'Abd al-Wahid ibn Zaid (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

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, ...

shiekh. He is also reported to have received education from Imam Abu Hanifah, before being initiated full-time as a Sufi by Khwaja

Hasan al-Basri Abu Sa'id ibn Abi al-Hasan Yasar al-Basri, often referred to as Hasan of Basra (Arabic: الحسن البصري, romanized: ''Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī''; 642 - 15 October 728) for short, or as Hasan al-Basri, was an early Muslim preacher, asceti ...

.Taj ul Auliya i Chisht, by Dr Ghulam Muhammad Chishti-Fareedi, pub Lahore, 1952, pp 208-209 His date of death is said to be on 27th of

Safar Ṣafar ( ar, صَفَر) also spelt as Safer in Turkish, is the second month of the lunar Islamic calendar. The Arabic word ''ṣafar'' means "travel, migration", corresponding to the pre-Islamic Arabian time period when muslims flee the oppr ...

, 177 AH (711 AD). His shrine is in

Basrah Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is ha ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

Biography

He is known by the titles of ''Shaykh al-Ubbad'' (Shaykh of servants of God) and ''Shaykh al-Sufiyya'' (Shaykh of the Sufis). He is famous for his legends about

zuhd Asceticism (; from the el, ἄσκησις, áskesis, exercise', 'training) is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their p ...

. It is rumored that he met Hasan-i Basri and that he was his student. Although

Attar of Nishapur Abū Ḥamīd bin Abū Bakr Ibrāhīm (c. 1145 – c. 1221; fa, ابو حامد بن ابوبکر ابراهیم), better known by his pen-names Farīd ud-Dīn () and ʿAṭṭār of Nishapur (, Attar means apothecary), was a PersianRitter, H. ( ...

mentions Abdul Wahid to be a contemporary of Yusuf bin Husayn al-Razi (d. 304 AH/916 AD) and states that he repented in his assembly, this does not seem to be true. Abdul Wahid is one of the "weeping ascetics" of Basra. It is reported in the sources that because of

Malik bin Dinar Malik Dinar ( ar-at, مالك دينار, Mālik b. Dīnār, Malayalam: മാലിക് ദീനാര്‍) (died 748 CE)Al-Hujwiri, "Kashf al-Mahjoob", 89 was a Muslim scholar and traveller. He was one of the first known Muslims to have co ...

's loud cry while listening to his sermon, the people next to him could not follow the sermon, passed out while crying, and those in his assembly fell into ecstasy in the same way. There were even those who died from ecstasy. Wazzan says that he felt plenty of sadness for all the people of Basra. It is rumored that he constantly talked about love and affection, that he is amongst a group that greatly emphasized love, that a community with this understanding had formed around him, and that he had proposed to Rabia al-Adawiyya. He says, "Love is the highest degree". However, he says that contentment (

rida Rida ( ar, رضا, ''Riḍā'') is an Arabic name, "''riḍā''" literally means 'Veil '. In religious context, this term is interpreted as ''satisfaction'' or "''perfect contentment'' with God's will or decree". It is neutral Arabic name, given ...

) is superior to that.

Ibn Taymiyya Ibn Taymiyyah (January 22, 1263 – September 26, 1328; ar, ابن تيمية), birth name Taqī ad-Dīn ʾAḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm ibn ʿAbd al-Salām al-Numayrī al-Ḥarrānī ( ar, تقي الدين أحمد بن عبد الحليم � ...

says that Abdul Wahid said, referring to one of the prophets, "God is in love with me and I am in love with God" - a phrase usually attributed to

Abu al-Husayn al-Nuri Ahmed Ibn Abu al-Hussain al-Nuri ( fa, ابو الحسین النوری) (died 908 AD), known also as Nuri, was a famous early Sufi saint. He was of Persian origins, but born in Baghdad in 840 CE where spent most of his life. He is the author o ...

, and that the first sufi lodge (

dergah A dargah ( fa, درگاه ''dargâh'' or ''dargah'', Turkish: ''dergâh'', Hindustani: ''dargah'' दरगाह درگاہ, bn, দরগাহ ''dorgah'') is a shrine or tomb built over the grave of a revered religious figure, often ...

) was founded by one of his disciples. Abdul Wahid is mentioned in the chain of succession of the Alewiyya and Kummaliyya sufi orders (

tariqa A tariqa (or ''tariqah''; ar, طريقة ') is a school or order of Sufism, or specifically a concept for the mystical teaching and spiritual practices of such an order with the aim of seeking ''haqiqa'', which translates as "ultimate truth". ...

s), has many words and legends attributed to him especially in al-Yafii's ''Rawd al-Rayahin'', in the ''

manaqib ''Manāqib'' (Arabic مَناقِب, also transliterated ''manāḳib''; singular مَنْقَبَ, ''manqaba/manḳaba'') is a genre in Arabic, Turkish, and Persian literature, broadly encompassing "biographical works of a laudatory nature", "in ...

'' and in the Sufi ''

tabaqat Tabaqat (طبقات) is a genre of Islamic biographical literature that is organized according to the century in which the notable individuals (such as scholars, poets etc.) lived. Each century or generation is known as a ''Tabaqah'', the plural o ...

'' books. It has been claimed that he was from the

Mu'tazila Muʿtazila ( ar, المعتزلة ', English: "Those Who Withdraw, or Stand Apart", and who called themselves ''Ahl al-ʿAdl wa al-Tawḥīd'', English: "Party of ivineJustice and Oneness f God); was an Islamic group that appeared in early Islamic ...

due to reasons such as his inclination to the view on ''kasb'' (earning) and his inability to reconcile the verse of the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical 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 in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...

"Allah (if He wills) misleads the servants" with Allah's omnipotence. Yet according to the sources, he also met with Amr bin Ubayd, one of the founders of Mutazila, and cut off ties with him due to his mutazilite views. He narrated hadiths from Hasan al-Basri and Ata bin Abu Rahab, and scholars such as Waqi', Ibn al-Sammak and Darani narrated from him. However, hadith critics consider him an abandoned narrator (''matruk'') and the hadiths he narrated as ''munkar''.

Biography

See also

References

Further reading