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 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 ...
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.
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 ...
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 ...
.
See also
*
Kashf al-Mahjub
The ( fa, کشف المحجوب , lit=Revelation of the Hidden) was the first formal treatise on Sufism, compiled in the 11th-century by the Persian scholar Ali al-Hujwiri. The work contains a complete system of Sufism with its doctrines and pr ...
*
The Beginning of Guidance
*
The Revival of the Religious Sciences
''Iḥyā′ ‘Ulūm al-Dīn'' (; ) is a 12th-century book written by Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ghazali. The book was composed in Arabic and was inspired by a personal religious experience. It is regarded as one of his chief wo ...
*
The Moderation in Belief
Al-Iqtisād fī al-iʿtiqad (), or The Moderation in Belief is a major theological work by Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ghazali. George Hourani indicated that the ''Iqtisad'' and ''Mizan al-amal'' were completed before or during
Gha ...
*
List of Sunni books
This is a list of significant books in the doctrines of Sunni Islam. A classical example of an index of Islamic books can be found in Kitāb al-Fihrist of Ibn Al-Nadim.
The Qur'an and its translations (in English)
:# ''The Meaning of the Glorio ...
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
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Sufi literature
Sunni literature
Ash'ari literature
Kalam
Islamic theology books