Hasan al-Basri
Hasan al-Basri (Abu Sa'id al-Hasan ibn Abi-l-Hasan Yasar al-Basri) (642-728). Preacher of Basra. The fragments of his sermons which have been preserved are among the best surviving specimens of early Arabic prose.
Hasan al-Basri, also known as Imam Hasan al Basri, was a well-known Muslim theologian and scholar of Islam who was born at Medina of Persian parents. His father, Pirouz (later called Abul Hasan, or Hasan's Father, in Arabic), was a Persian landowner in a village of Khuzestan who was enslaved during a military campaign of Umar, the Second Caliph, and taken back to Medina. In the course of dividing spoils of war, Pirouz, along with a woman from his own village, was given to Umm Salama, a wife of Muhammad. Umm Salama gifted both to one of her close relatives where they were ultimately wed and freed by the couple who received them.
Tradition says that Umm Salama often nursed Hasan in his infancy. He was thus one of the Tabi'een (i.e. of the generation that succeeded the Sahabah). According to Abu Zur'a, at the age of 14 years, Hasan became the murid of 'Ali. Thereafter, Hasan migrated to Iraq.
Hasan did not take sides in the fitna of Ibn al-Zubayr. In 700 C. C., he joined the camp of Ibn al-Ash'ath during his revolt, as an amir. Hasan is not known to have supported any Caliph after Abu Bakr, but he was on decent terms with Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz.
After the revolt Hasan became a teacher in Basra (Iraq) and founded a madrasa (school) there. Among his many followers were Amr Ibn Ubayd (d.761) and Wasil ibn Ata (d.749), the founder of the Mu'tazilites - which name derives from the Arabic verb i'tizàl ("to part from", "to separate from"). Wasil ibn Ata broke all relations with his ancient Master. Among Hasan's juristic students were the Imam Ayyub al-Sakhtiyani and also Humayd.
Hasan married a woman of the Ahl al-Kitab (that is, he married a Jew or a Christian). They had three sons: 'Ali, Muhammad, and Sa'id. Hasan was buried in Basra.
Under the reign of Caliph 'Abd al-Malik and his governor in Iraq al-Hajjaj, Hasan came to oppose the inherited caliphate of the Umayyads (r.660-750).
Hasan held to a doctrine of human free will, called "Qadarism" by its enemies, as opposed to predestination. In particular, he refused to believe that a just God would predetermine a man to sin. His stance on this upset his non-Mutazil pupils Ayyub and Humayd, and embarrassed later Sunnis. Some, like Dawud bin Abi Hind, went so far as to forge anti-"Qadarite" opinions in Hasan's name.
Hasan was a great supporter of asceticism in the time of its first development. According to him, fear is the basis of morality, and sadness the characteristic of his religion. Life is only a pilgrimage, and comfort must be denied to subdue the passions. Al-Basri is also held in high regard by the Sufis for his asceticism, though he predated Sufism as a self-aware movement. Many writers testify to the purity of his life and to his excelling in the virtues of Muhammad's own companions.
Hasan is associated with the authorship of several epistles, many of which are known to be forged. Among the forgeries is an epistle to Abd al-Malik espousing human free will, first attested to by Abd al-Jabbar (d. 1024). This epistle, despite claiming "some of the ... best examples of Arabic linguistic prose style", is based on the theology of al-Rassi's Kitab al-Radd and on the politics of the Zaydi Shi'a. That is, it comes from Abd al-Jabbar's circle if not from Abd al-Jabbar himself.
Abu Sa'id al-Hasan ibn Abi-l-Hasan Yasar al-Basri see Hasan al-Basri
Hasan al-Basri, also known as Imam Hasan al Basri, was a well-known Muslim theologian and scholar of Islam who was born at Medina of Persian parents. His father, Pirouz (later called Abul Hasan, or Hasan's Father, in Arabic), was a Persian landowner in a village of Khuzestan who was enslaved during a military campaign of Umar, the Second Caliph, and taken back to Medina. In the course of dividing spoils of war, Pirouz, along with a woman from his own village, was given to Umm Salama, a wife of Muhammad. Umm Salama gifted both to one of her close relatives where they were ultimately wed and freed by the couple who received them.
Tradition says that Umm Salama often nursed Hasan in his infancy. He was thus one of the Tabi'een (i.e. of the generation that succeeded the Sahabah). According to Abu Zur'a, at the age of 14 years, Hasan became the murid of 'Ali. Thereafter, Hasan migrated to Iraq.
Hasan did not take sides in the fitna of Ibn al-Zubayr. In 700 C. C., he joined the camp of Ibn al-Ash'ath during his revolt, as an amir. Hasan is not known to have supported any Caliph after Abu Bakr, but he was on decent terms with Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz.
After the revolt Hasan became a teacher in Basra (Iraq) and founded a madrasa (school) there. Among his many followers were Amr Ibn Ubayd (d.761) and Wasil ibn Ata (d.749), the founder of the Mu'tazilites - which name derives from the Arabic verb i'tizàl ("to part from", "to separate from"). Wasil ibn Ata broke all relations with his ancient Master. Among Hasan's juristic students were the Imam Ayyub al-Sakhtiyani and also Humayd.
Hasan married a woman of the Ahl al-Kitab (that is, he married a Jew or a Christian). They had three sons: 'Ali, Muhammad, and Sa'id. Hasan was buried in Basra.
Under the reign of Caliph 'Abd al-Malik and his governor in Iraq al-Hajjaj, Hasan came to oppose the inherited caliphate of the Umayyads (r.660-750).
Hasan held to a doctrine of human free will, called "Qadarism" by its enemies, as opposed to predestination. In particular, he refused to believe that a just God would predetermine a man to sin. His stance on this upset his non-Mutazil pupils Ayyub and Humayd, and embarrassed later Sunnis. Some, like Dawud bin Abi Hind, went so far as to forge anti-"Qadarite" opinions in Hasan's name.
Hasan was a great supporter of asceticism in the time of its first development. According to him, fear is the basis of morality, and sadness the characteristic of his religion. Life is only a pilgrimage, and comfort must be denied to subdue the passions. Al-Basri is also held in high regard by the Sufis for his asceticism, though he predated Sufism as a self-aware movement. Many writers testify to the purity of his life and to his excelling in the virtues of Muhammad's own companions.
Hasan is associated with the authorship of several epistles, many of which are known to be forged. Among the forgeries is an epistle to Abd al-Malik espousing human free will, first attested to by Abd al-Jabbar (d. 1024). This epistle, despite claiming "some of the ... best examples of Arabic linguistic prose style", is based on the theology of al-Rassi's Kitab al-Radd and on the politics of the Zaydi Shi'a. That is, it comes from Abd al-Jabbar's circle if not from Abd al-Jabbar himself.
Abu Sa'id al-Hasan ibn Abi-l-Hasan Yasar al-Basri see Hasan al-Basri
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