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Sufi Penseurs 2

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Ahmed ar-Rifa'i. Ahmed ar-Rifa'i (1118–1182) was the founder of the Rifa'i Sufi order. Early life[edit] Shaikh Ahmed er-Rifai was born in Hasen Region of Wasit, Iraq on a Thursday. This day was in the first half of Recep of lunar months. When he was seven years old, his father Seyyid Sultan Ali died in Baghdad. Silsila[edit] Ahmed er-Rifai's family comes from Husayn ibn Ali, the son of Ali, at the side of his mother. Education[edit] He learnt Quran from Shaikh Abd üs-Semi el-Hurbuni in Hasen, his birthplace. On the other hand, when he was attending dhikr meetings of his uncle Shaikh Mansur er-Rabbani, he was also attending the courses of his other uncle Shaikh Ebubekir who was a major scientiic figure at the time. He dedicated his entire time to learning such religious knowledge to such an extent that eventually even his teachers respected him.

He give courses in hadith, canonical jurisprudence, religious precepts and commentary on the Quran (Tafsir) everyday except for Monday and Thursday. Ahmad Zarruq. Ahmad Zarruq also known as Imam az-Zarruq (Ahmad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Isa) (1442–1493 CE) was a Muslim scholar and Sufi sheikh from Fes, Morocco. He is considered one of the most prominent and accomplished legal, theoretical, and spiritual scholars in Islamic history, and is thought by some to have been the renewer of his time (mujaddid). He was also the first to be given the honorific title “Regulator of the Scholars and Saints” (muhtasib al-‘ulama’ wa al-awliya’).[1] Life[edit] Zarruq was born on the 7th June 1442 (22nd Muharram,846 of the Islamic 'Hijra' calendar) - according to Sheikh Abd Allah Gannun - in a village in the region of Tiliwan, a mountain area of Morocco.[2] He was a Berber of the tribe of the Barnusi who lived in an area between Fes and Taza, and was orphaned of both his mother and father within the first seven days of his birth.

His grandmother, an accomplished jurist, raised him and was his first teacher. Notes[edit] Bibliography[edit] External links[edit] Ahmad Sirhindi. Imām Rabbānī Shaykh Ahmad al-Farūqī al-Sirhindī (1564–1624) was an Indian Islamic scholar from Punjab, a Hanafi jurist, and a prominent member of the Naqshbandī Sufi order. He is described as Mujaddid Alf Thānī, meaning the "reviver of the second millennium", for his work in rejuvenating Islam and opposing the heterodoxies prevalent in the time of Mughal Emperor Akbar.[1] While early South Asian scholarship credited him for contributing to conservative trends in Indian Islam, more recent works, notably by ter Haar, Friedman, and Buehler, have pointed to Sirhindi's significant contributions to Sufi epistemology and practices.[2] Most of the Naqshbandī suborders today, such as the Mujaddidī, Khālidī, Saifī, Tāhirī, Qasimiya and Haqqānī sub-orders, trace their spiritual lineage through Sirhindi, often referring to themselves as "Naqshbandī-Mujaddidī".

Sirhindi's shrine, known as Rauza Sharif is located in Sirhind, India. Early life and education[edit] Sirhindi's world view[edit] Works[edit] Ahmad Ghazali. Aḥmad Ghazālī (Persian: احمد غزالی‎; full name Majd al-Dīn Abū al-Fotuḥ Aḥmad Ghazālī) was a Persian mystic, writer, and eloquent preacher (c. 1061–1123 or 1126).[1] He is best known in the history of Sufism for his ideas on love, expressed primarily in the celebrated work entitled Sawāneḥ. Life[edit] The younger brother of the celebrated theologian, jurist, and Sufi, Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad al-Ghazālī, Aḥmad Ghazālī was born in a village near Tūs, in Khorasan. Here he was educated primarily in jurisprudence.

He turned to Sufism while still young, becoming the pupil first of Abu Bakr Nassaj Tusi (died 1094) and then of Abu Ali Farmadi (died 1084). He was advanced in Sufism by 1095, and his brother Abū Ḥāmid asked him to teach in his place in the Nezamiya of Baghdad and assume responsibility during his planned absence. Aḥmad Ghazālī’s thought, centered as it was on the idea of love, left a profound mark on the development of Persian mystical literature, especially poetry celebrating love. Ahmad al-Alawi. Ahmad al-Alawi (1869–14 July 1934), (Arabic: أحمد بن مصطفى العلاوي‎), was the founder of a popular modern Sufi order, the Darqawiyya Alawiyya, a branch of the Darqawi, Shadhili tariqa.

Biography[edit] Sheikh Ahmad al-Alawi was born in Mostaganem, Algeria, in 1869. He was first educated at home by his father. From the time of his father's death in 1886 until 1894, he worked in Mostaganem and followed the Aissawiyya order In 1894, he traveled to Morocco, and followed for fifteen years the Darqawi shaykh Muhammad al-Buzidi. Spread of the Alawiyya[edit] The Alawiyya spread throughout Algeria, as well as in other parts of North Africa, as a result of Sheikh al-Alawi's travels, preaching and writing, and through the activities of his muqaddams (representatives).

The Alawiyya was one of the first Sufi orders to establish a presence in Europe, notably among Algerians in France and Yemenis in Wales. Teachings of Sheikh al-Alawi[edit] Sheikh al-Alawi attempted to reconcile Islam and modernity. Suhrawardiyya. Suhrawardy redirects here. For the East Bengali politician and Prime Minister of Pakistan, see Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy. The well-known Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi "the Executed" (1153 - 1191CE), the Shia founder of Illuminationism, is unconnected.

Origin[edit] The mausoleum of the Suhrawardi Sheikh Zain-ud-Din Bobo in Tashkent, Uzbekhistan The order originated in Iraq though it spread all over the Islamic world under its founder's nephew, Abu Hafs Umar al-Suhrawardi (1145 – 1234 CE), who was sent by the Caliph in Baghdad as an ambassador to the Ayyubid Sultan Al-Adil I of Egypt, to Khwarezm-Shah Muhammad of Bukhara and to Kayqubad I, Sultan of Rûm. The order's founder was a disciple (murid) of Ahmad Ghazali, brother of the noted thinker Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, who taught Shafi'i jurisprudence (fiqh) at Al-Nizamiyya of Baghdad Academy.

Umar al-Suhrawardi[edit] India[edit] The order became popular in India owing to the work of Bukhari and his successor Baha-ud-din Zakariya. See also[edit] Abū-Sa'īd Abul-Khayr. Statue of Abū-Sa'īd Abul-Khayr in Nishapur. Abusa'id Abolkhayr or Abū-Sa'īd Abul-Khayr (Persian: ابوسعید ابوالخیر‎) (December 7, 967 - January 12, 1049), 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 majority of what is known from his life comes from the book Asrar al-Tawhid (اسرارالتوحید, or "The Mysteries of Unification") written by Mohammad Ibn Monavvar, one of his grandsons, 130 years after his death. The book, which is an important early Sufi writing in Persian, presents a record of his life in the form of anecdotes from a variety of sources and contains a collection of his words.

During his life his fame spread throughout the Islamic world, even to Spain. He was the first Sufi writer to widely use ordinary love poems as way to express and illuminate mysticism, and as such he played a major role in foundation of Persian Sufi poetry. He spent most of his life in Nishapur. Poetry[edit] Mahmud Shabistari. Mahmūd Shabistarī (1288–1340) (Persian: محمود شبستری‎) is one of the most celebrated Persian[1][2][3] Sufi poets of the 14th century.[4] Life and work[edit] Shabistari was born in the town of Shabestar near Tabriz in 1288 (687 AH), where he received his education.[5] He became deeply versed in the symbolic terminology of Ibn Arabi. He wrote during a period of Mongol invasions. His most famous work is a mystic text called The Secret Rose Garden (Gulshan-i Rāz) written about 1311 in rhyming couplets (Mathnawi).

This poem was written in response to seventeen queries concerning Sufi metaphysics posed to "the Sufi literati of Tabriz" by Rukh Al Din Amir Husayn Harawi (d. 1318).[6] It was also the main reference used by François Bernier when explaining Sufism to his European friends (in: Lettre sur le Quietisme des Indes; 1688) See also[edit] Notes[edit] Jump up ^ Leonard Lewisohn, C. References[edit] Leonard Lewisohn, Beyond Faith and Infidelity. External links[edit] Abul-Hassan Kharaqani.

Abu al-Hassan Ali ibn Ahmad (or ibn Ja'far) ibn Salmān al-Kharaqāni or Shaikh Abul-Hassan Kharaqāni [also written Kherqāni] (Persian شیخ ابوالحسن خرقانی ) is one of the master Sufis of Islam. He was born in 963 (352 Hijri) from Persian[1] parents in Khorasan in a village called Kharaqan (today located in Semnan province of Iran, near Bustam) and died in the day of Ashura (10th of Muharram) in 1033 (425 Hijri) He was the disciple of Shaikh Abul-Abbas Qassab Amoli in tariqah but had deep spiritual relation with Bayazid Bastami, a well-known Sufi Master who died almost a century before him but had spoken about the personality and state of Abul Hassan Kharaqani.

Farid al-Din Attar, a famous Persian poet and Sufi, devoted a large part of his book Tadhkiratul-Awliya (Biography of the Saints) about the personality, state and stories of Abul Hassan Kharaqani. Abul Hassan Kharaqani was the Master or Shaikh of the famous Persian Sufi and poet, Khwajah Abdullah Ansari. Some of his sayings[edit] Abu al-Najib al-Suhrawardi. He studied Islamic law in Baghdad, then set up a retreat by the river Tigris, where he gathered disciples, which eventually came to be the Sufi order of Suhrawardiyya.

His paternal nephew Abu Hafs Umar al-Suhrawardi expanded the order. His name is also sometimes transcribed as Diya al-din Abu 'n-Najib as-Suhrawardi. Jump up ^ al-Suhrawardi, F. Sobieroj, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. IX, ed. C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Abdalqadir as-Sufi. Abdalqadir as-Sufi (born 1930 Ian Dallas in Ayr, Scotland) is a Shaykh of Instruction, leader of the Darqawi-Shadhili-Qadiri Tariqa, founder of the Murabitun World Movement and author of numerous books on Islam, Sufism (Tasawwuf) and political theory. Born in Scotland, he was a playwright and actor before he accepted Islam in 1967 with the Imam of the Masjid al-Qarawiyyin (Qarawiyyin Mosque) in Fes, Morocco.[1] Abdalqadir as-Sufi has worked in spreading Islam since that time and has students all over the world in both Muslim and non-Muslim lands.

He continues to write; among his latest publications are The Book of Tawhid, The Book of Hubb, The Book of 'Amal and The Book of Safar, and as Ian Dallas Ian Dallas Collected Works, The Time of the Bedouin – on the politics of power, Political Renewal and The Interim is Mine. His commentary on current events and issues affecting Muslims in different parts of the world can be found on his website. Early life[edit] Conversion[edit] Teaching[edit] Abdul-Qadir Gilani. Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (Arabic: عبد القادر الجيلاني‎), (Turkish: Abdülkâdir Geylânî, Kurdish: Evdilqadirê Geylanî, Persian: عبد القادر گیلانی‎,Urdu: عبد القادر گیلانی‎ Abdolqāder Gilāni, Bengali: আব্দুল কাদের জিলানী (রহ.)) Al-Sayyid Muhiyudin Abu Muhammad Abdal Qadir Al-Jilani Al-Hasani Wal-Hussaini (born 11 Rabi al-Thani, 470 Hijri, in the town of Na'if, district of Gilan, Ilam Province Or Amol of Tabarestan , Persia, died 8 Rabi al-Awwal 561 AH, in Baghdad,[8] (1077–1166 CE), was a Persian[9] Hanbali jurist and Sufi based in Baghdad.

Qadiriyya was his patronym. Family[edit] Al-Gilani was born around 1077, in , Persia. [nb 1][10] His family was part of the Hanbali school, one of the schools of religious law within Sunni Islam. Al-Gilani's father, Abu Salih Musa al-Hasani, was a descendant of Hasan ibn Ali, (Imam Hasan). Hassan was the eldest son of Ali and Fatimah. Name[edit] Paternal heritage[edit] Education[edit] Al Gilani spent his early life in Na'if, the town of his birth. Books[edit]

Tage Lindbom. Tage Leonard Lindbom, who later in his life also took the name Sidi Zayd, (24 October 1909, Malmö - 2001), PhD in Political science, who was early in his life the party theoretician and director of the archives of the Swedish Social Democratic Party 1938-1965. He served on public boards and commissions dealing with cultural questions, including the executive board of the Royal Opera.

Later in his life he converted to Islam. He became a representative of the Traditional School and the Perennial philosophy. Lindbom has been called "the grand old man" of Swedish conservativism and is the author of more than 20 books on philosophy and religion. He was a contributor to the quarterly journal, Studies in Comparative Religion, which dealt with religious symbolism and the Traditionalist perspective.

Since the early 1960s Lindbom was a disciple of the Swiss metaphysician Frithjof Schuon, who is the foremost representative of sapiential esoterism in the modern world. Writings in English[edit] Kurt Almqvist. Kurt Almqvist (1912–2001), PhD in Romance Languages, Swedish poet, intellectual and spiritual figure, representative of the Traditionalist School and the Perennial philosophy. Almqvist was a lifelong disciple of the Swiss metaphysician and spiritual guide Frithjof Schuon. He came into close contact with the spiritual representatives of the Shadhiliyya order in the beginning of the 1940s. He introduced Schuon's teachings on spirituality and transcendent unity of religions in a number of publications.

[citation needed] He also introduced the works of René Guénon in his writings. He was a frequent contributor to the quarterly journal, Studies in Comparative Religion, which dealt with religious symbolism and the Traditionalist perspective. Almqvist received his doctorate in 1951 from Uppsala university on a dissertation concerning Guilhem Ademar, Poésies du troubadour Guilhem Adémar. Articles in English[edit] Works in French[edit] Works in Hungarian[edit] Books in Swedish[edit] See also[edit] Hossein Nasr. Robert Frager. Early life and education[edit] Frager attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon from 1957 to 1961. He graduated with a B.A. in Psychology. Frager earned a PhD in Social Psychology from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which he attended from 1961 to 1967. From 1963 to 1965, Frager was a Fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.

From 1967 to 1968, he was a Research Fellow at Keio University in Tokyo, Japan. Career[edit] Frager is renowned[citation needed] for his pioneering work in the field of transpersonal psychology and for his role in establishing the country's first educational institution dedicated to this emerging field of research and practice. Selected bibliography[edit] Motivation and Personality (1986, supervising editor)Love Is the Wine: Talks of a Sufi Master in America (1987, editor)Personality and Personal Growth (1993 onwards)Who Am I? Personal life[edit] References[edit] External links[edit] Michael Sells. Martin Lings. Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki. Mouride. Galip Hassan Kuscuoglu. Rabia al-Adawiyya. Reshad Feild. Ghulam Mustafa Khan. Nizamuddin Auliya. Uwais al-Qarni.

Mansur Al-Hallaj. Moinuddin Chishti. Junayd Baghdadi. Dhul-Nun al-Misri. Hasan al-Basri. List of tariqas.