64. Abu ´l-Ḥasan `Alí b. Ibráhím al-Ḥuṣrí.
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Hujviri, ‘Ali ibn ‘Usman and Nicholson, Reynold Alleyne
He is one of the great Imáms of the Ṣúfís and was unrivalled in his time. He has lofty sayings and admirable explanations in all spiritual matters. It is related that he said: “Leave me alone in my affliction! Are not ye children of Adam, whom God formed with His own hand and breathed a spirit into him and caused the angels to bow down to him? Then He commanded him to do something, and he disobeyed. If the first of the wine-jar is dregs, what will its last be?” That is to say: “When a man is left to himself he is all disobedience, but when Divine favour comes to his help he is all love. Now regard the beauty of Divine favour and compare with it the ugliness of thy behaviour, and pass thy whole life in this.”
I have mentioned some of the ancient Ṣúfís whose example is authoritative. If I had noticed them all and had set forth their lives in detail and had included the anecdotes respecting them, my purpose would not have been accomplished, and this book would have run to great length. Now I will add some account of the modern Ṣúfís.
Source notes
57. L. Aslam.
58. Kor. vii, 160.
59. A well-known divine, who died in 110 A.H. See Ibn Khallikán, No. 576. An extant work on the interpretation of dreams is attributed to him (Brockelmann, i, 66).
60. The text has jáma-i ḥashíshí ú díbaqí. Apparently the former word should be written “khashíshí”. It is described in Vullers’s Persian Dictionary as “a kind of garment”.
61. Bilál b. Rabáḥ, the Prophet’s Muezzin, was buried at Damascus.
62. Here the author relates two anecdotes illustrating the devotion of Muḥammad.
63. He died in 211 A.H. See Ibn Khallikán, No. 409.
64. Died in 168 A.H. See Ibn Khallikán, No. 266.
65. According to a marginal gloss in I, `ukkáza is a tripod on which a leathern water-bottle is suspended.
66. See Nafaḥát, No. 347, where he is called Abu ´l-Ḥusayn Sáliba.
67. Its full title is Ri`áyat li-ḥuqúq AllahAllah, “The observance of what is due to God.”
68. This reading is given in the Ṭabaqát al-Ṣúfiyya of Abú `Abd al-Raḥmán al-Sulamí (British Museum MS., Add. 18,520, f. 13a).
69. The takbír, i.e. the words Allah akbar, “God is most great,” is pronounced four times in Moslem funeral prayers.
70. Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan and Abú Yúsuf were celebrated lawyers of the Ḥanafite school. See Brockelmann, i, 171.
71. See note on p. 13.
72. This statement is not accurate. The notice of Ma`rúf Karkhí is the fourth in Qushayrí’s list of biographies at the beginning of his treatise on Ṣúfiism, and stands between the notices of Fuḍayl b. `Iyáḍ and Sarí Saqaṭí. In the Ṭabaqát al-Ṣúfiyya, by Abú `Abd al-Raḥmán al-Sulamí, the notice of Ma`rúf comes tenth in order, but occupies the same position as it does here in so far as it is preceded by the article on Abú Sulaymán Dárání and is followed by the article on Ḥátim al-Aṣamm. It appears from the next sentence that al-Hujwírí intended to place the life of Ma`rúf between those of Dáwud Ṭá´í and Sarí Saqaṭí (Nos. 14 and 15), but neither of the two above-mentioned authorities has adopted this arrangement.
73. LIJ. have عنوان [**Arabic] علوان.
74. Marwán b. Mu`áwiya al-Fazárí of Kúfa died in 193 A.H. See Dhahabí’s Ṭabaqát al-Ḥuffáẕ, ed. by Wüstenfeld, p. 63, No. 44. Al-Qárí is probably a mistranscription of al-Fazárí.
75. Nafaḥát, No. 44, has “Salama”. Qushayrí calls him `Umar b. Maslama.
76. So LIJ. B. has “al-Ḥaddád”, which is the form generally used by his biographers.
77. The words madhhab-i Thawrí dásht may refer either to Abú Thawr Ibráhím b. Khálid, a pupil of al-Sháfi`í, who died in 246 A.H., or to Sufyán al-Thawrí. See Ibn Khallikán, No. 143.
78. B. has “the Ḥulmánís”, i.e. the followers of Abú Ḥulmán of Damascus. See Shahristání, Haarbrücker’s translation, ii, 417.
79. The Sálimís are described (ibid.) as “a number of scholastic theologians (mutakallimún) belonging to Baṣra”.
80. “Ibáḥatí” or “Ibáḥí” signifies “one who regards everything as permissible”.
81. See the eleventh section of the fourteenth chapter.
82. Dáwud of Iṣfahán, the founder of the Ẓáhirite school (Brockelmann, i, 183).
83. i.e. “The Error of Ecstatic Persons”.
84. Abú `Abdalláh Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Ghálib b. Khálid al-Baṣrí al-Báhilí, generally known as Ghulám Khalíl, died in 275 A.H. He is described by Abu ´l-Maḥásin (Nujúm, ii, 79, 1 ff.) as a traditionist, ascetic, and saint. According to the Tadhkirat al-Awliyá (ii, 48, 4 ff.), he represented to the Caliph that Junayd, Núrí, Shiblí, and other eminent Ṣúfís were freethinkers and heretics, and urged him to put them to death.
85. i.e. “The Mirror of the Sages”.
86. Sa`íd (Abú `Abdalláh) b. Yazíd al-Nibájí. See Nafaḥát, No. 86.
87. So in all the texts.
88. “The Seal of Saintship.”
89. “The Book of the Highway.”
90. “Choice Principles.”
91. “The Book ofof Unification.”
92. “The Book of the Torment of the Tomb.”
93. See No. 44.
94. LB. have “Aḥmad”.