World of Tasawwuf

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Sufis, Shaykhs, Saints & Scholars 

Short Biographies [2]

d. 251 - 500 H

- 250 HIJRI | 251 - 500 HIJRI | 501 - 750 HIJRI | 751 - 1000 HIJRI | 1001 - 1250 HIJRI | 1251 + HIJRI  

plenty more to come
 

MAIN PAGE: SUFIS & SHAYKHS [1] 

[1]   |   [2]  |  [3]  |  [4]  |  [5]  |  [6]

 

 

 

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,

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?"

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,

He continues, quoting Bayazid saying,

 

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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 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.

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Blessings and peace on the Prophet, his Family, and all his Companions.

By Shaykh Gibril F Haddad

Source : http://www.abc.se/~m9783/tust_e.html

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Abu al-Mughith al-Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj [d.309H/922CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

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.

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FURTHER READING, ON THE DOCTRINE OF MANSUR AL HALLAJ

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Imam Abu Ja'far al-Tahawi [d.321H - 933CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

* Adab al-Jadal ("The Etiquette of Disputation").

* Al-Asma' wa al-Ahkam ("The Names and the Rulings"), which describes the divergences in the terminology of the scholars and their understanding of the general and the particular.

* Al-Dafi 'li al-Muhadhdhab ("The Repelling of 'The Emendation'"), a refutation of al-Khalidi's book by that title.

* Al-Funun ("The Disciplines"), a refutation of atheists. A second book bearing that title was also written, on the disciplines of kalam.

* Al-Fusul ("The Sub-Headings") in twelve volumes, a refutation of the philosophers, perennialists, and members of various religions such as Brahmans, Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians. It contains a refutation of Ibn al-Rawandi's claim that the world exists without beginning.

 

By Shaykh Gibril Haddad
Further reading : http://www.livingislam.org/ashari_e.html

 

 

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:

* 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):

* 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:

1. 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;

2. '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);

3. 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;

4. 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;

5. 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.

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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 :

About the Sufi:

Abu Ali al-Daqqaq also said:

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,

Once Abu Abd al-Rahman asked Abu Ali al-Daqqaq, ''Which is more perfect, the practice of remembrance (dhikr) or meditation (fikr )?" Abu Ali al-Daqqaq inquired, "What do you say?" Abu Abd al-Rahman said, "It seems to me that dhikr is more perfect than fikr because remembrance is known to be an attribute of the Truth, whereas meditation is not. Whatever is an attribute of the Truth is more perfect than something that is specific to the creation." Abu Ali al-Daqqaq was pleased with this.

Abu Ali al-Daqqaq recited the following to a dervish:

I would not have remembered You, but a care drove me-

Heart and soul and secret-into Your remembrance.

It was as if Your watcher was whispering to me

"Beware, O Rememberer! Woe to you! Beware!"

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