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 the early complete manuals of the science of

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 ...

(tasawwuf in Arabic), written by the

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 ...

Ash'ari Ashʿarī theology or Ashʿarism (; ar, الأشعرية: ) is one of the main Sunnī schools of Islamic theology, founded by the Muslim scholar, Shāfiʿī jurist, reformer, and scholastic theologian Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī in the ...

scholar Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri (d. 465/1074). It was written in 438/1045–6 and has been published in several editions and translated in various languages, including

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, French,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

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 ...

, Turkish, and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

It became the most widely disseminated handbook of Sufism in the

Islamic world The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. In ...

Purpose and authorship

Al-Qushayri '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 Muslim sch ...

's goal was to show the compatibility between mystical teaching and mainstream

Sunni Islam Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagre ...

. The purpose of authoring the book was to provide a solid structure for Sufism, along with its terminology and principles, and to demonstrate the conformity of Sufi beliefs and practices with the norms of the Shari'a, and to show that the creed of the Sufis was identical to that of the Ahl al-Sunna (in its

formulation).

Content

The work is considered as an indispensable reference book for those who study and specialize in

Islamic mysticism 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 ...

, since it combines the two genres of biographical

hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies migh ...

and technical manual – a feature that no other text from the period displays. The work may be divided as follows: * Part one is 'On the

Shaykhs Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of ...

of This Way. How Their Lives and Teachings Show Their Regard for the Divine Law', enumerated 83 Sufi saints who had "guarded and helped Islam with proofs of religion". * Part two is an explanation of 28 expressions in use among the Sufis 'with a clarification of what is obscure in them'. * Part three of al-Qushayri's epistle describes 40 stations and states, the penultimate of which is Sufism and the last of which is model behaviour ( adab), the conduct and discipline of the Sufi in relation to his shaykh and associate Sufis.

took it as axiomatic that the beliefs of the Sufi shaykhs were "in agreement with

Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...

teaching on questions of the fundamentals of faith (

Usul al-Din The theology of Twelver Shi'ism contains the five principles of Shia Islam known as ''Uṣūl ad-Dīn'' ( ar, أصول الدين عند الشيعة). Usul al-dín is an Arabic Islamic term which literally translates as 'principles of the fait ...

)". In discussing a plethora of Sufi technical terms, unique to their spiritual vernacular, al-Qushayri also dedicates a section to a lucid and detailed account of mujahada (spiritual striving or

jihad Jihad (; ar, جهاد, jihād ) is an Arabic word which literally means "striving" or "struggling", especially with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it can refer to almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with Go ...

). Fittingly, al-Qushayri begins this entry by quoting the Qur'anic verse: and following it with the hadith: 'A man asked, "What is the best form of jihad?" to which the Islamic prophet

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...

replied, "To speak the truth in front of an oppressive ruler"'. Al-Qushayri goes on to interweave a variety of pious dicta from a number of early spiritual authorities such as

Ibrahim ibn Adham Ibrahim ibn Adham also called Ibrahim Balkhi (); c. 718 – c. 782 / AH c. 100 – c. 165 is one of the most prominent of the early ascetic Sufi saints. The story of his conversion is one of the most celebrated in Sufi legend, as that of a prin ...

(d. 777), Abu Sulayman al-Darani (d. 830), Abu Yazid al-Bistami (d. 848), Dhu al-Nun al-Misri (d. 860),

Sari al-Saqati Abū al-Ḥasan Sarī (al-Sirrī) b. al-Mughallis al-Saqaṭī (867CE) also known as Sirri Saqti (Arabic:سری سقطی) was one of the early Muslim Sufi saints of Baghdad. He was one of the most influential students of Maruf Karkhi and one o ...

(d. 867), Abu Hafs al-Haddad (d. between 869 and 874) and Abu al-Qasim al-Junayd (d. 910), as well as quotations from his own Sufi mentors, Abu 'Ali al-Daqqaq (d. 1015) and

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 ...

(d. 1021). Among the most concise and telling quotations is that of Abu 'Uthman al-Maghribi (d. 983), who is quoted as saying, "Whoever thinks that some aspect of the piritualpath (

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". ...

) will be opened to him or some facet of it revealed to him without spiritual struggle ( mujahada), he is sadly mistaken".

Commentaries

* Shaykh al-Islam

Zakariyya al-Ansari Zakariyyā al-Ansārī was a leading Sunni Muslim polymath ʿĀlim of the 15th century. Biography Birth He was born in or around 1420 CE, in Sunaika, located in the Egyptian province of Sharqiyya. Education During his adolescence, al- Ans� ...

(d. 926/1520) authored a commentary on al-Qushayri's treatise, entitled ''Ahkam al-Dalala 'ala Tahrir al-Risala''. * The Hanafi scholar Mulla 'Ali al-Qari (d. 1014/1606) have written a commentary on al-Qushayri's treatise in two volumes, according to 'Umar Rida Kahhala in his ''Mu'jam al-Muallifin''.

Translations

English edition

The book has been translated in English and published under the title: * "Principles of Sufism", translated by Barbara R. von Schlegell with an introduction by

Hamid Algar Hamid Algar (born 1940) is a British-American Professor Emeritus of Persian studies at the Faculty of Near Eastern Studies, University of California, Berkeley. He writes on Persian and Arabic literature and contemporary history of Iran, Turkey, the ...

. First published in 1990. * "Sufi Book of Spiritual Ascent" (Abridged Edition), translated by Rabia Harris, edited by

Laleh Bakhtiar Laleh Mehree Bakhtiar (born Mary Nell Bakhtiar; July 29, 1938 – October 18, 2020) was an Iranian-American Islamic and Sufi scholar, author, translator, and clinical psychologist. Bakhtiar was the first American woman to translate the Quran i ...

, published in 1997. The second edition of this book was published in 2001 under the title "The Risalah: Principles of Sufism". * "Al-Qushayri's Epistle on Sufism", translated by Alexander D. Knysh, edited by Muhammad Eissa. First published in 2007.

German edition

The first German translation was by with introduction and commentary, and was printed at

Franz Steiner Verlag Franz Steiner Verlag GmbH is a German academic publishing house, with headquarters in Stuttgart. Founded in 1949 in Wiesbaden, its specialty is history, although it also publishes works in geography, philosophy, law, and musicology. Journals pu ...

in 1989 under the title "Das Sendschreiben al-Qusayris über das Sufitum."

French edition

The first French translation was by André Fontenay, and it was printed and published in 2016 under the title "Épître sur la science du soufisme."

Urdu edition

The first Urdu translation was by Maulana Mohammad Irfan Beg Noori, and it was printed and published in 2000 under the title "Ruh-e-Tassawwuf" available at Darul Irfan, Aligarh, UP, India.

Reception

The work has garnered numerous plaudits. Alexander Knysh suggests that al-Qushayri is famous principally because of this mystical treatise and that it was "probably the most popular Sufi manual ever".

Annemarie Schimmel Annemarie Schimmel (7 April 1922 – 26 January 2003) was an influential German Orientalist and scholar who wrote extensively on Islam, especially Sufism. She was a professor at Harvard University from 1967 to 1992. Early life and education ...

concurs, holding that it "is probably the most widely read summary of early Sufism" and stressing that "it was analyzed in the West prior to most other books on Sufism".

Heinz Halm Heinz Halm (born 21 February 1942 in Andernach, Rhine Province) is a German scholar of Islamic Studies, with a particular expertise on early Shia history, the Ismailites and other Shia sects. Life Born and raised in Andernach, Halm studied Islami ...

, in his Encyclopaedia of Islam article, cherishes al-Qushayri's Risala as "a most important compendium of the principles and terminology of Sufism", where, in this work as elsewhere, al-Qushayri attempts to reconcile Sufi practices, held as suspect by so many of the '

ulama In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...

' (scholars of the religious and legal sciences), with the dictates of Islamic law.

Taj al-Din al-Subki Abū Naṣr Tāj al-Dīn ʻAbd al-Wahhāb ibn ʿAlī ibn ʻAbd al-Kāfī al-Subkī (), or Tāj al-Dīn al-Subkī ()or simply Ibn al-Subki was a leading Islamic scholar, a faqīh, a muḥaddith and a historian from the celebrated al-Subkī family ...

(d. 771/1370) in his book ''Mu'id al-Ni'am wa Mubid al-Niqam'' ( ar, معيد النعم ومبيد النقم, lit=Restorer of Graces and Annihilator of Misfortunes) praised the creed of

al-Qushayri '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 Muslim sch ...

, who mentioned it in his epistle, and considered it as one of the most important classical Sunni creeds held by the Ash'aris, along with '' al-'Aqida al-Tahawiyya'' by the Hanafi scholar

Abu Ja'far al-Tahawi Abu Ja'far Ahmad al-Tahawi ( ar, أبو جعفر الطحاوي, translit=Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī) (843 – 5 November 933), or simply aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī (Arabic: ), was an Egyptian Arab Hanafi jurist and Athari theologian. He studie ...

(d. 321/933), and ' by

Ibn Tumart Abu Abd Allah Amghar Ibn Tumart ( Berber: ''Amghar ibn Tumert'', ar, أبو عبد الله امغار ابن تومرت, ca. 1080–1130 or 1128) was a Muslim Berber religious scholar, teacher and political leader, from the Sous in southern M ...

(d. 524/1130), the founder of the

Almohad Empire The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the Tawhid, unity of God) was a North African Berbers, Berber M ...

in North Africa and

al-Andalus Al-Andalus DIN 31635, translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label=Berber languages, Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, ...

, who was a student 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 polymat ...

References

External links

Al-Risala al-Qushayriyya on Goodreads
— Goodreads.com
Al-Qushayri's Epistle on Sufism
— Goodreads.com
Al-Qushayri's Epistle on Sufism
—

World Digital Library The World Digital Library (WDL) is an international digital library operated by UNESCO and the United States Library of Congress. The WDL has stated that its mission is to promote international and intercultural understanding, expand the volume ...

Selections from al-Qushayri's al-Risala al-Qushayriyya
{{Authority control Sufi literature Sunni literature Ash'ari literature Kalam Islamic theology books