About God

  The main notoriety I have achieved in this life is based upon my writing.  I have written six books (Pan-African Chronology [three volumes], The Muslim Diaspora [two volumes], and The Creation [one volume]) which achieved some notoriety and I have begun two blogs Who's Who in Islam and The Muslim Compendium which have garnered additional notoriety.  However, whatever notoriety I have achieved for my writing has always seemed a bit undeserved.  Truth be told, I write not for notoriety, but for God.  In the coming days, I hope to be able to elaborate on why I do this.  However, suffice it to say that every book I write and every blog I begin, begins with a tribute to God.  I can only pray that God will continue to find what I write to be an expression of God's will.

As Salaam Alaikum,

Everett Jenkins

Fairfield, California

December 2, 2021 

About the Author

Over the past 68 years, I have achieved some notable accomplishments.  Below are the links to some of the biographical listings that set forth those accomplishments. 

https://prabook.com/web/everett.jenkins/1666664

https://marquistoplawyers.com/2018/05/25/everett-jenkins-jr/

https://wwlifetimeachievement.com/2018/01/23/everett-jenkins/

https://www.amherst.edu/alumni/connect/networks/black_alumni/black-alumni-week-2021/speaker-biographies

https://www.amherst.edu/alumni/connect/networks/black_alumni/archive/BAW_2019/speaker-biographies/node/738351

I feel very blessed to have been able to do as much as I have, but I feel that I have been "called" to do even more.  The creation of this blog is my response to that "calling".  I look forward to seeing what your response to that "calling" will be.

As Salaam Alaikum,

Everett Jenkins

Fairfield, California 

December 2, 2021 

Introduction

                                                   To God, in gratitude for those who came before

*****

*****

 

Introduction

I am not a Muslim.  I am simply a man in search of truth -- the truth about myself, my people, my country, my world and God.  In my search for truth, I have had to travel through many lands and to learn about many people.  The following are some of the people I have learned about along the way.

As Salaam Alaikum

Everett Jenkins

Fairfield, California

December 3, 2021

 

*****

Notes on the Use of The 100 Greatest Muslims

 Notes on the use of The 100 Greatest Muslims

For this on-line work, entries are listed alphabetically ignoring spaces, commas, hyphens and apostrophes. Listings which contain identical names are listed in chronological order unless the name is the beginning of a series of individuals from the same country. In that case, the names are grouped in chronological order within the context of the individual country.

In order to facilitate ease of reference, names used are those by which the person is commonly known to the Muslim world. Arabic names that begin with prefixes such as the "al" in "al-'Abbas" are listed under the root portion of the name. Thus, the listing for "al-'Abbas" will be found under "'Abbas."

Additionally, the following abbreviations are used in this text: b. = born; d. = died; c. = circa (or about); r. = period of reign; and ? = uncertain.

Finally, this compilation of The 100 Greatest Muslims is intended to be a continual work in progress. Undoubtedly, there will be errors that will be made in the course of creating this work. That is where you, the reader, can render me a great service. If you discover any errors that require that be made, please let me know and I will endeavor to make the appropriate corrections.

Thank you.

                                                                                Everett Jenkins

                                                                                Fairfield, California

                                                                                December 3, 2021

Arabic Names

 This compilation of The 100 Greatest Muslims  is ultimately a compendium of Arabic names. Generally, Arabic names consist of five components:

(1) ism derived from Islamic or pre-Islamic tradition (e.g., Ibrahim, Dawud, 'Abd Allah [ "servant of God"], Asad [ "lion"]);

(2) kunya, a surname, denoting the father of the oldest son (e.g., Abu Ja'far ["father of Ja'far"]; or an attribute (e.g., Abu al-Atahiya ["father of folly"];

(3) nasab,the father's/mother's name (e.g., Ibn Rushd ["son of Rushd"];

(4) nisba, the place of origin, or residence (e.g., al-Qurashi ["from the tribe of Quraysh"]; and

(5) laqab, one or more surnames (e.g., al-Atrash ["the deaf one"], al-Jahiz [ "the goggle-eyed"].

A typical Arab name would follow the formula: laqab -kunya - ism - nasab - nisba - laqab. For example, the name 'Izz al-Din Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Sayf al-Din Abi al-Mansur Muhammad ibn 'Izz al-Din Abi al-Qasim Thabit ibn Muhammad ibn Husayn ibn Hasan ibn Rizq Allah al-Qurashi al-Tahhan consists of the following components:

'Izz al-Din {laqab}

Abu Ja'far {kunya}

Muhammad {ism}

ibn Sayf al-Din {father's laqab}

Abi al-Mansur {father's kunya}

Muhammad {father's ism}

ibn 'Izz al-Din {father's laqab}

Abi al-Qasim {grandfather's kunya}

Thabit {grandfather's ism}

ibn Muhammad {great-grandfather}

ibn Husayn {great-great-grandfather}

ibn Hasan {great-great-great-grandfather}

ibn Rizq Allah {great-great-great-great-grandfather}

al-Qurashi {nisba}

al-Tahhan {laqab ["the miller"])

A070 - Al-Tusi

 Tusi, Nasir al-Din Abu Ja‘far al-

Tusi, Nasir al-Din Abu Ja‘far al- (Nasir al-Din Abu Ja‘far al-Tusi) (Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan Nasir al-Din al-Tusi)  (Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan Ṭūsī) (b. February 18, 1201, Ṭūs, Khorasan – d. June 26, 1274, al-Kāżimiyyah, Baghdad).  Astronomer and Shi‘a politician.  In 1256, he lured the Assassin leader Rukn al-Din Khurshah into the hands of the Il-Khan Hulegu, accompanied the latter to Baghdad and founded the observatory of Maragha.  He had a strong sympathy with the Twelver Shi‘a, to whom a certain degree of mercy was shown during the Mongol holocaust and whose sanctuaries were spared.  He wrote on dogmatics, logic and philosophy, law and belles-lettres, and above all on the sciences, in particular on astronomy.

Al-Tusi was one of the greatest scientists, mathematicians, astronomers, philosophers, theologians and physicians of his time.  He was a prolific writer.  He wrote many treatises on such varied subjects as algebra, arithmetic, trigonometry, geometry, logic, metaphysics, medicine, ethics, and theology. 

Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan Nasir al-Din al-Tusi was born in Tus, Khurasan (present day Iran) in 1201.  He studied sciences and philosophy under the tutelage of Kamal al-Din ibn Yunus.  Al-Tusi was kidnapped by the Isma‘ili Hasan ibn Sabah’s agents and sent to Alamut where he remained until its capture by the Mongol Hulegu Khan in 1256.

Impressed by al-Tusi’s exceptional abilities and astrological competency, Il-Khanid Hulegu Khan appointed him as one of his ministers.  Later, he served as an administrator of Auqaf.  In 1262, he built an observatory at Meragha and directed its activity.  It was equipped with the best instruments from Baghdad and other Islamic centers of learning.  It contained a twelve foot wall quadrant made from copper and an azimuth quadrant and turquet invented by al-Tusi.  Other instruments included astrolabes, representations of constellation, epicycles and shapes of spheres.  Al-Tusi designed several other instruments for the observatory.

Al-Tusi produced a very accurate table of planetary movements and a star catalogue, and he published it under the title al-Zij Ilkhani which was dedicated to the Ilkhan, Hulegu Khan.  The tables were developed from observations over a twelve year period and were primarily based on original observations.  Al-Tusi calculated the value of 51 feet for the precession of equinoxes.  Al-Tusi was among the first of several Muslim astronomers who pointed out several serious shortcomings in Ptolemy’s models based on mechanical principles and modified it.  His critique on the Ptolemy’s theories convinced future astronomers of the need to develop an alternative model ending in Copernicus’ famous work.  The al-Zij Ilkhani was the most popular book among astronomers until fifteenth century.  His memoir on astronomy entitled Tadhkira fi Ilm al-Hayy, includes his ingenious device for generating rectilinear motion along the diameter of the outer circle from two circular motions.  At the end of his long outstanding career, he moved to Baghdad and died within a year in 1274 in Kadhimain (near Baghdad, in present day Iraq).

Al-Tusi pioneered spherical trigonometry which includes six fundamental formulas for the solution of spherical right angled triangles.  One of his most important mathematical contributions was the treatment of trigonometry as a new mathematical discipline.  He wrote on binomial coefficients which Pascal later introduced.

Al-Tusi revived the philosophy of Ibn Sina.  His book Akhlaq-i-Nasri (Nasirean Ethics) was regarded as the most important book on ethics and was popular for centuries.  Al-Tusi’s Tajrid-al-‘Aqaid was an excellent work on Islamic scholastic philosophy.  He also composed a few verses of poetry.

Al-Tusi was a prolific writer.  He wrote his works in Arabic and Persian.  Sixty-four treatises are known to have survived.  Al-Tusi’s works were translated into Latin and other European languages in the Middle Ages.  Al-Tusi’s book Shaq al-Qatta was translated into Latin by the title Figura Cata.  Among al-Tusi’s well-known students are Nizam al-Araj, who wrote a commentary on the Almagest, and Qutb ad-Din ash-Shirazi, who gave the first satisfactory mathematical explanation of the rainbow.


Nasir al-Din Abu Ja'far al-Tusi see Tusi, Nasir al-Din Abu Ja‘far al-
Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan Nasir al-Din al-Tusi see Tusi, Nasir al-Din Abu Ja‘far al-
Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan Ṭūsī see Tusi, Nasir al-Din Abu Ja‘far al-

A069 - Ibn Hazm

 

Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm (sometimes with al-Andalusī aẓ-Ẓāhirī as well) (November 7, 994 – August 15, 1064) was an Andalusian-Arab philosopher, litterateur, psychologist, historian, jurist and theologian born in Córdoba, present-day Spain. He was a leading proponent of the Zahiri school of Islamic thought and produced a reported 400 works of which only 40 still survive, covering a range of topics such as Islamic jurisprudence, logic, history, ethics, comparative religion, and theology, as well as The Ring of the Dove, on the art of love.

Ibn Hazm was born into a notable family. His grandfather Sa'id and his father Ahmad both held high positions in the court of the Umayyad Caliph Hisham II and were said to be of Persian descent. Other scholars, however, believe that Iberian converts adopted such genealogies to better identify with the Arabs. Some contend that there is evidence for a Christian Iberian family background of Ibn Hazm going back to Manta Lisham (near Sevilla).

Ibn Hazm served as a minister in the Umayyad government, under the Caliphs of Córdoba, and was known to have worked under Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir, Hajib (Grand Vizier) to the last of the Ummayad caliphs, Hisham III. After the death of the grand vizier al-Muzaffar in 1008, however, the Caliphate of Cordoba became embroiled in a civil war that lasted until 1031 resulting in its collapse and the emergence of many smaller states called Taifas. Ibn Hazm's father died in 1012 and Ibn Hazm continued to support the Umayyads, for which he was frequently imprisoned. By 1031, Ibn Hazm retreated to his family estate at Manta Lisham and began to express his activist convictions in the literary form.

According to a saying of the period, "the tongue of Ibn Hazm was a twin brother to the sword of al-Hajjaj" (a famous 7th century general and governor of Iraq) and he became so frequently quoted that the phrase “Ibn Hazm said” became proverbial.

He opposed the allegorical interpretation of religious texts, preferring instead a grammatical and syntactical interpretation of the Qur'an. He granted cognitive legitimacy only to revelation and sensation and considered deductive reasoning insufficient in legal and religious matters. He did much to revitalize the Zahiri madhhab, which denied the legitimacy of legal rulings based upon qiyas (analogy) and focused upon the literal meanings of legal injunctions in the Qur'an and hadith. Many of his rulings differed from those of his Zahiri predecessors, and consequently Ibn Hazm's followers are sometimes described as comprising a distinct madhhab.

A list of the works by Ibn Hazm include the following:

    * Al Kitab al-Muhallā bi'l Athār (The Book Ornamented with traditions), the only existing book of his legal rulings
    * Ihkam Al Ahkam fi Usul al Ahkam, usul al fiqh.
    * Mukhtasar al-Muhalla li Ibn Hazm, an abridgment of Ibn Hazm's fiqh manual.
    * Ṭawq al-Ḥamāmah (The Dove's Necklace or The Ring of the Dove)

In classical Arabic literary tradition, the dove represented love, or romance, while the ring refers to a necklace. In essence, it is the "necklace of love". The book is meant to adorn one's love. It is inspired by 'ishq (defined by Hakim Bey as "crazed, hopeless passion"), and treats equally of desire both for males and females, but cautions the reader against breaking religious injunctions and praises remaining chaste.

Ibn Hazm also wrote more than ten books on medicine.

Among his translated works are:

    * Al-Akhlaq wa al-Siyar fi Mudawat al-Nufus (Morals and Right Conduct in the Healing of Souls") [9]
    * Maratib al-`Ulum ("The Categories of the Sciences")
    * Al-Mujalla
    * Al-Fisal fi al-Milal wa al-Ahwa' wa al-Nihal ("The Separator Concerning Religions, Heresies, and Sects"). [10]

Ibn Hazm, Abu Muhammad ‘Ali
Ibn Hazm, Abu Muhammad ‘Ali (Abu Muhammad ‘Ali ibn Hazm) (Ibn Hazm al-Andalusi) (Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm) (November 7, 994 – August 15, 1064). Andalusian poet, historian, jurist, philosopher and theologian.  Born at Cordoba, he was one of the greatest thinkers of Arab-Muslim civilization and one of greatest figures of eleventh century Hispano-Arab literature.  He made scholarly contributions as a psychologist and moralist, as a theoretician of language, as a jurist -- he is the most outstanding representative of the Zahiri school -- and as a historian of religious ideas.

Ibn Hazm was a grandson of a Spanish convert to Islam.  He was chief minister at Cordoba, but was forced to withdraw from public life by the odium that his bitter attacks on his theological opponents aroused.

Ibn Hazm was perhaps the greatest figure in eleventh century Hispano-Arab prose literature.  He began as a poet, but he is now best known for his book on chivalrous love, Tauq al-Hamama (“The Ring of the Dove” or “The Necklace of the Dove”) [Tawq al-hamamah – “The Ring of the Turtle Dove”].  Tauq al-Hamama is a vivid picture of life in Muslim Spain, describing some of the more intimate experiences of Ibn Hazm himself.

Ibn Hazm belonged to the Zahiri school of Islam.  This was a strict sect which interpreted the Qur‘an literally, and which recognized no precedent except that based either on the Qur‘an or on the well-attested customs of the Prophet.  Ibn Hazm did, however, write an important book on comparative religion, The Book of Religious and Philosophical Sects, in which he examined and refuted the claims made by the various non-Muslim faiths.  In The Book of Religious and Philosophical Sects, Ibn Hazm dealt at length with inconsistencies in the Old and New Testaments.  Ibn Hazm attacked many of the most revered authorities of Islam which led to his books being publicly burned in Seville.

Ibn Hazm was renowned for his analysis of language, logical precision, psychological and moral insight, and social cynicism.  He made distinctive contributions as a poet, historian of religions, philosopher, theologian, and jurist.  The school of law which he espoused, the Zahiri, was a minority tradition in Andalusia, where Malikite jurists prevailed.  To bolster the legitimacy of the Zahiri viewpoint, Ibn Hazm tried to redefine fiqh only on the basis of the Qur‘an and hadith (prophetic traditions), rejecting the enormous spate of legal decisions derived from consensus -- ijma -- and individual interpretation -- ijtihad.

Ibn Hazm’s Kitab al-fisal wa‘l-nihal is a brilliant, painstakingly accurate summation of different viewpoints, though the ideas of some opponents are occasionally dismissed with a disdain bordering on mockery and ridicule. 

Ibn Hazm sparked both admiration and condemnation after his death.  Among his admirers was the noted Sufi theorist, Ibn ‘Arabi.

A list of works by Ibn Hazm includes:

    * Al Kitab al-Muhallā bi'l Athār (The Book Ornamented with traditions), the only existing book of his legal rulings
    * Ihkam Al Ahkam fi Usul al Ahkam, usul al fiqh.
    * Mukhtasar al-Muhalla li Ibn Hazm, an abridgment of Ibn Hazm's fiqh manual
    * Ṭawq al-Ḥamāmah (The Dove's Necklace or The Ring of the Dove)

In classical Arabic literary tradition, the dove represented love, or romance, while the ring refers to a necklace. In essence, it is the "necklace of love". The book is meant to adorn one's love. It is inspired by 'ishq (defined by Hakim Bey as "crazed, hopeless passion"), and treats equally of desire both for males and females, but cautions the reader against breaking religious injunctions and praises remaining chaste.

Ibn Hazm also wrote more than ten books on medicine.

Among his translated works are:

    * Al-Akhlaq wa al-Siyar fi Mudawat al-Nufus (Morals and Right Conduct in the Healing of Souls")
    * Maratib al-`Ulum ("The Categories of the Sciences")
    * Al-Mujalla
    * Al-Fisal fi al-Milal wa al-Ahwa' wa al-Nihal ("The Separator Concerning Religions, Heresies, and Sects").



Abu Muhammad 'Ali ibn Hazm see Ibn Hazm, Abu Muhammad ‘Ali
Ibn Hazm al-Andalusi see Ibn Hazm, Abu Muhammad ‘Ali
Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm see Ibn Hazm, Abu Muhammad ‘Ali

A068 - Khwaja Baha' al-Din Naqshband

Khwaja Baha' al-Din Naqshband

Khwaja Baha' al-Din Naqshband (Hazrat Khwaja Baha-ud-Din Naqshband) (Hazrat Khwaja Baha-ud-Din bin Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Muhammad Naqshband)  (b. 1318 CC [718 AH], Bukhara, Chagatai Khanate - d. 1389 CC [791 AH], Bukhara, Timurid Empire) was a 14th century Central Asian Sufi saint after whom the Naqshbandi order takes its name. The name Naqshband is sometimes understood in connection with the craft of embroidering, and Hazrat Baha' al-Din is said to have in fact assisted his father in weaving cloaks (kimkha) in Bukhara. More commonly, however, it is taken to refer to the fixing of the divine name of God to the heart by means of dhikr.

To the people of Bukhara, whose patron saint he became, Baha' al-Din was known posthumoulsy as khwadja-yi bala-gardan ("the averter of disaster"), referring to protective powers bestowed on him during his training period. Elsewhere, especially in Turkey, he is popularly called Shahi Naqshband.

In his youth, Baha' al-Din experienced visionary revelations and before the age of 20 was recognized as a brilliant Islamic scholar. He is said to have received training through the spirit (ruhaniyat) of earlier masters of the lineage including Hazrat Abdul Khaliq al-Ghujadawani, the well known khalifa of Hazrat Yusuf al-Hamadani and by Hazrat Khidr (alaihis salam).

Khwaja Baha' al-Din Naqshband was born in 718  AH (1318 CC) at Qasr-i-Arifan, a village in Bukhara, in the Chagatai Khanate. Later on he shifted to Revertun village of Bukhara and spent his life there. 

Little is known about his details except some brief hints. Khwaja Baha' al-Din had great regard for the saints of the time. Just three days after his birth, Hazrat Baha' al-Din was taken by his father, Muhammad, to Khwaja Muhammad Babai Sammasi to receive his blessings.  Khwaja Muhammad Babai Sammasi had come to Qasr-i-Arifan along with a group of his followers. Khwaja Muhammad Babai Sammasi adopted Baha' al-Din as his son and foretold his followers that ‘this son shall be the leader of the time.’ 

Baha' al-Din was married at the age of 18 and in those early days he was blessed with remaining in the service of Khwaja Babai Muhammad Sammasi. On the passing of Khwaja Babai Muhammad Sammasi in 755 AH, Baha' al-Din's father took him to Samarkand. In Samarkand, Baha' al-Din obtained blessings from the dervishes. 

On reaching maturity, Baha' al-Din entered into the service of Hazrat Amir Kalal, the successor of Babai Sammasi, who trained him in ‘zikr’ -- a form of Islamic meditation in which phrases or prayers are repeatedly chanted in order to remember God. 

Baha' al-Din became immersed in prayers and ‘mujahada’ -- the spiritual struggle against his own baser impulses. Hazrat Sayid Amir Kalal left no stone unturned in the education of Baha' al-Din utlizing training and instructions as dictated by his predecessor Murshid Khwaja Muhammad Sammasi. 

On completion of his course, Baha' al-Din decided to leave.  On account of Baha' al-Din's evident God-given capabilities, Hazrat Sayid Amir Kalal allowed him to leave to try to attain higher spiritual perfection. 

Thereafter, Baha' al-Din served Moulana Arif Deg-garai for seven years and twelve years in the service of a Turkistani Murshid Khalil Aata.  Baha' al-Din also spent time with scholars where he learned the knowledge of hadith and became acquainted with the biographies of the sahaba -- the Companions of the Prophet.  

Baha' al-Din performed the Hajj twice.  In one of these travels, the king of Herat, Muiz-ud-Din Husain bin Gayas-ud-Din gave Baha' al-Din a grand reception where he invited the scholars of Herat to inquire of Baha' al-Din concerning issues about tariqat -- the regimen of mystical teaching and spiritual practices with the aim of seeking haqiqa -- the ultimate truth. Baha' al-Din also imparted irfan -- knowledge, awareness and wisdom.

In the second Hajj, Baha' al-Din went to see the famous saint, Hazrat Zain-ud-Din Abu Bakr Taib-Abadi and remained in his company for three days. Hazrat Zain-ud-Din passed away in 791 AH. 

Little is known about the family background of Hazrat Khwaja Naqshband, though much has been written on Naqshbandi order. It is known that Hazrat Khwaja Baha' al-Din Muhammad Naqshband left this temporal world on a Monday night of third Rabi-al-Awal, 791 AH (1389 CC). His age was 73 years. He lies buried in his home town Bukhara. This village is now known as Baha-ud-Din. 

The character of Hazrat Khwaja Baha' al-Din Naqshband is revealed by the way he lived.  Baha' al-Din gave up the world.  He had no relationships and adopted a lonely life of abstinence.  His pious breaths were devoted to the grace of the dervish and he would tell, with great love, that whatever he had found was found by him with it's original attributes.

In his simple abode, there would be dust in his house in the winter, which would be falling from the mosque. In the summer there would be an old mat. Baha' al-Din would always be careful in self-introspection and would be cautious about his diet. He would often relate Hadith about a pious (halal) diet. 

Baha' al-Din was full of the desire for sacrifice and servitude. Whatever gift was brought to him, he would return a similar or better gift, in keeping with the practice of the Prophet. He would entertain his guest with befitting diet and would see that there was no laxity in making him at ease. He would provide his own clothes/coverings to cover the guest in his sleep to make him comfortable. Hazrat Khwaja would grow his paddy/wheat himself from his fields. He would be cautious in the selection of seeds and the selection of oxen with broad horns. Scholars coming in his service would eat from his kitchen, considering it to be a blessing from him. His personality is described to be so impressive that King and Amirs of Herat would remain dumbfounded on seeing him. He would be well dressed and duly scented; social with friends and guests; attending to domestic work himself. 

Baha' al-Din would go to inquire about sick people, and would even provide advice regarding their treatment.  He would treat the wounds of animals, and would pray for the welfare of faithful. He was a guide for the etiquette  ettiquete, and would always preach for a just (hahal) diet and a clean and pious life. 

Baha' al-Din attained the fame of a Perfect friend of Allah (Wali).  Great scholars, amirs, wazirs,and even kings from far and wide would attend his gatherings to receive his blessings. He would pray for their welfare and also for the abstinence  (taqwa) of their hearts. Besides the hard prayers, he would follow in the footsteps of the Prophet in all prayers.  He would always perform ablution (Wazoo),  be punctual in prayers (Salat) and recitation of Qur'an, seek repentance (Toba-Istigfar); urge remembrance of Allah (Zikir); and observe fasting.

Baha' al-Din classified knowledge in three categories.  One is bookish knowledge, which perishes with the death of the writer and the eating of the book by moths. Many such types of knowledge have come and are lost. 

The second form of knowledge is that of science. Again this too is not reliable as a theory put forward today is disproved tomorrow. Yesterday we were told that the sun is stationary, today we are told that it is moving. Hence knowledge based on science is not reliable. 

The third form of knowledge neither needs books nor scientific verification. It is transferred from person to person and one must think that a person having this type of knowledge has reached it’s climax, when he says that he knows nothing, as this knowledge is so vast that it has no boundaries. Baha' al-Din says that being a student of this knowledge, time and distance is no bar to him, that means he could travel both through time and over distance without means and that is the lowest stage of this knowledge. The highest form of this knowledge (The Miraj) is the ascension performed by the Prophet. The purpose of knowledge should be to take you to the Source of knowledge, which is ALLAH. 

In India, the Naqshbandi order was introduced by Hazrat Khwaja Razi-ud-Din Muhammad Baqi known as Khwaja Baqi Billah. It was with his efforts lasting three to four years that a strong foundation of the order was laid in India.  

The urs of Hazrat Khwaja Baha-ud-Din Muhammad Naqshband is celebrated on the 3rd Rabi-ul-Awal every year. 

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Naqshbandiyya
Naqshbandiyya (Naqshbandiyah)) (Naqshbandi). An important and still active Sufi order, named after Khwaja Baha’ al-Din Naqshband (1318-1389) from Bukhara.  In the extent of its diffusion it has been second only to the Qadiriyya. 

In Transoxiana, it rose to supremacy in the time of its founder, and spread southward to Herat.  In northwestern Persia, however, it was relatively short-lived.  With their strong loyalty to Sunnism, the Naqshbandis became a special target of persecution for the Shi‘a Safavids.  In the nineteenth century, the Khalidi branch of the Naqshbandiyya, established by Mawlana Khalid Baghdadi (d. 1827), almost entirely supplanted all other branches and wrested supremacy from the Qadiriyya in Kurdistan.  At present, the Naqshbandiyya remain strong among the Kurds of Persia, particularly in the region of Mahabad, and in Talish.  By contrast, they are now moribund among the Turkmen.

In Turkey, the first implantation took place in the fifteenth century.  It gained the loyalty of the Ottoman Turks with its emphatically Sunni identity and insistence on sober respect for Islamic law.  The Mujaddidi branch of the order, established in India by Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi “the Renewer,” was transmitted to Turkey in the seventeenth century.  Soon afterwards, a second transmission took place through Mecca, which remained until the late nineteenth century an important center for the diffusion of the Naqshbandiyya.  In Turkey too, it was the Khalidi branch which made the Naqshbandiyya the paramount order, a position it has retained even after the official dissolution of the orders.

Naqshbandiyya was a Sufi order (tariqa) that began in Central Asia.  Its legends identify Ahmad Ata Yaswi (d. 1116) as the order’s founder, but the name derives from Khwaja Baha’ al-Din Naqshband (Bahauddin an-Naqshband) (d. 1389).  The order arrived in India at a fairly late date.  Although the Mughal emperor Babar supposedly invited its adherents to India, Shaikh Baqi Bi’llah (Khwaja Baqi Bi’llah) (1564-1603), who arrived in Delhi during Akbar’s reign, was the first influential Naqshbandi to make his home there.  During this period, the spiritual program of the Naqshbandis was not yet solidly established.  Baqi Bi’llah’s own son was attracted to the pantheistic views of the Spanish mystic philosopher Ibn Arabi. 

Baqi Bi’llah’s favorite disciple, Ahmad Sirhindi (d. 1624), however, took a much more scripturalist approach, attacking Arabi’s thought and bemoaning the influence of Shi‘ites and Hindus in the royal court, Sirhindi’s emphasis on the Qur’an, shari’a, and the personality of the Prophet as revealed in hadith literature helped to place Indian Naqshbandis at the center of the religious revival that took place in the Muslim world in the century after Sirhindi’s death.  Indian Naqshbandis living in the holy cities intiated many Indonesians and Central Asians into the order.  The hospice of Mirzah Mazhar Jan-i Janan (d. 1780) was another notable Naqshbandi center.  In contrast to the Chishtis, Naqshbandis favored private meditation (particularly intense concentration on the images of one’s master) and rejected the use of music as a spiritual aid.

In India, the Naqshbandiyya remained for two centuries the principal order, especially through the Mujaddid branch.  Its main characteristic has been its rejection of innovations and its involvement in political struggles.


Naqshbandiyah see Naqshbandiyya
Naqshbandi see Naqshbandiyya

A067 - Shahrastani

Shahrastani, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Karim al-
Shahrastani, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Karim al- (Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Karim al-Shahrastani) (Tāj al-Dīn Abū al-Fath Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Karīm ash-Shahrastānī) (1076/1086-1153).  Principal Muslim historian of religions in the Middle Ages.  In his most famous work, a treatise on religions and sects, he passes in review all the philosophic and religious systems that he was able to study and classes them according to their degree of remoteness from Muslim orthodoxy.  After the Muslim sects, the Mu‘tazila, the Shi ‘a and the Batiniyya, follow the Christians and the Jews, then the Magi and the Dualists, and finally the Sabaeans.  The author then goes back to pagan antiquity and gives articles on the prinicipal philosophers and sages of Greece, and then gives an exposition of Arab scholasticism as a derivative from Hellenism; the last part of the book is devoted to the religions of India. 

Shahrastani, the man who has been called the “principal historian of religion” in Asia during the Middle Ages, was born in Shahrastan, in the Khurasan area of Iran.  Born Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Karim ash-Sharastani, Shahrastani offered a distinctive method of viewing the cultural interaction and conceptual development of world religions and philosophies within the Mediterranean, Southwest Asian, and South Asian world.

Little is known about Shahrastani’s early years.  However, it is reported that he studied jurisprudence and theology, but his personal philosophical and religious allegiances are a matter of controversy.  In addition to his masterwork, The Book of Religious and Philosophical Communities (Kitab al-Milal wa’l-Nihal), he wrote a Dual of the Philosophers and a respected work on theology, the Culmination of Demonstration in Scholastic Theology (Nihayat al-‘Iqdam).  It is the first work, however, on which his present influence and reputation are based.

Shahrastani’s famous discussion of the scholastic theologians (mutakallimun) is based upon categorizations of schools and sub-schools with respect to their positions on a number of topical categories, including tawhid (the affirmation of divine unity) and qadar, the issue of divine predetermination versus human free will.

The affirmation of divine unity is codified in the Islamic shahada or testimony (itself encoded in the call to prayer and recited five times a day): “No God but God and Muhammad is his Messenger.”  The common meaning of such affirmation is of course that there is only one Deity.  To affirm any other deities is to be guilty of shirk (associationism), that is, the associating of other deities with the one God.  To the theological mind, as demonstrated in case studies by Shahrastani, tawhid raised further questions.  If there is only one Deity, how do the divine attributes in the Qur’an (seeing, hearing, knowing, having compassion) relate to the Deity?  Are they part of the divine essence? If so, are we to imagine a multiplicity of powers (knowing, hearing, seeing) existing from all eternity, and would that not be a subtle form of shirk, asserting the existence of multiple, eternal powers?  However, if the attributes are not part of the Deity’s essence, then does the Diety change?  Is it in a state of not-hearing at one time, and hearing at another, subject to accident and contingency? 

Shahrastani demonstrates no particular dogmatic answer, but illuminates, rather, how the debate among various schools led to more profound questions.  Shahrastani also takes up Qur’anic references to a Deity that sees, hears, creates “with two hands,” and “sits on a throne.” Some groups, such as the Mu‘tazila, considered a literal interpretation of these images to be a form “likening” (tashbih) the Deity upon human characteristics, a procedure that would entail an anthropomorphic image just as idolatrous as idols made of wood and stone.  They argued in favor of a figurative interpretation (ta’wil) that would explain how such figures of speech can refer to the one Divine Power. 

Shahrastani shows us how the theological debate generated new positions, with some scholars arguing that attributes shared by humans (seeing, hearing, and so forth) are intrinsically anthropomorphic, and therefore affirming only those, such as power, knowledge, and will, which in their view belong to the Deity alone.  Others argued that figurative interpretation is an “explaining away” of the Qur’anic text based upon the preferences of human rationalizing, and a stripping (ta‘til) from the Deity of the attributes it has affirmed for itself in its own word.

Shahrastani’s second theological category is divine predetermination (qadar).  Several passages in the Qur’an emphasize the all-powerful nature of the Deity in a way that seems to preclude human will or choice; the Deity is said to “stop up the ears” of those who have rejected the Qur’anic message, for example.  Other passages are urgent prophetic appeals to the hearer to choose the path of prophetic wisdom.  If the response of the listener has already been predetermined by an all-knowing, all-powerful Deity, what is the status of such appeals?  Is it fair or just for the Deity to then reward and punish humans on the basis of a decision made from all time by that Deity?

Shahrastani quotes Wasil, the most famous theologian of the Mu‘tazilite School of theology, who rejected divine predetermination:

It is not possible for [God] to will for [God’s] servants what is in disagreement with [God’s] command -- to control their action and then to punish them for what they did.

Later, he quotes ‘Amr as asking, “Does he predestine me to do something and then punish me for it?”  For the Mu‘tazilites, the Deity is all-wise (hakim) and therefore must act in the interests of his creatures and with justice (‘adl).  Human beings have an innate capacity for understanding justice, right and wrong, without which they could not receive prophetic revelation in the first place.  For their opponents, such statements are denial of divine power and knowledge; what the Deity does is, by nature, just -- the Deity cannot be held accountable to fallible human understandings of what is just; and what the Deity imparts by way of revelation is in fact the only knowledge of right and wrong, and the only understanding of justice available to humankind.

Ironically, and confusingly, those who rejected divine predetermination (qadar) were called by the epithet the qadariyya. Those who affirmed predetermination were called the compulsionists (jabriyya).  Those who appealed to the interpretations of the earliest companions of the prophets and rejected the theological attempt to apply formal human reason to such questions were called the traditionalists (salaf), but even this group finally accepted a form of theological discourse to defend their original anti-theological stance.

Another major group was called the attributionists (sifatiyya).  This group originally sprang from the position of the theological al-Ash‘ari, who vehemently maintained both the literalness of the attributes and the reality of divine predetermination.  However, his school, the Ash‘arites, later tried to walk a middle ground on both issues and came to be the most widely accepted theological school in Islam.  Some spoke of divine conditions (ahwal), which would be neither divine attributes eternally one with divine substance nor accidents that would prevail upon the Deity.  In the area of divine predetermination, Shahrastani suggests that they tried to walk that middle ground by speaking of the Deity as creator of all acts, and of human beings as “acquiring” the power of the act at the moment of participation in it. 

The Ash‘arite School later was considered the “orthodoxy” among some writers, and some considered Shahrastani to be of that school.  However, although he was willing to give his opinion, what makes Shahrastani’s work reflective of a great thinker is not his argument for any particular position, but rather his ability to expound positions in such a way as to bring out the centrality of key theological issues and show how the Islamic tradition shaped itself around the effort to resolve those issues.

Shahrastani’s treatment of cosmology is particularly important.  In his discussion of the pre-Socratic philosophers he outlines what we might call “neo-pre-Socratic Islamic thought,” that is, the construction of the pre-Socratics by Islamic thinkers who then formed “schools” around them.  Although much of the thought is consonant with what we know of Thales, Empedocles, and other pre-Socratics, it carries a new emphasis, with more thematic unity based upon more continued return to the question of the primal element “receptive of all forms.”  It is difficult to know, given the lack of other testimony, how much of the thematic unity is due to the Islamic schools themselves and how much is the work of Shahrastani. 

Shahrastani also brings us the critical texts of the anonymous figure known as the “Greek Master” (al-shaykh al-yunani), texts that turn out to be the most radically apophatic passages of Plotinus, passages attempting to express the inexpressible.  Shahrastani thus demonstrates that in addition to the more Aristotelian school of Islamic Plotinian thought centered around the “Theology of Aristotle,” there was a more mystically inclined school that focused on those Plotinian passages placing ultimate reality beyond the the categories of being altogether.

Perhaps Shahrastani’s most brilliant essay is that on the Sabaeans of Harran.  Harran, the ancient city near the upper Tigris, was an early Islamic center of alternative philosophies, from the Hermeticists (devoted to Agathodaemon, Asclepius, and Hermes), to those following elaborate ritual calendars.  Shahrastrani places the Harranians in a debate with the hanifs. The word hanif was used in early Islam to refer to monotheists, particularly the pre-Islamic monotheists of Arabia.  For example, Abraham was considered the archetypal hanif.

The Harranians outline a cosmos made up of concentric spheres inhabited by spirits -- by ruhaniyat --, and the goal of philosophy is either to ascend through the spheres to encounter the spirits, or to draw the spirits down into temples on Earth.  From the spirits one receives true inspiration.  The hanifs counter that the true bearers of truth are the prophets, who are, as in the mi ‘raj account of Muhammad’s ascent through the Heavens, the guardians of the various Heavens.

As Shahrastani unfolds the argument, he demonstrates a fundamental tension in classical Islamic thought between the spiritualists (those who see the goal of philosophy as having become more spiritual -- or, as in the case of Ibn Sina [Avicenna], more intellectual) and the humanists (those who see the goal as having become more human and who see the intermediaries of truth as the human prophets).  Sharastani thus helps us in understanding the symbolic significance of every detail of the cosmos of concentric spheres, the identity of the guardians of the spheres, the way in which human beings can rise through the spheres, the test by which they are tried at each sphere, and the ultimate arrival at the divine throne.  This paradigm, which is fundamental not only to medieval Islam, but to medieval Judaism and Christianity as well (and which, indeed, served as one of the meeting places and places of contest among the three traditions) has a coded system of values that, through his debate format, Shahrastani helps to make explicit. 

The analysis of theological debates about the unity of the Deity and divine predetermination, the philosophical cosmology of the pre-Socratics (as reconstructed in Islamic philosophy), the mystical dimension of Islamic Plotinian thought, and the symbolic cosmology of the heavenly spheres and their guardians are only some examples of Shahrastani’s contributions.  In these cases, and throughout his masterwork, Shahrastani uses a categorization of schools to demonstrate how central questions, dilemmas, and symbols become the matrix for the development of ever more sophisticated versions of Islamic thought.

Al-Shahrastani was an able and learned man of great personal charm. The real nature of his thought is best referred to by the term theosophy, in the older sense of "divine wisdom". However, al-Shahrastani was certainly not totally against theology or philosophy, even if he was very harsh against the theologians and the philosophers. As he explained in the Majlis, in order to remain on the right path, one must preserve a perfect equilibrium between intellect (`aql) and audition (sam`). A philosopher or a theologian must use his intellect until he reaches the rational limit. Beyond this limit, he must listen to the teaching of Prophets and Imams.

His works reflect a complex interweaving of intellectual strands, and his thought is a synthesis of this fruitful historical period. In his conception of God, Creation, Prophecy, and Imama, al-Shahrastani adopted many doctrinal elements that are reconcilable with Nizari Isma'ilism. The necessity of a Guide, belonging both to the spiritual and the physical world, is primordial in his scheme since the Imam is manifested in this physical world.


Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Karim al-Shahrastani see Shahrastani, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Karim al-
The Principal Historian of Religion see Shahrastani, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Karim al-
Tāj al-Dīn Abū al-Fath Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Karīm ash-Shahrastānī see Shahrastani, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Karim al-

A066 - Al-Hallaj

 Hallaj

Hallaj (Abu’l-Mughith al-Hallaj) (Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj) (Mansur al-Hallaj) (Mansūr-e Hallāj) (Abū al-Mughīth Husayn Mansūr al-Hallāj) (c. 858 - March 26, 922).  Arabic speaking mystic theologian of Persian origin.  A monogamist and profoundly faithful to Sunnism, he led a fervently ascetic life.  He made the pilgrimage to Mecca three times and travelled far and wide in the Islamic world.  The main aim of his preaching was to enable everyone to find God within his or her own heart, but he was accused of deception, false miracles, magic and sorcery by Mu‘tazilites, Sufis and Shi ‘is.  According to a hostile account of the grammarians of Basra, he proclaimed: “I am (God) the Truth.”  Having been imprisoned in Baghdad for nine years, he finally was executed.

Al-Hallaj was the most famous and controversial Sufi figure in medieval Islam.  Born in Fars, a cotton-carder -- an hallaj -- by trade, al-Hallaj pursued the mystical path under two spiritual masters, one of whom, Junayd, was lauded for his “sobriety.” 

Al-Hallaj, however, has been viewed as the exemplar of “intoxication,” since he once declared: “Ana’l-Haqq” (“I am Truth!”).  Since “Truth” is one of the names of God, this was considered blasphemy. 

Al-Hallaj traveled widely, performing the pilgrimage -- the hajj -- three times, and making numerous enemies as well as friends in the Muslim communities of Central and Southern Asia.

A book of poetry and one of anecdotes are among the numerous writings ascribed to al-Hallaj.  He never tired of talking about the relationship of love between man and God.  For al-Hallaj, this relationship entails endless suffering, but it also brings a strange kind of joy, known only to the devotee. 

Al-Hallaj became the first Sufi martyr -- the first shahid -- when he was executed by dismemberment, and his corpse was crucified (or hanged) and burned.  Each act of his degradation has become a topic of his subsequent exaltation among Sufi poets, including Jalal ad-Din Rumi, the founder of the “Whirling Dervishes.”
Abu’l-Mughith al-Hallaj see Hallaj
Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj see Hallaj
Mansūr-e Hallāj see Hallaj
Mansur al-Hallaj see Hallaj
Abū al-Mughīth Husayn Mansūr al-Hallāj see Hallaj

Al-Hallaj (Arabic: Abū 'l-Muġīth Al-Ḥusayn bin Manṣūr al-Ḥallāj) or Mansour Hallaj (Persian: Mansūr-e Hallāj) (b. c. 858 [244 AH] – d. March  26, 922 [309 AH]) was a Persian mystic, poet and teacher of Sufism.  He is best known for his saying: "I am the Truth" (Ana'l-Ḥaqq), which many saw as a claim to divinity, while others interpreted it as an instance of annihilation of the ego, allowing God to speak through him. Al-Hallaj gained a wide following as a preacher before he became implicated in power struggles of the Abbasid court and was executed after a long period of confinement on religious and political charges. Although most of his Sufi contemporaries disapproved of his actions, Hallaj later became a major figure in the Sufi tradition.

Al-Hallaj was born around 858 in Fars province of Persia to a cotton-carder (Hallaj means "cotton-carder" in Arabic) in an Arabized town called al-Bayḍā'.  His grandfather was a Zoroastrian. His father moved to a town in Wasit famous for its school of Qur'an reciters.  Al-Hallaj memorized the Qur'an before he was 12 years old and would often retreat from worldly pursuits to join other mystics in study at the school of Sahl al-Tustari.  During this period Al-Hallaj lost his ability to speak Persian and later wrote exclusively in Arabic. Al Hallaj was a Sunni Muslim. 

When he was twenty, al-Hallaj moved to Basra, where he married and received his Sufi habit from 'Amr Makkī, although his lifelong and monogamous marriage later provoked jealousy and opposition from the latter. Through his brother-in-law, al-Hallaj found himself in contact with a clan which supported the Zaydi Zanj rebellion, which had elements of Shi'i school of thought.

He later went to Baghdad to consult the famous Sufi teacher Junayd Baghdadi, but he was tired of the conflict that existed between his father-in-law and 'Amr Makkī and he set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca, against the advice of Junayd Baghdadi, as soon as the Zanj rebellion was crushed.

In Mecca, he made a vow to remain for one year in the courtyard of the sanctuary in fasting and total silence.  When he returned from Mecca, he laid down the Sufi tunic and adopted a "lay habit" in order to be able to preach more freely. At that time a number of Sunnis, including former Christians who would later become viziers at the Abbasid court, became his disciples, but other Sufis were scandalized, while some Mu'tazilis and Shias who held high posts in the government accused him of deception and incited the mob against him.  Al-Hallaj left for eastern Iran and remained there for five years, preaching in the Arab colonies and fortified monasteries that housed volunteer fighters in the jihad, after which he was able to return and install his family in Baghdad.

Al-Hallaj made his second pilgrimage to Mecca with four hundred disciples, where some Sufis, his former friends, accused him of sorcery and making a pact with the jinn.  Afterwards he set out on a long voyage that took him to India and Turkestan beyond the frontiers of Islamic lands. About 290 AH/902 CC, he returned to Mecca for his final pilgrimage clad in an Indian loin-cloth and a patched garment over his shoulders. There he prayed to God to be made despised and rejected, so that God alone might grant grace to Himself through His servant's lips.

After returning to his family in Baghdad, al-Hallaj began making proclamations that aroused popular emotion and caused anxiety among the educated classes. These included avowing his burning love of God and his desire to "die accursed for the Community", and statements such as "O Muslims, save me from God" ... "God has made my blood lawful to you: kill me". It was at that time that al-Hallaj is said to have pronounced his famous shath "I am the Truth". He was denounced at the court, but a Shafi'i jurist refused to condemn him, stating that spiritual inspiration was beyond his jurisdiction.

Al-Hallaj's preaching had by now inspired a movement for moral and political reform in Baghdad. In 296 AH/908 CC Sunni reformers made an unsuccessful attempt to depose the underage caliph Al-Muqtadir. When he was restored, his Shi'i vizier unleashed anti-Hanbali repressions which prompted al-Hallaj to flee Baghdad, but three years later he was arrested, brought back, and put in prison, where he remained for nine years.

The conditions of Al-Hallaj's confinement varied depending on the relative sway his opponents and supporters held at the court, but he was finally condemned to death in 922 on the charge of being a Qarmatian rebel who wished to destroy the Ka'ba, because he had said "the important thing is to proceed seven times around the Kaaba of one's heart." According to another report, the pretext was his recommendation to build local replicas of the Kaaba for those who are unable to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. The queen-mother interceded with the caliph who initially revoked the execution order, but the intrigues of the vizier finally moved him to approve it.  On 23 Dhu 'l-Qa'da (March 25) trumpets announced his execution the next day. The words he spoke during the last night in his cell are collected in Akhbar al-Hallaj. Thousands of people witnessed his execution on the banks of the Tigris River. He was first punched in the face by his executioner, then lashed until unconscious, and then decapitated or hanged. Witnesses reported that Al-Hallaj's last words under torture were "all that matters for the ecstatic is that the Unique should reduce him to Unity", after which he recited the Quranic verse 42:18.  His body was doused in oil and set alight, and his ashes were then scattered into the river. A cenotaph was "quickly" built on the site of his execution, and "drew pilgrims for a millennium" until being swept away by a Tigris flood during the 1920s.

Some question whether al-Hallaj was executed for religious reasons as has been commonly assumed. According to Carl W. Ernst, the legal notion of blasphemy was not clearly defined in Islamic law and statements of this kind were treated inconsistently by legal authorities.  In practice, since apostasy was subsumed under the category of zandaqa, which reflected the Zoroastrian legacy of viewing heresy as a political crime, they were prosecuted only when it was politically convenient.  Sadakat Kadri points out that "it was far from conventional to punish heresy in the tenth century," and it is thought he would have been spared execution except that the vizier of Caliph Al-Muqtadir wished to discredit "certain figures who had associated themselves" with al-Hallaj. (Previously al-Hallaj had been punished for talking about being at one with God by being shaved, pilloried and beaten with the flat of a sword, not executed because the Shafi'ite judge had ruled that his words were not "proof of disbelief.")

Al-Hallaj addressed himself to popular audiences encouraging them to find God inside their own souls, which earned him the title of "the carder of innermost souls" (ḥallāj al-asrār). He preached without the traditional Sufi habit and used language familiar to the local Shi'i population. This may have given the impression that he was a Qarmatian missionary rather than a Sufi. His prayer to God to make him lost and despised can be regarded as typical for a Sufi seeking annihilation in God, although Louis Massignon has interpreted it as an expression of a desire to sacrifice himself as atonement on behalf of all Muslims. When al-Hallaj returned to Baghdad from his last pilgrimage to Mecca, he built a model of the Kaaba in his home for private worship.

Al-Hallaj was popularly credited with numerous supernatural acts. He was said to have "lit four hundred oil lamps in Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre with his finger and extinguished an eternal Zoroastrian flame with the tug of a sleeve."

Among other Sufis, Al-Hallaj was an anomaly. Many Sufi masters felt that it was inappropriate to share mysticism with the masses, yet Al-Hallaj openly did so in his writings and through his teachings. This was exacerbated by occasions when he would fall into trances which he attributed to being in the presence of God.

Hallaj was also accused of incarnationism (hulul), the basis of which charge seems to be a disputed verse in which the author proclaims mystical union in terms of two spirits in one body. This position was criticized for not affirming union and unity strongly enough; there are two spirits left whereas the Sufi fana' texts speak of utter annihilation and annihilation in annihilation (the annihilation of the consciousness of annihilation), with only one actor, the deity, left. Saer El-Jaichi has argued "that in speaking of the unity with the divine in terms of ḥulūl, Hallaj does not mean the fusion (or, mingling) of the divine and human substances." Rather, he has in mind "a heightened sense of awareness that culminates in the fulfillment of a spiritual – super-sensory – vision of God’s presence."

There are conflicting reports about his most famous shath, Anā l-Ḥaqq "I am The Truth, " which was taken to mean that he was claiming to be God, since al-Ḥaqq "the Truth" is one of the Ninety Nine Names of Allah.  The earliest report, coming from a hostile account of Basra grammarians, states that he said it in the mosque of Al-Mansur, while testimonies that emerged decades later claimed that it was said in private during consultations with Junayd Baghdadi. Even though this utterance has become inseparably associated with his execution in the popular imagination, owing in part to its inclusion in his biography by Attar of Nishapur, the historical issues surrounding his execution are far more complex. In another controversial statement, al-Hallaj claimed "There is nothing wrapped in my turban but God, " and similarly he would point to his cloak and say, Mā fī jubbatī illā l-Lāh "There is nothing in my cloak but God." He also wrote:

I saw my Lord with the eye of the heart
I asked, 'Who are You?'
He replied, 'You'

Al-Hallaj's principal works, all written in Arabic, included:

• Twenty-seven Riwāyāt (stories or narratives) collected by his disciples in about 290/902.
• Kitāb al-Tawāsīn, a series of eleven short works.
• Poems collected in Dīwān al-Hallāj.
• Pronouncements including those of his last night collected in Akhbār al-Hallāj.

His best known written work is the Book of al-Tawasin, in which he used line diagrams and symbols to help him convey mystical experiences that he could not express in words. Ṭawāsīn is the broken plural of the word ṭā-sīn which spells out the letters and sīn placed for unknown reasons at the start of some surahs in the Qur'an. The chapters vary in length and subject. Chapter 1 is an homage to the Prophet Muhammad, for example, while Chapters 4 and 5 are treatments of the Prophet's heavenly ascent to Mi'raj. Chapter 6 is the longest of the chapters and is devoted to a dialogue of Satan (iblis) and God, where Satan refuses to bow to Adam, although God asks him to do so. Satan's monotheistic claim—that he refused to bow before any other than God even at the risk of eternal rejection and torment—is combined with the lyrical language of the love-mad lover from the Majnun tradition, the lover whose loyalty is so total that there is no path for him to any "other than" the beloved. This passage explores the issues of mystical knowledge (ma'rifa) when it contradicts God's commands for although Iblis was disobeying God's commands, he was following God's will. His refusal is due, others argue, to a misconceived idea of God's uniqueness and because of his refusal to abandon himself to God in love. Hallaj criticizes the staleness of his adoration (Mason, 51-3). Al-Hallaj stated in this book:

If you do not recognize God, at least recognize His sign, I am the creative truth
because through the truth, I am eternal truth.

— Ana al-Haqq 

Few figures in Islam provoked as much debate among classical commentators as al-Hallaj.  The controversy cut across doctrinal categories. In virtually every major current of juridical and theological thought (Jafari, Maliki, Hanbali, Hanafi, Shafi'i, Ash'ari and Maturidi) one finds his detractors and others who accepted his legacy completely or justified his statements with some excuse. His admirers among philosophers included Ibn Tufayl, Suhrawardi and Mulla Sadra.  

Although the majority of early Sufi teachers condemned him, he was almost unanimously canonized by later generations of Sufis. The principal Sufi interpretation of the shathiyat which took the form of "I am" sayings contrasted the permanence (baqā) of God with the mystical annihilation (fanā) of the individual ego, which made it possible for God to speak through the individual. Some Sufi authors claimed that such utterances were misquotations or attributed them to immaturity, madness or intoxication, while others regarded them as authentic expressions of spiritual states, even profoundest experience of divine realities, which should not be manifested to the unworthy. Some of them, including al-Ghazali, showed ambivalence about their apparently blasphemous nature while admiring the spiritual status of their authors. Rumi wrote: "When the pen (of authority) is in the hand of a traitor, unquestionably Mansur is on a gibbet"

The supporters of Mansur have interpreted his statement as meaning, "God has emptied me of everything but Himself. " According to them, Mansur never denied God's oneness and was a strict monotheist. However, he believed that the actions of man, when performed in total accordance with God's pleasure, lead to a blissful unification with Him.  Malayalam author Vaikom Muhammad Basheer draws parallel between "Anā al-Ḥaqq" and Aham Brahmasmi, the Upanishad Mahavakya which means "I am Brahman" (the Ultimate Reality in Hinduism). Basheer uses this term to intend God is found within one's 'self'. There was a belief among European historians that al-Hallaj was secretly a Christian, until the French scholar Louis Massignon presented his legacy in the context of Islamic mysticism in his four-volume work La Passion de Husayn ibn Mansûr Hallâj.

A065 - 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan

 ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan

‘Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (646-705). Umayyad caliph from 685 to 705 who succeeded in restoring the unity of the Arabs under Syrian leadership by ending the second fitnah.  During his tenure, the administration was centralized; Arabic was substituted for Greek and Persian; and Islamic coinage was issued.  Also, during his reign, the ‘Uthmanic text of the Qur’an was re-edited with vowel-punctuation; the postal service was reorganized and expanded; the damaged Ka'ba was repaired; the tradition of weaving a silk cover for the Ka'ba began; and the Dome of the Rock was built in Jerusalem.

'Abd al-Malik was a well-educated man and a capable ruler, despite the many political problems that impeded his rule.  During his reign, all important records were translated into Arabic, and for the first time a special currency for the Muslim world was minted, which led to war with the Byzantine Empire under Justinian II.  The Byzantines were led by Leontios at the Battle of Sebastopolis in 692 in Asia Minor and were decisively defeated by 'Abd al-Malik after the defection of a large contingent of Slavs.  The Islamic currency was then made the only currency exchange in the Muslim world.  Also, many reforms happened in his time as regards agriculture and commerce.

'Abd al-Malik became caliph after the death of his father Marwan I in 685.  Within a few years, he dispatched armies, under al-Hajjaj bin Yousef, on a campaign to reassert Umayyad control over the Islamic empire.  Hajjaj first defeated the governor of Basra and then led his forces into Hejaz, where Ibn Zubayr was killed -- ending his short claim to the caliphate.  The Siege of Mecca in 692 started with Hajjaj at the head of about 2000 Syrians he set out against 'Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, the caliph of Hejaz at Mecca.  Hajjaj advanced unopposed as far as his native Taif, which he took without any fighting and used as a base.  The caliph had charged him first to negotiate with 'Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr and to assure him of freedom from punishment if he capitulated.  However, if the opposition continued, to starve him out by siege, but on no account to let the affair result in bloodshed in the Holy City.  Since the negotiations failed and al-Hajjaj lost patience, he sent a courier to ask 'Abd al-Malik for reinforcements and also for permission to take Mecca by force.  He received both, and thereupon bombarded Mecca using catapults from the mountain of Abu Qubays.  The bombardment continued during the Pilgrimage or Hajj. 

After the siege had lasted for seven months and 10,000 men, among them two sons of 'Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, had gone over to al-Hajjaj, 'Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr with a few loyal followers, including his youngest son, were killed in the fighting around the Ka'ba (October 692). 

Hajjaj's success led 'Abd al-Malik to assign him the role of governor of Iraq and give him free rein in the territories he controlled.  Hajjaj arrived when there were many deserters in Basra and Kufa.  He promptly and forcefully impelled them to return to combat.  Hajjaj, after years of serious fighting, quelled religious disturbances, including the rebellion launched by Salih ibn Musarrih and continued after Salih's death by Shahib.  These rebels repeatedly defeated more numerous forces and at their height entered Kufah.  However, 'Abd al-Malik's Syrian reinforcements enabled Hajjaj to turn the tide.

Under Hajjaj, Arab armies put down the revolt of 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath in Iraq from 699 to 701, and also took most of Turkestan.  'Abd al-Rahman rebelled following Hajjaj's repeated orders to push further into the lands of Zundil.  After his defeat in Iraq, again achieved through 'Abd al-Malik's dispatch of Syrian reinforcements to Hajjaj, 'Abd al-Rahman returned east.  There one city closed its gates to him and in another he was seized.  However, Zundil's army arrived and secured his release.  Later, 'Abd al-Rahman died and Zundil sent his head to Hajjaj who sent it to 'Abd al-Malik.  These victories paved the way for greater expansions under 'Abd al-Malik's son al-Walid.

'Abd al-Malik was effective in increasing the size of the empire.  In the Maghreb (western North Africa), in 686, a force led by Zuhayr ibn Qais won the Battle of Mamma over Byzantines and Berbers led Kusayla, on the Qairawan plain, and re-took Ifriqiya and its capital Kairouan.

In 695, Hasan ibn al-Nu'man captured Carthage and advanced into the Atlas Mountains.  A Byzantine fleet arrived and retook Carthage.  However, in 698, Hasan ibn al-Nu'man returned and defeated Tiberios III at the Battle of Carthage.  The Byzantines withdrew from all of Africa except Ceuta.

Hasan met trouble from the Zenata tribe of Berbers under al-Kahina.  They inflicted a serious defeat on him and drove him back to Barqa.  However, in 702, 'Abd al-Malik strongly reinforced him.  With a large army and the support of the settled population of North Africa, Hasan pushed forward.  He decisively defeated the Zenata in a battle at Tabarka, 85 miles west of Carthage.  He then developed the village of Tunis ten miles from the destroyed Carthage.  Around 705, Musa ibn Nusayr replace Hasan.  'Abd al-Malik pacified much of North Africa, although he failed to take Ceuta.