Abu Talib Muhammad ibn Ali al-Makki (; died 386 AH/996 AD in

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 ...

), was a

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 ...

scholar,

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 ...

jurist, and

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, ...

mystic.

Biography

He was born in the Abbasid province of Jibal in the early 3rd AH / 9th AD centuries. Al-Makki grew up in Mecca, where he was educated in

and 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.: ...

by the city's traditionalist circles. Abu Sa’id ibn al-Arabi (d. 341 AH/952-3 AD), a student of the sober Sufi Mystic,

Junayd of Baghdad Junayd of Baghdad (; 830–910) was a Persian mystic and one of the most famous of the early Islamic saints. He is a central figure in the spiritual lineage of many Sufi orders. Junayd taught in Baghdad throughout his lifetime and was an impo ...

, was one of Al-Makki's early traditionalist teachers. Al-Makki moved to

Basra 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 hand ...

in 341 AH, and continued his studies alongside various Sufis before seeking permanent refuge in Baghdad. Al-Makki remained an intense ascetic throughout his life, and was known in Baghdad for his strict dietary regimens. From an early age Makki was weary of “personal judgment and analogical reasoning,” and favored using weak hadith literature to support his interpretations of sacred texts when strong hadith failed. He had a son, Umar Ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Ali (d. 444/ 1053).

The Sustenance of Hearts

Al-Makki's most influential work, ''"Qut al-qulub fi mu'amalat al-mahbub wa wasf tariq al-murid ila maqam al-tawhid"'' , or “The Sustenance of Hearts,” is a systematic exploration of Sufism and the ‘knowledge of hearts’. This knowledge, known as

Ma'rifa Maʿrifa (Arabic: “interior knowledge”) is the mystical knowledge of God or the “higher realities” that is the ultimate goal of followers of Sufism. Sufi mystics came to maʿrifa by following a spiritual path that later Sufi thinkers categ ...

, is accessible through inward and outward deeds of devotion to God. Al-Makki uses his intimate knowledge of hadith and the Qur'an to argue that Ma'rifa is the only true form of knowledge available to Muslims.''Knowledge of God in Classical Sufism: Foundations of Islamic Mystical Theology'', Paulist Press (2004), . In “The Sustenance of Hearts,” he interprets the Prophet's saying, “The quest for knowledge is a duty,” through the five pillars of Islam, as a divine assertion that the sciences of the heart have transcendent value. He outlines at length the elements of a wholly pious life- one informed by the sciences of the heart- and disparages the ‘knowledge of tongues.’ This refers to any form of knowledge that can be used for social and economic benefit. Al-Makki's focused attack on this form of knowledge was likely influenced by the careerism of religious specialities that accompanied Islam's expansion. In part because of his feelings towards the ‘knowledge of tongues’, Al-Makki has been compared to the early renunciants and People of The Blame. These severe ascetics disdained similarly selfish and innovative practitioners of Islam.

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 polymat ...

used this book as a source for some of the chapters of his magnum opus ''ihya' 'ulum al-din' (Revival of Islamic Knowledge).

References

* Massignon, Louis. ''Encyclopedia of Islam (Second Edition)''. ed. Kramers, J. H., Gibb, H. A. R., et al. Leiden, 1954, Vol. 1 p. 153. *Böwering, Gerhard. ''The Mystical Vision of Existence in Classical Islam: The Qur'anic Hermeneutics of the Şufi

Sahl al-Tustari Sahl al-Tustarī ( ar, سهل التستري) or Sahl Shushtarī ( fa, سهل شوشتری) according to Persian custom, born Abū Muḥammad Sahl ibn ʿAbd Allāh (c.818 CE (203 AH) – c.896 CE (283 AH)), was a Persian Sunni Muslim schola ...

(d. 283/896).'' Berlin and New York, 1980, pp. 25–7. *''Qut al-qulub fi mu'amalat al-mahbub wa wasf tariq al-murid ila maqam al-tawhid'' (The nourishment of hearts in dealing with the Beloved and the description of the seeker's way to the station of declaring oneness). ed. Basil 'ayun al-sud, Dar al-kutub al-'ilmiyah, Beirut, 1997. 2vols. *''Knowledge of God in Classical Sufism: Foundations of Islamic Mystical Theology'', Paulist Press (2004), . Sufi mystics 10th-century Arabic writers 996 deaths Year of birth unknown People from Mecca 10th-century jurists Mystics from Iran 10th-century Muslim scholars of Islam {{islam-bio-stub