Abusaeid Abolkheir
Encyclopedia
Abusa'id Abolkhayr or Abū-Sa'īd Abul-Khayr (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 Islam
ic 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
.
, today located near Torbat-e Heydarieh
in Khorāsān-e Razavī Province. His father was a herbalist
and physician
with an interest in Sufism
.
He then moved and lived a few years in the city of Nishapur
, and subsequently moved back to Meyhaneh after a few years. Abū-Sa'īd’s formal education included Islamic scholarship and Arabic literature
that he continued until the age 23 when he left them for Sufism.
He also traveled to and spent time in small towns around the same province visiting other Sufis or his teachers.
is a typical example of the Khorasan
i school of Sufism
. He extracted the essence of the teachings of the past Sufis of this school (and to some extent other schools as well) and expressed them in a simpler, and in a sense deeper, form without the use of philosophy
.
He held a special reverence for earlier Sufis, especially Bayazid Bastami
and Hallaj.
Moreover, in Asrar al-Tawhid
, Tazkiratul Awliyā and Noorul Uloom it has been written that Abū-Sa'īd went for the visit of Shaikh Abul Hassan Kharaqani
and got deeply influenced by his personality and state.
His system is based on a few themes that appear frequently in his words, generally in the form of simple emotional poems.
The main focus of his teachings is liberation from “I”, which he considered the one and only cause of separation from God and to which he attributed all personal and social misfortunes. His biography mentions that he would never call himself "I" or "we" but “they” instead. This idea of selflessness appears as Fotovvat (a concept very near to chivalry
) in his ethical teachings and as Malaamat, a kind of selflessness before the Beloved which he considers a sign of perfect love
in his strictly mystical teachings.
Both of these concepts in a certain sense are spiritual forms of warrior ethics. Despite their simplicity he believed that the full application of these teachings to one's life requires both divine grace and the guidance of an experienced Sufi, and is impossible through personal efforts alone. His picture as portrayed in various Sufi writings is a particularly joyful one of continuous ecstasy. Other famous Sufis made frequent references to him, a notable example being the Persian Sufi poet Farid al-Din Attar, who mentions Abū-Sa'īd as his spiritual guide. Many miracles are attributed to him in Sufi writings.
Another example of the poems attributed to him.
as a whole are the true meaning of Islam
. He based his teachings on the mystic interpretation of verses from Qur’an and some hadith
s and was considered a learned Islam
ic scholar. Nevertheless his interpretations of Qur’an were different from the mainstream Islamic thought of the time.
Also at his time the Islamic legitimacy of Sufi dance was a matter of debate among the scholars and some attempted to try him and his followers on charges of un-Islamic innovations, dancing and use of poetry in public sermons, but they failed to do so because of his popularity. Similar legal troubles had dogged other Sufis, notably Farid al-Din Attar and al-Hallaj.
He never fulfilled the pilgrimage to Kaaba
, called Hajj
, which according to all schools of Islamic jurisprudence is one of the five pillars of Islam
and an obligation upon all Muslims. In his biography Asrar al-Tawhid, he writes: “God knows – and this word is worth a hundred oaths – that everyone for whom God opened the way of pilgrimage to Kaaba
, was already rejected by him from the path of truth.”
To this day this has been one of the causes of criticizing him from a religious point of view. In general he was bold in expressing his mystic opinions as can be seen from his praise of Hallaj who was considered a heretic by most of the Sufis and all of the non-Sufi Muslims of the time, although the common opinion about Hallaj changed in time.
, the Persian physician and philosopher, corresponded with one another. Abū-Sa'īd records several meetings between them in his biography. The first meeting is described as three days of private conversation, at the end of which Abū-Sa'īd said to his followers that everything that he could see (i.e. in visions), Avicenna
knew, and in turn Avicenna said that everything he knew Abū-Sa'īd could see.
Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
Sufi and poet
Persian poets
The list is not comprehensive, but is continuously being expanded and includes Persian poets from Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan, Syria, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Lebanon, Azerbaijan and India-9th century:* Rudaki...
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
Asrar al-Tawhid
Asrar al-Tawhid fi Maghamat al-Sheikh Abusa'id is a work of 12th century Persian literature about the Sufi mystic Abū-Sa'īd Abul-Khayr.Thought to be written by Muhammad ibn Monavvar, one of Abul-Khayr's grandsons, 130 years after his death, it is also considered a landmark work of Sufi literature...
(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 Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic world, even to Spain
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...
. He was the first Sufi writer to widely use ordinary love poems as way to express and illuminate mysticism
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
, and as such he played a major role in foundation of Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
Sufi poetry
Sufi poetry
Sufi poetry has been written in many languages, both for private devotional reading and as lyrics for music played during worship, or dhikr. Themes and styles established in Punjabi Poetry, Sindhi Poetry, Arabic poetry and mostly Persian poetry have had an enormous influence on Sufi poetry...
. He spent most of his life in Nishapur
Nishapur
Nishapur or Nishabur , is a city in the Razavi Khorasan province in northeastern Iran, situated in a fertile plain at the foot of the Binalud Mountains, near the regional capital of Mashhad...
.
Biography
Abū-Sa'īd was born in the village of Mihne, part of Greater KhorasanGreater Khorasan
Greater Khorasan or Ancient Khorasan is a historical region of Greater Iran mentioned in sources from Sassanid and Islamic eras which "frequently" had a denotation wider than current three provinces of Khorasan in Iran...
, today located near Torbat-e Heydarieh
Torbat-e Heydarieh
Torbat-e Heydarieh is a city in and capital of Torbat-e-Heydarieh County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 119,390, in 31,869 families....
in Khorāsān-e Razavī Province. His father was a herbalist
Herbalist
An herbalist is:#A person whose life is dedicated to the economic or medicinal uses of plants.#One skilled in the harvesting and collection of medicinal plants ....
and physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
with an interest in Sufism
Sufism
Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
.
He then moved and lived a few years in the city of Nishapur
Nishapur
Nishapur or Nishabur , is a city in the Razavi Khorasan province in northeastern Iran, situated in a fertile plain at the foot of the Binalud Mountains, near the regional capital of Mashhad...
, and subsequently moved back to Meyhaneh after a few years. Abū-Sa'īd’s formal education included Islamic scholarship and Arabic literature
Arabic literature
Arabic literature is the writing produced, both prose and poetry, by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is adab which is derived from a meaning of etiquette, and implies politeness, culture and enrichment....
that he continued until the age 23 when he left them for Sufism.
He also traveled to and spent time in small towns around the same province visiting other Sufis or his teachers.
Mysticism
His mysticismMysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
is a typical example of the Khorasan
Greater Khorasan
Greater Khorasan or Ancient Khorasan is a historical region of Greater Iran mentioned in sources from Sassanid and Islamic eras which "frequently" had a denotation wider than current three provinces of Khorasan in Iran...
i school of Sufism
Sufism
Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
. He extracted the essence of the teachings of the past Sufis of this school (and to some extent other schools as well) and expressed them in a simpler, and in a sense deeper, form without the use of philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
.
He held a special reverence for earlier Sufis, especially Bayazid Bastami
Bayazid Bastami
Bayazid Bastami , also known as Abu Yazid Bistami or Tayfur Abu Yazid al-Bustami, was a Persian Sufi born in Bastam, Iran.- Background :...
and Hallaj.
Moreover, in Asrar al-Tawhid
Asrar al-Tawhid
Asrar al-Tawhid fi Maghamat al-Sheikh Abusa'id is a work of 12th century Persian literature about the Sufi mystic Abū-Sa'īd Abul-Khayr.Thought to be written by Muhammad ibn Monavvar, one of Abul-Khayr's grandsons, 130 years after his death, it is also considered a landmark work of Sufi literature...
, Tazkiratul Awliyā and Noorul Uloom it has been written that Abū-Sa'īd went for the visit of Shaikh Abul Hassan Kharaqani
Abul Hassan Kharaqani
Abu al-Hassan Ali ibn Ahmad ibn Salmān al-Kharaqāni or Shaikh Abul-Hassan Kharaqāni [also written Kherqāni] is one of the master Sufis of Islam...
and got deeply influenced by his personality and state.
His system is based on a few themes that appear frequently in his words, generally in the form of simple emotional poems.
The main focus of his teachings is liberation from “I”, which he considered the one and only cause of separation from God and to which he attributed all personal and social misfortunes. His biography mentions that he would never call himself "I" or "we" but “they” instead. This idea of selflessness appears as Fotovvat (a concept very near to chivalry
Chivalry
Chivalry is a term related to the medieval institution of knighthood which has an aristocratic military origin of individual training and service to others. Chivalry was also the term used to refer to a group of mounted men-at-arms as well as to martial valour...
) in his ethical teachings and as Malaamat, a kind of selflessness before the Beloved which he considers a sign of perfect love
Agape
Agape is one of the Greek words translated into English as love, one which became particularly appropriated in Christian theology as the love of God or Christ for mankind. In the New Testament, it refers to the fatherly love of God for humans, as well as the human reciprocal love for God; the term...
in his strictly mystical teachings.
Both of these concepts in a certain sense are spiritual forms of warrior ethics. Despite their simplicity he believed that the full application of these teachings to one's life requires both divine grace and the guidance of an experienced Sufi, and is impossible through personal efforts alone. His picture as portrayed in various Sufi writings is a particularly joyful one of continuous ecstasy. Other famous Sufis made frequent references to him, a notable example being the Persian Sufi poet Farid al-Din Attar, who mentions Abū-Sa'īd as his spiritual guide. Many miracles are attributed to him in Sufi writings.
Poetry
Many short Persian poems are attributed to him and he is considered one of the great medieval Persian poets. The attribution of these poems has always been doubtful and due to recent research, it is generally believed that he wrote only two poems in his life. The attribution of so many poems to Abū-Sa'īd was due to his great fondness for poetry. His love for poetry can be seen from the fact that he usually used love poetry written by non-Sufis in his daily prayers. Even his last words were a poem, and at his funeral instead of the recitation of Qur’anic verses, he requested the following poem.- What sweeter than this in the world!
- Friend met friend and the lover joined his Beloved.
- That was all sorrow, this is all joy
- Those were all words, this is all reality.
Another example of the poems attributed to him.
- Love came and flew as blood in my veins
- Emptied me of myself and filled me with beloved.
- Each part of my being she conquered
- Now a mere name is left to me and the rest is she.
Views on Islam
Abū-Sa'īd insists that his teachings and SufismSufism
Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
as a whole are the true meaning of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. He based his teachings on the mystic interpretation of verses from Qur’an and some hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
s and was considered a learned Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic scholar. Nevertheless his interpretations of Qur’an were different from the mainstream Islamic thought of the time.
Also at his time the Islamic legitimacy of Sufi dance was a matter of debate among the scholars and some attempted to try him and his followers on charges of un-Islamic innovations, dancing and use of poetry in public sermons, but they failed to do so because of his popularity. Similar legal troubles had dogged other Sufis, notably Farid al-Din Attar and al-Hallaj.
He never fulfilled the pilgrimage to Kaaba
Kaaba
The Kaaba is a cuboid-shaped building in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is the most sacred site in Islam. The Qur'an states that the Kaaba was constructed by Abraham, or Ibraheem, in Arabic, and his son Ishmael, or Ismaeel, as said in Arabic, after he had settled in Arabia. The building has a mosque...
, called Hajj
Hajj
The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...
, which according to all schools of Islamic jurisprudence is one of the five pillars of Islam
Five Pillars of Islam
The Pillars of Islam are basic concepts and duties for accepting the religion for the Muslims.The Shi'i and Sunni both agree on the essential details for the performance of these acts, but the Shi'a do not refer to them by the same name .-Pillars of Shia:According to Shia Islam, the...
and an obligation upon all Muslims. In his biography Asrar al-Tawhid, he writes: “God knows – and this word is worth a hundred oaths – that everyone for whom God opened the way of pilgrimage to Kaaba
Kaaba
The Kaaba is a cuboid-shaped building in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is the most sacred site in Islam. The Qur'an states that the Kaaba was constructed by Abraham, or Ibraheem, in Arabic, and his son Ishmael, or Ismaeel, as said in Arabic, after he had settled in Arabia. The building has a mosque...
, was already rejected by him from the path of truth.”
To this day this has been one of the causes of criticizing him from a religious point of view. In general he was bold in expressing his mystic opinions as can be seen from his praise of Hallaj who was considered a heretic by most of the Sufis and all of the non-Sufi Muslims of the time, although the common opinion about Hallaj changed in time.
Relationship and Avicenna
There is evidence that Abū-Sa'īd and AvicennaAvicenna
Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā , commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived...
, the Persian physician and philosopher, corresponded with one another. Abū-Sa'īd records several meetings between them in his biography. The first meeting is described as three days of private conversation, at the end of which Abū-Sa'īd said to his followers that everything that he could see (i.e. in visions), Avicenna
Avicenna
Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā , commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived...
knew, and in turn Avicenna said that everything he knew Abū-Sa'īd could see.
See also
- List of Persian poets and authors
- Persian literaturePersian literaturePersian literature spans two-and-a-half millennia, though much of the pre-Islamic material has been lost. Its sources have been within historical Persia including present-day Iran as well as regions of Central Asia where the Persian language has historically been the national language...
- Sufi poetrySufi poetrySufi poetry has been written in many languages, both for private devotional reading and as lyrics for music played during worship, or dhikr. Themes and styles established in Punjabi Poetry, Sindhi Poetry, Arabic poetry and mostly Persian poetry have had an enormous influence on Sufi poetry...