Abu 'l-Hassan Ali ibn Ahmad (or ibn Jaʻfar) ibn Salmān al-Kharaqāni ( fa, شیخ ابوالحسن خرقانی) is one of the master
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, ...
s of Islam. He was born in 963 (352
Hijri year
The Hijri year ( ar, سَنة هِجْريّة) or era ( ''at-taqwīm al-hijrī'') is the era used in the Islamic lunar calendar. It begins its count from the Islamic New Year in which Muhammad and his followers migrated from Mecca to Yathrib ...
) from
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
[S.H. Nasr, "Iran" in History of Humanity: From the Seventh to the Sixteenth Century, edited by Sigfried J. de Laet, M. A. Al-Bakhit, International Commission for a History of the Scientific and Cultural Development of Mankind History of mankind, L. Bazin, S. M. Cissco. Published by Taylor & Francis US, 2000. pg 368] parents in
Khorasan
Khorasan may refer to:
* Greater Khorasan, a historical region which lies mostly in modern-day northern/northwestern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan
* Khorasan Province, a pre-2004 province of Ira ...
in a village called
Qaleh Now-e Kharaqan
, native_name_lang = fa
, settlement_type = Village
, image_skyline =
, imagesize =
, image_alt =
, image_caption = Tomb of Abu al-Hassan al-Kharaqani
, image_flag ...
(today located in
Semnan Province,
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 ...
near
Bastam
Bastam ( fa, بسطام, also romanized as Basṭām; also known as Busṭām and Bisṭām) is a city in and capital of the Bastam District of Shahrud County, Semnan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 7,382, in 1,997 families ...
) and died on the day of
Ashura
Ashura (, , ) is a day of commemoration in Islam. It occurs annually on the 10th of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. Among Shia Muslims, Ashura is observed through large demonstrations of high-scale mourning as it marks the ...
in 1033 (10th
Muharram
Muḥarram ( ar, ٱلْمُحَرَّم) (fully known as Muharram ul Haram) is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months of the year when warfare is forbidden. It is held to be the second holiest month after R ...
, 425 Hijri).
He was the disciple of
Abul-Abbas Qassab Amoli
Abul Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Abdul-Karim Qassab Amoli also known as ''Abul Abbas Qassab Amoli'' ( fa, ابوالعباس قصاب آملی) was an 11th-century Iranian Sufi mystic. Coming from Tabaristan, he was of the tribe of Javan and his f ...
but claimed a deep
spiritual relation with
Bayazid Bastami
Abū Yazīd Ṭayfūr bin ʿĪsā bin Surūshān al-Bisṭāmī (al-Basṭāmī) (d. 261/874–5 or 234/848–9), commonly known in the Iranian world as Bāyazīd Bisṭāmī ( fa, بایزید بسطامی), was a PersianWalbridge, John. "S ...
, a well-known Sufi Master who died almost a century before him but had spoken about the personality and state of Kharaqani. He was also influenced by
Abul Hasan Hankari
Abul Hasan Hankari ( ar, ا بوالحسن ہنکاری) Abu Al Hasan Ali Bin Mohammad Qureshi Hashmi Hankari Harithi (born in 409 Hijri (c.1018 CE), in the town of Hankar), town of Mosul (city of northern Iraq, some 400 km north of Baghdad ...
. His school of jurisprudence was
Shafi‘i
The Shafii ( ar, شَافِعِي, translit=Shāfiʿī, also spelled Shafei) school, also known as Madhhab al-Shāfiʿī, is one of the four major traditional schools of religious law (madhhab) in the Sunnī branch of Islam. It was founded by ...
.
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. ( ...
, a famous Persian poet and Sufi, devoted a large part of his book ''Tadhkirat al-
Awliya
A wali (''wali'' ar, وَلِيّ, '; plural , '), the Arabic word which has been variously translated "master", "authority", "custodian", "protector", is most commonly used by Muslims to indicate an Islamic saint, otherwise referred to by t ...
'' (Biography of the Saints) about the personality, state and stories of Kharaqani. Attar has him as ''Sultān-e Salātin-e Mashāyekh'' "King of kings of Sufi Masters", "Ocean of the spiritual knowledge, "Sun of the Lord", "Mystery of the Lord" and "
Qibla
The qibla ( ar, قِبْلَة, links=no, lit=direction, translit=qiblah) is the direction towards the Kaaba in the Sacred Mosque in Mecca, which is used by Muslims in various religious contexts, particularly the direction of prayer for the s ...
of his people".
Kharaqani was the Master of the famous Persian Sufi and poet,
Abdullah Ansari
Abu Ismaïl Abdullah al-Harawi al-Ansari or Abdullah Ansari of Herat (1006–1088) ( fa, خواجه عبدالله انصاری) also known as ''Pir-i Herat'' () "Sage of Herat", was a Muslim Sufi saint who lived in the 11th century in Herat (m ...
.
Avicenna
Ibn Sina ( fa, ابن سینا; 980 – June 1037 CE), commonly known in the West as Avicenna (), was a Persian polymath who is regarded as one of the most significant physicians, astronomers, philosophers, and writers of the Islamic G ...
,
Mahmud of Ghazni
Yamīn-ud-Dawla Abul-Qāṣim Maḥmūd ibn Sebüktegīn ( fa, ; 2 November 971 – 30 April 1030), usually known as Mahmud of Ghazni or Mahmud Ghaznavi ( fa, ), was the founder of the Turkic Ghaznavid dynasty, ruling from 998 to 1030. At th ...
,
Abū-Sa'īd Abul-Khayr
Abū Saʿīd Abū'l-Khayr or Abusa'id Abolkhayr ( fa, ابوسعید ابوالخیر) , also known as Sheikh Abusaeid or Abu Sa'eed, was a famous Persian Sufi and poet who contributed extensively to the evolution of Sufi tradition.
The majori ...
and
Nasir Khusraw
Abu Mo’in Hamid ad-Din Nasir ibn Khusraw al-Qubadiani or Nāsir Khusraw Qubādiyānī Balkhi ( fa, ناصر خسرو قبادیانی, Nasir Khusraw Qubadiani) also spelled as ''Nasir Khusrow'' and ''Naser Khosrow'' (1004 – after 1070 CE) w ...
traveled to Kharaqan to meet him and expressed their deep admiring feelings and respect for him.
Rumi
Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī ( fa, جلالالدین محمد رومی), also known as Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī (), Mevlânâ/Mawlānā ( fa, مولانا, lit= our master) and Mevlevî/Mawlawī ( fa, مولوی, lit= my ma ...
, Attar of Nishapur,
Khwaja Abdullah Ansari
Abu Ismaïl Abdullah al-Harawi al-Ansari or Abdullah Ansari of Herat (1006–1088) ( fa, خواجه عبدالله انصاری) also known as ''Pir-i Herat'' () "Sage of Herat", was a Muslim Sufi saint who lived in the 11th century in Herat (m ...
,
Jami
Nūr ad-Dīn 'Abd ar-Rahmān Jāmī ( fa, نورالدین عبدالرحمن جامی; 7 November 1414 – 9 November 1492), also known as Mawlanā Nūr al-Dīn 'Abd al-Rahmān or Abd-Al-Rahmān Nur-Al-Din Muhammad Dashti, or simply as J ...
and others have narrated many poems about Abu'l-Hasan and have reported his several stories. He was illiterate but had wide inspirational knowledge about 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, ...
and
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 ...
; his sayings and speeches are significantly magnificent due to their philosophical views.
The book ''Nūr al-ʿUlūm'' "Light of the Sciences" is dedicated to Abu'l-Hassan. It is believed to have been written by his
murid
In Sufism, a ''murīd'' (Arabic مُرِيد 'one who seeks') is a novice committed to spiritual enlightenment by ''sulūk'' (traversing a path) under a spiritual guide, who may take the title murshid, '' pir'' or ''shaykh''. A '' sālik'' or Su ...
s after his death. A single manuscript copy is currently held in the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
.
Notes
Poetry and translations
* ''Radical Love: Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Tradition'' translated and edited by Omid Safi. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018. Contains a selection of al-Kharaqani's poetry in English.
External links
His biography in Persian
{{Authority control
Sufi mystics
Iranian Sufis
Naqshbandi order
10th-century Iranian philosophers
11th-century Iranian philosophers
Samanid-period poets
Mystics from Iran