In particular, the Dictionary of Sufi Terms and Expressions (Ethem Cebecioğlu), as well as other works that provide information about both terms and the lives of Sufi authors, are listed under the heading Other Useful Works. It is also recommended to consult the Turkish translations of the works used, as indicated in the List of Abbreviations of Work Titles.
(The bold and italicized names in parentheses indicate the abbreviations of the relevant works used in this book.)
Abd al-Qādir al-Geylānī: Muḥyī al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Qādir Abī Ṣāliḥ Mūsā Zangidost al-Geylānī; born in 470/1077 in Geylān, southwest of the Caspian Sea. He is a descendant of Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī. Having lost his father at a young age, al-Geylānī studied hadith, fiqh, and literature, and, through the mediation of Abū'l-Khayr Muḥammad Muslim al-Dabbās in Baghdad, affiliated himself with Sufism (taṣawwuf). In the madrasa assigned to him by his teacher, he taught hadith, tafsir (Qur'anic exegesis), qirāʾa (recitation), fiqh, and grammar. As a result of the severe ascetic practices he imposed upon himself, he donned the shaykh's cloak from the hand of Abū Saʿd Muḥarrimī. He died in Baghdad in 566/1165 or 1166.
As the founder of the Qādiriyya tariqa (Sufi order), al-Geylānī was initially affiliated with the Shāfiʿī madhhab (school of law), but later adopted the Ḥanbalī madhhab and became an unwavering defender of this madhhab. This choice led Ibn Taymiyya to respect him, and even to comment on his work Futūḥ al-ghayb. Among al-Geylānī's most important works are al-Ghunya li-ṭālibī ṭarīq al-Ḥaqq (Ghunya), Futūḥ al-ghayb (Futūḥ), and Kitāb al-fatḥ al-Rabbānī wa'l-fayḍ al-Raḥmānī (Fatḥ).
ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Jīlī: ʿAbd al-Karīm Ibrāhīm al-Jīlī; born in 767/1365-66 in the village of Jīl near Baghdad. He is said to be a descendant of ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Geylānī. He mentions in his works that he was a disciple of Sharaf al-Dīn al-Jabartī. He appears to have belonged to the Qādiriyya tariqa. He died in Baghdad in 832/1428.
Although he sometimes opposed him, he generally commented on the views of Ibn ʿArabī, especially regarding the doctrines of waḥdat al-wujūd (unity of being), ḥaḍarāt al-khams (the five presences), and insān al-kāmil (the Perfect Human). His most important works are: al-Insān al-kāmil (Insān), Sharḥ al-asfār ʿan risālat al-anwār (Esfār), Marātib al-wujūd wa ḥaqīqat kulli mawjūd (Marātib).
Abū Ṭālib al-Makkī: Abū Ṭālib Muḥammad ʿAlī ʿAṭiyya al-Makkī al-ʿAjamī; originally from western Iran, he acquired the nisba "al-Makkī" because he lived in Mecca for many years. Little is known about his life. It is known that he studied hadith and belonged to the Sālimiyya school. He died in Baghdad in 386/996, where he served as a preacher.
He influenced Sufis such as al-Ghazālī and ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Geylānī. His work Qūt al-qulūb (Qūt) is not only important for Sufism but also demonstrates the author's knowledge of fiqh.
Abū Yazīd al-Bisṭāmī: Abū Yazīd Ṭayfūr ʿĪsā Surūshān al-Bisṭāmī; born in the town of Bisṭām in Khurāsān, Iran. Although it is said that he was born in 131/748 or 161/777, these dates are not certain. It is said that he learned the Sufi path from Abū ʿAlī Sindī. The date of Abū Yazīd's death is also disputed: some sources state 234/848, others 261/875. His tomb is in Bisṭām.
Abū Yazīd al-Bisṭāmī, who adopted the Sufi concepts of tawhid (the oneness of God), sukr (spiritual intoxication), and fanāʾ (annihilation in God), is one of the famous Sufis known for his ecstatic utterances (shaṭḥiyyāt) that manifested during states of sukr. Because of these utterances, he sometimes faced opposition and was even expelled from Bisṭām. Despite his sharp expressions, al-Bisṭāmī was one of the Sufis most devoted to the sharia (the sacred law). Sehlegī gave much space to his shaṭḥiyyāt and anecdotes, and these utterances were collected by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Badawī and published under the title Shaṭaḥāt al-ṣūfiyya (Shaṭaḥāt).
Abū'l-Mawāhib Jamāl al-Dīn al-Shādhilī: Abū'l-Mawāhib Jamāl al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Shādhilī, who died at the beginning of the twentieth century and about whom no biographical information could be found, authored a work titled Qawānīn ḥukm al-ishrāq (Qawānīn). Fāṭimat al-Yašrutiyya: Fāṭima bint ʿAlī Nūr al-Dīn al-Tūnusiyya al-Shādhiliyya al-Yašrutiyya; descended from Ḥasan on her father's side and from Ḥusayn on her mother's side. She was born in 1308/1890 in Acre. She belonged to the Yašrutiyya branch of the Shādhiliyya tariqa. She was interested in Sufism and studied under Shaykh ʿAbd Allāh al-Jazzārī, the mufti of Acre. She read many books on Sufism. At the beginning of World War II, she traveled to Damascus with her family. She died in Damascus in 1400/1980 and was buried in the Imām Awzāʿī cemetery in Beirut.
Her works include Rihla ilā'l-Ḥaqq (Rihla), which concerns the beginning of the Sufi path; Mawāhib al-Ḥaqq (Mawāhib), which deals with the states and karāma (saintly wonders) of the companions; and Nafahāt al-Ḥaqq (Nafahāt), which addresses the methods, etiquette, and rulings of the tariqa.
al-Ghazālī: Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad Muḥammad Muḥammad Aḥmad al-Ghazālī; born in 450/1058 in the city of Ṭūs, now called Mashhad. The nisba "al-Ghazālī" is said to derive from his father's profession of spinning. Known in the West as Abuhamet and Algazel, al-Ghazālī received an excellent education. He became a master in kalām (Islamic theology), fiqh, and Sufism, and was known as Ḥujjat al-Islām (the Proof of Islam), serving as a professor of kalām at the Niẓāmiyya Madrasas of his time.
His research into kalām, philosophy, Bāṭinism, and Sufism led him into a spiritual crisis, which caused him to embark on the Sufi path. After a period of seclusion, he performed the pilgrimage (ḥajj), and upon his return, continued to teach and write at home. From his own statements, it appears that his Sufi shaykh was Abū ʿAlī al-Fārmadī.
Towards the end of his life, al-Ghazālī also engaged in the study of hadith. He died in 505/1111 in his birthplace, Ṭūs, where he was buried.
Like al-Muḥāsibī and Junayd, al-Ghazālī adopted a Sufi understanding that did not contradict the sharia, dedicating some of his works to this subject and treating sharia and Sufism together in others. The Riʿāya of al-Muḥāsibī and Qūt al-qulūb of Abū Ṭālib al-Makkī had a profound influence on his Iḥyāʾ. Among his works devoted to Sufism are Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn (Iḥyāʾ), Kīmiyā-yi saʿādat (Kīmiyāʾ), Minhāj al-ʿābidīn (Minhāj), Mishkāt al-anwār (Mishkāt), Mīzān al-ʿamal (Mīzān), al-Munqidh min al-ḍalāl (Munqidh), and al-Risāla al-laduniyya (Risāla). He also authored many works on kalām and philosophy.
al-Ghazālī (Aḥmad): Majd al-Dīn Abū'l-Futūḥ Aḥmad Muḥammad al-Ghazālī; the brother of the famous scholar al-Ghazālī, author of the Iḥyāʾ. He was also born in Ṭūs. In Sufism, he attended the gatherings of Abū Bakr al-Nassāj, a disciple of Abū Qāsim al-Jurjānī. He died in Qazvin in 520/1126.
Aḥmad al-Ghazālī followed a different path from his brother in Sufism and is the founder of the School of Love in Sufism. His work Sawāniḥ al-ʿushshāq (Sawāniḥ), written in Persian, is the first detailed exposition of this doctrine. He also trained ʿAyn al-Qudāt al-Hamadhānī, who belonged to this school.
Gümüşhānevī: Aḥmad Ziyāʾ al-Dīn Gümüşhānevī; born in 1813 in Gümüşhane. In Trabzon, where his father went for business, he studied morphology, grammar, and fiqh with Shaykh ʿUthmān Efendi and Shaykh Khālid al-Sāʿidī. Although he affiliated himself with a shaykh during his scholarly life, the name of this shaykh is unknown. He later joined Shaykh Aḥmad Ervāḍī, one of the Khālidī shaykhs, at the Alaca Minare Tekke in Üsküdar. After receiving khilāfa (spiritual succession) from Ervāḍī, he carried out Sufi guidance activities within the framework of the Naqshbandī and Shādhilī methods and etiquette. Gümüşhānevī died in Istanbul in 1893 and is buried in the Süleymaniye Mosque cemetery.
Throughout his life, Gümüşhānevī taught hadith and granted khilāfa to many people. He established four major libraries in Istanbul, Bayburt, Rize, and Trabzon/Of as part of his Sufi guidance activities, and was noted for his organizational skills. By channeling his personal savings, known as "under the pillow," into economic life, he created debt funds and published his works in a printing house he established with these funds, distributing them free of charge. Among his nearly thirty works, those on Sufism include Jāmiʿ al-uṣūl (Jāmiʿ), and those on hadith include Rāmūz al-aḥādīth and its commentary Lawāmiʿ al-ʿuqūl.
al-Ḥabashī: No information could be found about the life of Muḥammad Ḥusayn ʿAbd Allāh al-Sharīf al-Ḥabashī, whose date of birth is unknown; it is only established that he died in 1330/1911. His known work is al-ʿUqūd al-luʾluʾiyya fī bayān ṭarīqat al-sādāt al-ʿulwiyya ('Uqūd).
al-Ḥākim al-Tirmidhī: Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ʿAlī Ḥasan al-Tirmidhī; his date of birth is unknown. He studied various sciences, including hadith and Ḥanafī fiqh. Influenced by a work of Aḥmad ʿĀṣim al-Anṭākī, he turned to asceticism and attended the gatherings of Sufis such as Aḥmad Ḥadrawayh, Yaḥyā Muʿādh al-Rāzī, and Abū Turāb al-Nakhshabī. Although the exact date of his death is unknown, it is estimated that he died in Tirmidh in 320/932.
Al-Tirmidhī is the founder of the doctrine of walāya (sainthood) in Sufism and was among the first Sufis to engage with philosophy. In this way, he initiated a new beginning in Sufism and was therefore called al-Ḥākim (the Sage). He sought to reconcile reason and transmission within his own understanding.
His most important work is Kitāb khatm al-awliyāʾ, in which he sets forth the doctrine of walāya. In his work Bayān al-farq bayna al-ṣadr wa'l-qalb wa'l-fuʾād wa'l-lubb (Bayān), he discusses the various subtle faculties in humans and the differences between them. His Nawādir al-uṣūl (Nawādir) is a fine example of Sufi hadith commentary. He also wrote several works on creed against many deviant sects.
al-Ḥallāj: Abū'l-Mughīth al-Ḥusayn Manṣūr al-Ḥallāj; born in 244/858 in the Fars province of Iran. His nickname "al-Ḥallāj" is attributed in various accounts to his father's profession, to his knowledge of the secrets in people's qalb (hearts), or to a karāma (saintly wonder) he displayed in a cotton carder's shop during the owner's absence. Having completed his memorization of the Qur'an in Wāsiṭ, al-Ḥallāj was a student of Sahl al-Tustarī and ʿAmr ʿUthmān al-Makkī. Sympathetic to the Shīʿa, he also attended the gatherings of Junayd al-Baghdādī in Baghdad. Junayd, however, considered some of his questions insincere and expelled him from his circle.
Al-Ḥallāj traveled to many regions, including the Ḥijāz, Tustar, Mā Warāʾ al-Nahr, Sijistān, and Kirmān. Claiming to have received a spiritual sign to invite the people of kufr (disbelief) and shirk (associating partners with God) to Islam, he traveled to India, where he was instrumental in the conversion of many. After returning from India, he settled in Baghdad, where he began to behave differently and expressed his desire to sacrifice his life in the path of Truth. Because of his ecstatic Sufi statements such as "Ana al-Ḥaqq" (I am the Truth), he was persecuted and imprisoned, where he wrote his famous work, al-Ṭawāsīn. The hostility against him increased, and he was eventually tried and sentenced to death. After a long trial, he was executed in 309/922, first being flogged, then having his nose, arms, and legs cut off. The real reason for his execution is said to have been his secret collaboration with the Qarmaṭians, who were fierce opponents of the Abbasid regime at the time.
Al-Ḥallāj was among the Sufis who adopted the concepts of fanāʾ (annihilation in God) and sukr (spiritual intoxication). He was one of the first Sufis to address the doctrines of the Muḥammadan Reality (ḥaqīqat Muḥammadiyya) and the unity of religions. He was also the first to openly express views on certain ontological terms in Sufism. The belief that he was executed for saying "Ana al-Ḥaqq" had a profound impact on Sufis such as ʿAṭṭār and Mawlānā, and was widely treated in Turkish and Persian literature. His most important work containing these views is Kitāb al-Ṭawāsīn (Ṭawāsīn). He also compiled his poetry in a Dīwān.
al-Ḥamzāwī: Ḥasan al-ʿAdawī al-Ḥamzāwī; born in 1221/1806 in Egypt, he studied at al-Azhar. A jurist of the Mālikī madhhab, he died in Cairo in 1303/1886. He authored Kitāb mashāriq al-anwār fī fawz ahl al-tibār (Mashāriq).
al-Harawī: Shaykh al-Islām Abū Ismāʿīl ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ʿAlī al-Anṣārī al-Harawī al-Faqīh al-Ḥanbalī; born in 396/1006 in Herat. He was a descendant of Abū Ayyūb al-Anṣārī. He studied hadith and fiqh and memorized much poetry. He was a disciple of Abū'l-Ḥasan al-Kharqānī.
Because he belonged to the Ḥanbalī madhhab, it is reported that he did not get along with the Ashʿarīs and clashed with Sufis such as al-Qushayrī. It is even recorded that the Ashʿarīs complained about him to Niẓām al-Mulk, and as a result, he was exiled from Herat to Balkh. However, he later gained the favor of Niẓām al-Mulk, though he continued to face various troubles. After being allowed to return to Herat following his exiles, he died about a year later in 481/1089.
Although a Ḥanbalī, he respected Sufis who adopted the concepts of sukr and fanāʾ, including al-Ḥallāj. Among his works, the most prominent is Manāzil al-sāʾirīn (Manāzil), originally in Persian as Sād Meydān, which established the doctrine of one hundred spiritual stations in Sufism and has been widely commented upon. He also translated al-Sulamī's Arabic work Ṭabaqāt al-ṣūfiyya into Persian with various additions. His munājāt (intimate prayers) are also well known. In his work Zamm al-kalām, written to exalt the way of the Salaf, he criticizes analogical methods and innovations (bidʿa). He also authored a tafsir (Qur'anic exegesis).
al-Hujwīrī: Abū'l-Ḥasan ʿAlī ʿUthmān Abī ʿAlī al-Jullābī al-Ghaznawī al-Hujwīrī; his date of birth is unknown. He received his initial education from his father and traveled to many regions in India, Iran, and Turkistan. He belonged to the Ḥanafī madhhab and was a disciple of Abū'l-Faḍl Khuttalī on the Sufi path. He also joined the army that liberated Lahore from Indian occupation. There are four different accounts of his death: 465/1072, 470/1077, 481/1088, and 500/1106, the first being the most accepted.
Representing the Sufi understanding of Junayd al-Baghdādī, al-Hujwīrī was a tolerant Sufi who valued both reason and kashf (spiritual unveiling). He focused on the causes and ḥikma (wisdoms) of commands and prohibitions, and sought to explain Sufi wisdom rationally. His most famous work is Kashf al-maḥjūb (Hujwīrī).
Ibn ʿArabī: His full name is Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥyī al-Dīn Muḥammad ʿAlī Muḥammad al-ʿArabī al-Ṭāʾī al-Ḥātimī. He is one of the towering figures of the Sufi world. Born in 560/1165 in Murcia, in the southeast of al-Andalus under the rule of the Almohads. At a young age, he studied hadith and began to experience his first Sufi states. Among his first shaykhs was Abū'l-ʿAbbās ʿUryabī (or Ureynī). However, Ibn ʿArabī often stated that, although he wished to meet him, he benefited spiritually from Abū Madyan al-Maghribī, an African shaykh.
In 1200, Ibn ʿArabī began his journey eastward, traveling through North Africa and Egypt to Jerusalem, then to Mecca, Baghdad, and Mosul. In every place he visited, he made it a habit to stay for a while and meet with the scholars and Sufis of the area. After visiting Urfa, Diyarbakır, Sivas, and Malatya, he came to Konya at the invitation of the Seljuk sultan Ghiyāth al-Dīn Kaykhusraw I. It is also known that he adopted Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Qūnawī as his son. Ibn ʿArabī settled in Damascus, where he died in 638/1240.
Ibn ʿArabī repeatedly claimed that he wrote his works by divine dictation. He criticized philosophers, Ashʿarīs, and other thinkers, correcting some of their ideas within his own framework, and classified Sufis according to certain categories. By articulating the doctrine of waḥdat al-wujūd (unity of being) in Sufism, he asserted that the true reality is Allah, and that everything visible is but a manifestation of His names and attributes. This includes even Shayṭān, kufr, nifāq (hypocrisy), and similar matters. At a more advanced stage, he argued that every religion originally emerged from the true religion, and that the true religion is the religion of Truth, suggesting that all religions have a single source in reality. This provoked harsh criticism, especially from Ibn Taymiyya and other proponents of Salafi thought, while Sufis such as Imām Rabbānī offered more measured critiques.
Ibn ʿArabī is one of the most prolific authors in the Sufi world, with estimates of his works ranging from two hundred to eight hundred. Among his most important works are Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam (Fuṣūṣ), al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya (Futūḥāt), Inshāʾ al-dawāʾir (Inshāʾ), Laṭāʾif al-asrār (Laṭāʾif), Risālat rūḥ al-quds fī muḥāsabat al-nafs (Rūḥ), Kitāb...