A Digital Atlas of Sacred Geography
1113 records · Page 35/47
Saints whose death anniversary falls this Hijri month (sourced).
Yusuf ibn Abd al-Rahim, born in Damascus (or Baghdad), a Sufi who settled in Luxor in Upper Egypt after pilgrimage, known for his piety and service to pilgrims. Regarded as the patron saint of Luxor. His tomb is beneath the dome of the mosque bearing his name, built atop Luxor Temple, honoured by an annual mawlid. (Sources: Egypt State Information Service; C. Mayeur-Jaouen, OpenEdition.)
An independent jurist ( mujtahid mutlaq ) and hadith scholar; in his day the greatest jurist and traditionist of Egypt, one of the fuqaha al-amsar whose views served as a basis for legal opinion and judgment. His full name is Abu al-Harith al-Layth b. Sa'd b. Abd al-Rahman al-Fahmi . He was born in Sha'ban 94 (May 713) in the village of Qarqashanda (Qalqashanda) in the district of Tukh, in the province of Qalyubiyya near Cairo in Lower Egypt. It appears that his family came originally from the district of Marbin or Tabna near Isfahan in Iran and were clients of the Banu Fahm in Egypt. His father Sa'd b. Abd al-Rahman al-Fahmi was from Isfahan; he was born in 42 (662) and died after 100 (718-19). The Banu Fahm, to whom he was attached by clientage, held great influence in Egypt in the Umayyad period; in his youth three grandsons of Khalid b. Thabit al-Fahmi had served as governors of Egypt, and the source notes that they played a part in his upbringing. He studied with many scholars in Egypt and the Hijaz and also travelled to centres of learning such as Damascus, Jerusalem and Baghdad. On his first pilgrimage, in 113 (732), he met in Mecca scholars such as Ata b. Abi Rabah, Ibn Abi Mulayka, Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri, Abu al-Zubayr, Imran b. Abi Anas and Nafi', the client of Ibn Umar. Among his hadith teachers were also Hisham b. Urwa, Sa'id b. Abi Sa'id al-Maqburi, Yazid b. Abi Habib, Yahya b. Sa'id al-Ansari and Abd al-Aziz al-Majishun. It is related that he met and benefited from more than fifty of the Successors and some 150 persons of the following generation and after. While still young he won the esteem of the leading scholars of Egypt, and under both the Umayyads and the Abbasids he enjoyed great standing with caliphs and statesmen. The governors of Egypt would take no final decision on a matter without consulting him. When the Umayyad caliph Marwan II wrote to the Egyptians asking them to choose someone to assist Hawthara b. Suhayl, whom he had appointed governor, Layth was chosen unanimously, although two of his teachers were still alive. In 140 (758), when the caliph al-Mansur was in Jerusalem on his return from the pilgrimage, Layth came before him as envoy at the head of a delegation; the caliph offered him the governorship (or the judgeship) of Egypt, and Layth declined, saying he was not equal to the task and was of client status. It is also related that he held certain official posts, such as membership of the Diwan al-Ata, the governorship of the Jazira and the administration of a diwan. He had influence on some important political and religious decisions of his time. He brought about the dismissal of Isma'il b. al-Yasa' al-Kindi, a pupil of Abu Hanifa and the first judge of Egypt, by complaining to the caliph al-Mahdi that in abolishing endowments in line with his teacher's view he had acted against the Sunna and the practice of the Companions. When the Christian churches of Egypt demolished in 170 by the governor Ali b. Sulayman were to be rebuilt, the new governor Musa b. Isa gave permission a year later after consulting Layth and Ibn Lahi'a; the two scholars said they regarded church building as part of the country's development and stated that the churches of Egypt had been built in the Islamic period, in the time of the Companions and the Successors. His daily programme was divided into four activities: meeting the governor and dealing with the religious problems he faced, narrating hadith to his students, resolving the religious questions of the people, and helping those in need. The sources record his generosity: although his annual income was 20-25,000 dinars, he distributed his wealth as alms before the year was out, so that zakat never became due from him and at times he was even in debt; it is related that he gave substantial help to scholars such as Ibn Lahi'a, Imam Malik and Mansur b. Ammar al-Wa'iz. He died on 14 Sha'ban 175 (16 December 791). The governor of Egypt, Musa b. Isa al-Hashimi, led his funeral prayer, and he was buried in al-Qarafa al-Sughra , south of Cairo. His Circle of Influence — Among those who learned from him were Hushaym b. Bashir, Abd Allah b. al-Mubarak, Ibn Wahb, Ibn Lahi'a, al-Qa'nabi, Ibn al-Qasim, Ashhab al-Qaysi, Qutayba b. Sa'id, Abd Allah b. Salih, known as the Scribe of Layth, Yahya b. Bukayr and Yahya b. Yahya al-Laythi. His son Shu'ayb and his grandson Abd al-Malik were among the scholars trained in law and hadith; Muslim and Abu Dawud narrated hadith from Layth through them. In his day he was regarded as the imam of the people of Egypt in hadith and law; Imam Malik too, in the letter he sent him, stresses his leadership in his homeland and the people's trust in his legal opinions. Al-Shafi'i says that the science of transmission circulated among Malik, Layth and Sufyan b. Uyayna. Despite this standing, no school formed around his legal views; al-Shafi'i ascribes this to his students' failure to spread them. The rise of the Maliki and Shafi'i schools in Egypt led to his unsystematised views being forgotten over time; yet Andalusian scholars such as Muhammad b. Bashir al-Ma'afiri and Yahya b. Yahya al-Laythi followed him on some points where he differed from Malik, and several of his views found wide application in al-Andalus. The reports he transmitted are found in all six canonical collections; with repetitions, al-Bukhari's al-Jami' al-sahih comes first with more than 450. His Poetry and Sufi Line — Layth was not a poet but a jurist and traditionist; this section gives his scholarly line. A peer of Imam Malik, raised in almost the same milieu, Layth stood essentially close to the Medinan school of hadith while also being influenced by the Kufan school of opinion: he attended the circle of Rabi'a b. Abd al-Rahman and, meeting Abu Hanifa on the pilgrimage, put legal questions to him. The soundest source for his legal theory is the treatise he wrote in reply to Imam Malik on the practice of the people of Medina : Malik had sent a letter arguing that Medinan practice had the character of the practice of the Prophet and his Companions; Layth, after stating his respect for the Medinan scholars, recalled that from the Companions' time the Muslim armies that went to Egypt, Syria and Iraq had included experts versed in the Qur'an, the Sunna and reasoned opinion, that the Companions and Successors had differed on many questions, and listed examples contradicting Medinan practice. The source states that this shows Layth regarded practice with caution and gave greater weight to transmitted report; al-Shafi'i's saying "Layth follows the transmitted report more than Malik" has this sense. He did not approve of departing from consensus and gave particular weight to the agreement of the Medinan scholars. Little is known of his theological views; it is stated that he favoured accepting the ambiguous reports without interpretation, that though he reached the age of eighty he never entered into disputation, and that in Egypt he dispelled hostility to Uthman by narrating reports on his virtues. In technique of transmission he was among the first traditionists to use the method of ard ; unlike most traditionists, he held transmission by writing ( kitaba ) and handing over ( munawala ) permissible. His reports from Aisha through Ata, from Ibn Abbas through Ibn Abi Mulayka, from Ibn Umar through Nafi' and from Abu Hurayra through al-Maqburi were the highest chains of his time. He sifted Abu al-Zubayr's books of reports from Jabir by having him mark those he had heard directly. His Works — Ibn al-Nadim records two works of Layth, the Kitab masa'il al-fiqh and the Kitab al-tarikh ; according to some reports the Masa'il al-fiqh was a critique of Imam Malik's views. The Kitab al-tarikh , from which al-Kindi quotes, is known to have survived down to the VI (XII) century; the historical reports from Layth in the books of many authors are probably based on it. A hadith collection ( asl ) made up of hadiths he gathered from various teachers and a Kitab al-riqq , apparently containing reports on slavery, are also recorded. His letter to Imam Malik is important not only for legal theory but also because it contains some ten of his legal views. The hadiths he narrated were gathered into fascicles by Abu Musa Zughba al-Tujibi, Ibn al-Muqri al-Isfahani and Ibn Qutlubugha; Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani too, at the end of his work on Layth's biography, transmitted forty hadiths reaching him from Layth through high chains. His Tomb and Complex — His grave in al-Qarafa al-Sughra is still one of the important places of visitation in Egypt; for his tomb the source refers to al-Maqrizi's Khitat and gives no further information on the building.
Daughter of Hasan b. Zayd, grandson of Hasan b. Ali; a lady of the Prophet's household (Ahl al-Bayt), deeply devout and living a life of renunciation, whose tomb is among the most visited in Cairo. Her full name is al-Sayyida Nafisa bint al-Hasan b. Zayd b. al-Hasan b. Ali b. Abi Talib ; she is known by the epithets al-Tahira and al-Hurra al-taqiyya . She was born in Mecca in 145 (762) and grew up there and in Medina, where her father served as governor. The source notes that it may be surmised she suffered great hardship at the threshold of girlhood, when her father was dismissed by the caliph Abu Ja'far al-Mansur on a charge of attempted rebellion, imprisoned, and his property confiscated. When she came of age she married Ishaq al-Mu'taman , son of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq; she had by him a son named Qasim and a daughter named Umm Kulthum, but these children did not continue her line. According to a strong report she went with her husband Ishaq to Cairo (Fustat) in 201 (816-17) and lived there until her death. A great crowd of the people of Fustat came out to meet her; for some months she stayed as a guest in the house of Jamal al-Din Abd Allah b. Jassas. During this time both Egyptians and people from other lands all but vied with one another to visit her. As her visitors multiplied and a great press arose in the quarter where she lived, the governor of Egypt, Ubayd Allah b. al-Sari b. al-Hakam, assigned her a large house of his in the quarter where her tomb stands today and limited visits to two days a week. It appears that she possessed considerable learning in Qur'anic exegesis, hadith and Sufism. The source attributes the great interest and love shown to her through history to her descent from the Prophet and to her being a very pious woman who lived a life of renunciation. It is related that she ate very little, slept little, prayed and fasted much, made the pilgrimage thirty times, and had a grave dug inside her house into which she would at times descend to worship. For this reason she is counted among the descendants of Ali who are given a special place in the Sufi biographical works. She died in Ramadan 208 (January 824). Although her husband wished to take her body to Medina, at the wish of the people she was buried in the house where she had lived in Fustat. Her Circle of Influence — Foremost among her visitors were Sufis and scholars such as Bishr al-Hafi , Ahmad b. Hanbal and Imam al-Shafi'i . According to the sources, Imam al-Shafi'i visited Nafisa often when he went to Egypt and learned hadith from her; when al-Shafi'i died, his bier was brought to her house so that she too could pray the funeral prayer over him. Her visitors increased still further after her death. Ibn Taghribirdi says that her fame spread in the East and the West. Her Tomb and Complex — After her burial in her house in Fustat, a tomb was built over her grave by the governor of Egypt, Ubayd Allah b. al-Sari b. al-Hakam. In later periods the tomb was repaired many times and, with new buildings added beside it, turned into a complex. The chief works of building were carried out in 532 (1138) by the Fatimid caliph al-Hafiz li-Din Allah, in 693 (1294) by the Mamluk sultan Muhammad b. Qalawun, and in 1170 (1757) by the Ottoman governor Hekimoğlu Ali Paşa. Today, besides a mosque, there are various buildings, a library and Sufi cells around the tomb; notable especially for its gold and silver ornament, the tomb is among the most frequented places of visitation in Cairo.
A Sufi who lived in Egypt and founder of the Dasuqiyya order. His full name was Burhan al-Din Ibrahim b. Abi al-Majd Abd al-Aziz al-Dasuqi ; he was also known by the title Abu al-Aynayn . Sufis count him among the four great qutb s, the other three being Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, Ahmad al-Rifa'i and Ahmad al-Badawi. He was born in 633 (1235) at Markus in Lower Egypt; there are also reports that he was born in 644 (1246) or 653 (1255). Because he spent most of his life in the town of Dasuq (Dusuq, Disuq) in the same region, he was known by the nisba al-Dasuqi. His father, Abu al-Majd Abd al-Aziz, was the son-in-law and deputy of Abu al-Fath Abu al-Ghana'im al-Wasiti, one of the Rifa'i shaykhs. Like many saints, he is regarded as a sayyid because his genealogy is traced to Husayn. He began his studies at Dasuq, memorized the Qur'an and studied Shafi'i law. He first received the Rifa'i cloak from his father; he then took initiation from Najm al-Din al-Isfahani , one of the Suhrawardi shaykhs. He also followed the Shadhili path, and he had a further chain reaching Abu Madyan al-Maghribi. The source states that all this shows he knew orders such as the Rifa'iyya, Suhrawardiyya and Shadhiliyya closely and drew his share from them. For about 20 years he devoted himself in his retreat cell to spiritual struggle and contemplation. He left it to perform the funeral prayer for his father; he wished to return, but gave up the idea at the entreaty of his companions. He died in 676 (1277) at the age of 43. His Circle of Influence — The disciples who had gathered around him in his lifetime followed, after his death, his deputy and brother Shaykh Musa , carried on his Sufi understanding and turned it into an order. His Poetry and Sufi Line — The source presents him as a Sufi deeply attached to the sharia on one side and extremely enigmatic on the other. He says that disciples must be strongly bound to their shaykhs and that shaykhs must treat their disciples like their own children; he attaches great importance to eating what is lawful, respecting the rights of others and holding strictly to the rulings of the sharia. He seeks to reconcile sharia and reality, the outward and the inward, and understands reality not as description and expression but as taste and lived experience. He also dwelt on the idea of the Muhammadan light and held this light to be an eternal self-disclosure of God. All the sources that speak of him record that he knew Syriac, Hebrew and ancient Egyptian and understood the language of animals and birds. His Works — It is reported that he wrote some works during his years of seclusion in his cell; yet at his death only a few hizb s (litanies) and his work al-Jawahir remained. The title also appears in the sources as al-Jawhara or al-Haqa'iq ; al-Sha'rani quotes from it in his Tabaqat . Besides these there are poems on his Sufi thought. His Tomb and Complex — At his death he was buried in his retreat cell. The mosque whose construction began beside the cell in his lifetime is known as al-Jami' al-Ibrahimi or Ma'had Dasuq . Restored by Sultan Qaytbay and later altered in some respects, the mosque took its present form in 1885 in the time of Khedive Tawfiq.
A Companion, hadith transmitter and reciter; appointed governor of Egypt by Mu'awiya in 44-47/664-667, a participant in the conquest of Egypt. He died in 58/678 and was buried in al-Qarafa al-Sughra. His tomb is an Ottoman-domed, active pilgrimage site; Silahdar Muhammad Pasha built a mosque beside it in 1066/1655. (Some online coordinates erroneously point to Mecca and no two correct independent sources were found, so location is unpinned.) (Sources: TDV 'Ukbe b. Âmir'; CULTNAT.)
A great Egyptian Sufi, one of the foremost figures of the early Sufis; remembered for his sayings on gnosis and the gnostic. His full name was Dhu al-Nun Abu al-Fayd Thawban b. Ibrahim al-Misri al-Ikhmimi . He was born in 155 (772) in the Egyptian town of Ikhmim (Akhmim). He is said to have been of Nubian origin. His real name was Thawban; he is known by the epithet Dhu al-Nun (“he of the fish”, the fisherman) (for the account of how he got it see Miracles / Hagiographic Accounts). He travelled to Syria, Mecca and Yemen, and transmitted hadith from scholars and Sufis he met there, such as Imam Malik, Sufyan b. 'Uyayna, al-Layth b. Sa'd and Fudayl b. 'Iyad. When he began holding talks on Sufism and wisdom in Egypt he met with criticism (see Multiple Perspectives), and because of it he was forced to leave Egypt in 228 (843). On his return he was this time denounced to the authorities of the day; in 244 (858) he was arrested and taken to Baghdad, and questioned in the palace of the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil 'ala Allah at Samarra. Pleased with his explanations, the caliph rewarded him and allowed him to return to Egypt. The best known of those from whom he benefited on the Sufi path were Shuqran b. 'Ali al-'Abid of Kairouan (d. 186/802) and Fatima al-Nishapuriyya , wife of Ahmad b. Khadrawayh al-Balkhi (d. 223/838). He died at Giza in Egypt in 245 (859) or 248 (862). His Poetry and Sufi Line — The source conveys his Sufi views through transmitted reports. In his view the common people repent because they sin, the elite because they fall into heedlessness. Asked who the gnostic is, he is reported to have answered “He was here, and he went”, meaning that those who know God advance spiritually at every moment and do not remain long in one state; according to another report his answer was “present and apart”, meaning one who is among people with his body while his heart is apart from them and with God. He is reported to have said: “I made three journeys and brought back three kinds of knowledge; the first was accepted by commoners and elite, the second by the elite but rejected by the commoners, and the third was accepted by no one.” He describes the lowest degree of intimacy as this: that even if the servant were thrown into the fire, this would not take him away from the one he loves; and he prefers little food, saying “Wisdom does not dwell in a stomach full of food.” He regards audition and music as an inspiration that turns hearts towards God: whoever listens with God attains the truth, whoever listens with his ego becomes a heretic and a sinner. His Works — The source notes the claim that he could read hieroglyphs and was occupied with medicine, chemistry/alchemy and the science of occult properties, and that some works on these subjects have been attributed to him. Among them are, on alchemy, al-Qasida fi al-San'a al-Karima (commented on by 'Izz al-Din al-Jildaki), epistles such as Risala fi 'Anasir al-Thalatha and Risala fi Khawass al-Iksir , and the Sifat al-Mu'min wa al-Mu'mina , of which a manuscript copy exists in Damascus and which has been published. On his sayings and virtues Muhyi al-Din Ibn 'Arabi wrote al-Kawkab al-Durri fi Manaqib Dhi al-Nun al-Misri and Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti al-Sirr al-Maknun fi Manaqib Dhi al-Nun .
Grandson of the Prophet and martyr of Karbala (61/680). The al-Husayn Mosque in Cairo is a relic-shrine believed to hold his BLESSED HEAD — not his body. Per the Egyptian tradition the head went Karbala→Damascus→Ascalon and was transferred to Cairo in 548/1153. His body is agreed to be in Karbala; the head's location is disputed. Egypt's Dar al-Ifta treats this as historical, not creedal. (Sources: Egypt Dar al-Ifta; Wikipedia 'Al-Hussein Mosque'; al-Maqrizi.)
A Fatimid-period shrine (mashhad) attributed to Ruqayya, daughter of Ali. Built in 527/1133 following a dream of Caliph al-Hafiz, famed for its stucco mihrab. IMPORTANT: this is NOT an actual grave but a commemorative mashhad; historical sources report Ruqayya was buried in Damascus. (Sources: Wikidata Q12243219; Archnet; Caroline Williams.)
The eldest daughter of 'Ali and Fatima; the woman who protected the women and children of the Ahl al-Bayt during and after the events of Karbala. Her full name is Zaynab al-Kubra bint 'Ali ibn Abi Talib al-Hashimiyya . According to the common view she was born in Medina in Sha'ban 5 (January 627); there are other views as well. She came after her elder brothers Hasan and Husayn and, according to some reports, after Muhassin (Muhsin), who was stillborn or died soon after birth. She was called Zaynab al-Kubra ("the Elder") to distinguish her from a younger sister of the same name born to another wife of 'Ali, and was also given the kunya Umm al-Masa'ib ("Mother of Afflictions") because of the many hardships she faced throughout her life. In the source's words, the information on her life is mostly of a hagiographical kind. After her mother's death she grew up under the care of 'Ali's wives after Fatima — Umm al-Banin bint Hizam, Layla bint Mas'ud and Asma' bint 'Umays; her father himself saw to her education. Because she grew up under his supervision as a learned, intelligent and discerning young woman, she was given the epithet 'Aqilat Bani Hashim . It is reported that even as a child she astonished her father with her answers on certain questions; as a young woman, women in particular turned to her for answers to their questions. Her father married her to 'Abd Allah , son of her uncle Ja'far ibn Abi Talib. 'Abd Allah, born while his father was an emigrant in Abyssinia, was a Companion famed for his generosity. From this marriage were born 'Ali, 'Awn, Muhammad, 'Abbas and Umm Kulthum; some sources give Ja'far and Umm 'Abd Allah instead of Muhammad and 'Abbas. 'Awn and Muhammad fell as martyrs at Karbala. Her daughter Umm Kulthum was married by her uncle Husayn to Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Ja'far. During 'Ali's caliphate she settled in Kufa with her husband; 'Abd Allah was one of 'Ali's commanders at the Battle of Siffin. Before the events of Karbala, 'Abd Allah, like many of his relatives, had warned Husayn not to answer the invitation of the Kufans, but to no avail. The source states that Zaynab's importance lies above all in her role at Karbala and afterwards, and that if Husayn is the most important person in those events, Zaynab is the most important woman. When the fighting began, she directed the treatment and care of the wounded as the eldest woman of the family, and protected the women and children. When the governor of Kufa, 'Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad, wished to have her nephew Zayn al-'Abidin killed — he had been unable to take part in the fighting because of illness, and had been saved from being killed in his tent through the efforts of 'Umar ibn Sa'd — she threw herself upon him and said the governor would have to kill her first, and so broke his resolve. Because of similar conduct in Kufa and then in Damascus, to which she was taken, some sources name her as the one who saved the Prophet's lineage from extinction. She is likened to her father in eloquence. Her address to the people as she was being taken to the governor in Kufa, her words before 'Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad, and what she said in her exchange with Yazid ibn Mu'awiya in Damascus are famous. According to the source, the main theme of her address to the Kufans was their conduct toward 'Ali and Husayn, and that of her words before Yazid the superiority of her lineage and the rightness of their cause. At a time when no adult man was left to lead the family, these actions raised her to the position of leader of the Ahl al-Bayt. Zaynab and those with her were held in Damascus for a few days, and were then permitted to return to Medina under the protection of Nu'man ibn Bashir. After returning to Medina, Zaynab wished to give Nu'man, who had accompanied them on the road and treated them well, all the jewellery they had on them. The date and place of her death are disputed: there are reports that she died on 14 Rajab 62 (29 March 682) or in 65 (684), in Cairo, Damascus or Medina (see Multiple Views). Shi'is who accept that she died on 14 Rajab hold mourning gatherings in her memory on that day every year. She is also likened in many respects to her mother Fatima; it is recorded that, like her husband 'Abd Allah, she was generous, distributed whatever came into her hands to the poor, and spent her nights in supererogatory worship. Her Circle of Influence — She transmitted reports from Fatima, 'Ali, Hasan, Husayn and Asma' bint 'Umays; and hadith was transmitted from her by her husband 'Abd Allah ibn Ja'far, 'Abd Allah ibn 'Abbas, Muhammad ibn 'Amr, 'Ata' ibn al-Sa'ib, 'Abbad al-'Amiri and her niece Fatima bint Husayn, among others. She is one of the principal figures named in the Muharram gatherings — important elements of Shi'i culture — and in the mourning gatherings ( ta'ziya ) in which the martyrs of Karbala are remembered. Her speeches, in the house where she was held in Damascus, recounting what had happened at Karbala, and her mourning for her dead kin are presented as the first instance of the mourning gatherings called " majlis " that became part of later Shi'i culture; it is also said that her words before Yazid are commemorated among Shi'is with a ceremony as important as that of the day of 'Ashura'. Many works in prose and verse have been written about her in both Sunni and Shi'i literature, and numerous studies in Western languages.
A Sufi known for his work al-Hikam al-'Ata'iyya ; the third great figure of the Shadhiliyya order after its founder Abu'l-Hasan al-Shadhili and his deputy Abu'l-'Abbas al-Mursi. His full name is Abu'l-'Abbas (Abu'l-Fadl) Taj al-Din Ahmad b. Muhammad b. 'Abd al-Karim b. 'Ata' Allah al-Shadhili al-Iskandari . He was born in Alexandria . He belonged to the Banu Judham tribe, which had settled there after the conquest of Egypt. His grandfather 'Abd al-Karim was a well-known Maliki jurist of Alexandria and, as appears from Ibn 'Ata' Allah's statements in Lata'if al-minan , a fierce opponent of Sufism; Ibn Farhun says that he abridged Zamakhshari's al-Mufassal and al-Tahdhib and wrote a seven-volume commentary on the second. From statements in the same work it appears that his father met Abu'l-Hasan al-Shadhili. He studied jurisprudence with Nasir al-Din Ibn al-Munayyir, grammar with Muhyi al-Din al-Mazuni, hadith with Sharaf al-Din 'Abd al-Mu'min al-Dimyati, and philosophy, logic and theology with Muhammad b. Mahmud al-Isfahani. In these years, when he was known as a jurist and was opposed to Sufism, he met Abu'l-'Abbas al-Mursi , deputy of Abu'l-Hasan al-Shadhili, founder of the Shadhiliyya, and began to attend his gatherings. He settled in Cairo , where he had gone to preach and guide, probably with his shaykh's permission. There a large congregation formed around him, which the father of Subki, author of Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya , also attended. In the same years intense disputes broke out between him and his disciples and Ibn Taymiyya, who was then in Egypt (details under Multiple Perspectives). When his master Abu'l-'Abbas al-Mursi died (686/1287) he was in Cairo, and he spent the rest of his life there. He died in Cairo, at the Madrasa al-Mansuriyya, on 13 Jumada I 709 (19 October 1309), and was buried in the Qarafa Cemetery. His Circle of Influence — He is known for an oratory that deeply moved the masses, and for his sermons and gatherings; these qualities are reflected in his works too, above all in the Hikam . Like those of Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-'Arabi and Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi, his ideas influenced Sufi circles. His works are known in all Islamic lands, above all in North Africa. More than fifty Sufis have translated and commented on the Hikam ; among its commentators are Sufis of almost every order. The contemporary Egyptian scholar Abu'l-Wafa al-Taftazani prepared a work treating him in all his aspects. His Poetry and Sufi Line — According to the source, in expressing his ideas he did not touch on the controversial statements of the Sufis of the unity of being, and very carefully preserved the balance between the unity of being ( wahdat al-wujud ) and the unity of witnessing ( wahdat al-shuhud ). Worship and obedience free of ostentation and fame, reliance on God, surrender, hope and expectation are the basic concepts of his mystical thought; his words are kneaded not with the ardour of love and rapture but with the subtleties of reflection. For him deeds and acts of worship are a set of forms and shapes; their spirit is the secret of sincerity ( ikhlas ) that must dwell in the worshipper's heart. He insists on the state of neediness towards God called faqr or iftiqar , and regards knowledge accompanied by awe as the best knowledge. The influence of al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi, Sulami, Harith al-Muhasibi, Abu Talib al-Makki, 'Abd al-Karim al-Qushayri and Ghazali can be seen in his thought. The sources give some specimens of his poetry; a qasida of sixty-two couplets appears at the end of the editions of Lata'if al-minan , and another of twenty-two couplets at the end of the editions of al-Tanwir . His Works — ① al-Hikam al-'Ata'iyya : a work of about 300 wise sayings reflecting his views on almost all the basic subjects of Sufism (Beirut 1972); it has many commentaries and translations. ② Lata'if al-minan : it consists of a long introduction setting out his views on various mystical subjects and ten chapters relating the lives and legends of Abu'l-'Abbas al-Mursi and Abu'l-Hasan al-Shadhili; it is the oldest work on the Shadhiliyya. ③ al-Tanwir fi isqat al-tadbir : it deals with reliance on God and surrender; Muttaqi al-Hindi translated it into Persian as Risala-yi Kifayat-i ahl-i yaqin . ④ Miftah al-falah wa misbah al-arwah : it covers such subjects as remembrance, retreat, divine unity and gnosis. ⑤ Taj al-'arus al-hawi li-tahdhib al-nufus : made up of his sermons and his counsels to his disciples on the proprieties of the path. ⑥ al-Qasd al-mujarrad fi ma'rifat al-ism al-mufrad : written in theological style on the word Allah and on God's essence, attributes, names and acts; Maurice Gloton translated it into French (Paris 1981). ⑦ 'Unwan al-tawfiq fi adab al-tariq : a commentary on the poem of Abu Madyan al-Maghribi that opens with the couplet meaning “The delight of life is companionship with the dervishes”. ⑧ al-Munajat al-'Ata'iyya : an intimate prayer of thirty-six couplets on reliance and surrender. ⑨ al-Wasiyya ila'l-ikhwan bi'l-Iskandariyya : the testament he sent in 694 (1295) from Cairo to his disciples in Alexandria. The source also lists Risala fi'l-qawa'id al-diniyya , Mawa'iz , Hizb al-najat , Risala fi'l-tasawwuf and Hizb al-nur wa tamam al-surur ; al-Muraqqa ila'l-Quds al-abqa , Mukhtasar Tahdhib al-Mudawwana and Usul muqaddimat al-wusul have not come down to us. His Tomb and Complex — He was buried in the Qarafa Cemetery in Cairo.
An Egyptian poet and Sufi renowned for his odes in praise of the Prophet, above all the Qasidat al-Burda ; he belonged to the Shadhili path. His full name is Abu Abd Allah Sharaf al-Din Muhammad ibn Sa'id ibn Hammad ibn Muhsin al-Busiri . He was born on 1 Shawwal 608 (7 March 1212) in Bahshim, a dependency of the town of al-Bahnasa in Upper Egypt. The sources record that he was of Berber descent, from a family known as the Banu Habnun at the Qal'a of the Banu Hammad in the Maghrib; his nisba al-Sanhaji likewise points to Maghribi origins. He is called al-Busiri because his father was from Busir and al-Dalasi because his mother was from Dalas; at times he also used the compound nisba al-Dalasiri . He spent his youth in Dalas, where his family had settled; no details of his schooling survive. He then went to Cairo and attended the lessons at the mosque of Shaykh Abd al-Zahir, studying the Islamic sciences together with language and literature, and occupying himself especially with hadith and the Prophet's biography. His refutations of Jews and Christians show that he had studied the Torah and the Gospels. When a post in the hisba was offered to him he declined, saying: "I know nothing of the affairs of the market." For a time he worked for the vizier Zayn al-Din Ya'qub ibn al-Zubayr; when his patron was dismissed (1261) he moved to Bilbays, where he served as a secretary and accountant in financial affairs. An ode he wrote in 1265 to Sultan Baybars I shows that he was in Cairo by that date. In Cairo he opened a school ( kuttab ) for children to read and memorize the Qur'an, but finding little interest he closed it and went to al-Mahalla. In his poems he complains of, and satirizes, the late payment of his salary. At al-Mahalla he broke his leg and then moved to Saha. He is known to have been initiated by Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili , founder of the Shadhili order. In a 142-couplet elegy rhyming in dal , addressed to Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi , who succeeded the shaykh after his death, he calls him the pole and imam of the age. The source states that, together with Ibn Ata Allah al-Iskandari, he was the shaykh's favourite disciple; while Ibn Ata Allah treated the theme of divine love, al-Busiri sang of love for the Prophet. Short and frail, al-Busiri lived a life of hardship: many children, straitened means and the corruption of his colleagues troubled him. Because of his scrupulousness where truth was concerned he could not stay long in any one post. Towards the end of his life he was paralysed; according to a report he was cured of this illness through an ode he had written for the Prophet. He died in Alexandria in his eighties. The sources differ on the date: according to Ibn Shakir al-Kutubi 696 (1296-97), according to al-Suyuti 695 (1295-96), according to Katib Chelebi 694 (1294-95). His Poetry and Sufi Line — Nearly all of his work is in verse, most of it odes about the Prophet. His poems are exceptionally sound in structure and style and lyrical in tone; literary historians judge them finer than those of his contemporaries al-Jazzar and al-Warraq. The Burda, which the poet titled al-Kawakib al-durriyya fi madh khayr al-bariyya , became famous as al-Qasida al-mimiyya because its rhyme letter is mim , and as Qasidat al-Burda because of the report that it was the means of his cure; in the Ottoman milieu it was also called Qasidat al-Bur'a . It consists of ten sections and numbers 160 couplets in its oldest manuscripts, reaching up to 165 in later ones: the amatory prelude, complaint against the self, praise of the Prophet, his birth, his miracles, the excellence of the Qur'an, the ascension, jihad, remorse and hope, and supplication. Composed in the basit metre, it has been recited for centuries in every region of the Islamic world at religious gatherings, on blessed days and nights, and at circumcisions, weddings, festivals and funerals, and as a weekly litany; from couplet 140 onward it is recited for seven days for the healing of the paralysed. Calligraphers usually wrote this ode in their practice lessons. It was commented on during the poet's lifetime by Abd al-Salam ibn Idris al-Marrakushi and Abu Shama al-Maqdisi. According to one study the commentaries, glosses, takhmis , tasdis and imitations written on it number 330; the commentaries exceed a hundred and the takhmis number around sixty. It has been translated into almost every language spoken by Muslim peoples, and also into Greek, Latin, Italian, French, English and German. His Works — ① Qasidat al-Burda (160 couplets). ② Diwan al-Busiri : the poet did not himself collect his poems in a diwan; Muhammad Sayyid Kilani compiled and published them (Cairo 1374/1955). ③ al-Qasida al-hamziyya ( Umm al-qura fi madh khayr al-wara ): his most famous work after the Burda, 455 couplets. ④ Dhukhr al-ma'ad fi wazn Banat Su'ad : a 204-couplet imitation of Ka'b ibn Zuhayr's ode. ⑤ al-Makhraj wa-l-mardud ala al-Nasara wa-l-Yahud : a 284-couplet refutation mixing verse and prose. ⑥ al-Qasida al-mudariyya : a 39-couplet ode of blessings on the Prophet found in nearly every litany collection. ⑦ Taqdis al-Haram min tadnis al-daram : a 98-couplet ode on the fire of 1256 in Medina that burned the Rawda and the Prophet's chamber. Besides these he wrote odes to statesmen and many poems criticizing the social and moral life of the Egypt of his day. His Tomb and Complex — According to the source, his grave is in Alexandria near the shore, in the right-hand maqsura inside the mosque that bears his name.
Founder of the Shadhiliyya order, born in the Ghumara region of northern Morocco (593/1196), one of the most influential masters of Islamic Sufism, a sharif of Hasani-Idrisi descent. He taught in Tunis and Alexandria, and died at Humaithra in Egypt's Red Sea desert while on pilgrimage. His tomb stands in the desert within a large mausoleum-mosque complex, a major pilgrimage site. (Sources: TDV 'Şâzelî'; Wikipedia.)
A leading Shadhiliyya Sufi of Abyssinian origin; disciple and son-in-law of al-Mursi, he taught in Alexandria. His death year is given variously as 707/1307 to 732/1331. His tomb lies in the Maydan al-Masajid area of Alexandria, beside the shrine of his master al-Mursi. (Sources: Wikipedia 'Sidi Yaqut Al-Arsh Mosque'; Damas Cultural Society.)
Atabeg of Damascus and Aleppo (1146-1174); a Zengid ruler known for his struggle against the Crusaders, his justice and his piety. Because of his justice and piety he was called al-Malik al-Adil , and because he so longed for martyrdom in the wars with the Crusaders, al-Shahid . Through the madrasas, hadith schools, hospitals and endowments he founded, he holds a unique place in the history of Islamic institutions. He was born in Aleppo on 17 Shawwal 511 (11 February 1118). Reports of his fine handwriting, his wide reading, his memorising and transmitting of hadith and his knowledge of jurisprudence show that he received a good education. In his youth he took part in battles from time to time at the side of his father, Imad al-Din Zengi . When his father was killed while besieging the fortress of Ja'bar (5 Rabi al-Akhir 541 / 14 September 1146), he came to Aleppo and took control of the city. He recovered Edessa (Urfa) from Joscelin II; the great stir this caused in Europe led to the Second Crusade. In 549 (1154) he took Damascus. After the earthquake of 552 (1157) he swiftly rebuilt the fortresses of Hama, Shayzar, Homs and other cities. The forces he sent to Egypt under Asad al-Din Shirkuh finally seized power in Cairo (564/1169); after Shirkuh's death his nephew Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi (Saladin) succeeded him. In 567 (1171) he asked Saladin to have the Friday sermon in Egypt read in the name of the Abbasid caliph; on his firm order the sermon began to be read in the Abbasid caliph's name on 7 Muharram 567 / 10 September 1171, and a few days later the Fatimid state collapsed. The Abbasid caliph al-Mustadi' bi-Amr Allah sent him a diploma of investiture with the insignia of sultanate. In 568 (1173), when he confronted the Anatolian Seljuk sultan Kılıç Arslan II, an agreement was reached through the intervention of scholars and men of religion who said that war between the two Muslim states would serve only the Crusaders. It is recorded that he knew Hanafi jurisprudence well but had no sectarian partisanship, that he occupied himself with hadith, performed dhikr at night , and had drums beaten at set hours in the citadel of Damascus to wake those who wished to rise for dhikr. On certain days of the week he sat with his chief judge and the other judges in the dar al-adl (house of justice) he had built in Damascus to hear cases, and permitted no conduct contrary to Islam anywhere in his realm. Historians say he abolished the uncanonical taxes (mukus). Ibn al-Athir states that after the Rightly Guided Caliphs and Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz he had seen none better, more just or more merciful than him. He rebuilt or repaired the citadels of Damascus, Homs, Hama, Aleppo, Shayzar and Baalbek destroyed by earthquakes; he rebuilt the Great Mosque of Aleppo, ruined by fires and earthquakes, and built the Great Mosque of Urfa in the first years of his reign. His greatest and finest work is the Great Mosque of Mosul (al-Jami al-Nuri), completed in 568 (1172-73). He is the statesman who opened the largest number of madrasas after Nizam al-Mulk; al-Nuriyya al-Kubra and al-Nuriyya al-Hanafiyya al-Sughra in Damascus are the finest examples of his madrasas. The Nuriyya Dar al-Hadith in Damascus was entirely destroyed, save a few walls, in the fire of 1893; the Damascus hospital (bimaristan) used today as a museum is also his work. He built schools for orphans and many caravanserais, ribats, khanqahs and public fountains. It is recorded that the income of the lands and shops he endowed reached 30.000 dinars a year, that he distributed 200.000 dinars to endowments as aid and alms, and that he supported teachers, jurists, pilgrims, the poor and destitute, the descendants of Ali, and zawiyas and ribats. He died in the citadel of Damascus while preparing to set out for Egypt (11 Shawwal 569 / 15 May 1174). He was first buried in a room of the inner citadel and later moved to his tomb at the entrance of his madrasa al-Nuriyya al-Kubra, which he had built for the Hanafis at the entrance of the market called al-Khawwasin. He was succeeded by his eleven-year-old son al-Malik al-Salih Isma'il. His Circle of Influence — Of his political aims he achieved ending the Fatimid state in Egypt and uniting the Islamic world under the Abbasid caliph; though he could not wholly eliminate the Crusader states, he prepared the ground for the recovery of Jerusalem . At the time of his death Saladin was governing Egypt, Libya, Yemen and part of Sudan in his name. Believing that Jerusalem would be conquered, he had a wooden minbar of very high artistic value made in Aleppo to be placed in al-Aqsa Mosque; when Saladin conquered Jerusalem he had this minbar installed in al-Aqsa. The minbar burned in a fire set in 1969. His Tomb and Complex — His tomb lies within the complex he built in Damascus, consisting of a madrasa, a masjid and the founder's tomb. The six-line inscription over the monumental portal of the building, also known as the Nuriyya Madrasa (al-Nuriyya al-Kubra), states that it was completed in Sha'ban 567 (April 1172); this inscription points to the founder's being a Hanafi, while the inscription over the second door records that lessons of the Shafi'i school were also taught there. The building has a three-iwan plan around a central courtyard with a large pool in its middle; the masjid lies on the qibla side of the courtyard. The tomb is on the qibla side of the entrance hall; it is covered by a muqarnas dome, and its tall walls rise above the mass of the madrasa. Inside, on the qibla side, is a striking mihrab with two reused colonnettes, and in the centre a stone sarcophagus bearing an inscription; the Throne Verse (Ayat al-Kursi) runs in a broad band around its four walls.
Sheikh Abu Bakr al-Wafa'i (1503-1583) was a majdhub saint, one of the most important holy men of Ottoman Aleppo. Known for his unconventional life and miracle traditions, his tomb on the hill north of the city became a center of Aleppo's spiritual life. The Takiyyat al-Shaykh Abu Bakr lodge/complex was built around it. The area is today the Sheikh Maqsud quarter, which lay on the front lines during the 2012-2016 battle for Aleppo. (Sources: Aleppo Heritage Catalogue / Gerda Henkel; Syrian Heritage Archive.)
Abu'l-Fida (1273-1331) was an Ayyubid-descended historian, geographer, and Mamluk-vassal ruler of Hama. In 1320 he was granted the rank of sultan with the title al-Malik al-Mu'ayyad and ruled Hama until his death. His major works are the universal history 'Mukhtasar tarikh al-bashar' and the geography 'Taqwim al-buldan'. His tomb is in the Abu'l-Fida Mosque on the Orontes; the mosque is popularly called Jami' al-Hayyat ('Mosque of the Serpents'). (Sources: TDV 'Ebü'l-Fidâ'; Wikipedia.)
Zakariyya, father of Prophet Yahya, is a prophet named in the Qur'an. By tradition his skull was discovered in Baalbek (c. 435/1043), brought via Homs to Aleppo, first kept in the Maqam Ibrahim of the Citadel, then moved to the Great Umayyad Mosque of Aleppo by Sultan Baybars after the 1260 Mongol sack. The maqam lies in a maqsurah to the left of the mihrab. NOTE: the famous shrine in the Umayyad Mosque of Damascus belongs to his son Yahya — not to be confused. The mosque was heavily damaged in 2012-2016; its minaret was destroyed in 2013, restoration ongoing. (Sources: Wikipedia 'Great Mosque of Aleppo'; Muslim Heritage.)
Ubay ibn Qays al-Nakha'i is the third figure said to be interred in the Uwais al-Qarni complex in Raqqa alongside Ammar ibn Yasir and Uways al-Qarani, associated with the Battle of Siffin (37/657) era. Detailed biographical information is limited; he is known chiefly through the shrine record. The complex was destroyed by ISIS in 2013-2014 and not rebuilt. (Sources: Wikipedia 'Uwais al-Qarni Mosque'; syrian-treasures.com.)
Uways al-Qarani (in Anatolian folk culture Veysel Karani) was a Yemeni ascetic of the Tabi'un; though he never met the Prophet, he was famed for his deep devotion and is regarded as the master of the 'Uwaysi' path. By tradition he was martyred in Ali's army at Siffin (37/657) and buried near Raqqa, though his burial is disputed, with Raqqa most probable. The mosque and shrine were destroyed by ISIS in 2013-2014 and not rebuilt. (Sources: TDV 'Veysel Karanî'; Wikipedia.)
Ammar ibn Yasir was one of the earliest Muslims and a close companion of the Prophet; his mother Sumayya was the first female martyr of Islam. Though over ninety, he was martyred fighting in Ali's ranks at the Battle of Siffin (37/657) and buried near Raqqa. The Uwais al-Qarni Mosque and shrine over his grave was destroyed with explosives by ISIS in 2013-2014 and has not been rebuilt. (Sources: TDV 'Ammâr b. Yâsir'; Wikipedia.)
An Abyssinian slave who killed Hamza at Uhud and later embraced Islam; a Companion. He is also remembered for killing Musaylima the Liar at the Battle of Yamama. His full name is Abu Dasma (Abu Harb) Wahshi ibn Harb al-Habashi . He was of Abyssinian origin and a slave of Jubayr ibn Mut'im, one of the notables of Quraysh; the reports that he belonged to other men are given under the Multiple Views. How he came to Mecca is not known. During the preparations for the Battle of Uhud, Jubayr ibn Mut'im promised to set him free if he killed Hamza, who had killed Jubayr's uncle Tu'ayma at Badr. The daughter of al-Harith ibn Amir, who had been killed at Badr, also asked him, as the price of his freedom, to kill either Muhammad, Ali or Hamza. Hind bint Utba, the wife of Abu Sufyan, announced that she would give whoever killed Hamza — who had killed her father, brother and uncle at Badr — all her jewellery together with 10 gold pieces. Wahshi set out from Mecca for Uhud with the army of the polytheists; of the slaves in the Quraysh army, all but Wahshi and Su'ab had been assigned to rear duties. Once the fighting began he watched Hamza, hiding now behind a rock, now behind a tree. When Hamza, having fought and killed Siba' ibn Abd al-Uzza behind a rock, came near the place where he was, he hurled his spear and killed him; he then cut out his liver and took it to Hind. Jubayr ibn Mut'im set him free, and Hind gave him her jewellery and the 10 gold pieces. When Wahshi later became a Muslim, he said that he had had no other way to gain his freedom than to kill Hamza, and that he had taken part in Uhud for that reason alone. He is recorded as the first to bring the news of the victory at Uhud to Mecca, climbing a hill at al-Hajun and informing the Meccan polytheists of the battle. He went on living in Mecca; he also took part in the Battle of the Trench, in which he killed al-Tufayl ibn al-Nu'man al-Ansari with his spear. After the conquest of Mecca he fled to Ta'if, for he had been excluded from the general amnesty together with some ten people known for their hostility to the Prophet and the Muslims. When the people of Ta'if decided to send a delegation to Medina, he thought of going to Damascus, to Yemen or elsewhere; meanwhile he was told that Muhammad pardoned those who entered Islam, so he decided to go to Medina, and became a Muslim in the presence of the Messenger of God in the Prophet's Mosque. The sources contain details of this meeting. When Wahshi voiced his hesitation, saying he was a sinner, the Messenger of God recited the verse “And whoever repents and does righteous deeds, he indeed turns to God with true repentance” (al-Furqan 25/71). When Wahshi asked whether God would forgive his sin, the Messenger of God answered with the verse “God does not forgive that partners be associated with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills” (al-Nisa 4/116). When Wahshi said that he did not know whether God would will to forgive him, the Prophet recited “Say: O My servants who have transgressed against themselves, do not despair of the mercy of God; indeed God forgives all sins. Indeed He is the Forgiving, the Merciful” (al-Zumar 39/53), and Wahshi thereupon entered Islam. The Messenger of God, who asked him at this time to relate how he had killed his uncle, was deeply grieved as he listened; nevertheless he did not punish Wahshi, but only asked him to keep out of his sight, since he did not wish to be reminded of his uncle's killing. After this meeting he left Medina. In the year 12 (633) he took part in the Battle of Yamama under Khalid ibn al-Walid and killed with his spear Musaylima the Liar, who had claimed prophethood. It is reported that Wahshi, overjoyed at this, said: “By killing Hamza I shed the blood of the best of men, and by killing Musaylima I did away with the worst of men.” He then took part with Khalid ibn al-Walid in the Battle of Yarmuk and was present at the conquest of Damascus. He lived for a time in Damascus, took part in the conquest of Homs and settled there. It is reported that in Umar's time the prescribed punishment was applied to him for drinking wine, and that when he persisted he was struck from the register. He lived in Homs until his death; almost all the sources record that he died in the time of Uthman (644-656). His Circle of Influence — One hadith of his appears in each of the works of al-Bukhari and Ahmad ibn Hanbal; Ubayd Allah ibn Adi, Ja'far ibn Amr al-Damri and his son Harb transmitted from him. Ibn Sa'd (d. 230/845) states that Wahshi was the first to wear burnished garments in Homs and that his line continued down to Ibn Sa'd's own time.
A Successor (tabi'i) known for his reports concerning the Children of Israel; raised as the son of a Jewish scholar, after his conversion he was remembered among the Companions and Successors for his wide knowledge of the culture of the People of the Book — a scholar from Yemen. His full name is Abu Ishaq Ka'b b. Mati' b. Haynu' al-Himyari al-Yamani . He was born around the year 550 CE. He belonged to the Dhu Ru'ayn (Dhu al-Kala') lineage living in Yemen; his grandfather's name is also given as Haysu' or Amr. He came to be called Ka'b al-Ahbar because of his wide learning ( hibr/habr , plural ahbar ); according to a less common report the name comes from his writing with ink ( hibr ), and he is also called Ka'b al-Hibr . According to a report transmitted by Ibn Sa'd, his father, a Jewish scholar, wrote out part of the Torah, gave it to him and advised him to be content with it, then locked his other books in a cupboard and made his son promise not to read them. There are differing reports as to when he embraced Islam (see Multiple Perspectives). According to the same report of Ibn Sa'd, when Islam had spread everywhere he read the books his father had hidden, and on seeing in them the attributes of the Messenger of God and his community he became a Muslim, and al-Abbas took him under his protection. The source notes that some strange stories were also fabricated about his conversion. He transmitted hadith from Companions such as Umar and Suhayb al-Rumi, and also reported from the Prophet in mursal form. It is related that at first he told stories ( qasas ), gave this up on hearing the hadith forbidding storytelling to those not appointed by the head of state, and resumed it when Mu'awiya gave him permission. It is reported that Umar took interest in what he related, asked him for counsel and followed his advice. He settled in Hims and took part in the wars against the Byzantines. According to the report the source adopts, he died in Hims in the year 32 (652-53), having passed 100 years of age; the other reports on the date and place are given under Multiple Perspectives. His Circle of Influence — Among the Companions, Umar, Abd Allah b. Umar, Abd Allah b. Abbas, Abd Allah b. al-Zubayr, Abu Hurayra and Mu'awiya b. Abi Sufyan benefited from him; Successors such as Umar's two freedmen Aslam and Abu Rafi' al-Sa'igh, Malik b. Amir, Sa'id b. al-Musayyab, Ata' b. Yasar, and his stepsons Tubay' al-Himyari and Nawf b. Fadala also transmitted from him. His reports appear in Malik's al-Muwatta' and in the Sunan of al-Darimi, Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi and al-Nasa'i. According to the source, part of the information in many works of later periods rests on reports transmitted from Ka'b: the historical material in Ibn al-Jawzi's Fada'il al-Quds and Diya' al-Din al-Maqdisi's Fada'il Bayt al-Maqdis , the reports on the prophets in al-Kisa'i's Qisas al-anbiya' and al-Tha'labi's Ara'is al-majalis , the history of Mecca in al-Azraqi's Akhbar Makka , the accounts of the creation and of the prophets in Ibn al-Athir's al-Kamil , as well as part of the material in the works of al-Mutahhar b. Tahir al-Maqdisi and Ibn Khaldun. Modern studies have also been devoted to him: Israel Wolfensohn wrote a doctoral thesis on his place in hadith and in Islamic legendary literature (Frankfurt 1933), Muhammad Ali Abu Hamda compiled the views about him (Amman 1411/1991), and Moshe Perlmann published two narrative texts about his conversion (1953, 1954). His Poetry and Sufi Line — Ka'b was not a poet; this section gives his line as a transmitter. As the source relates, al-Dhahabi says that because he possessed an unaltered copy of the Torah he knew well the books of the Jews and the sound and fabricated reports in them. Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani likewise quotes extensively from this copy inherited from his father, said to be unaltered, especially on the necessity of believing in the final prophet and the merit of his community. Reports have also been transmitted that Ka'b destroyed this copy some time before his death, and that the Companions, seeing that some of his interpretations of Qur'anic verses based on it agreed with the hadith, approved of him. The reports of the Isra'iliyyat type that he transmitted lie at the centre of the debate over his reliability (see Multiple Perspectives). His Works — The source records no work written by Ka'b himself; it speaks of texts attributed to him. Brockelmann mentions a Hadith Dhi al-Kifl fabricated in the name of Ka'b al-Ahbar (Bulaq 1283), and al-Zirikli a two-volume work entitled Sirat al-Iskandar . The work called Kitab Ka'b al-Ahbar is seen to consist of reports attributed to him (Süleymaniye Library, Hacı Mahmud Efendi, no. 4923). His Tomb and Complex — Ka'b's own article says nothing of a tomb structure. The article HUMUS lists the Maqam of Ka'b al-Ahbar among the other tombs worth mentioning in the city after the tomb attributed to Khalid b. al-Walid; it gives no further information on the building.
The famous commander among the Companions, to whom the Prophet gave the title Sayf Allah ("the Sword of God"). His full name was Abu Sulayman Khalid ibn al-Walid ibn al-Mughira al-Makhzumi al-Qurashi ; he is also known as Faris al-Islam . He was born in Mecca some 35-39 years before the Hijra (583-587). His lineage joins that of the Prophet at his seventh-generation ancestor Murra. His father al-Walid ibn al-Mughira was a distinguished man among Quraysh; his mother Lubaba al-Sughra Asma bint al-Harith was a paternal half-sister of Maymuna bint al-Harith, one of the Prophet's wives. The Banu Makhzum, to whom he belonged, held the command of the Qurayshi cavalry. Following custom he spent his early childhood with a family in the desert; back in Mecca he learned riding, the use of arms, and the leading of cavalry units. He travelled with trade caravans to Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Yemen; it is known that he could read and write and that after becoming Muslim he was among the Prophet's scribes. Before Islam he commanded the cavalry of the Qurayshi army. At Uhud (625), seeing some Muslims leave the hill of Aynayn, he attacked the Muslim army from the rear and changed the outcome of the battle; at the Trench (627) too he led the Qurayshi horse. In the year of Hudaybiya (628), commanding a cavalry unit of 200, he saw the Prophet lead the prayer of fear and is reported to have said, "This man is protected." On reading the letter of his brother al-Walid, who told him that the Messenger of God had asked after him, he resolved to embrace Islam; with Uthman ibn Talha and Amr ibn al-As he went to Medina on 1 Safar 8 (31 May 629) and pronounced the testimony of faith in the Prophet's Mosque. The Prophet prayed for him and gave him a house near the Mosque. His first battle as a Muslim was Mu'ta (September 629), where he saved the Muslim army from annihilation by the Byzantine army; on his return to Medina the Prophet gave him the title Sayf Allah . At the conquest of Mecca (11 January 630) he commanded the right wing and broke the only resistance offered during the conquest, and then destroyed the idol al-Uzza in the valley of Nakhla. He was wounded at Hunayn, was sent to Dumat al-Jandal during the Tabuk expedition (630), went in July 631 with 400 men to Najran to invite the Banu al-Harith ibn Ka'b to Islam, and took part in the Farewell Pilgrimage the same year. Under Abu Bakr he stood with the caliph against the apostasy movements. After Dhu al-Qassa he was made commander-in-chief of an army of 4000; on 19 September 632 he marched against Tulayha, a claimant to prophethood, and prevailed at Buzakha. He then went to al-Butah to fight the Banu Tamim, who refused to pay zakat, and from there to Yamama, where he defeated the forces of Musaylima the Liar at the battle of Aqraba, which ended early in 633. Abu Bakr then sent him to Iraq to aid al-Muthanna ibn Haritha al-Shaybani, who was fighting the Sasanians; thus the first step of the age of conquests was taken. His core force of 2000 reached 5000 with al-Muthanna's troops. He conquered al-Ubulla, made a treaty with the people of Ullays on 3 Rajab 12 (13 September 633), and took al-Hira, al-Anbar and Ayn al-Tamr, bringing the lands from the Gulf to Ayn al-Tamr into the Islamic state. On the caliph's order he turned to Syria; with a cavalry unit of 700-800 he crossed the desert between Quraqir and Suwa in five days and defeated the Ghassanids at Marj Rahit (23 April 634). At Bosra he joined Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, Shurahbil ibn Hasana and Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan and became commander-in-chief of the united army. At Ajnadayn (30 July 634) he won a great victory over a Byzantine army of 80.000; he prevailed again at Fihl (23 January 635), conquered Damascus in September 635, and won the battle of Yarmuk (20 August 636). Meanwhile the new caliph Umar removed him from the supreme command and appointed Abu Ubayda in his place; thereafter Khalid took part, under Abu Ubayda's orders and as commander of the vanguard, in the conquest of Homs, Hama, Shayzar and Qinnasrin. After Abu Ubayda's death he served under no one else, and died in the year 21 (642) at Homs , where he had spent the rest of his life. His grave is there. Very little is known of his wives and children; he is reported to have had some forty children, nearly all of whom died in the plague in Syria, the best known being Abd al-Rahman, governor of Homs. He transmitted eighteen hadiths from the Prophet; among those who narrated from him are Abd Allah ibn Qays, Qays ibn Abi Hazim and al-Miqdad ibn Ma'dikarib. Three swords attributed to him, named mirsab, edlak and qurtubi , are preserved in the Topkapı Palace Museum.
A Sufi of Turkish origin known for his treatise on divine unity; the shaykh of Damascus remembered as the protector of Damascus for his struggle against the Crusaders. His full name is Shaykh Arslan b. Ya'qub b. Abd Allah b. Abd al-Rahman al-Ja'bari al-Dimashqi al-Turkmani ; in Arabic sources his name also appears as Arslan, Raslan and Ruslan. He was born in the fortress of Ja'bar . His name and the epithet al-Turkmani show that he was of Turkmen origin. His family belonged to the Turkmen warriors settled in the region of Damascus after its conquest by the Seljuk sultan Malikshah in 479 (1086). His childhood and youth were spent in the fortress of Ja'bar. Later he migrated to Damascus with other Turkmens and began to earn his living as a carpenter. The continuing Crusades did not allow him a regular education. Because he waged material and spiritual struggle against the Crusader occupation of Damascus he became known as "the protector of Damascus" . Taking an incident the source relates (see Wonders) as a spiritual sign, he devoted himself wholly to attaining perfection on the Sufi path. His master on this path was a Sufi named Abu Amir al-Mu'addib . Through his sincerity and seriousness he became Abu Amir's foremost disciple, and after his death he took his seat of guidance. The source states, on the basis of the report concerning Khidr (see Wonders), that it is possible to say he received his spiritual training not only from his shaykh but also from Khidr, and that he was an Uwaysi . He began to devote himself to worship in a corner of the nearby mosque known as Darb al-Hajar. It appears that he was a friend of Shaykh Abu al-Bayan , one of the important Sufis of the age, who worshipped in the same mosque. He died between 550 (1155) and 560 (1165) and was buried beside his shaykh in the tomb he had built for Abu Amir. His Circle of Influence — Although he did not win the fame of his contemporaries Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani and Ahmad al-Rifa'i, he made important contributions to the Sufi culture of his time. According to the source, all the sources agree that he was one of the great shaykhs of Damascus, a man of spiritual authority. Ibn Tulun says that there was an order called the Raslaniyya named after him, that he himself joined it, and that he received the Raslaniyya cloak from Abu al-Fath Muhammad b. Muhammad al-Iskandari (see Multiple Perspectives). His Poetry and Sufi Line — He is not known as a poet; his line is carried by his treatise. According to the source, the treatise's central themes are hidden associationism ( shirk khafi ) and annihilation ( fana ): for Shaykh Arslan the chief goal of the path is for a person to be freed from hidden associationism; the wayfarer must not only extinguish his selfish desires and fancies but also be freed from the illusion of having an existence of his own. The source regards the treatise as important as a text grounded in the unity of being from the period before Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-Arabi. From his words expressing his understanding of the path — "Our path consists of love, not of works; it is annihilation, not subsistence" — it is understood that he adopted the Shuttar way, which gives priority to love and rapture, and the path of blame ( malama ). His Works — Risalat al-tawhid : a short treatise; its brief yet powerful expression and its masterly use of Arabic despite the author's Turkish origin are among the main reasons for its fame. It deals with hidden associationism, faith and certainty, law and reality, the believer, the gnostic, the stations, knowledge, action, annihilation, the degrees of sincerity, love, affliction, blessing, the servant, the path, gnosis, the common people, the elect and the elect of the elect. There are many manuscript copies and commentaries in the libraries of Istanbul. Its most important commentary is Zakariyya al-Ansari's Fath al-rahman bi-sharh Risalat al-Wali Arslan (Cairo 1317), which has been translated into English together with the commentary of Ulwan al-Hamawi. The Syrian researcher Izzat Husriyya published four commentaries in a single volume — Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi's Khamrat al-han , al-Ansari's Fath al-rahman , Ali b. Sadaqa's Nihayat al-bayan and Ulwan al-Hamawi's Sharh al-Raslaniyya (Damascus 1389/1969). Abu al-Safa Ibrahim al-Iraqi's Lamh al-burhan al-farid is another important commentary, while that of Ahmad b. Allan al-Makki al-Naqshbandi is a short one. The text of the treatise was printed with al-Nabulusi's commentary (Istanbul 1321). His Tomb and Complex — Shaykh Arslan was buried beside his shaykh Abu Amir in the tomb he had built for him. According to the source the tomb still stands today and is visited.
