Silsila al-Naqshbandiya PART 1 | Radde Wahabi Network

Silsila al-Naqshbandiya PART 1 Jan 27, 2014 7:25:14 GMT 5.5

Post by Mohammed IbRaHim on Jan 27, 2014 7:25:14 GMT 5.5

Silsila al-Naqshbandiya

Introduction

The Naqshbandiya tariqah is named after Hadrat Shah Baha al-Din Naqshband Radi Allahu anhu [d.791H / 1389CE] and is a tariqah that is widely active throughout the world today. It is described as the 'Mother of all Tariqah's' by Shaykh Ahmad al-Faruqi al-Sirhindi [d.1034H / 1624CE] Radi Allahu anhu.

There are hundreds of Spiritual Order's which are all on the correct path but the Naqshbandiya, together with the Qadiriya, Chistiya and Suhrawardiya, are considered as the four main Silsila's of the Ahl as-Sunnah wa'l Jama'at.

Origins

The Titles of the Naqshbandi Golden Chain
The designation of the Naqshbandi Golden Chain has changed from century to century. From the time of Hadrat Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radi Allahu ta'ala anhu to the time of Hadrat Bayazid al-Bistami radi Allahu ta'ala anhu it was called as-Siddiqiyya. From the time of Bayazid al-Bistami [d.261H] radi Allahu ta'ala anhu to the time of Sayyadina Abdul Khaliq al-Ghujdawani [d.575H] radi Allahu anhu it was called at-Tayfuriyya. From the time of Sayyadina 'Abdul Khaliq al-Ghujdawani radi Allahu ta'ala anhu to the time of Hadrat Shah Naqshband radi Allahu ta'ala anhu it was called the Khwajaganiyya. From the time of Hadrat Shah Naqshband [d.791H] radi Allahu ta'ala anhu through the time of Sayyadina Ubaidullah al-Ahrar radi Allahu ta'ala anhu and Sayyidina Ahmad Faruqi [d.1034H] radi Allahu ta'ala anhu, it was called Naqshbandiyya.

Naqshbandiyya means to "tie the Naqsh very well." The Naqsh is the perfect engraving of Allah's Name in the heart of the murid [disciple]. From the time of Sayyadina Ahmad al-Faruqi [d.1034H] radi Allahu anhu to the time of Shaykh Khalid al-Baghdadi [d.1242H] radi Allahu anhu it was called Naqshbandi-Mujaddidiyya. From the time of Sayyidina Khalid al-Baghdadi [d.1242H] radi Allahu anhu until the time of Sayyadina Shaykh Ismail Shirwani radi Allahu anhu it was called the Naqshbandiyya-Khalidiyya.

Naqshbandiya Shaykhs

Some Naqshbandiya scholars & shaykhs [under construction] :

BAYAZID AL-BISTAMI 261H

ABUL HASAN AL-KHARQANI [d.425 H - 1033 CE]

ABU AL-FARMADHI AT-TUSI [d.447 H - 1055 CE]

ABD 'AL-KHALIQ AL-GHUJDAWANI [d.575 H - 1179 CE]

SHAH BAHA'AL-DIN NAQSHBAND [d.791 H - 1388 CE]

MUJADDID ALIF THANI SIRHINDI [d.1034 H - 1624 CE]

KHALID AL-BAGHDADI [d.1242 H - 1827 CE]

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. Bayazid Radi 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.

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 the qibla of the body; the body is the qibla of the limbs; and the limbs are the qibla of dunya."

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 true tawakkul 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

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 the Qur'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

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

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 hadith and 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 of Hadith 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

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, the Rafida, 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

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 the mutakallimun 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.

NOTES

1 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.

Wallahu ta'ala a'lam wa ahkam.

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.

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 transmitted hadith 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 www.sunnah.org/history/Scholars/ash-shibli.htm

FROM QADI IYADS TARTIB AL-MADARIK

TRANSLATED BY AISHA BEWLEY

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 tasawwuf from 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!"

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 the Qiblah (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 about fana' (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: www.naqshbandi.org/chain/7.htm

'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

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]

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 was AL-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 : www.naqshbandi.org/chain/8.htm

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'tazila until 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.

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's brimful 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.
'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.

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.

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 the Qiblah (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 about fana' (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: www.naqshbandi.org/chain/7.htm

'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.

Abd'al-Khaliq al-Ghujdawani

Abd' al-Khaliq al-Ghujdawani [d.575 H / 1179 CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Abdul Khaliq was born in Ghujdawan, a town near Bukhara in present-day Uzbekistan. There he lived and passed his life and was buried. He was a descendant of Imam Malik Radi Allahu anhu. In his childhood he studied the Qur'an and its tafsir (exegesis), 'ilm al-Hadith (the study of Prophetic Traditions), the sciences of the Arabic language, and Jurisprudence with Shaikh Sadruddin. After mastering Shari'a (the legal sciences) he moved on to jihad an-nafs (spiritual struggle), until he reached a high station of purity. He then moved to Damascus, where he established a school from which many students graduated. Each became a master of fiqh and hadith as well as spirituality, both in the regions of Central Asia as well as in the Middle East.

He was known as the Shaykh of Miracles, One Who Shone Like the Sun, and he was the Master of the high stations of spirituality of his time. He was a Perfect Knower ('arif kamil) in sufism and accomplished in asceticism. He is considered the Fountainhead of this Honorable Sufi Order and the Wellspring of the Khwajagan (Masters of Central Asia). His father was Shaikh 'Abdul Jamil, one of the most famous scholars in Byzantine times in both external and internal knowledge. His mother was a princess, the daughter of the king of Seljuk Anatolia.

The author of the book al-Hada'iq al-Wardiyya tells us how he reached his high station within the Golden Chain: "He met Hadrat Khidr alayhis asalam and accompanied him. He took from him heavenly knowledge and added it to the spiritual knowledge he had obtained from his shaykh, Yusuf al-Hamadani.

"One day when he was reading the Qur'an in the presence of Shaykh Sadruddin, he came upon the following ayat:

"Call unto your Sustainer humbly, and in the secrecy of your hearts. Verily, He loves not those who transgress the bounds of what is right" [7:55].

This ayat prompted him to inquire of Shaykh Sadruddin about the reality of silent Dhikr and its method. Abdul Khaliq put his question thus: "In loud dhikr you have to use your tongue and people might listen to you and see you, whereas in the silent dhikr of the heart Shaytan might listen to you and hear you, since the Prophet Peace & Blessings of Allah upon him said in his holy hadith: 'Satan moves freely in the veins and arteries of the Sons of Adam.' What, then, O my Shaykh Sadruddin, is the reality of 'Call in the secrecy of your hearts?' His shaykh replied, 'O my son, this is a hidden, heavenly knowledge, and I wish that Allah Exalted and Almighty send you one of his saints to inspire on your tongue and in your heart the reality of secret dhikr.'

"From that time Shaykh Abdul Khaliq al-Ghujdawani waited for that prayer to be fulfilled. One day he met Khidr alayhis asalam who told him, 'Now, my son, I have permission from the Prophet Peace & Blessings of Allah upon him to inspire on your tongue and in your heart the hidden dhikr with its numbers.' He ordered him to submerge himself under water and to begin making dhikr in his heart (LA ILAHA ILLALLAH MUHAMMADUN RASUL ALLAH). He did this form of dhikr every day, until the Light of the Divine, the Wisdom of the Divine, the Love of the Divine and the Attraction of the Divine were opened to his heart. Because of those gifts people began to be drawn to Abdul Khaliq and sought to follow in his footsteps, and he took them to follow in the footsteps of the Prophet Peace & Blessings of Allah upon him.

"He was the first one in this honorable Sufi Order to use the 'Silent Dhikr' and he was considered the master of that form of Dhikr. When his spiritual shaykh, al-Ghawth ar-Rabbani, Yusuf al-Hamadani, came to Bukhara, he spent his time in serving him. He said about him, 'When I became 22 years of age, Shaikh Yusuf al-Hamadani ordered Khidr to keep raising me and to keep an eye on me until my death.'"

Shaykh Muhammad Parsa, a friend and biographer of Shah Naqshband, said in his book Faslul-Kitab, that the method of Khwaja Abdul Khaliq al-Ghujdawani in dhikr and the teachings of his Eight Principles were embraced and hailed by all 40 tariqats as the way of truth and loyalty, the way of consciousness in following the Sunnah the Prophet, by leaving innovation and by scrupulously opposing low desires. Because of that he became the Master of his time and the First in this line of spirituality.

His reputation as an accomplished spiritual Master became widespread. Visitors used to flock to see him from every land. He gathered around him the loyal and sincere murids that he was training and teaching. In this regard, he wrote a letter to his son, al-Qalb al-Mubarak Shaykh Awliya al-Kabir, to specify the conduct of followers of this Order. It says:

"O my son, I urge you to acquire knowledge and righteous conduct and the fear of Allah. Follow the steps of the pious Salaf (early generation). Hold fast to the Sunnah of the Prophet Peace & Blessings of Allah upon him, and keep company with sincere believers. Read jurisprudence and life-history of the Prophet Peace & Blessings of Allah upon him and Quranic exegesis. Avoid ignorant charlatans, and keep the prayer in congregation. Beware of fame and its danger. Be among the ordinary people and do not seek positions. Don't enter into friendship with kings and their children nor with the innovators. Keep silent, don't eat excessively and don't sleep excessively. Run away from people as you would run from lions. Keep seclusion. Eat lawful food and leave doubtful actions except in dire necessity. Keep away from love of the lower world because it might fascinate you. Don't laugh too much, because too much laughter will be the death of the heart. Don't humiliate anyone. Don't praise yourself. Don't argue with people. Don't ask anyone except Allah. Don't ask anyone to serve you. Serve your shaykhs with your money and power and don't criticize their actions. Anyone who criticizes them will not be safe, because he doesn't understand them. Make your deeds sincere by intending them only for Allah. Pray to Him with humbleness. Make your business jurisprudence, your mosque your house, and your Friend your Lord."

'Abdul Khaliq al-Ghujdawani had four khalifs. The first was Shaykh Ahmad as-Siddiq, originally from Bukhara. The second was Kabir al-Awliya ("the Greatest of Saints"), Shaykh Arif Awliya al-Kabir (q). Originally from Bukhara, he was a great scholar in both external and internal Sciences. The third khalif was Shaikh Sulaiman al-Kirmani (q). The fourth khalif was 'Arif ar-Riwakri (q). It is to this fourth khalif that Abdul Khaliq (q) passed the Secret of the Golden Chain before he died on the 12th of Rabi'ul-Awwal 575 H.

Ahmed ar Rifai

Shaykh as-Sayyad Ahmed ar Rifai [d. 578H -1183CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Shaykh as-Sayyad Ahmed ar Rifai was born in the first half of Rajab in the Muslim year of 512 H. (1119 CE) on a Thursday. His birthplace was in the town of Ummu Abeyde in the township of Beta in the province of Basra, Iraq. He passed away on Thursday 22nd Jamadi al-Awwal 578 H. (1183 CE.), in the town of Wasit, in Basra, Iraq. His father was Sayyad Ali Abu'l Hasan. His mother was Fatima ul-Anseri bint Yahya Nijjeri. His Shaykh was Aleyyul Wasiti. His maternal uncle, who helped raise him, was Shaykh Mansur Rabbani.

Ahmed ar Rifai Radi Allahu anhu descended from the Beloved Messenger of Allah Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam from both his father's and mother's sides by blood. Before Ahmed ar Rifai's birth, his maternal uncle, a famous Shaykh, Mansur Rabbani, had 'seen' the Beloved Messenger of Allah Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam and was told that his sister would have a male child who would be famous and be known by the name "Rifa'i." Ahmed ar Rifai showed ability and wisdom beyond his age when he began his education under Shaykh Vasiti upon the instructions of his uncle. He acquired a high maqam by explaining the book of the Shafi school called "Tanbih."

Many miracles occurred through Ahmed ar Rifai Radi Allahu anhu. One of the most widely known is the one that give him the name "Ebul alemeyin" (the Father of Two Banners). In the year 555 A.H., when he was 43 years old, Hz. Rifa'i went on hajj. He didn't wear the usual traveling clothes of sayyads (the relatives of the Prophet, Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam, could be recognized by their clothes). There is a certain section of the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam's tomb in Medina that only blood relatives of the Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam may enter. The guard at the door would not allow him in, as he wanted to know the proof that Ahmed ar Rifai was related to the Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam. Ahmed ar Rifai was sad and yelled towards our Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam's tomb, "As-salaamu alaykum, ya jeddi (Peace be on you, my ancestor)." Our Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam answered, saying "Walaykum salaam, ya waladi (And peace be on you, my son)." Muhammad's (saws) hand came out of the tomb and our Pir kissed the Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam's hand. When people saw this miracle, they went into a state of wajd (ecstasy) and began stabbing themselves with their swords and knives. When the ecstasy passed, there were people lying all over the floor covered with blood, so Ahmed ar Rifai returned them to their normal health. After that, our Pir was famous for possessing this gift.

One day somebody asked Ghawth al A'zam Shaykh Sayyadina as-Shaykh Abd 'al-Qadir al-Jilani Radi Allahu anhu (who was Ahmed ar Rifai's cousin) "Ya Hadrat, what is love?" Ghawth al A'zam Radi Allahu anhu told the person to go ask this question to Sayyad Ahmed ar Rifai. After sending Ghawth al A'zam Radi Allahu anhu's salaams to Ahmed ar Rifai, he asked, "What is love?" When Ahmed ar Rifai heard this question, he stood up, saying, "Love is fire, love is fire." He began whirling until he passed into the unseen and disappeared. When the person saw this, he was disturbed because he didn't understand what was happening. At that moment, the spiritual presence of Ghawth al A'zam Radi Allahu anhu appeared and told him to look for the spot where his brother Ahmed ar Rifai Radi Allahu anhu had vanished, and to pour rosewater on that spot. The person did this and within a couple of moments, Sayyad Ahmed ar Rifai re-appeared, whirling in the exact same place. When the man went back to Baghdad, he visited Ghawth al A'zam Radi Allahu anhu who asked him, "Did you see love? My brother Sayyad Rifa'i has reached stations that many walis have not been able to reach." Sayyad Ahmed ar Rifai Radi Allahu anhu also deeply loved and respected Ghawth al A'zam Shaykh Sayyadina as-Shaykh Abd 'al-Qadir al-Jilani Radi Allahu anhu and told his students that whoever visited Baghdad without visiting al Ghawth al A'zam Radi Allahu anhu's tomb would not be welcome by Allah or by them.

SOURCE : QADIRI RIFAI SUFI ORDER

Abu Madyan Shu'ayb

Abu Madyan Shu'ayb ibn al-Husayn al-Ansari, [d.595H :1198CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l ridwan

Abu Madyan Shu'ayb ibn al-Husayn al-Ansari, 1115/16-1198, poet, teacher and Sufi mystic, was born in the town of Cantillana near Seville in Muslim Spain and is buried at al-Ubbad outside the city of Tlemcen in Western Algeria. After spending many years of his life learning from the most famous Sufis of Morocco, he settled in the Algerian city of Bijaya, where he spread his particular brand of orthodox mysticism to Sufi adepts and the general public alike. Called 'Shaykh of Shaykhs' and 'the Nurturer', al-Ghawth, by his contemporaries, Abu Madyan was the most influential Sufi of the formative period of mysticism in North Africa and had a profound influence on the eventual Qadiri and Shadhili Sufi traditions.

The Career of Abu Madyan

The man who was to become the most influential figure of the developmental period of North African Sufism, Abu Madyan Shu'ayb ibn al-Husayn al-Ansari, who was called by later biographers the 'Shaykh of Shaykhs, Imam of the Ascetics and the Pious, Lord of the Gnostics, and Exemplar of the Seekers', and who remains known to posterity as 'Abu Madyan the Nurturer� (al-Ghawth), entered the world in inauspicious circumstances. Born around the year 509/1115-16 at the fortress of Cantillana in the region of Seville (Ishbiliya) in Muslim Spain, the future shaykh was orphaned early in life by the unexpected death of his father and suffered cruel treatment and exploitation at the hands of his elder brothers. Fortunately, Abu Madyan's own account of the often difficult, formative period of his intellectual development is available to the modem student of Sufism via the efforts of a near contemporary, the Moroccan biographer Abu Ya'qub Yusuf ibn Yahya at-Tadili (d. 627/1229-30), who reproduced many of the shaykh's autobiographical comments in his Kitab al-tashawwuf ila rijal at-tasawwuf, written a short time after the latter�s death:

I was an orphan in al-Andalus. My brothers made me a shepherd for their flocks, but whenever I saw someone praying or reciting [the Qur'an], it pleased me. I would come near to him and found a sadness in my soul because I had not memorized anything from the Qur'an and did not know how to pray. So I resolved to run away in order to learn how to read and pray.

I ran away, but my brother caught up with me, spear in hand, and said, 'By God, if you do not return I will kill you!' So I returned and remained for a short time. Then I strengthened my resolve to flee by night. I slipped away at night and took another road [from that which I had originally followed]. My brother [again] caught up with me after sunrise. He drew his sword against me and said, 'By God, I will kill you and be rid of you!' Then he raised his sword over me in order to strike me. I parried him with a piece of wood that was in my hand and his sword broke and flew into pieces. When he saw [what had happened] he said to me, 'Oh my brother, go wherever you wish'.

Upon leaving the region of Seville, the young Abu Madyan travelled south for three or four days, until he reached a hillock near the sea, upon which he found a tent. An old man (shaykh), wearing nothing except what was necessary to cover his nakedness, emerged from the tent and walked toward him. Thinking that the younger man was a captive who had fled from a Christian raiding parry, he asked Abu Madyan about his situation. When told of the young man�s desire to learn the fundamentals of Islam, the shaykh allowed him to remain in his company for a few days.

Then he took a rope, tied a nail to its end, threw it into the sea, and pulled out a fish, which he cooked so that I could eat it. I stayed with him for three days, and whenever I was hungry he would throw that rope and nail into the sea and pull out a fish. Then he would cook it and I would eat it. After [three days had passed] he said to me, 'I see that you covet honor (amr). Return to the city, for God is not [properly] worshipped except with knowledge.'

Heeding his ascetic companion's advice, Abu Madyan returned to Seville, from whence he proceeded to Jerez (Sharish) and Algeciras (al-Jazira al-Khadra'). From Algeciras he crossed the Straits of Gibraltar to Tangier (Tanja) and went from there to Ceuta (Sabta), where he labored for a time in the employ of local fishermen. Impatient to gain the knowledge he so earnestly desired, with the little money he had earned Abu Madyan next traveled to Marrakesh (Marrakush), then the rapidly growing capital of the Almoravid state.

Upon arriving in Marrakesh, Abu Madyan was recruited by these mercenaries and drafted into the regiment of Andalusians that was charged with defending the Almoravid capital. The shaykh apparently suffered further exploitation during the period of his military service, for he mentions that other, more experienced soldiers would regularly steal his wages, leaving him only a little with which to provide for his needs. Finally, someone said to him, �If you want to devote yourself to religion, go to the city of Fez (Fas).'

So I turned toward [Fez] and attached myself to its mosque-university (the famous Jami' al-Qarawiyyin), where I learned to make the ablution and the prayer and sat in the study circles of legists and hadith specialists. I retained nothing of their words, however, until I sat at the feet of a shaykh whose words were retained firmly within my heart. I asked whom he was and was told, 'Abu'l-Hasan [Ali] ibn Hirzihim'. and told him that I could memorize only what I had learned from him alone and he said to me, 'These [others] speak with parts of their tongues, but their words are not worthy [even] to call the prayer. Since I seek [only] God with my words, they come from the heart and enter the heart.'

The Islamic Texts Society 2002-2005

Fakhr al-Din al-Razi

Imam Fakhr al-Din al-Razi [d. 606H - 1209CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l ridwan

Fakhr-al-Din Abu-Abd-Allah Muhammad Ibn Umar ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Husayn al-Razi, also known as Fakhr al-Din al-Razi [606 AH/1209 CE] was a well-known Persian theologian and philosopher. Born in Rayy, Persia (Iran), just south of present-day Tehran [1]

He was born in a Shafi'ite and Ash'arite family. His father was Diya al-Din 'Umar who taught him Islamic religious sciences before he went to study with other Muslim savants. Al-Razi travelled to many places such as Bukhara, Khwarazm and Transoxiana and held discussions with local savants. Al-Razi was a prolific and encyclopedic writer and scholar based on his more than sixty complete works. He was a philosopher, historian, mathematician, astronomer, physician, theologian and exegesist. Al-Razi's works on theology and on Kalam include the books al-Arba'in fi Usul al-Din and al-Mas'il al-Khamsun fi Usul al-Din. In his al-Arba'in fi Usul al-Din, al-Razi presented forty issues in the principles of religion, such as religious cosmology, theology, ethics, prophecy, eschatology and imamate. Meanwhile, al-Masa'il al-Khamsun fi Usul al-Din is a more brief presentation of similar themes or topics.

A Shafi'i scholar of genius and a Mujtahid Imam in tenets of faith, he was among the foremost figures of his time in mastery of the rational and traditional Islamic sciences, and preserved the religion of Ahl al-Sunna from the deviations of the Mu'tazilites, Shiites, Anthropomorphist, and other aberrant sects of his era by authoring a number of brilliant works that came to enjoy a wide readership among his contemporaries and have remained popular with scholars to this day. His thirty-two-volume Qur'anic exegesis Mafatih al-ghayb [The keys of the unseen] is one of the most famous of his works, though he also wrote on tenets of belief, heresiology, fundamentals of Islamic law and faith, scholastic theology, rhetoric, geometry, and poetry in Arabic and Persian, in both of which he was a preacher of considerable eloquence. His efforts to purify Islam from the heresies of anthropomorphist reached the point that when unable to answer his arguments against them, they resorted to writing ugly remarks and insinuations on scraps of paper and attaching them to the pulpit (Minbar) from which he gave the Friday sermon. He arrived one day and read one of these, and then spoke to those present in an impassioned voice, saying:

"This piece of paper says that my son does such and such. If it is true, he is but a youth and I hope he will repent. It also says that my wife does such and such. If it is true, she is a faithless woman. And it says that my servant does such and such. Servants are wont to commit every wrong, except for those Allah protects. But on none of these scraps of paper - and may Allah be praised -is it written that my son says Allah is a corporeal body, or that he likens Him to created things, or that my wife believes that, or my servant - So which of the two groups is closer to guidance? [1]

Regarding Tasawwuf :

He wrote in his I'tiqadat firaq al-muslimin wa al-mushrikin:

The summary of what the Sufis say is that the way to the knowledge of Allah is self-purification and renunciation of material attachments, and this is an excellent way... Sufis are a folk who work with reflection and the detaching of the self from materialistic trappings. They strive in order that their inner being be solely occupied with the remembrance of Allah in all of their occupations and their actions, and they are characterized by the perfection of their manners in dealing with Allah. Verily these are the best of all the sects of human beings.2

Quotes:

The world is a garden, whose gardener is the state;

The state is the sultan whose guardian is the Law;

The Law is a policy, which is protected by the kingdom;

The kingdom is a city, brought into being by the army;

The army is made secure by wealth;

Wealth is gathered from the subjects;

The subjects are made servents by justice;

Justice is the axis of the prosperity of the world.

-Jami' al-'ulum

NOTES:

He travelled to Khawarzim and Khurasan, and finally to Herat, Afghanistan, where he died in 1210 [1]

Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, I'tiqadat firaq al-muslimin p. 72-73. [2]

Attar, Farid al-Din

Attar, Farid al-Din [d.617H - 1221CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Great Persian Sufi Poet. Born in Nishapur, North Eastern Iran. Known for Sufi epic poems narrating the souls progression to inner perfection, as well as couplet poems, the most famous of which is the Simurgh. Wrote a widely read Sufi hagiography. His stories uphold the idea that the release of the soul is attainable in life by eliminating the self, that the universal soul is found within. Notable for lively presentations full of anecdotes & didactic digressions.

There is little information on the formative life of the poet other than he was the son of a prosperous pharmacist and that he received an excellent education in medicine, Arabic, and theosophy at a madrasah attached to the shrine of Imam Reza at Mashhad. According to his own Mosibat Nameh (Book of Afflictions), as a youth, he worked in his father's pharmacy where he prepared drugs and attended patients. Upon his father's death, he became the owner of his own store.

Work in the pharmacy was difficult for young 'Attar. People from all walks of life visited the shop and shared their troubles with him. Their poverty, it seems, impacted the young poet the most. One day, it is related, an unsightly fakir visited the shop. The way he marveled at the opulence of the store made 'Attar uneasy; he ordered the fakir to leave. Looking the owner and the well-stocked shop over, the fakir said, "I have no difficulty with this, pointing to his ragged cloak, to leave; but you, how are you, with all this, planning to leave!" The fakir's response affected 'Attar deeply. He pondered the fakir's reply for many days and, eventually, decided to give up his shop and join the circle of Shaykh Rukn al-Din Akkaf of the Kubraviyyah order. His new life was one of travel and exploration, very much like the fakir who had inspired him. For a long time, he traveled to Ray, Kufa, Makkah, Damascus, Turkistan, and India, meeting with Sufi shaykhs, learning about the tariqah, and experiencing life in the khanqahs.

When finally he felt he had achieved what he had been seeking in travel, 'Attar returned to Nishapur, settled, and reopened his pharmacy. He also began to contribute to the promotion of Sufi thought. Called Tadhkirat al-Auliya (Memorial of the Saints), 'Attar's initial contribution to his new world contains all the verses and sayings of Sufi saints who, up to that time, had not penned a biography of their own. Regarding the poetic output of 'Attar there are conflicting reports both with respect to the number of books that he might have written and the number of distichs he might have composed. For instance, Reza Gholikhan Hedayat reports the number of books to be 190 and the number of distichs to be 100,000. Firdowsi's Shahname contains only 60,000 bayts. Another tradition puts the number of books to be the same as the number of the Surahs (verses) of the Qur'an, i.e., 114. More realistic studies consider the number of his books to have been between 9 to 12 volumes.

'Attar's works fall within three categories. First are those works in which mysticism is in perfect balance with a finished, story-teller's art. The second group are those in which a pantheistic zeal gains the upper hand over literary interest. The third are those in which the aging poet idolizes the saint Ali. During this period there is no trace of ordered thoughts and descriptive skills. One of 'Attar's major poetic works is called Asrar Nameh (Book of Secrets) about Sufi ideas. This is the work that the aged Shaykh gave Maulana Jalal al-Din Rumi when Rumi's family stayed over at Nishapur on its way to Konya, Turkey. Another major contribution of 'Attar is the Elahi Nameh (Divine Book), about zuhd or asceticism. But foremost among 'Attar's works is his Manteq al-Tayr (Conference of the Birds) in which he makes extensive use of Al-Ghazali's Risala on Birds as well as a treatise by the Ikhvan al-Safa (the Brothers of Serenity) on the same topic.

He was beheaded by the invading Mongol army in 1221 (Common Era). His tomb at Shadyakh is visited by many.

SOURCE: by Iraj Bashiri

Najm al-Din Kubra

Shaykh Najm al-Din Kubra [d. 618H/1221CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Abu al-Jannab Ahmad ibn 'Umar ibn Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah al-Khiwaqi al-Khwarazmi, known as Najm al-Din Kubra alayhir rahman was the founder of the the Kubrawiya Sufi Order--originating, like the Yasawiya, in Central Asia. Najm al-Din Kubra alayhir rahman was known as the "saint-producing (lit. "sculpting or chiseling") shaykh" (shaykh-e vali tarash), since a number of his disciples became great shaykhs themselves. Although originally from Khiva, located today in western Uzbekistan, he moved nearby to the capital city, Khwarazm. Shaykh Najm al-Din was killed defending Khwarazm, which was completely destroyed during the Mongol holocaust. Today, his tomb is in the town of Konya Urgench, which was built in the area of the ruins of Khwarazm. Apparently, he is known there as Kebir Ata. Konya Urgench is located in Turkmenistan and is about an hour's drive over the border from the city of Nukus in the Karakalpak region of Uzbekistan. (If you intend to visit Shaykh Najm al-Din's shrine from Uzbekistan, you must have a Turkmen visa--if you are not Uzbek.)

Source: www.uga.edu/islam/Sufism.html

Najm al-Din Kubra and the Kubrawiyyah Order [by Atosa Aria Abedini]

Five to seven hundred years after the Hijrat of the Prophet Muhammad Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam, the Muslim world experienced an extremely turbulent period. However, Sufism blossomed and spread its roots even further. Between 550-700 A.H. the twelfth and thirteenth centuries , the chaotic disruption of the Mongol invasion reached as far as Baghdad and destroyed the caliphate along with numerous concurrent disasters. Regardless, the faithful Muslim saints and scholars flourished at a greater rate than previously recorded. Many Sufi Orders were founded in this period; and those who had dissipated were once again revived.

Among the saintly scholars, Najm al-Din Kubra, founder of the Kubrawiyyah Order, began teaching in Khwarazm; a region in NW Uzbekistan, which, in the past, was part of the great Persian Empire, under the rule of Cyres, the Great. The Kubrawiyyah Order soon expanded its wings and spread its teachings to Persia, Afghanistan, India and China. The Kubrawiyyah, throughout their long history, produced masters of great stature who taught and produced numerous, elaborate writings and doctrines of the Sufis. In 540/1145, in Khwarazm, South of the Aral Sea, Abu'l-Jannab Najm al-Din ibn Umar al-Kubra was born. From a very young age, he displayed a surpassing intelligence. In school he received the nickname Kubra, which literally means "the greatest." It is the abbreviated form of the Qur'anic phrase al-tammat al-Kubra, "the Greatest Calamity"(LXXIX: 34, Noble Qur'an).

After completing his studies in Islamic religious sciences, Najm al-Din left his birthplace to pursue studies in other lands. He went to Persia to study the science of the Hadith then onto Egypt. In his early thirties, his thirst for esoteric matters attracted him to the Suhrawardiyyah order, where he was initiated by Shaykh Ruzbihan al-Wazzan al-Misri. According to Shaykh Kubra's writings, it is known that he had at least one profoundly moving spiritual experience in his childhood. Some believe that Najm al-Din's direction in spirituality may have been greatly affected by Baba Faraj Tabrizi due to his impressive mannerisms and advice to pursue the esoteric sciences.

His first experience as a salek was in Dizful, in western Persia, under the supervision of Ismail al-Qasri. After a short while, Ismail advised him to become an apprentice with Ammar ibn Yasir al-Bidlisi, who was a disciple of Abu'l-Najib al-Suhrawardi. After the passing of his teacher, Shaykh Ammar, Najm al-Din returned to Egypt where Shaykh al-Misri helped him to continue his training until he was permitted to instruct disciples of his own. While under the instruction of Shaykh al-Misri, he married his master's daughter. Upon receiving permission to teach, he was instructed to return to his birthplace, Khwarasm.

Najm al-Din returned to Khwarazm sometime between 582/1185 and 586/ 1190 where he remained the rest of his life, devoting himself to the spiritual path and to teaching disciples. Although he had few disciples, he earned an epithet for his success rate of producing masters of high stature. The epithet was: Wali-tarash, "Sculptor of Saints." He wrote a number of discourses; Fawa'ih al-jamal wa fawatih al-jalal (Aromas of Beauty and Preambles of Majesty), being the most important of his works. In this text he included records of his personal, visionary experiences and guidance for practicing the path; a detailed theory of the Sufi path for initiates.

After a fruitful, spiritual life, Najm al-Din passed away in Urgench, near Khwarazm, in the year 618/1221, during the Mongol invasion. He was offered protection if he had accepted to take refuge with the Mongols; instead, he chose to fight and defend the City for it would result in a glorified martyr's death in battle.

All schools of Sufism are known for their strict rules and discipline of the self and the Kubrawiyyah's methods were not different from the rest. As a Sufi master, Najm al-Din insisted on certain prerequisites before he would consider anyone as a potential salek (student). In order to be considered as a candidate and accepted as a student, one was required to have solid knowledge of Islamic laws and Islamic theological doctrines. The disciplinary rules of the school are eight principles of Junayd (third/ninth centuries). A salek must constantly observe the following:

1. Ritual purity (wudu, a process of cleansing prior to prayer),

2. Fasting,

3. Silence,

4. Seclusion,

5. Innvocation or recollection of Allah, using the formula La Ilaha Illa Allah (zikr),

6. Heart to heart connection with his/her Sheikh at all times,

7. Impure thoughts and impulses are to be put aside as they occur,

8. Surrender him/herself to the will of Allah and never refuse or question what Allah has imposed upon him.

In addition to the mentioned eight rules, Najm al-Din also highly recommended two additional rules: moderation in eating and drinking when breaking a fast, and maintaining a bare minimum of sleep.Shaykh Kubra's description and theory of the Sufi path was that the journey towards Allah was none but an inward journey. He believed that whatever Allah put in the macrocosm, also existed within every individual on the microcosmic level.

"Know that the lower soul, the devil, and the angels are realities that are not external to you. You are they. So, too, Heaven, Earth and the Divine throne are not located outside of you; nor are Paradise, Hell, Life, or death." VXVII:32, Noble Qur'an.

He often told people to pray because Allah is praiseworthy; not for fear of hell or in wishing for paradise.

Source

Muin al-Din Chishti

Chishti, Muin al-Din Hasan Khawaja Ajmeri [d.627H -1230CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

The main personality of the Chishti Sufi order, the most important & widespread Sufi order in India. Born in Sistan [Sijistan] & died in Ajmer. Came to India in 1193 after travelling in Khurasan & Baghdad. His tomb in Ajmer is one of the most popular shrines in north-western India, visited by Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus & Christians alike.

FURTHER EXTENSIVE READING: SILSILA CHISTIYA | KHAWAJA MUIN 'AL-DIN CHISTI

Shihab al-Din 'Umar Suhrawardi

Shaykh Shihab 'al-din Abu Hafs Umar Abd 'Allah Suhrawardi [d.632H -1234CE] 'alayhir al-rahmah wa'l ridwan

Hadrat Shaykh Shihab al-Din Umar Suhrawardi 'alayhir rahman is officially recognised as the founder of this great Suhrawardiyya Sufi order. It is an order which still has many adherents today. Shihab al-Din Umar claimed descent from Sayyadina Abu Bakr Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu and after acquiring support of the then caliph, attracted sufis from all over the world to hear him teach. It is said that he went on pilgrimage each year to Makkah and al-Madinah. He had also met and conversed with Sayyadina Ghawth al-A'dham; 'Abd' al-Qadir al-Jilani Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu.

Shaykh as-Sayyad Muhammad Nizam al-Din Shah Bikhari 'alayhir rahman of the Silsila 'aaliya 'Qadiriya, Barkatiya, Nooriya, Rizviya' order says he regularly made deedar (saw in a dream) the Beloved Messeneger of Allah (Peace and Blessings upon him) on various occasions, and he attained great blessings from the Exalted court of the Prophet (Peace and Blessings upon him). He also said he made ziyaarat [paid homage & respect] of Ghawth al-A'dham Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu. He personally states;

I often made ziyaarat of Ghawth al-A'dham Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu, but I never saw him alone. I always saw him with Hadrat Shaykh Shihab al-Din Umar Suhrawardi Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu, and during conversations, I also saw that Shaykh Shihab al-Din Umar Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu followed the manner of al-Ghawth al-A'dham Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu. I also never saw Shaykh Shihab al-Din Umar Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu speaking in these dreams, and I was worried about this. I thus asked my father about this, and he said, 'There is nothing to be worried about. The Ahl al-Kashf refer to al-Ghawth al-A'dham Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu 'Zul Jinnahain' (One with two shoulders [deputies]). The deputy on his right is Hadrat Shaykh Shihab al-Din Umar Suhrawardi Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu and the deputy on his left is Shaykh al-Akbar Muhiy'yudeen Ibn Arabi Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu. In this time, you are more engrossed in obedience of the shari'ah and understanding the laws of shari'ah. It is for this reason that you are seeing Shaykh Shihab al-Din Umar Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu with al-Ghawth al-A'dham Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu.[1]

Amongst Shaykh Shihab al-Din Umar's disciples were the famous poets Shaykh Saidi and Kamal al-Din Isma'il al-'Isfahani Radi Allahu ta'ala anhum. Shaykh Shihab al-Din Umar Suhrawardi 'alayhir rahman is also the author of the celebrated 'Awarif al-ma'arif, an excellent text of 'irfan and Sufism.

This books explains Shaykh al-Suhrawardî's sufi theology and its importance to the training of sufi disciples. His careful analysis of mystical ideas of self-annihilation, sufi exercises (dhikr), proper moral conduct (adab), and other areas that stressed the complete obedience to Islamic law and to the customs of the Prophet will reflect a sufi master's intention to ensure his sufi path reflected the truest and purest form of faith.[2]

We do not want anyone to get confused with Shihab al-Din Yahya al-Suhrawardi (1153/5-1191) who was called "the Master of Oriental Theosophy", and founder of the Ishraqi or "Illumination" School. Yahya al-Suhrawardi was the most controversial of three celebrated mystics who lived at the same time and bore the same place-name - Suhraward, in northwest Iran, near Azerbaijan. His contemporary Shaykh Shihab al-Din 'Umar b. 'Abd Allah Suhrawardi (1144-1234CE) kept his head by being a model of orthodox moderation, and enjoyed the patronage of Caliphs and princes. . Shihab al-Din's teacher was his uncle Abu Najb Suhrawardi (d.1168), rector of the Nizamiya academy and an authority on Hadith.

FURTHER READING : SILSILA AL SUHRAWARDIYA

[1] Source; Silsila aaliya qadiriya, barkatiya, nooriya, rizviya

[2] Source; Fons Vitae Books

Bakhtiyar al Kaki

Hadrat Khawaja Qutb al-Din Bakhtiyar al Kaki [d.633H -1235CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Khawaja Qutb al-Din Bakhtiyar Kaki alaihir rahmah was born in 569 A.H. in a town called "Aush" or Awash in Mawar-un-Nahar (Transoxania). Khwaja Qutbuddin's alaihir rahmah original name was "Bakhtiyar" but his title was "Qutbuddin". The name "Kaki" to his name was attributed to him by virtue of a miracle that emanated from him at a later stage of his life in Delhi. He was the first spiritual successor of Hadrat Khawaja Mu'in al-Din Chishti alaihir rahmah. Hadrat Khawaja Bakhtiyar Kaki alaihir rahmah used to offer 95 Rakaats of Salaah during the 24 hours of day and night, along with 3 000 'Durood Shareefs' every night upon the soul of the Beloved Prophet May Allah shower His Mercy upon him. He had no parallel in abandoning the world and suffering poverty and hunger. He kept himself engrossed in the remembrance of Allah.

It is stated that once in an assembly of Sama (Qawwali) he happened to hear a verse of Hadrat Ahmad Jam with the meaning: "Those who are killed with the dagger of surrender and pleasure get a new life from the Unseen." Hadrat Khwaja Bakhtiyar Kaki alaihir rahmah was so much absorbed in and inspired with this verse that from that day on he kept on reciting it in a state of unconsciousness and gave his life in the same state. He remained in this state of Wajd for 3 consecutive days and expired on the 4th day. He passed away on the 14th of Rabi-ul-Awwal 633 A.H. The Mazaar Shareef [shrine] of Hadrat Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhityar Kaki alaihir rahmah lies near Qutb Minar at old Delhi, India.

Ibn al-Farid, Umar

Ibn al-Farid, Umar [d.633H -1235CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Celebrated Arab poet, mystic and Wali Allah. Composed quatrains [ruba'iyat], love poems [ghazals] & odes [qasidas] expressing a mystical view of life in which all of existence reveals the beauty & love of Allah. Most famous are his al-khamriyyah [Wine ode], praising love & the beloved & the Nazm al-suluk [Poem of the Sufi way], an ode of 760 verses detailing the mystic's ascent to enlightenment. Today remains venerated as a Wali Allah [saint] in Cairo, Egypt.

Ibn al-'Arabi

Shaykh al Akbar : Muhammad Ibn al-'Arabi, Muhiy al-Din [d.637H -1240CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Muhammad ibn 'Ali ibn Muhammad ibn al-'Arabi, Abu Bakr Muhyi al-Din al-Hatimi al-Ta'i al-Andalusi al-Mursi al-Dimashqi, known as Ibn 'Arabi to differentiate him from Abu Bakr Ibn al-'Arabi the Maliki jurist. A scholar of Arabic letters at first, then tafsir and tasawwuf, nicknamed 'al-Qushayri' and 'Sultan al-'Arifin' in his time for his pre-eminence in tasawwuf, known in his lifetime for his devoutness to worship, asceticism, and generosity, Ibn 'Arabi was praised by al-Munawi as "a righteous friend of Allah and a faithful scholar of knowledge" (waliyyun salihun wa 'alimun nasih), by Ibn 'Imad al-Hanbali as "the absolute mujtahid without doubt," and by al-Fayruzabadi as "the Imam of the People of Shari'a both in knowledge and in legacy, the educator of the People of the Way in practice and in knowledge, and the shaykh of the shaykhs of the People of Truth through spiritual experience (dhawq) and understanding."1

His Teachers

He travelled East and West in the study of hadith, taking knowledge from over a thousand shaykhs, among them Abu al-Hasan ibn Hudhayl, Muhammad ibn Khalaf al-Lakhmi, Ibn Zarqun, Abu al-Walid al-Hadrami, al-Silafi, 'Abd al-Haqq al-Ishbili, Ibn 'Asakir, Ibn al-Jawzi, and Ibn Bushkuwal.His principal shaykhs in tasawwuf were Abu Madyan al-Maghribi, Jamal al-Din Yunus ibn Yahya al-Qassar, Abu 'Abd Allah al-Tamimi al-Fasi, Abu al-Hasan ibn Jami', and al-Khidr alayhis asalam.2

He became known first as al-Shaykh al-Kabir ("The Great Shaykh") then al-Shaykh al-Akbar ("The Greatest Shaykh") with specific reference to the sciences of tasawwuf in which he authored hundreds of books.3

His Doctrine ('Aqida)

His greatest and best-known is his last work, al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya ("The Meccan Conquests") which begins with a statement of doctrine - translated in forthcoming posts - about which al-Safadi said:

"I saw that from beginning to end it consists in the doctrine of ABU AL-HASAN AL-ASHARI without any difference whatsoever."4

His Rank of Mujtahid Mutlaq

In jurisprudence Ibn 'Arabi is often said to follow the Zahiri school, but this is incorrect since he himself denies it, as quoted by Ibn 'Imad from Ibn 'Arabi's two poems al-Ra'iyya and al-Nuniyya, which state respectively:

Laqad harrama al-Rahmanu taqlida Malikin

wa Ahmada wa al-Nu'mani wa al-kulli fa'dhuru

The Merciful forbade me to imitate Malik, Ahmad,

Al-Nu'man [Abu Hanifa] and others, therefore pardon me.

Lastu mimman yaqulu qala Ibnu Hazmin

la wa la Ahmadu wa la al-Nu'manu

I am not of those who say: "Ibn Hazm said"-

Certainly not! Nor "Ahmad said" nor "al-Nu'man said."5

Some of Ibn 'Arabi's Sayings

It is remarkable that there were very few contemporaries of Ibn 'Arabi among his accusers, although he travelled and taught all over the Islamic world and, as Ibn Hajar stated, "he made his mark in every country that he entered"15 while his admirers among the authorities of Islam lived both in his own lifetime and later. Among the Shaykh's sayings:

- "Whoever is truthful in something and pursues it diligently will obtain it sooner or later; if he does not obtain it in this world, he will obtain it in the next; and whoever dies before victory shall be elevated to the level of his diligence."

- "The knower of Allah knows through eyesight (basar) what others know through insight (basira), and - he knows through insight what virtually no-one knows. Despite this, he does not feel secure from the harm of his ego towards himself; how then could he ever feel secure from what His Lord has foreordained for him?"

- "The knower's declaration to his student:

'Take from me this science which you can find nowhere else,' does not detract from the knower's level, nor do other similar declarations that appear to be self-eulogy, because his intention is only to encourage the student to receive it."

- "The discourse of the knower is in the image of the listener according to the latter's powers, readiness, weakness, and inner reservations."

- "If you find it complicated to answer someone's question, do not answer it, for his container is already full and does not have room for the answer."

- "The ignorant one does not see his ignorance as he basks in its darkness; nor does the knowledgeable one see his own knowledge, for he basks in its light."

- "Whoever asks for a proof for Allah's oneness, a donkey knows more than him."

His Tarjuman al-Ashwaq ("The Interpreter of Desires") is a masterpiece of Arabic poetry translated in many languages. The following poem to the Ka'ba is taken from the Futuhat.a

1. In the Place of refuge my heart sought refuge,

shot with enmity's arrows.

2. O Mercy of Allah for His slaves, Allah placed His trust

in you among all inanimate forms.

3. O House of my Lord, O light of my heart,

O coolness of my eyes,b O my heart within,

4. O true secret of the heart of existence,

my sacred trust, my purest love!

5. O direction from which I turn from every quarter and valley,

6. From subsistence in the Real, then from the height,

from self-extinction, then from the depths!

7. O Ka`ba of Allah, O my life,

O path of good fortune, O my guidance,

8. In you has Allah placed every safety

from the fear of disaster upon the Return.

9. In you does the noble Station flourish,

in you are found the fortunes of Allah's slaves.

10. In you is the Right Hand that my sin has draped

in the robe of blackness.c

11. Multazam is in you - he who clings to love for it,

will be saved on the Day of Mutual Cries.d

12. Souls passed away longing for Her,

in the pain of longing and distant separation.

13. In sorrow at their news she has put on

the garment of mourning.e

14. Allah sheds His light on her court,

and something of His light appears in the heart.

15. None sees it but the sorrowful

whose eyes are dark from lack of sleep.

16. He circumambulates seven times after seven,

from the beginning of night until the call to prayer.

17. Hostage to endless sadness, he is never seen

but bound to effort.

18. I heard him call upon Allah and say, beside the Black

Stone: "O my heart!

19. Our night has quickly passed,

but the goal of my love has not passed!"

Ibn 'Imad said: "He died - may Allah have mercy on him! - in the house of the Qadi Muhyi al-Din ibn al-Zaki and was taken to Qasyun [Damascus] and buried in the noble mound, one of the groves of Paradise, and Allah knows best."16

Shams-e-Tabrizi

Mawlana Shams-e-Tabrizi [d.645H - 1248CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Shams-e-Tabrizi was an Iranian Sufi mystic born in the city of Tabriz in Iranian Azerbaijan. He is responsible for initiating Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rume, usually known as Rumi in the West, into Islamic mysticism, and is immortalized by Rumi's poetry collection Diwan-e Shams-e Tabriz-i ("The Works of Shams of Tabriz"). Shams lived together with Mawlana Rume in Konya, in present-day Turkey, for several years, and is also known to have travelled to Damascus in present-day Syria.

After several years with Mawlana Rume, Mawlana Shams vanished from the pages of history quite suddenly. Although it is not known what became of him after his departure from Rumi, his gravesite is in a remote region of the Karakorams in Northern Pakistan at a place called Ziarat not far from the village of Shimshall. Rumi's love for Shams, and his bereavement at his death, found expression in an outpouring of lyrical poems. Rumi himself left Konya and went out searching for Shams, journeying as far as Damascus before realizing that Shams and himself were, in fact, "one and the same"

As the years passed, Rumi attributed more and more of his own poetry to Shams as a sign of love for his departed friend and master. Indeed, it quickly becomes clear in reading Mawlana Rume that Shams-e-Tabrizi was elevated to a symbol of God's love for mankind, and that Shams was a sun ("Shams" is Arabic for "sun") shining the Light of God on Rumi.

ME & RUMI [AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SHAMS-E-TABRIZI]

Sabir Kalyari

Makhdoom Ala 'al-Din Ali Ahmad Sabir Kalyari [d.650H -1253CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Hadrat Ala'ud-din Ali Ahmed Sabir alaihir rahmah was born on the 19th of Rabi-ul-Awwal 592 H. at Herat in Afghanistan. He was the great grandson of AL GHAWTH AL ADHAM, Shaykh Abd'al Qadir al-Jilani Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu and the maternal nephew of Hadrat Baba Farid al-Din alaihir rahmah. While Hadrat Sabir Paak alaihir rahmah was still in his mother's womb, Sayyiduna Rasullulah Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam appeared in her dream and commanded her to name the child "Ahmed." Likewise, after some time, the fourth Caliph of Islam, Sayyadina Hadrat Ali Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu, appeared in his mother's dream and command her to name her child "Ali." Due to both these commands, he was named Ali Ahmed. Some of the first words he spoke as a toddler were "La Moujuda Ill-Allah" meaning "There is nothing present but Allah." At the age of 7, he adopted regular fasting and Tahajjud Salaah. When his mother insisted upon him not to perform such Mujahedas (spiritual striving) he simply said, "My dear mother, I can't help it. I wish to burn myself in the devotion of Allah. I really enjoy this life." Hadrat Sabir Paak alaihir rahmah was then initiated as a mureed by Hadrat Baba Farid alaihir rahmah in the Chistiya Silsila. Hadrat Baba Farid alaihir rahmah once said: "The knowledge of my chest was given to Shaykh Nizam al-Din alaihir rahmah while the knowledge of my heart enriched Shaykh Ali Ahmed Sabir alaihir rahmah."

Hadrat Sabir Paak's alaihir rahmah Mazaar Shareef was built after 200 years by Hadrat Qutb-e-A'lam Abd 'al-Qudoos Gangohi alaihir rahmah, and ever since, people have been visiting in their droves.

FURTHER IN-DEPTH READING:

KHAWAJA SABIR KALYARI | CHISTIYA SHAYKHS

Abu al Hasan Shadhili

Shadhili, Abu al-Hasan 'Ali ibn 'Abdu' Allah ibn 'Abdu'l-Jabbar [d.656H/1258CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Shaykh Abu al Hasan Shadhili alayhir rahman, who, on his father's side, descended from the Fatimid-Hasanid line, and on his mother's side from the Fatimid-Husaynid line. He was born in Morocco, and educated in Tunis and Morocco. He was the Founder the Shadhili Sufi order, combining formal scholarship with mystical exercises. The opposition of establishment Tunisian 'ulama to his preaching led him to move to Alexandria, Egypt, in 1244, where he gathered students & followers, founded a zawiyah [Sufi lodge] & created the distinctive organisation, devotional activities & social life of the order. He avoided close relations with the government. Passed down popular prayers & Sufi terms. The movement he inspired is one of the oldest Sufi tariqahs & became the most important in North Africa.

Abu al-Hasan Shadhili alayhir rahman was one of the great saints of the community, he said about tasawwuf:

He who dies without having entered into this knowledge of ours dies insisting upon his grave sins (kaba'ir) without realizing it.1

He was born in the year 593 A.H./1196 C.E., in the mountain village of Ghumara in the Rif area of the northern Atlas mountains of the Maghrib. The Berber tribe to which he belonged had virtually separated itself from the rest of the Maghrib by refusing to accept the Religion of Islam, which was otherwise universally followed in this region. SHAYKH ABU MADYAN had tried to teach and guide this tribe to the Truth, but they had preferred to live in their state of spiritual ignorance.

After Abu'l as-Hasan spent a period of time with his murshid; Shaykh 'Abdu's-Salam ibn Mashish alayhir rahman, he was ordered by his shaykh 'Abdu as-Salam to proceed to Ifriqiya, now known as Tunisia, where he should settle in the village of Shadhila until Allah would send His Order for him to move to the city of Tunis, where he would meet with certain difficulty and opposition. He was told nevertheless that he should remain in Tunis, until the coming of an event which would permit him to leave this city and to travel to the East where, as his Master said,

"You will become the Qutb of your time."

Shaykh Abu'l as-Hasan alayhir rahman set out for the village of Shadhila, between Qayrawan and Tunis where, rather than looking for a place to lodge, he retreated to a cave on the mountain of Jabal Zaghwan, accompanied by his spiritual brother and companion, 'Abdullah ibn Salama al-Habibi alayhir rahman, where they spent 40 days in total seclusion and supplication.

Shaykh Abu al-Hasan Shadhili alayhir rahman died in Egypt, 656 Hijri - 1258 Common Era. His shrine is at Humaythra near the Red sea.

Extracts from & further reading : Sidi Muhammad Press

111 In Ibn 'Ajiba, Iqaz al-himam p. 8.

Baba Farid al-Din Mas'ud

Farid al-Din Mas'ud Ganj-i-Shakar [d.663H - 1265CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Also known as Baba Farid. A seminal personality in the medieval Indian mystical tradition, the Sufi Wali Allah [saint] and poet consolidated the Chishti order and his verses elevated Punjabi to a literary status. Numerous Punjabi tribes attribute their conversion to him and his shrine in Ajodhan [presently Paak-pattan, Pakistan] is a major pilgrimage centre.

FURTHER READING ON BABA FARID GANJ-I SHAKAR

Baha-ud-Din Zakariya

Abu Muhammad Baha al-Din Zakariya Multani [d.665 - 1267 CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Hadrat Shaykh Baha-al-Din Zakariya (Persian: بہاؤ الدین زکریا ) was a Sufi of the Suhrawardiyya order (tariqa). His full name was al-Shaykh al-Kabir Baha-ud-Din Abu Muhammad Zakaria al-Qurayshi al-Asadi al Hashmi.

Shaykh Baha al-Din Zakariya known as 'Bahawal Haq' was born at Kot Kehror, a town of the Layyah District near Multan, Punjab, Pakistan, around 1170 Common Era. His grand father Shah Kamal al-Din Ali Shah Qurayshi al Hashmi arrived in Multan from Makkah en route to Khwarizm where he stayed for a short while. Shaykh Baha al-Din was from the descendents of Asad Ibn Hashim the maternal grandfather of Hadrat Ali ibn Abi Talib Radi Allahu anhu.

In Tariqat he was the disciple of Renowned Sufi Master Shaykh Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi Radi Allahu anhu who awarded him Khilafat only after 17 days of stay at his Khanqaah in Baghdad.

For fifteen years he went from place to place to preach Islam and after his wanderings 'Bahawal Haq' settled in Multan in 1222. One of his famous disciples is Hadrat Lal Shah Baz Qalander Radi Allahu anhu [d.650].

Shah baz Qalandar (Sayyad Uthman) was seen as a controversial figure by some, because he was a majzub wali. He would put on red clothes and was often found in a state of spiritual ecstasy. This offended the orthodox ulema of the time. Qazi Qutb al-Din Kashfi, a prominent alim, gave a fatwa [religious edict) against Sayyad Uthman, who was staying in a village near Multan. He was furious when he heard about this fatwa and travelled to Multan with his followers to avenge the dishonour. At the time, Shaykh Baha al-Din Zakariya Multani was presiding over the seat of spiritual guidance and enlightenment and his circle of disciples included scholars and sages. When he learnt of Sayyad Uthman and the cause of his anger, Shaykh Baha al-Din, managed to calm him down.

Humbled by Shaykh Baha al-Din, he said: ''O personification of the light, I beg your pardon. I was in the wrong. I had come to take revenge from an alim of your city, but I have myself become your prisoner. Don't keep me waiting for long and accept my submission and bai't.'' Shaykh Baha al-Din embraced him and included him in his circle of Rushd-wo-Hidayat (spiritual guidance and enlightenment). Shaykh Baha al-Din is reported to have addressed Uthman with the name 'Lal Shahbaz' and since then, he has been known by this name.

According to Hadrat Makhdoom Ashraf Semnani,

''Qalandar is one who has severed connections with the world. He should be an expert of shariat (law) and tariqat (way) and should be immersed in the ocean of existence.” Uthman had all these qualities, which is why he is known as “Qalandar''.

Shaykh Baha-al-Din Zakariya died in 1267 CE and his mausoleum is located near the main gate of the Multan Fort. (Some reports say that the Shaykh died on the 7th of Safar - 661/21 December 1262).

Mawlana Rumi

Mawlana Rumi, Jalal al-Din al- [d.672H - 1273CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Born in Balkh [in modern Afghanistan] but lived in Konya, Anatolia [Turkey]. Initially followed existing Sufi paths but became a visionary ecstatic in 1244 after being inspired on a new path of aesthetic & emotional Sufism, which developed into the Mawlawi [Mevlevi] order after his death. Taught that the Master of the Way was to serve as a medium between Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala & humanity. Sought identification of the human self with divine being. Wrote more than seventy thousand verses of Persian poetry in ordinary language, expressing the experience of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala's presence in creation & inspiring joy in the listener; common themes are the trials of separation from the Beloved & the joys of union with Him. Most famous poem is Mathnawi, a compilation of spiritual outbursts, anecdotal ruminations & parables expressed in poetic form.

FURTHER READING & POETRY

Badawi, al-Sayyad Ahmad

Badawi, al-Sayyad Ahmad [d.675H - 1276CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Morrocan-born founder of Ahmadi Sufi order, one of the four largest in Egypt. Influenced by Shaykh AHMAD AR-RIFA'Y & Shaykh 'ABD' AL-QADIR AL-JILANI and their Sufi orders. Received a vision instructing him to go to Egypt, where he won many followers & reputedly worked miracles. Fought against the Crusaders. The annual celebration of his birth [mawlid] is among the most popular feasts in Egypt. By the early nineteenth century, three feasts were being held in his honour, coinciding with the agricultural cycle of the Nile Delta. The shrine and Mosque built over his tomb are popular sites for devotees.

al-Nawawi

Abu Zakariyya Yahya Ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi [d.677H - 1278CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

He was popularly known as al-Nawawi or Imam Nawawi. He studied in Damascus from the age of 18 and after making the Hajj in 1253 he settled there as a private scholar. In 1267 he succeeded Abu Shama as professor of hadith at the Ashrafiyya school in the city. He died at Nawa at a relatively young age, having never married.

Imam Nawawi Rahmatullahi alaih was one of the great Sufi scholars, strictest latter-time hadith masters, and most meticulous of jurists, Shaykh al-Islam Imam Muhyiddin Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi is with al-Rafi'i the principal reference of the late Shafi'i school. His books remain authoritative in the methodology of the law, in Qur'an commentary, and in hadith. His commentary of Sahih Muslim is second only to Ibn Hajar's commentary of Sahih Bukhari. Allah gave his famous compilation of Forty Hadiths more circulation and fame than possibly any other book of hadith, large or small, and has allowed Nawawi to be of immense benefit to the Community of Islam.

Imam Nawawi Rahmatullahi alaih was considered a Sufi and a saint, as is evident from the titles of some of his works and that of Sakhawi's biography entitled Tarjamat shaykh al-islam, qutb al-awliya' al-kiram, faqih al-anam, muhyi al-sunna wa mumit al-bid'a Abi Zakariyya Muhyi al-Din al-Nawawi (The biography of the Shaykh of Islam, the Pole of Noble Saints, the Jurist of Mankind, the Reviver of the Sunna and the Slayer of Innovation... al-Nawawi).

Muslih al Sadi

Sadi, Musharrif al-Din Muslih [d.689H - 1291CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Persian Sufi poet. Lived & wrote in Shiraz. A member of the 'Suhrawardi tariqah', he is best known for spiritual & moral teachings. He travelled throughout the Islamic world as a Sufi dervish. His two major works, Bustan [The Orchard] & Ghulistan [The (Flower) Garden], are characterised by garden & floral imagery in the context of scriptural admonitions to live a moral life. Known as a master of the Persian language.

Ibn Ata' Allah al Iskandari

Abu al-Fadl Ibn Ata' Allah al Iskandari, Ahmad ibn Muhammad [d.709H/1309CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Ibn Ata' Allah al-Iskandari was born in Alexandria, Egypt, as his family tree (nisbah) indicates, about the middle of the seventh [AH] /thirteenth [CE] century. His family were renowned Maliki scholars from the Banu Judham tribe, originally from Arabia. His grandfather, Abd al-Karim (d. 612 AH/1216 CE) had distinguished himself as an expert in Fiqh, usul (principles of jurisprudence), and Arabic, having studied under the famous Abu'l-Hasan al-Abyari.

Ibn Ata' Allah was one of the great sufi Imams who was also known as a muhaddith, preacher, and Maliki jurist, Ibn 'Ata Allah al-Iskandari (d. 709) is the author of 'al-Hikam' (Aphorisms), 'Miftah al-falah' (The key to success), 'al-Qasd al-mujarrad fi ma'rifat al-ism al-mufrad' (The pure goal concerning knowledge of the Unique Name), 'Taj al-'arus al-hawi li tadhhib al-nufus' (The bride's crown containing the discipline of souls), 'Unwan al-tawfiq fi adab al-tariq' (The sign of success concerning the discipline of the path), the biographical al-Lata'if fi manaqib Abi al-'Abbas al-Mursi wa shaykhihi Abi al-Hasan' (The subtle blessings in the saintly lives of Abu al-'Abbas al-Mursi and his master ABU AL-HASAN AL-SHADILI), and others. Initially Ibn Ata'Allah was not so drawn to the Sufi path, preferring to concentrate his energies on jurisprudence. Yet, in spite of his early antipathies, he did become a disciple of Shaykh Abu 'l-Abbas al-Mursi, (d. 686/1288). As his most important and principal work, the Hikam, attests, he had become a Sufi master in his own right, and was already a shaykh when al-Mursi died. He was Abu al-'Abbas al-Mursi's (d. 686) student and the second successor of the Sufi founder, Imam Abu al-Hasan al- Shadhili.

As the third Shaykh of the Shadhili Sufi order Ibn 'Ata Allah, was responsible for systemising the orders doctrines & recording the biographies of its founder, Shaykh Abu al-Hasan and his successor, Shaykh Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi. He is the author of the first systematic treatise on dhikr. His compilation of aphorisms [hikam; sing. Hikmah] made the order very popular & his work has been referred to as the last Sufi karamat performed on the banks of the Nile.

Ibn 'Ata' Allah alayhir rahman was one of those who confronted IBN TAYMIYYA for his excesses in attacking those of the Sufis with whom he disagreed.

What he said to Ibn Taymiyya regarding SHAYKH IBN AL 'ARABI ;

"Ibn 'Arabi was one of the greatest of the jurists who followed the school of Dawud al-Zahiri after Ibn Hazm al-Andalusi, who is close to your methodology in Islamic law, O Hanbalis! But although Ibn 'Arabi was a Zahiri (i.e. a literalist in matters of Islamic law), the method he applied to understand ultimate reality (al-haqiqa) was to search out the hidden, spiritual meaning (tariq al-batin), that is, to purify the inward self (tathir al-batin).

What he said to Ibn Taymiyya regarding tawassul;

Is there any true believer who believes that there is someone who can reward him for his good deeds and punish him for his bad ones other than Allah? Besides this, we must consider that there are expressions which should not be taken just in their literal sense. This is not because of fear of associating a partner with Allah and in order to block the means to idolatry. For whoever seeks help from the Prophet only seeks his power of intercession with Allah as when you yourself say: "This food satisfies my appetite." Does the food itself satisfy your appetite? Or is it the case that it is Allah who satisfies your appetite through the food?

As for your statement that Allah has forbidden Muslims to call upon anyone other than Himself in seeking help, have you actually seen any Muslim calling on someone other than Allah? The verse you cite from the Qur'an was revealed concerning the idolaters and those who used to call on their false gods and ignore Allah. Whereas, the only way Muslims seek the help of the Prophet is in the sense of tawassul or seeking a means, by virtue of the privilege he has received from Allah (bi haqqihi 'inda Allah), and tashaffu' or seeking intercession, by virtue of the power of intercession which Allah has bestowed on him.

As for your pronouncement that istighatha or seeking help is forbidden in the Shari'a because it can lead to idolatry, if this is the case, then we ought also to prohibit grapes because they are means to making wine, and to castrate unmarried men because not to do so leaves in the world a means to commit fornication and adultery."

What he said regarding IMAM AL-GHAZALI;

"al-Ghazali was equally an Imam both in Shari'a and tasawwuf. He treated legal rulings, the Sunnah, and the Shari'a with the spirit of the Sufi. And by applying this method he was able to revive the religious sciences. We know that tasawwuf recognizes that what is sullied has no part in religion and that cleanliness has the character of faith. The true and sincere sufi must cultivate in his heart the faith recognized by the Ahl al-Sunnah.

Ibn 'Ata' Allah taught at both the al-Azhar Mosque and the Mansuriyyah Madrasah in Cairo as well as privately to his disciples. However, it is not known where his Zawiyah was located.

Shaykh Ibn 'Ata' Allah died at around sixty years of age in the middle of Jumada II 709 H/November 1309 CE. As befitting an eminent and learned teacher, he died in the Mansuriyyah Madrasah. His funeral procession was witnessed by hundreds of people and he was buried in the Qarafah Cemetery in Cairo in what is today called the 'City of the Dead', at the foot of Jabal al-Muqattam. His tomb became famous as the site of homage, visitation, prayer, and miraculous occurrences. To this day this is still the case.

This pious and extraordinary contemplative figure left behind a spiritual legacy no less impressive than those of his own beloved Shaykh, and the eminent founder Shaykh Abu'l-Hasan ash-Shadhili. All the biographers refer to Ibn 'Ata Allah with illustrious titles and reverence and mention how marvellously he spoke and how uplifting his words were. In spite of the fact that he followed the Maliki madhbab, the Shafi'is laid claim to him, most probably because some of his earlier teachers had been Shafi'i scholars, not to mention some of his students.

Nidam al-Din Awliya

Hadrat Khawaja Nizam al-Din Awliya, Mehboob-e-Elahi [d.725H - 1325CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Shaykh Nizam al-Din represents in many ways the pinnacle of the Chishti Order of the Sufis. After becoming a disciple of Hadrat BABA FARID AL-DIN GANJ-I SHAKAR, his spiritual guide he relinquished his desire to become a qadi (muslim judge) and lived in abject poverty in seeking the truth with regard to the Sufi path. Hadrat Nizam al-Din Awliya is also known as Mehboob-e-Elahi, the beloved of Allah. He is laid to rest Delhi, India.

FURTHER IN-DEPTH READING: NIZAM AL-DIN AWLIYA | CHISTIYA SHAYKHS

Amir Khusro

Abul Hasan Yamin al-Din Khusro [d.725H - 1325CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Abul Hasan Yamin al-Din Khusro (1253-1325 CE), better known as Amir Khusro Dehlavi (in Persian language history), is one of the iconic figures in the cultural history of the Indian subcontinent. A Sufi mystic and a spiritual disciple of NIZAM AL-DIN AWLIYA of Delhi, Amir Khusro (or Khusrau or Khusraw) was not only one of India's greatest poets, he is also credited with being the founder of both the hindi classical poetry and Qawwali (the devotional music of the Sufis). He was born of a Turkish father, Saif al-Din, and an Indian mother, in India.

FURTHER READING : AMIR KHUSRO

Ala al-Dawlah Simnani

Shaykh Abul Mukarram'Ala al-Dawlah Simnani,[d.737H - 1336CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Shaykh Abul-Mukarram Rukn al-din Ala-ud-Dawlah Ahmad Bin Muhammad Bin Ahmad Biabanki Semnani Rahmatullahi alayh is one of the great Sufi philosophers and poets of his time. He came from a large and affluent family who come from the province of Biabank, Semnan in Iran. During his youth he was under the rule of the local militia and later on was involved as a government personnel. Suddenly he left all that behind, slept little, ate little and spoke little and learned the Qur'an and spent most of his time in worship and became a member of the Kubrawi Sufi order; which maintained that strict adherence to the Qur'an al kareem and Islamic law was the basis of the Sufi path.

Shaykh Semnani wrote many treatises and his '40 Sessions' [chahel majlis] are amongst the most well known. The Vastness of Human Heart is one extract from such a session :

These kings who boast about pittance i.e. pompous & grandiose setup of their rule over the little city or province that was captured with deviance and tricks, and they conduct themselves with such arrogance & grandeur that is beyond comparison. These miserable creatures do not comprehend the measure of the Lord�s Dominion and they do not comprehend the vastness of the human heart! (Semnani then continues with the known measurements of the earth and Sun at the time and concludes that 360 planet earths fit within the Sun. Not a bad estimate for a little man in a village hundreds of years ago)

If 360 planet earths fit within the Sun, then how can these petty kings boast about the size of their kingdoms!? Now add to Sun & 360 earths, fantastic cosmos and the estimate would be even more minute: Like a ball in a desert or a seed in an ocean and this entire cosmos compared to the Lord�s Throne like a ring in a desert. Messenger of Allah Peace Be Upon Him has mentioned that all the above that was mentioned next to the human heart is like a seed in a desert or less i.e. the human heart is far vaster that anything we can imagine or anything we can observe : ''So blessed be Allah, the best to create'' (Qur'an [23:14]). (Shebly said, ''Anyone that can grasp even a bit of the Tawhid (Divine Oneness) cannot grasp the rest, due to its immense weight'' and some other time he said, ''Even if someone grasped a bit of Tawhid (Divine Oneness) it is as though carrying the entire earth & cosmos on eyelashes''. That is why Allah forbids killing people because each human being is a fantastic creature within the heart though to our ignorant eyes look like some skin on few bones!)

Allah has created all hearts vast as such. But some people struggled with much effort thus entering that fantastically large realm of human heart and some others added even more veils to cover the path to this vastness and their minds cannot even fathom any passageway to this enormous space of the heart. Allah Almighty in every place has shown me the nature of this situation (without words).

Hark! Yaa Muslim! Yaa Sufi! Follow not, obey not the desires of your heart for world conquest and call it the religion or spirituality, follow who reminds you of the Divine Sublime Beloved understand the Tariq (Path) of obtaining Halal (Lawful) livelihood and deliver your children to the beginnings of the Tariqat (Path to the Divine) and invite not people & their children to death & destruction.

Source: Untired With Loving

al-Shabistari

Sa'd al-Din Mahmud al-Shabistari [d.740H/1340CE ] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Mahmud al-Shabistari was born at Shabistar, near Tabriz, around the year 1250 Common Era, he was one of the great Sufi poets of the 8TH Century [Hijri] / 14th Century [CE]. He is famous for writing the Gulshan e Raz, or Secret Rose Garden, as a reply to questions put forth by a Sufi doctor of Herat named Dmir Sayyad Husayni. Very little is known of Mahmud Shabistari's actual life. He also wrote beside the Gulshan e Raz two treatises on Sufism called Haqq al Yakin and Risala e Shadid. We learn he had a very favourite disciple called Shaykh Ibrahim. The Gulshan e Raz was introduced into Europe by two travellers in 1700CE. Later, copies of the poem were found in several European libraries.

Like RUMI, Shabistari lived in turbulent times. This period was aften frought with dangers, in particular the Mongol invasions brought much devastation. However Shabistari was able to write much poetry and synthesise much of the Sufi wisdom. He had a style similar to IBN ARABI and expressed Sufi philosophy in a moving and simple language. As David Fieldler says of Shabistari

" Shabistari possessed a unique genius for summarizing the profound and often complex teachings of Sufism in a beautiful, aphoristic, and concise fashion, which often leaves the reader speechless when the deeper meanings of his verse are grasped. "

Shabistari's poetry was inspired by his own mystical experiences. In a style unique to himself he expressed the universal truths and experiences shared by other the Sufi Poets; Rumi, Hafiz, Ibn Arabi, Attar and Rabia al Basri .

Shabistari was a devoted Sufi but at the same time was not constrained by any social or religious ideology. In accordance with Sufi philosophy Shabistari taught that there are many ways to reach the common goal. - "The Paths are many the goal is one."

In the writings of Shabistari we can feel the universal vision of one who has transcended the limitations of the human mind. With Shabistari we can be inspired by a poet who is pointing us towards the universal consciousness.

"I" and "you" are but the lattices,

in the niches of a lamp,

through which the One Light shines.

"I" and "you" are the veil

between heaven and earth;

lift this veil and you will see

no longer the bonds of sects and creeds.

When "I" and "you" do not exist,

what is mosque, what is synagogue?

What is the Temple of Fire?

- Shabistari

The value of Shabistari's work was recognized almost immediately. Many commentaries on the work by other Sufi mystics soon began to appear. The Secret Rose Garden quickly was regarded as one of the central works of Sufism by some sufi followers.

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