Al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi

Sufi known for his views on sainthood. His full name is Abu 'Abd Allah al-Hakim Muhammad b. 'Ali b. al-Hasan al-Tirmidhi. He was called al-Hakim (the Sage) because, by bringing into Sufism a conception of wisdom deriving from Hellenistic philosophy and gnosticism, he helped the movement enter a new phase.

He was born in Tirmidh, probably at the beginning of the third (ninth) century. In his treatise Buduww sha'n, where he recounts his life and a large part of his spiritual development, he says that a man he describes as “a happy manifestation of his destiny and a good teacher” encouraged him to seek knowledge; it is very likely that this teacher, from whom he learned the transmitted and rational sciences from an early age, was his father, a hadith scholar. He studied hadith with many traditionists in Tirmidh and Balkh and learned jurisprudence from a distinguished Hanafi jurist.

At the age of twenty-seven he set out for the pilgrimage; after staying a while in Iraq listening to hadith, he reached Mecca by way of Basra. In Buduww sha'n he relates that every night at dawn he prayed near the Ka'ba, repented of his grave sins, and implored God to grant him success in mending his state, turning away from the world and memorising the Qur'an. After the pilgrimage he completed his memorisation of the Qur'an in his homeland; to know God and turn towards the hereafter he began reading and researching, and travelling from town to town in search of a spiritual guide. Meanwhile he fasted continually and performed supererogatory prayers.

He was influenced by the sayings of the gnostics; under the influence of a work by Ahmad b. 'Asim al-Antaki he took up the path of austerity and ascetic discipline. In this period, when he loved solitude, wandered alone in the countryside and often visited ruins and cemeteries, he saw the Prophet in a dream, by his own account; he says that at last the veil between him and God was lifted, that he was granted inspiration, and that he began conversing until morning with those who came to his gatherings. He attended the gatherings of great Sufis such as Ahmad b. Khadrawayh, Yahya b. Mu'adh al-Razi and Abu Turab al-Nakhshabi.

The works he wrote on very varied subjects — Sufism, ethics, theology, hadith, exegesis, the history of sects and the linguistic sciences — were received with interest; but this led some to envy him and to accuse him by misinterpreting some of his words. He was denounced to the governor of Balkh on the claim that he spoke of love, corrupted people's morals, introduced innovations and claimed to be a prophet; the governor took from him a written undertaking not to speak on these matters. Al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi says that the hardships he suffered matured him further, that at the end of a disturbance those who had harmed him were forced to flee their towns, and that the people who revered him kept attending his gatherings.

Buduww sha'n contains no information about the last period of his life. Until the end of his life he continued writing and devoted himself to the training and guidance of the disciples who gathered around him; he died in Tirmidh in 320 (932). His tomb is still visited today by the people of Termez.

His Circle of Influence — The group formed by those who adopted his views is called the Hakimiyya; Abu Bakr al-Warraq and Abu 'Ali al-Juzjani are its leading figures. Al-Ghazali drew extensively on his Kitab al-Akyas wa-l-mughtarrin in the section on “delusion” of the Ihya' 'ulum al-din, and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya drew on his al-Furuq wa-man' al-taraduf in the Kitab al-Ruh. Ibn 'Ata' Allah al-Iskandari reports that his shaykh al-Mursi and Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili held him in great esteem and counted him among the greatest saints; this influence is present in Ibn 'Ata' Allah himself. It is related that Baha' al-Din Naqshband recognised him as a great saint and at times turned towards his spirituality. Al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi, who won the heart of Hujwiri, is a Sufi whom Ibn 'Arabi admired and by whom he was influenced.

His Poetry and Sufi Line — In a style of his own he sought to reconcile transmission and reason and to base the transmitted sciences on a rational foundation. He understands Sufism largely as wisdom; he divides knowledge into knowledge proper, outward wisdom and inward wisdom, and dwells on the last two. Truth (haqq), justice ('adl) and sincerity (sidq) are concepts he emphasises: truth concerns the limbs, justice the hearts, sincerity the intellects. For him spiritual activity is realised either through human effort or through divine care; in the first case general sainthood is at issue, in the second special sainthood. Sainthood, like prophethood, is not acquired but a divine grace; yet because the prophet has the task of conveying the message he needs a proof such as a miracle, while the saint does not: “Prophethood is with proof; sainthood is proof.” Sainthood is not bound by time; there is always a saint. He draws attention above all with his ideas on the “seal of the saints”: just as there is a seal of the prophets, there is a seal of the saints, who is not merely the last of the saints but the highest in rank. These views widely influenced the Sufis after him. In his own words, he did not write his books by planning them in advance but to find solace when under the pressure of spiritual states.

His Works — A large part of his works has reached our day. ① Khatm al-awliya': a work in twenty-nine chapters in which the question of prophethood and sainthood is treated for the first time in an ordered and comprehensive way; in its fourth chapter 157 questions of a Sufi nature are posed and left unanswered, and Ibn 'Arabi answered these questions in his al-Jawab al-mustaqim and in al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya. ② Buduww sha'n: his autobiography. ③ 'Ilal al-shari'a: shows with examples that one who looks with the light of God can grasp the causes and wisdom of the legal rulings. ④ Haqiqat al-adamiyyin: seeks to prove the truth of the transmitted sciences by philosophical method. ⑤ al-Manhiyyat: shows that behind every prohibition there is a reason. ⑥ Nawadir al-usul fi ma'rifat akhbar al-Rasul: the commentary of one hadith under each of 291 headings, each of which he calls a “root”. ⑦ al-Furuq wa-man' al-taraduf: on the differences between words that appear synonymous. His other published works include Sifat al-qulub, Kitab al-Riyada wa-adab al-nafs, Adab al-'alim wa-l-muta'allim, Bayan al-farq bayn al-sadr wa-l-qalb wa-l-fu'ad wa-l-lubb, al-Salat wa-maqasiduha, al-Hajj wa-asraruh, Manazil al-'ubbad, al-Amthal min al-Kitab wa-l-Sunna, 'Ilm al-awliya' and al-'Aql wa-l-hawa.