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Saints and Tombs of Baghdad

16 sourced records · 5 verified locations

The atlas holds 16 records for Baghdad. Each record's sources and review status are shown on its own page. Breakdown: 12 Saints · 2 Scholar · 2 Ahl al-Bayt.

Map of Baghdad

Records in Baghdad

Saint

Najm al-Din al-Razi (Daya)

Kubrawi shaykh and Qur'an commentator; author of Mirsad al-'ibad , one of the most widely read books among Persian prose works of Sufism. His full name is Abu Bakr Najm al-Din Daya 'Abd Allah b. Muhammad b. Shahawar al-Asadi al-Razi ; he is also known as Najm al-Din Razi. Holding an important place in the history of the Kubrawiyya, Daya became known through his writings rather than through activity as a shaykh in the order and in spiritual guidance. He was born in Rayy in 573 (1177). The name Najm al-Din derives from the word “Najm/Najma”, which he used as a pen name; the epithet Daya (wet nurse) points to his having trained many disciples. Even so, the sources name only one disciple of his, called al-Daymuni. In 599 (1202) he left Rayy in pursuit of learning; it appears that he was in Egypt the following year. From there he went on to the Hijaz and, after the pilgrimage, stayed for a while in Baghdad. He then went to Khurasan and later to Khwarazm; from Khwarazm he returned to Iraq, toured Baghdad and other cities, and visited Azerbaijan. He went back to Khurasan once more, above all to take lessons in hadith and exegesis. After staying there for a time he went to Khwarazm to join the circle of Najm al-Din Kubra , founder of the Kubrawiyya order. Najm al-Din Kubra entrusted his Sufi training to Majd al-Din al-Baghdadi . He left Khwarazm and returned to Rayy either before the Mongol invasion of Khwarazm or after Majd al-Din al-Baghdadi was killed by the Khwarazmshah 'Ala' al-Din. When the Mongol danger threatened Rayy as well, he moved to Hamadan; as he himself confessed, by leaving Rayy he abandoned his family to death at the hands of the Mongols. After a year in Hamadan he crossed into Anatolia by way of Erbil and Diyarbakir. In Malatya he met Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardi , adviser to the Caliph al-Nasir li-Din Allah, and received from him a letter of recommendation to be presented to the Anatolian Seljuk Sultan 'Ala' al-Din Kayqubad. He reached Kayseri in Ramadan 618 (November 1221) and in 620 (1223) presented his famous Mirsad al-'ibad to 'Ala' al-Din Kayqubad in Sivas. 'Abd al-Rahman Jami states that he met Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi and Sadr al-Din Qunawi in Konya and relates this report: leading the sunset prayer, Najm al-Din recited Surat al-Kafirun in both units, and Mawlana joked to Sadr al-Din, “He recited one for you and one for us.” After about three years in Central Anatolia, in 621 (1224) he went to Erzincan, ruled by the Mengujekid Sultan 'Ala' al-Din Dawud Shah, and there wrote his Marmuzat-i Asadi dar Mazmurat-i Dawudi in the sultan's name. Not finding in Erzincan the interest he had hoped for, he left Anatolia for Baghdad to enter the service of the Abbasid caliphate. In 622 (1225) the Caliph al-Zahir bi-Amr Allah sent him as envoy to Jalal al-Din Khwarazmshah in Tabriz, and he lived for a while in Tabriz. He spent roughly the last thirty years of his life in Baghdad, and wrote his exegesis Bahr al-haqa'iq wa-l-ma'ani in this period. He died in Baghdad in 654 (1256) and was buried in the Shuniziyya cemetery beside the graves of Junayd al-Baghdadi and Sari al-Saqati. His Works — ① Mirsad al-'ibad min al-mabda' ila al-ma'ad : a work with many copies in the libraries of Iran, Turkey, India and Central Asia, more influential than the works of other Kubrawi authors, written in a literary and moving Persian; it consists of an introduction and five parts. Its main subjects are the levels of creation, prophethood and the dimensions of religion, the etiquette and principles of Sufism, dreams and visions, the colours of the light arising from dhikr, the inner form of the human being, and the spiritual benefits gained from different trades. It was translated into Turkish in 825 (1422) by Qasim b. Muhammad of Karahisar as Irshad al-murid ila al-Murad and dedicated to Murad II; as one of the basic Sufi texts of Chinese Muslims it was translated into Chinese by Wu Zixan in the 1670s, and this translation was read until the early twentieth century; Hamid Algar translated it into English (New York 1982). ② Bahr al-haqa'iq wa-l-ma'ani fi tafsir al-sab' al-mathani : his large exegesis, also known as 'Ayn al-hayat and al-Ta'wilat al-Najmiyya , which aims to blend the outer and inner meanings of the Qur'an; despite its wide influence it has not yet been published. ③ Marmuzat-i Asadi dar Mazmurat-i Dawudi : a work in ten chapters dedicated to 'Ala' al-Din Dawud Shah, in effect a “special edition” of the Mirsad ; in the first chapter the saying “I was a hidden treasure” is explained word by word. ④ Manarat al-sa'irin wa-maqamat al-ta'irin : a work in ten chapters probably written in his last years, in effect an Arabic version of the Mirsad . ⑤ Risala-yi 'Ishq u 'Aql : a commentary on Kharaqani's ecstatic utterance “The Sufi is not created.” ⑥ Ash'ar-i Shaykh Najm al-Din Razi : compiled from his poems found in his works and in the biographical anthologies. ⑦ Risalat al-tuyur : a short treatise written around 590 (1194) describing the oppression in Rayy. He also has two further treatises: Siraj al-qulub , containing answers to thirty questions of jurisprudence, and Hasrat al-muluk wa-Tuhfat al-Habib .

BağdatDied 654 AHView
Saint

Al-Hallaj (Husayn ibn Mansur)

Abu al-Mughith al-Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj (d. 309/922) is one of the most controversial and influential figures in Sufi history. Born around 858 in the Fars region of Iran (Tur/Bayda) and raised in Wasit, Tustar and Baghdad (TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, "Hallâc-ı Mansûr"), he became famous for the utterance "Ana al-Haqq" ("I am the Truth"), which provoked deep dispute among the scholars of his time. After a long trial he was executed in Baghdad (TDV; Wikidata Q172862). According to tradition his body was cremated and his ashes scattered in the Tigris, so no physical grave survives; the execution site and various commemorative maqams were later visited, and no definite burial location can be confirmed (transparency note).

BağdatDied 309 AHView
Scholar

Abu Sa'id al-Mubarak al-Makhzumi

Abu Sa'id (Abu Sa'd) al-Mubarak ibn Ali al-Makhzumi al-Mukharrimi (d. 513/1119) was a Hanbali jurist and spiritual master of Baghdad, the teacher who invested Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani with the Sufi cloak and handed him the Bab al-Azaj madrasa. He follows Abu al-Hasan al-Hakkari in the Qadiri chain, which passes through him to al-Jilani; he is cited in the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam's "Abdülkādir-i Geylânî" and "Kādiriyye" articles. He is reported to have been buried in Baghdad's Bab al-Azaj quarter; the exact location of his grave lacks two independent numeric sources. (Source: TDV Encyclopedia of Islam "Abdülkādir-i Geylânî"; TDV Encyclopedia of Islam "Kādiriyye".)

BağdatDied 513 AHView
Saint

Abu Bakr al-Shibli

Abu Bakr Dulaf ibn Jahdar al-Shibli (247/861-334/946) was a great Sufi of the Baghdad school who abandoned a governorship for the mystical path and reached maturity under Junayd al-Baghdadi. Junayd called him "the crown of the Sufis"; he was renowned for his profound utterances on gnosis and divine unity, for his ecstatic paradoxes, and as a close companion of al-Hallaj. He is the link after Junayd in the Qadiri chain; his tomb lies in the Khayzuran Cemetery in Baghdad's al-A'zamiyah district, though its precise coordinates lack a second independent source. (Source: TDV Encyclopedia of Islam "Şiblî, Ebû Bekir"; al-Qushayri, al-Risala.)

BağdatDied 334 AHView
Saint

Abu al-Fadl Abd al-Wahid al-Tamimi

Abu al-Fadl Abd al-Wahid al-Tamimi (d. 425/1033) was a Hanbali scholar and Sufi of Baghdad, the link between Abu Bakr al-Shibli and Abu al-Faraj al-Tarsusi in the Qadiri chain. He is named in the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam's "Abdülkādir-i Geylânî" article within the initiatic chain reaching back to Junayd al-Baghdadi. What is known of him is largely confined to the silsila records, and the exact location of his grave is unknown. (Source: TDV Encyclopedia of Islam "Abdülkādir-i Geylânî" [silsila]; Trimingham, The Sufi Orders in Islam.)

BağdatDied 425 AHView
Saint

Abu al-Faraj al-Tarsusi

Abu al-Faraj Yusuf al-Tarsusi (d. 447/1055) was a Sufi of Baghdad, the link between Abd al-Wahid al-Tamimi and Abu al-Hasan al-Hakkari in the Qadiri chain. He is cited in the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam's "Abdülkādir-i Geylânî" article within the initiatic chain reaching back to Junayd al-Baghdadi. Information on his life is limited to silsila and hagiographic records, and the exact location of his grave is unknown. (Source: TDV Encyclopedia of Islam "Abdülkādir-i Geylânî" [silsila]; Trimingham, The Sufi Orders in Islam.)

BağdatDied 447 AHView
Saint

Abu al-Najib al-Suhrawardi

Abu al-Najib Ziya al-Din Abd al-Qahir al-Bakri al-Suhrawardi (c. 490/1097, Suhraward – 563/1168, Baghdad) was a great Sufi who taught at the Nizamiyya of Baghdad; author of Adab al-Muridin, he is the key link where the Suhrawardi and Khalwati chains converge. He received the cloak from his uncle Qadi Wajih al-Din Umar; his chief successor was Qutb al-Din al-Abhari. He was buried in the cemetery of his own madrasa on the Tigris in Baghdad; as the exact present-day site cannot be identified, no coordinates are given. (Sources: TDV 'Suhrawardi, Abu al-Najib'; TDV 'Suhrawardiyya'.)

BağdatDied 563 AHView
Saint

Muhammad al-Zajjaj (Abu Amr al-Zajjaji)

Abu Amr Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Zajjaji al-Naysaburi (d. 348/959) was an early Sufi associated with the Baghdad school. Born in Nishapur, he joined the circle of Junayd al-Baghdadi in Baghdad and also kept the company of masters such as Abu Uthman al-Hiri and Ruwaym ibn Ahmad. He spent a long portion of his life as a pious resident (mujawir) of Mecca; classical biographical works such as al-Qushayri's Risala and al-Sulami's Tabaqat al-Sufiyya record his death in 348 AH (959 CE). In the Mevlevi spiritual chain transmitted by Aflaki and cited in the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam ('Mevleviyye'), he is the link between Junayd al-Baghdadi and Abu Bakr al-Nassaj. As the location of his grave is not reliably known, no map pin is given.

BağdatDied 348 AHView
Saint

Junayd al-Baghdadi

One of the founding figures of early Sufism; he is called sayyid al-tâ'ifa , the master of the group. His full name was Abu'l-Qâsim al-Junayd b. Muhammad al-Khazzâz al-Qawârîrî . He was born at Baghdad. His family came from Nihâwand and was engaged in the glassware trade, whence the relative name al-Qawârîrî ; the epithet al-Khazzâz came from his own occupation in the silk trade. He studied jurisprudence under Abû Thawr and took lessons in hadith. His chief teachers in Sufism were his maternal uncle al-Sarî al-Saqatî and Abû Hamza al-Baghdâdî. He is the figure who fixed the fundamental concepts and principles of Sufism. He held to the line of sahw (sobriety) rather than sukr (intoxication), and joined mystical experience to a strict adherence to the sacred law. His views on tawhîd , on fanâ (the passing away of the self) and on the mîthâq (the primordial covenant) profoundly influenced later Sufism. He died in 297 (909). It is recorded that close to sixty thousand people attended his funeral. His Circle of Influence — He was called sayyid al-tâ'ifa and tâwûs al-'ulamâ' ; men of letters sought to profit from his speech, philosophers from his thought, and theologians from his learning. Among those he formed are named Abû Muhammad al-Jurayrî, Abû Bakr al-Shiblî , Ismâ'îl b. Nujayd, 'Alî b. Bundâr al-Sayrafî and Abû 'Amr al-Zajjâjî. He has been remembered with reverence in almost all the orders, and influenced such figures as al-Ghazâlî and Ibn al-'Arabî. His Works — The texts of his that have come down are the al-Rasâ'il , made up of his letters and treatises; the copies are in the Süleymaniye Library. Süleyman Ateş published them under the title Cüneyd-i Bağdâdî: His Life, Works and Letters (Istanbul 1970). His Tomb and Complex — He was buried in the Shûnîziyya cemetery at Baghdad, near his uncle al-Sarî al-Saqatî.

BağdatDied 297 AHView
Saint

Abdul-Qadir Gilani

Founder of the Qadiriyya order; his full name is Muhyi al-Din Abu Muhammad Abd al-Qadir b. Abi Salih Musa Zangidost al-Gilani. He was born in 470 (1077) in the village of Nayf , in the province of Gilan southwest of the Caspian Sea. His nisba is pronounced "al-Jili, al-Jilani" in Arabic, "Gili, Gilani" in Persian and Geylani in Turkish. His father Abu Salih Musa is known to have been a pious man, but little more is recorded of him. His mother, Umm al-Khayr Amat al-Jabbar Fatima , daughter of the well-known ascetic and Sufi Abu Abdullah al-Sawma'i, is herself held to have been among the women saints. He lost his father in childhood and grew up with his mother under the care of his grandfather al-Sawma'i. At eighteen, with his mother's leave, he joined a caravan and went to Baghdad (1095), then the foremost centre of learning. There he studied hadith with scholars such as Abu Ghalib b. Baqillani, Ja'far al-Sarraj, Abu Bakr Susan and Abu Talib b. Yusuf; jurisprudence with jurists such as Abu Sa'd al-Mukharrimi, Abu Khattab and Qadi Abu Husayn; and literature with philologists such as Zakariyya al-Tabrizi. In a short time he acquired wide learning in the principles and branches of law and in the schools of thought. In these years, during which he formed close friendships with the Sufis of Baghdad, he entered the Sufi path through Abu'l-Khayr Muhammad b. Muslim al-Dabbas (d. 525/1131); the sources report that he received the cloak of the order from al-Dabbas and became his son-in-law. In the madrasa at Bab al-Araj assigned to him by his teacher Abu Sa'd he taught hadith, exegesis, Qur'anic recitation, law and grammar, and began to preach; after a time he abandoned all of this and withdrew into seclusion. According to the legend , at the end of a period of seclusion lasting some twenty-five years he vowed to eat nothing by his own hand unless another fed him; and although forty days passed and the cries "I am hungry, I am hungry" rose from within him, he held out with an extraordinary power of endurance. When he first began to preach in 1127 he addressed only a few people. As his congregation steadily grew and the madrasa became too small, he moved his preaching assembly to a mosque at Bab al-Halba . It is related that 70,000 people came to Baghdad to hear the sermons he gave in the open air, and that those in the back rows heard his voice as easily as those in the front. Because he at once brought those he met under his influence he was also called Baz Allah (the falcon of God) and al-Baz al-ashhab (the falcon that does not lose its prey); according to al-Damiri this title was given him in the assembly of his shaykh al-Dabbas. The sources mention with one voice that in his sermons he promised his hearers salvation and paradise, that he spoke with enough certainty to give them a guarantee of it, and that his oratory was extremely effective. His chain of transmission reaches Junayd of Baghdad through Abu Sa'd Mubarak al-Mukharrimi, Abu'l-Hasan al-Hakkari, Abu'l-Faraj al-Tarsusi, Abd al-Wahid al-Tamimi and Shibli. At the end of his period of seclusion he went on the pilgrimage with his son, and invested many of the Sufis he met at Mecca with the cloak. He died at Baghdad in 561 (1166). His Circle of Influence — The Qadiriyya became one of the most widespread orders in the Muslim world. Its members are known in North Africa chiefly as sharif, shurafa, shorfa , and in Iraq, Syria and Anatolia as sayyid and Geylani . The Gilani sayyids of Baghdad and its region were at times compelled by the Mongol and Timurid invasions to leave Baghdad for Mosul and Iran, but later returned to Baghdad, where the tomb of their ancestor lies. He holds an important place in Turkish folk literature and folklore as well; the lines attributed to Yunus Emre, "Though you roam the world as a traveller, you will find no man like Abd al-Qadir" , are among the examples. His Poetry and Sufi Line — On going to Baghdad he left the Shafi'i school, to which he had belonged, for the Hanbali school, which he found better suited to his temperament, while continuing to issue legal opinions according to both schools to the end of his life. In his own time he became the imam of the Hanbalis, and for this was given the title Muhyi al-Din ('reviver of religion'). Saying "the best of the schools is the school of Imam Ahmad" , he defended Ahmad b. Hanbal fervently in both practice and belief, and did not attempt to interpret the ambiguous verses figuratively. His attachment to the school is plain in all his works, and especially in al-Ghunya . His Works — His best-known works are al-Ghunya li-talibi tariq al-haqq , which he states he wrote at the request of a disciple, and Futuh al-ghayb , compiled by his son Abd al-Razzaq from his addresses in his assemblies and divided into seventy-eight discourses. The most important part of al-Ghunya from the Sufi standpoint is its final section, "Adab al-murid" . Futuh al-ghayb was commented upon by Ibn Taymiyya and by Abd al-Haqq al-Dihlawi. 🔴 The treatise Ghawthiyya ( Khamriyya ) ascribed to him — purporting to contain conversations between God and himself — is, in the source's explicit words, not his .

BağdatDied 561 AHView
Saint

Ma'ruf al-Karkhi

One of the founding names of early Baghdad Sufism. His full name was Abu'l-Mahfûz Ma'rûf b. Fîrûzân al-Karkhî . He was born in the Karkh quarter of Baghdad. His family was not Muslim. In his childhood he was placed with a Christian tutor; when he would not accept the doctrine of the trinity he ran away and remained for years apart from his family. In the end he met 'Alî al-Ridâ and became a Muslim at his hand; thereafter his parents too entered his religion. He was affected by the preaching of Abu'l-'Abbâs Ibn al-Sammâk; he served as doorkeeper to 'Alî al-Ridâ, and kept company with Sufis of the first generation such as Dâwûd al-Tâ'î. He defines Sufism thus: to take hold of the realities and to give up hope of what is in the hands of people . His emphasis that divine love is not something obtained by learning but a grace from God markedly influenced later Sufism. He died in the year 200 (815-816). His Circle of Influence — His most famous student was al-Sarî al-Saqatî ; and among al-Sarî's students was al-Junayd al-Baghdâdî. Many orders, among them the Qâdiriyya, the Naqshbandiyya and the Mawlawiyya, pass their chains of transmission through him. His Tomb and Complex — His grave is in the Karkh quarter of Baghdad and has become a place of visitation; the early sources transmit the saying "the grave of Ma'rûf is a tried remedy".

BağdatDied 200 AHView
Saint

Sari al-Saqati

One of the foremost early Sufis of Baghdad; disciple of Ma'ruf al-Karkhi , and the maternal uncle and master of Junayd al-Baghdadi . Known for his asceticism, piety and decorum, he stands at the foundation of the Baghdad school of Sufism through his training of Junayd, called "sayyid al-ta'ifa". He was born in 155 (772) in the Karkh quarter of Baghdad. He earned his living by continuing his father's trade in second-hand goods ( saqati ), whence his nisba. Early in life he travelled as far as Mecca to study hadith. His master Ma'ruf al-Karkhi and Habib al-Ra'i influenced his turn to the Sufi path. As Hujwiri and Farid al-Din Attar relate, Ma'ruf al-Karkhi came to his shop with an orphan boy and asked him to clothe the child; Sari complied and, by the blessing of Ma'ruf's prayer, entered the path of asceticism. According to another account he gave Habib al-Ra'i 10 coins to be spent on the dervishes, and through al-Ra'i's prayer his heart grew cold to worldly concerns. He kept the company of the celebrated Sufis of the age, Ma'ruf al-Karkhi, al-Harith al-Muhasibi and Bishr al-Hafi. On journeys from Baghdad to the northern regions he met many Sufis. At Abadan he undertook spiritual retreat in a lodge belonging to Sufis of the Basra school. On the advice of Ali al-Jurjani, whom he met on the road, he went to Syria, where he was influenced by Sufis who continued the path of Ibrahim b. Adham founded on chivalry (futuwwa) and sincerity. He resided for a time in Damascus, Ramla, Jerusalem and Tarsus. At about sixty he took part in the jihad against the Byzantines in that region, then settled in Baghdad in 218 (833) and lived there for the rest of his life. He died in Baghdad in 251 (865). His grave lies in the Shuniziyya Cemetery of Baghdad, beside that of Junayd al-Baghdadi. His anecdotes, sayings and ideas were transmitted for the most part by Junayd. His Circle of Influence — He was the leader of Sufis of Baghdad and Khurasan such as Junayd al-Baghdadi, Abu Sa'id al-Kharraz, Abu 'l-Husayn al-Nuri, Samnun b. Hamza and Ibn Masruq, and of Syrians such as Ali al-Ghada'iri and Isma'il b. Abdallah al-Shami, and one of the leading shaykhs of his day. Sulami says that most later Sufis followed Sari's way. Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani and Farid al-Din Attar present him as a Sufi of knowledge, wisdom, magnanimity, love, gnosis and compassion. By training Junayd, founder of the Baghdad school of Sufism, he left a lasting mark on the Sufis who came after him. His Poetry and Sufi Line — Observance of the legal and outward rulings is fundamental to his Sufism. Knowledge is valuable only in so far as it leads to action; the light of gnosis a Sufi attains must not extinguish the light of piety in him. He holds esoteric knowledge that contradicts the outward meanings of the Qur'an and hadith to be void; inner gnosis is reached through abundant works and self-examination — a stance that shows the influence of al-Harith al-Muhasibi. He considers the study of hadith necessary before entering Sufism, and prayed that God would make Junayd "one who learns hadith first and Sufism after, not Sufism first and hadith after". Yet, like Bishr al-Hafi, he valued grasping the meaning of hadith over transmitting it, and so transmitted little. For him, resolve upon the Sunna is better than abundant works upon innovation. He taught that miracles are not to be relied upon, that they cause the veils of divine intimacy to be torn; if birds in a garden were to speak, "Peace be upon you, friend of God", and this brought ease to the saint's heart, that would be captivity to the miracle. Love holds a central place in his experience: "If the lover's face were struck with a sword he would not notice"; "O God, punish me with whatever You will, only do not punish me by placing a veil between us." He understands Sufism as attaining good character: performing the obligations, avoiding the forbidden, giving much in alms, being repentant and compassionate; not hurting people, and bearing their ill-treatment without rancour — the fruit of his malamati attitude. He scrupulously avoided anything of doubtful lawfulness, censured those who made religion a livelihood, counselled his disciples to seclusion, and advised those engaged in trade never to let their hearts leave God for an instant and to live by the work of their hands. So attentive was he to decorum that he would not lie on his back or stretch his feet toward the qibla; so wary of ostentation that he wished to die where no one knew him. He would say, "Would that I bore everyone's grief so that they might be at ease." In an anecdote related by Ibn al-Jawzi, after a fire in the market he learned that his own shop had not burned and said "praise be to God"; then, realising he had erred in not sharing the grief of those whose shops had burned, he sought God's forgiveness for thirty years.

BağdatDied 251 AHView
Saint

Bishr al-Hafi

One of the Sufis of the earliest period; first one of the notable hadith scholars of his age, then turning to asceticism and Sufism, he is known by the epithet "al-Hafi" (the Barefoot). His full name is Abu Nasr Bishr b. al-Harith b. Abd al-Rahman b. Ata b. Hilal al-Hafi al-Marwazi . He was born in 150 (767) or 152 (769) in Merv, into one of the city's leading families. After his first religious education he turned to hadith, learning from such traditionists as Malik b. Anas, Sharik b. Abd Allah, Hammad b. Zayd, Ibrahim b. Sa'd, Fudayl b. Iyad and Abd Allah b. al-Mubarak. Al-Daraqutni stated that he was a reliable transmitter who never related an unsound hadith. According to what the sources agree on, he then buried all his books in the earth , turned to Sufism and joined the gatherings of his maternal uncle Ali b. Khashram. The sources state that his wish to be rid of the pride and the desire for fame and renown he felt because of his hadith work also played a part in this turn. It is related that when his former teacher and companions, urging him not to abandon hadith, asked, "What will you answer when God asks you tomorrow, 'Why did you not transmit the hadith of the Prophet?'", he replied: "I will say: You commanded me to oppose my self. My self desired to narrate hadith and to be esteemed. That is why I opposed it." In this period he met the Sufis of his time Fudayl b. Iyad, Sari al-Saqati, Ahmad b. Asim al-Antaki, Abu Ali al-Juzjani and Abu Sa'id al-Kharraz. He earned his living by spinning. In law he followed the school of Sufyan al-Thawri. His friendship with Ahmad b. Hanbal was lasting: Ibn Hanbal, who answered people's questions on sincerity, trust and contentment, told a man who asked about love, "Ask Bishr for the answer. While he is alive it is not fitting for me to answer this question." He sided with Ibn Hanbal in the question of the createdness of the Qur'an, and his definition of faith as affirmation, assent and action also shows his closeness to Hanbali thought. He died in 227 (841). His Circle of Influence — Scholars such as Ahmad b. Hanbal, Abu Khaythama Zuhayr b. Harb, Ahmad al-Dawraqi and Ibrahim al-Harbi transmitted hadith from him. Abd Allah b. al-Jalla said of him, "In scrupulousness he is our master." A. Schimmel counts him first among the Sufis who prepared the way for al-Harith al-Muhasibi. The source links the Hanbali Ibn al-Jawzi's writing of the Manaqib Bishr al-Hafi to this intellectual closeness. His Poetry and Sufi Line — Piety, scrupulousness and opposing the self hold a special place in his Sufi thought. Bishr, who said "For forty years my soul has craved roast meat, and I have not yet found lawful money to buy it" , held that renunciation can dwell only in a heart cleansed of greed and covetousness, and took care not even to drink from fountains that sultans had built with doubtful money. He was among the first Sufis to give Sufi interpretations of terms such as contentment, trust and surrender. Concealing good deeds and fleeing hypocrisy and fame — the Malamati temper — held an important place in his life: to him, enjoying praise is more harmful than committing sin, since it hinders spiritual maturity, and one should count obscurity a gain. He divides Sufis into three groups: those who ask nothing of anyone (spiritual ones), those who do not ask but accept when given (the middling), and those who busy themselves with worship and await their provision from God. He prefers the generous man to the miserly Sufi. When friends saw him shivering with cold and asked why, he said: "I remembered the poor and destitute; since I am not rich enough to help them, I wanted at least to share their pain in this way." He criticised scholars who lacked due care in religious matters and Sufis who put gnosis before piety and miracles before uprightness, and he advised dervishes in training to travel. His Works — The sources ascribe to him a work titled Kitab al-Zuhd ( Kitab al-Tasawwuf ) and some poems.

BağdatDied 227 AHView
Scholar

Imam Abu Hanifa

The imam of the Hanafî school and a great mujtahid. His full name was Nu'mân b. Thâbit b. Zûtâ b. Mâh . He was born at Kûfa in the year 80 (699). He was the son of a wealthy family engaged in the cloth trade; he was himself a merchant, and after he turned to the life of learning he carried on his business through his partners. His principal teacher was Hammâd b. Abî Sulaymân ; he attended his lessons for eighteen years from the year 102 onwards. The order he followed in jurisprudence is known from his own words: what is in the Book of God is taken first, then the Sunna, then consensus; in a question where no ruling is found, judgement is given by qiyâs . It is reported that under the Umayyads he supported the rising of Zayd b. 'Alî materially and, through his legal opinions, morally. He also resisted the pressure of the Abbasid caliph al-Mansûr: when the judgeship of the newly founded city of Baghdad was offered to him, he did not accept it. He died at Baghdad in Sha'bân of the year 150 (September 767); the caliph himself was present at the funeral prayer. His Circle of Influence — His circle of teaching did not proceed by the dictation of a single man but by the method of deliberation in company : a question put to him was first debated with the students, and it was investigated whether there was a text bearing on it. From this circle came Abû Yûsuf , Muhammad al-Shaybânî and Zufar b. al-Hudhayl ; it is stated that forty of his students reached the degree of ijtihâd. His Works — Treatises on belief are attributed to him: the al-Fiqh al-akbar , the al-'Âlim wa'l-muta'allim , the al-Fiqh al-absat , the al-Risâla and the al-Wasiyya . His Tomb and Complex — His grave is at Baghdad, in the quarter known today as al-A'zamiyya . In 459 (1067) Sharaf al-Mulk Abû Sa'd al-Mustawfî had a tomb built over his grave and a madrasa erected around it.

BağdatDied 150 AHView
Prophet's Family

Imam Musa al-Kazim

One of the imams of the Ahl al-Bayt; the seventh imam of the Twelvers. His full name was Abu'l-Hasan Mûsâ al-Kâzim b. Ja'far al-Sâdiq b. Muhammad al-Bâqir . He was born on 7 Safar of the year 128 (8 November 745) at al-Abwâ' near Medina. His mother was Hamîda bint Sâ'id al-Barbariyya. The epithet al-Kâzim , he who restrains his anger, comes from his having taken the way of forbearance and piety rather than political action. After the death of his father Ja'far al-Sâdiq in 148 (765) it was disputed to whom the imamate had passed; a large part of the Shî'a accepted his imamate. He drew upon himself the suspicion of the Abbasid caliphs al-Mahdî and al-Hâdî, and above all of Hârûn al-Rashîd . He was arrested in 179 (795), on Hârûn's return from the pilgrimage, and remained in prison. He died in Rajab of the year 183 (August 799). The source records that his death came about by the order of Hârûn al-Rashîd, at the hand of his officer al-Sindî b. Shâhak. His Circle of Influence — The number of his children is given in the sources as between thirty-seven and sixty. His son 'Alî al-Ridâ is the eighth imam of the Twelvers; his grandson Muhammad al-Taqî is buried with him in the same tomb. His Tomb and Complex — It is in the shrine of al-Kâzimiyya at Baghdad, which is named after him.

BağdatDied 183 AHView
Prophet's Family

Imam Muhammad al-Jawad

One of the imams of the Ahl al-Bayt; the ninth imam of the Twelvers. His full name was Abû Ja'far Muhammad b. 'Alî al-Ridâ b. Mûsâ al-Kâzim b. Ja'far al-Sâdiq . He was born at Medina on 19 Ramadân of the year 195 (15 June 811). He was called al-Jawâd for his generosity; he is also known by the epithets al-Taqî , al-Muntajab , al-Najîb , al-Murtadâ and al-Qâni' . He was called Abû Ja'far the Second to distinguish him from Muhammad al-Bâqir. When his father 'Alî al-Ridâ died in 203 (818) he was only seven years old. The Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mûn brought him to Baghdad and, valuing his learning, married him to his daughter Umm al-Fadl ; the Abbasid family had objected to this marriage. He stayed eight years at Baghdad and in that time took part in scholarly disputations, the most famous of them with the judge Yahyâ b. Aktham. After returning to Baghdad at the invitation of the caliph al-Mu'tasim, he died in Dhu al-Qa'da of the year 220 (25 November 835), at about twenty-four years of age. His Circle of Influence — His children were 'Alî al-Hâdî, Mûsâ, Fâtima and Umâma; his son 'Alî al-Hâdî is the tenth imam of the Twelvers. His scattered transmissions were later gathered by 'Azîzullâh al-'Utâridî under the title Musnad al-Imâm al-Jawâd . His Tomb and Complex — He was buried beside his grandfather Mûsâ al-Kâzim at Kâzimayn; the place is today a site of visitation.

BağdatDied 220 AHView

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