believed in incarnationism (hulul); HUSAYN IBN MANSUR AL-HALLAJ, whose case remains problematic, though IBN ATA' ALLAH, Ibn Khafif, and Abu al-Qasim al-Nasir Abadi approved of him [as did the Hanbalis Ibn 'Aqil, Ibn Qudama, and al-Tufi]; and al-Qannad, whom the Sufis accused of being a Mu'tazili and rejected, for the good does not accept the wicked.(2)
Toward the end of Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi's life the Turkmen dissension forced him out of Naysabur to Isfarayin, where he died [d.429 HIJRI] and was buried next to his teacher Abu Ishaq al-Isfarayini.
Main sources: Ibn 'Asakir, Tabyin Kadhib al-Muftari (p. 249-250); al-Dhahabi, Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'(13:372 #3991); Ibn al-Subki, Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al-Kubra (5:136-148 #468).
(1) 'Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi, al-Farq bayn al-firaq (Beirut: dar al-kutub al-'ilmiyya, n.d.) 242-243.
(2) 'Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi, Usul al-din p. 315-16.
Bismillah al-Rahman al-Raheem
was-salaat was-salaam 'alaa Rasul-illah wa 'alaa alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam
Dr GF HADDAD
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Abu Sa'id Abu'l-Khayr
Abu Sa'id ibn Abu'l-Khayr [d.440H/1049CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
Shaykh Abu Sa'id ibn Abu'l-Khayr, was an early Sufi shaykh who at different stages of his life was an ascetic, an antinomian ecstatic, and a spiritual guide. He received a Sufi transmission from Abu al-Fadl al-Hasan (or ibn al-Hasan) al-Sarakhsi, whom Abu Sa'id called his "pir" (a Persian word refering to a spiritual guide and often equivalent to "shaykh"). After the death of Abu al-Fadl, Abu Sa'id looked to Abu 'Abbas al-Qassab (the butcher), whom Abu Sa'id called "shaykh," for spiritual guidance.
The hagiography Asrar al-tawhid is one of the two major sources for what we know of his life and teachings. It has been translated as The Secrets of God's Mystical Oneness by John O'Kane. A collection of quatrains (ruba'iyat) is attributed to Abu Sa'id.
Abu Sa'id Abu'l-Khayr writes:
If I am travelling, my Friend during this travel is You.
If I am at home, my Companion at home is You.
In short, wherever I am and wherever I travel
I am thinking of nobody except of You.
Gar dar safaram toi rafiq-e safaram
Var dar hazaram toi anis-e hazaram
Al-qisse be har kojaa ke baashad gozaram
Joz to nabud hichkasi dar nazaram
Get up in the night as lovers disclose their secrets at night,
Sit near to the door of the Friend and to His roof take a flight;
Wherever there is a door, it is closed at night,
Except for the door of the Friend, which is open at night.
Shab khiz keh 'aasheqaan ba shab raaz konand
Gird-e dar o baam-e dust parwaaz konand
Har jaa keh dari bud ba shab dar bandand
Ella dar-e dust raa keh shab baaz konand
translated and contributed by Mohammed Siraj Elschot [source]
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al-Farmadhi at-Tusi
Abu 'Ali al-Fadl bin Muhammad al-Farmadhi at-Tusi [d.447H/1055CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
"O child! said Luqman the Wise,
Do not let the rooster be more watchful than you,
calling Allah at dawn while you are sleeping."
He is right, he who said:
"The turtle-dove wept on her branch in the night
And I slept on--what lying, false love is mine?
If I were a true lover, never would turtle-doves overtake me.
I am the dry-eyed lover of his Lord, while animals weep!"
Ghazali, Ayyuha-l-walad.
He is called the Knower of the Merciful and the Custodian of Divine Love. He was a scholar of the Shafi'i school of jurisprudence and a unique 'arif (endowed with spiritual knowledge). He was deeply involved in both the School of the Salaf(scholars of the First and Second Centuries) and that of the Khalaf (later scholars), but he made his mark in the Science of Tasawwuf. From it he extracted some of the heavenly knowledge which is mentioned in Qur'an in reference to al-Khidr alaihis asalam: "and We have taught him from our Heavenly Knowledge" [18:65].
Sparks of the light of jihad an-nafs (self-struggle) were opened to his heart. He was known everywhere in his time, until he became a very famous shaykh in Islamic Divine Law and theology. The most famous shaykh of his time, as-Simnani, said about him, "He was the Tongue of Khurasan and its shaykh and the master in lifting up and raising the station of his followers. His associations were like gardens full of flowers, in which knowledge flowed from his heart and took the hearts of his listeners into a state of joy and happiness." Among his teachers wasAL-QUSHAYRI, the celebrated Sufi Master, and al-Ghazali al-Kabir who said about him, "He was the shaykh of his time and he had a unique way of reminding people. No one surpassed him in his eloquence, delicacy, ethics, good manners, morality, nor his ways of approaching people." The son of the latter, ABU HAMID AL-GHAZALI, nicknamed Hujjat ul-Islam - the Proof of Islam, took much from Farmadi in his Ihya 'Ulum ad-Din.
One time he said, "I entered behind my teacher, al-Qushayri, to the public bath, and from the well I took for him a bucket of water which I had filled from the well myself. When my teacher came he said, 'Who brought the water in the bucket?' I kept quiet, as I felt I had committed some disrespect. He asked a second time, 'Who brought the water?' I continued to keep quiet. He asked a third time, 'Who filled that bucket with water?' I finally said, 'I did, my teacher.' He said, 'O My son, what I received in seventy years, I passed to you with one bucket of water.' That meant that the heavenly and divine knowledge which he had struggled for seventy years to acquire he passed to my heart through one glance."
On behaviour towards one's master he said:
"If you are true in your love of your shaykh, you have to keep respect with him."
On spiritual vision he said:
"For the 'arif (Knower) a time will come wherein the light of knowledge will reach him and his eyes will see the incredible Unseen."
"Whoever pretends he can hear, yet cannot hear the glorification of birds, trees and the wind, is a liar."
"The hearts of the people of Truth are open, and their hearing is open."
"Allah gives happiness to His servants when they see His Saints." This is because the Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam said, "Whoever sees the face of a knower of God, sees me," and also, "Whoever sees me, has seen Reality." Sufi Masters have named the practice of concentrating on the face of the sheikh(tasawwur), and it is done to the end of fulfilling that state.
"Whoever looks after the actions of people will lose his way."
"Who prefers the company of the rich over the company of the poor, Allah will send him the death of the heart."
Imam Ghazali reports, "I heard that Abul Hasan al-Farmadhi said, 'the Ninety-nine Attributes of Allah will become attributes and descriptions of the seeker in the way of Allah.'"
He died in 447 H. and he was buried in the village of Farmadh, a suburb of the city of Tus. He passed on the Secrets of the Golden Chain to Abu Ya'qub Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Yusuf ibn al-Husayn al-Hamadani (q).
source : http://www.naqshbandi.org/chain/8.htm
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al Qushayri
Abu al-Qasim Abd al Karim bin Hawazin al Qushayri [d.464H/1072CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l -ridwan
Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri radi Allahu anhu was born in July 986 CE [d.1072 CE] in northwestern Iran in the province of Khurasan, the richest center of eastern Islamic civilization down to the 13th century C.E. An exemplary scholar and sufi intellectually grounded in the Qur'an, Qur'anic exegesis and Traditions. He went and taught in Baghdad until 1063 C.E., later to return to Khurasan where he died.
Al-Qushayri radi Allahu anhu was also a recognised muhaddith who transmitted hadith to pupils by the thousands in Naysabur, in which he fought the Mu'tazilauntil he flew to Makkah to protect his life. Al-Qushayri was the student of the great Sufi Shaykh ABU 'ALI AL-DAQQAQ radi Allahu anhu. He was also a mufassir who wrote a complete commentary of the Qur'an entitled 'Lata'if al-isharat bi tafsir al-Qur'an' (The subtleties and allusions in the commentary of the Qur'an). Al-Qushayri radi Allahu anhu is famous for authoring ''The Risalah'' a Sufi textbook of the highest order where Sufi practices, states and stations, rules of travel, dreams and advice to the spiritual seeker, among other topics are related to Qur'anic verses, Traditions of the Beloved Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah upon him) and sayings of early Sufis. This was a book that Mawlana Rume radi Allahu anhu read and recommended to his students as a book popular among Sufis. 'The Risalah' has been described as one of the early complete manuals of the science of tasawwuf.
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al-Hujweri
Sayyad 'Ali bin Uthman al-Hujweri, [d.469H/1077CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
Hadrat Sayyad Ali bin Uthman al-Hujweri, Data Ganj Bakhsh (Bestower of Spiritual Treasures) belonged to a place called Hujwer in the town of Ghazna, Afghanistan. He lived during the 5th century A.H. (11th century C.E.) and was well versed in all the Islamic sciences such as Tafsir (exegesis) of the Qur'an, Hadith (Traditions of the Prophet), Fiqh (Muslim Law) and dogmatic theology (Ilmu Kalam). Al-Hujweri's spiritual lineage traces back to JUNAID AL-BAGHDADI through the three intermediaries al-Husri, an-Nasrabi, and Shibli.
In the course of his spiritual journey to God, he journeyed physically to many countries, often alone and with hardship. These places included Turkestan, Transoxania, Iran, Iraq, and Syria where he met innumerable Sufi shaykhs, many of whom he has mentioned in his book 'Kashful Mahjub.' He went to Lahore in the later part of this life to spread Islam, converting large numbers of Hindus into Muslims. He passed away in Lahore in 469 A.H. (1077 C.E.) where his maqam currently stands, visited by people of all walks of life, from near and far. Also popularly known as 'Data Sahib'.
Kashful Mahjub;
Originally in Persian, was written at the request of a student of Sufism at that time. He had asked the shaykh to compile a comprehensive study on tasawwuf (Sufism) as a guide for spiritual aspirants. Although al-Hujweri was a master in the science of Islamic scholasticism and his judgements based on logic, the conclusions he arrived at were the result of his deep spiritual experience, where he has shown the absence of any conflict between true Sufism and Islamic Shariah.
Starting from the life of the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam'sbrimful experience of Divine nearness, Presence, Union and Communion, this book describes the spiritual experiences of the Companions of the Prophet, Companions of the Companions (tabi'in), their Companions (taba-tabi'in), and the Imams (heads) of the four schools of Islamic law (Ahl as-Sunnah wal Jama'ah ), showing in truth, "when Sufism was made to leave Islam," and that it is not the so called question of "when Sufism 'entered' Islam." This book also explains the various aspects of Sufism in a thorough yet simple manner.
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'Imam al Haramayn' al-Juwayni
'Imam al Haramayn' Abi Muhammad al-Juwayni al-Naysaburi al-Shafi'i, [d.478H/1085CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan
'Abd al-Malik ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Yusuf, Abu al-Ma'ali ibn Rukn al-Islam Abi Muhammad al-Juwayni al-Naysaburi al-Shafi'i, known as Imam al-Haramayn and Ibn al-Juwayni [d.419-478h],ABU HAMID AL-GHAZALI teacher, the jurist, scholar of legal pinciples, expert in kalam and debate and 'Shaykh al-Islam'. Al-Juwayni was a Sunni Shafi'i hadith and kalam scholar. He was described as :
"the Glory of Islam, absolute Imam of all Imams, main authority in the Law, whose leadership is agreed upon East and West, whose immense merit is the consensus of Arabs and non-Arabs, upon the like of whom none set eyes before or after," (IMAM IBN AL-'ASAKIR)
"whose work forms the connecting link between the respective methods of the Salaf and Khalaf" (al-Kawthari).
He is the main figure among the fifth generation of al-Ash'ari's students. Al-Bakhirzi compared him to al-Shafi'i and al-Muzani in fiqh, al-Asma'i in manners, HASAN AL-BASRI in preaching eloquence, and al-Ash'ari in kalâm. Ibn 'Asakir mentioned it and said: "Truly he is above that by far." Ibn al-Subki said: "Whoever thinks that there is anyone in the Four Schools that comes near his clarity of speech has no knowledge of him." "He felt bound to follow neither al-Ash'ari nor al-Shafi'i." Abu al-Ma'ali's father is considered, like him, a major authority of the Shafi'i school and among Ash'ari scholars.
Famous for his intelligence, eloquence, learning, and charisma, Abu al-Ma'ali began to teach in Naysabur immediately after his father's death, only twenty and still a student in al-Bayhaqi's school. He took usûl from Imam Abu al-Qasim al-Iskaf al-Isfarayini and read the Qur'an under Abu 'Abd Allah al-Khabbazi. He took hadith first from his father, then from Abu Hassan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Muzakki, Abu Sa'd 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Hamdan al-Nasrawi, Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Yahya al-Muzakki, Abu Sa'd 'Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Hasan ibn 'Aliyyak, Abu 'Abd al-Rahman Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Nili, Abu Nu'aym al-Asbahani, and others.
Abu al-Ma'ali fled from Naysabur at a time when the anthropomorphist governor al-Kunduri and other Mu'tazili and Shi'i-inclined Hanafis used to curse the Companions as well as Imam al-Ash'ari from the pulpit every Jum'a. Among those imprisoned or compelled to leave at that time were Abu Sahl al-Bastami, al-Furati, Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri, al-Bayhaqi, and others of the Shafi'is. He travelled to Baghdad, then Makkah where he taught and wrote for four years, earning his nickname of Imam of the two Sanctuaries. He then returned to Naysabur as the unchallenged grand mufti and headmaster of the newly-built Nizamiyya school where he remained for the next thirty years, forming generations of Shafi'i jurists and Ash'ari scholars and writing the following works:
- In fiqh: Ghiyath al-Umam, Mughith al-Khalq, Nihaya al-Matlab fi Diraya al-Madhhab ("The End of the Quest in the Knowledge of the [Shafi'i] School"), his magnum opus, which Ibn 'Asakir said had no precedent in Islam, and Mukhtasar al-Nihaya.
- In usûl: al-Burhan, al-Talkhis, and al-Waraqat.
- In kalâm: al-Shamil, al-Irshad, and al-Nizamiyya.
Imam al-Haramayn was humble and acknowledged his debt even to the unschooled if he had learned something from them, never belittling anyone. Inversely, he did not hide or gloss over his disapproval of something he disapproved of, even when it came to the words of his father or those of the famous imams.
The grammarian al-Mujashi'i said: "I never saw anyone crave after knowledge more than this imam. Truly he pursues knowledge for the sake of knowledge." Ibn 'Asakir related: "His pleasure and leasure consisted in the sessions of knowledge." "Whenever he spoke of spiritual states and probed the sciences of the Sufis in his early morning gatherings, he wept and made everyone weep at his words." Among his sayings:
"I do not eat or sleep out of habit, but only if sleep overcomes me whether by night or by day, and only if I need to eat, whatever the time."
"I did not utter one word of kalam before first memorizing twelve thousand folios of the words of the qadi Abu Bakr [al-Baqillani] alone."
Ibn al-Sam'ani in Dhayl Tarikh Baghdad narrated from Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Abi 'Ali al-Hamadhani that Imam al-Haramayn said: "I read fifty thousand times fifty thousand [folios]. Then I left behind the people of Islam and their Islam of outward sciences in those books. I took to the vast sea and probed what Muslims deem prohibited to probe. I did all this in the pursuit of truth. I used, in bygone times, to flee from imitation. Now I have returned from all this to the word of truth: 'Cling to the faith of old women' ('alaykum bi dîn al-'aja'iz). If Allah does not catch me with His immense kindness so that I shall die with the faith of old women and my final end be sealed with the uprightness of the 'People of Truth' and the pure declaration: la ilaha illallah - then woe to al-Juwayni's son!"
Al Juwayni was Ashari to the last, strongly condemning anthropomorphism. He died of jaundice and was buried in his house after a huge throng attended his funeral bare-headed. Unrestrained manifestations of grief by four hundred of his over-zealous students lasted for days in Khurasan. Ibn 'Asakir said:
"I believe that the marks of his hard work and striving in Allah's Religion shall endure until the rising of the Hour."
By Dr GF Haddad [Read the full page]
Main sources: Ibn al-Subki, Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al-Kubra 5:165-222 #477; Ibn 'Asakir, Tabyin Kadhib al-Muftari p. 272-278; al-Dhahabi, Siyar A`lam al-Nubala' 14:16-21 #4313.
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al-Harawi al-Ansari
Shaykh Abu Isma'il 'Abd Allah al-Harawi al-Ansari [d. 481H/1088CE] alayhi al-rahmah wal-ridwan
A Sufi shaykh, hadith master (hafiz), and Qur'anic commentator (mufassir) of the Hanbali school, one of the most fanatical enemies of innovations, and a student of Khawaja ABU AL-HASAN AL-KHARQANI (d.425) the grandshaykh of the early Naqshbandi Sufi path. He is documented by AL-DHAHABI in his Tarikh al-islam and Siyar a'lam al-nubala', Ibn Rajab in his 'Dhayl tabaqat al- hanabila', and Jami in his book in Persian 'Manaqib-i Shaykh al-Islam Ansari.'
He was a prolific author of Sufi treatises among which are:
'Manazil al-sa'irin', on which Ibn Qayyim wrote a commentary entitled Madarij al-salikin;
'Tabaqat al-sufiyya' (Biographical layers of the sufi masters), which is the expanded version of the earlier work by Abu 'Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami (d. 411) bearing the same title.
'Kitab 'ilal al-maqamat' (Book of the pitfalls of spiritual stations), describing the characteristics of spiritual states for the student and the teacher in the Sufi path;
'Kitab sad maydan' (in Persian, Book of the hundred fields), a commentary on the meanings of love in the verse: 'If you love Allah, follow me, and Allah will love you!'(3:31). This book collects al-Harawi's lectures in the years 447-448 at the Great Mosque of Herat (in present-day Afghanistan) in which he presents his most eloquent exposition of the necessity of following the Sufi path.
'Kashf al-asrar wa 'uddat al-abrar' (in Persian, the Unveiling of the secrets and the harness of the righteous), in ten volumes by al-Maybudi, it contains al-Harawi's Qur'anic commentary.