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'Abd al-Karīm ibn Hawazin Abū al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī al-Naysābūrī ( fa, , ar, عبد الكريم بن هوازن بن عبد الملك بن طلحة أبو القاسم القشيري; 986 – 30 December 1072) was an
Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
Muslim scholar and
theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
known for his works on
Sufism Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...
. He was born in
Nishapur Nishapur or officially Romanized as Neyshabur ( fa, ;Or also "نیشاپور" which is closer to its original and historic meaning though it is less commonly used by modern native Persian speakers. In Persian poetry, the name of this city is wr ...
which is in Khorasan Province in
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. This region was widely known as a center of
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
ic civilization up to the 13th Century CE. He was the grandfather of the scholar
Abd al-Ghafir al-Farsi Abd al-Ghafir ibn Ismail ibn Abd al-Ghafir ibn Muhammad al-Farsi ( ar, عبد الغافر بن اسماعيل بن عبد الغافر بن محمد الفارسي) was a Persian scholar of Arabic, history and hadith from Nishapur. He was a ...
, a contemporary of
Al Ghazali Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111; ), full name (), and known in Persian-speaking countries as Imam Muhammad-i Ghazali (Persian: امام محمد غزالی) or in Medieval Europe by the Latinized as Algazelus or Algazel, was a Persian polym ...
.


Biography

Al Qushayri was born into a privileged
Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
family from among the
Banu Qushayr The Banū Qushayr ( ar, بنو قشير) was a branch of the Arab tribe of Banu Amir, historically resident in central Arabian Peninsula and later spreading to Khurasan, Iraq, Upper Mesopotamia. Genealogy According to Arab genealogical tradition, ...
who had settled near Nishapur. As a young man he received the education of a country squire of the time: adab, the Arabic language, chivalry and weaponry (istiʿmāl al-silāḥ), but that all changed when he journeyed to the city of
Nishapur Nishapur or officially Romanized as Neyshabur ( fa, ;Or also "نیشاپور" which is closer to its original and historic meaning though it is less commonly used by modern native Persian speakers. In Persian poetry, the name of this city is wr ...
and was introduced to the
Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
shaykh Abū ʿAlī al-Daqqāq. Daqqāq later became the master and teacher of the mystical ways to Qushayri. He later married the daughter of Daqqāq, Fatima. After the death of Daqqāq, Qushayri became the successor of his master and father-in-law and became the leader of mystic assemblies in the
madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...
that Abu Ali al-Daqqāq built in 1001 CE, which later became known as al-Madrasa al-Qushayriyya or "the school of the Qushayri family". In later years Qushayri performed the
pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...
in the company of Abū Muḥammad al-Juwaynī (d. 438/1047), the father of Imam al-Haramayn
al-Juwayni Dhia' ul-Dīn 'Abd al-Malik ibn Yūsuf al-Juwaynī al-Shafi'ī ( fa, امام الحرمین ضیاءالدین عبدالملک ابن یوسف جوینی شافعی, 17 February 102820 August 1085; 419–478 AH) was a Persian Sunni Shafi'i jur ...
, as well as traveling to
Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
and the Hijaz. During these travels he heard
Hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
from various prominent Hadith scholars. Upon his return he began teaching Hadith, which is something he is famous for. He returned to Baghdad where the
Caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
al-Qa'im had him perform hadith teachings in his palace. After his return to Khurāsān, political unrest in the region between the Ḥanafī and Ashʿarī-Shāfiʿī factions in the city forced him to leave Nishapur, but he was eventually able to return and lived there until his death in 1072/465, when the
Seljuq Seljuk or Saljuq (سلجوق) may refer to: * Seljuk Empire (1051–1153), a medieval empire in the Middle East and central Asia * Seljuk dynasty (c. 950–1307), the ruling dynasty of the Seljuk Empire and subsequent polities * Seljuk (warlord) (d ...
vizier
Nizam al-Mulk Abu Ali Hasan ibn Ali Tusi (April 10, 1018 – October 14, 1092), better known by his honorific title of Nizam al-Mulk ( fa, , , Order of the Realm) was a Persian scholar, jurist, political philosopher and Vizier of the Seljuk Empire. Rising fro ...
re-established the balance of power between the Ḥanafīs and the Shāfiʿīs. He left behind six sons and several daughters between Fatima and his second wife and was buried near al-Madrasa al-Qushayriyya, next to his father in-law Abū ʿAlī al-Daqqāq


Work

''Laṭā'if al-Isharat bi-Tafsīr al-Qur'ān'' is a famous work of al-Qushayri that is a complete commentary of the
Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...
. He determined that there were four levels of meaning in the Qur'an. First, the ''ibara'' which is the meaning of the text meant for the mass of believers. Second, the '' ishara'', only available to the spiritual elite and lying beyond the obvious verbal meaning. Third, ''laṭā’if'', subtleties in the text that were meant particularly for saints. And finally, the ''ḥaqā’iq'', which he said were only comprehensible to the
prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...
s. This text placed him among the elite of the Sufi mystics and is widely used as a standard of Sufi thought. His fame however, is due mostly to his ''
al-Risala al-Qushayriyya Al-Risala al-Qushayriyya fi 'Ilm al-Tasawwuf ( ar, الرسالة القشيرية في علم التصوف, lit=The Qushayriyyan Epistle on the Science of Sufism), mostly known as al-Risala al-Qushayriyya (The Treatise of al-Qushayri), is one of ...
'' (or the ''Epistle on Sufism''). This text is essentially a reminder to the people of his era that Sufis had authentic ancestral tradition, as well as a defence of Sufism against the doubters that rose during that time of his life. Al-Qushayri repeatedly acknowledges his debt to, and admiration for, his Sufi master throughout his Risala. Daqqaq was instrumental in introducing Qushayri to another outstanding Sufi authority of Khurasan,
Abu 'Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami Abū ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ‘Abd Allāh ibn Ḥabīb ibn Rabī‘ah al-Sulamī ( ar, أبو عبد الرحمن عبد الله بن حبيب بن ربيعة السُلميّ) was a blind ḥadīth narrator and qāriʾ (Qur’ān reciter) born du ...
(412/1021), who is quoted on almost every page of the Risala. It has sections where al-Qushayrī discusses the creed of the Sufis, mentions important and influential Sufis from the past, and establishes fundamentals of Sufi terminology, giving his own interpretation of those Sufi terms. Al-Qushayrī finally goes through specific practices of Sufism and the techniques of those practices. This text has been used by many Sufi saints in later times as a standard, as is obvious from the many translations into numerous languages. Before 1072, al-Qushayri wrote an account of the Night Journey entitled ''Kitāb al-miʿrāj''.Marc Toutant
"Timurid Accounts of Ascension (''miʿrāj'') in ''Türkī'': One Prophet, Two Models,"
in Denis Gril, Stefan Reichmuth and Dilek Sarmis (eds.), ''The Presence of the Prophet in Early Modern and Contemporary Islam'', Vol. 1: The Prophet Between Doctrine, Literature and Arts: Historical Legacies and Their Unfolding (Brill, 2021), pp. 431–459.


See also

* List of Sufis * List of Ash'aris and Maturidis * List of Muslim theologians *
List of Iranian scientists and scholars A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
* Tassawwuf


References

7. * Chopra, R. M., "SUFISM", 2016, Anuradha Prakashan, New Delhi. . * ''Encyclopedia Islam''


External links


Book market
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Qushayri Asharis Shafi'is Sunni Sufis Sufi mystics Sufis from Nishapur 11th-century Muslim theologians Sunni imams Sunni Muslim scholars 11th-century Arabs 986 births 1072 deaths Banu 'Amir