| Religion: | Islam |
| Occupation: | Muhaddith, Mufassir, Scholar, Muslim jurist, Theologian, Sufi |
| Era: | Islamic golden age |
| Shaykh al-Islām | |
| Birth Date: | 986 (AH 376)[1] |
| Death Date: | 30 December 1072 (AH 465) |
| Denomination: | Sunni |
| Maddhab: | Shafi'i[2] |
| Creed: | Ash'ari |
| Main Interests: | Tasawwuf, Islamic theology, Fiqh, Usul al-Fiqh, Hadith, Tafsir, Grammar |
| Works: | Al-Risala al-Qushayriyya |
| Influences: | Al-Shafi'i Abu Hasan al-Ash'ari Al-Hakim al-Nishapuri Ibn Furak Abu Ishaq al-Isfara'ini Al-Sulami |
'Abd al-Karīm ibn Hawazin Abū al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī al-Naysābūrī (Persian: {{nq|عبدالکریم قُشَیری, Arabic: عبد الكريم بن هوازن بن عبد الملك بن طلحة أبو القاسم القشيري; 986 – 30 December 1072) was an Arab Muslim scholar, theologian, jurist, legal theoretician, commentator of the Qur’an, muhaddith, grammarian, spiritual master, orator, poet, and an eminent scholar who mastered a number of Islamic sciences.[3] Al-Qushayri, combined the routine instruction of a Shafi'i law specialist and Hadith expert (muhaddith) with a solid slant to mysticism and ascetic lifestyle.[4]
He was born in Nishapur which is in Khorasan Province in Iran. This region was widely known as a center of Islamic civilization up to the 13th Century CE.[5] He was the grandfather of the hadith scholar Abd al-Ghafir al-Farsi, a student of Imam al-Haramayn al-Juwayni.[6]
Al Qushayri was born into a privileged Arab family from among the Banu Qushayr who had settled near Nishapur.[7] As a young man he received the education of a country squire of the time: adab, the Arabic language, chivalry and weaponry (istiʿmāl al-silāḥ), but that all changed when he journeyed to the city of Nishapur and was introduced to the Sufi shaykh Abū ʿAlī al-Daqqāq. Daqqaq was a student of al-Nasrabadhi (d. 367/977), who was the foremost ascetic of his time in Khorasan.[8] Al-Nasrabadhi himself was a student of Abu Bakr al-Shiblì (d. 946), the student of Junayd Al-Baghdadi.[9]
Daqqāq later became the master and teacher of the mystical ways to Qushayri. He later married the daughter of Daqqāq, Fatima. After the death of Daqqāq, Qushayri became the successor of his master and father-in-law and became the leader of mystic assemblies in the madrasa that Abu Ali al-Daqqāq built in 1001 CE, which later became known as al-Madrasa al-Qushayriyya or "the school of the Qushayri family".[10] Qushayri was also the student of Al-Sulami, another student of al-Nasrabadhi (d. 367/977).
In later years Qushayri performed the pilgrimage in the company of Abu Muhammad al-Juwayni (d. 438/1047), the father of the great Imam al-Haramayn al-Juwayni, as well as traveling to Baghdad and the Hijaz. During these travels he heard Hadith from various prominent Hadith scholars. Upon his return he began teaching Hadith, which is something he is famous for. He returned to Baghdad where the Caliph al-Qa'im had him perform hadith teachings in his palace. After his return to Khurāsān, political unrest in the region between the Ḥanafī and Ashʿarī-Shāfiʿī factions in the city forced him to leave Nishapur, but he was eventually able to return and lived there until his death in 1072/465, when the Seljuq vizier Nizam al-Mulk re-established the balance of power between the Ḥanafīs and the Shāfiʿīs. He left behind six sons and several daughters between Fatima and his second wife and was buried near al-Madrasa al-Qushayriyya, next to his father in-law Abū ʿAlī al-Daqqāq[11]
Laṭā'if al-Isharat bi-Tafsīr al-Qur'ān is a famous work of al-Qushayri that is a complete commentary of the Qur'an. He determined that there were four levels of meaning in the Qur'an. First, the ibara which is the meaning of the text meant for the mass of believers. Second, the ishara, only available to the spiritual elite and lying beyond the obvious verbal meaning. Third, laṭā’if, subtleties in the text that were meant particularly for saints. And finally, the ḥaqā’iq, which he said were only comprehensible to the prophets.[12] This text placed him among the elite of the Sufi mystics and is widely used as a standard of Sufi thought.
His fame however, is due mostly to his al-Risala al-Qushayriyya (or the Epistle on Sufism). This text is essentially a reminder to the people of his era that Sufis had authentic ancestral tradition, as well as a defence of Sufism against the doubters that rose during that time of his life. Al-Qushayri repeatedly acknowledges his debt to, and admiration for, hisSufi master throughout his Risala. Daqqaq was instrumental in introducing Qushayri to another outstanding Sufi authority of Khurasan, al-Sulami, who is quoted on almost every page of the Risala.[13] It has sections where al-Qushayrī discusses the creed of the Sufis, mentions important and influential Sufis from the past, and establishes fundamentals of Sufi terminology, giving his own interpretation of those Sufi terms. Al-Qushayrī finally goes through specific practices of Sufism and the techniques of those practices. This text has been used by many Sufi saints in later times as a standard, as is obvious from the many translations into numerous languages.
Abd al-Ghafir al-Farsi said about his grandfather (Al-Qushayri):[3]
Abu al-Hasan al-Bakhirzi, the author of the book Dimyah al-Qasr, said about him:[14]
Shaykh Amin considers Imam al-Qushayri’s work to be an inspiration to the better-known work of Al-Ghazali:
Among Imam al-Qushayri's writings besides al-Risala al-Qushayriyya and Laṭā'if al-Isharat bi-Tafsīr al-Qur'ān include the following:
7. * Chopra, R. M., "SUFISM", 2016, Anuradha Prakashan, New Delhi. .
PXXI. (Translator’s Introduction: Al-Qushayri’s “Epistle on Sufism”: The author and his book):
"There Al-Qushayri attended the lectures and sermons of the renowned Sufi master (shaykh) Abu Ali al-Hasan al-Daqqaq (d. around 405/1015 or somewhat later), who headed a popular religious school (madrasa).
A student of Ibrahim b. Muhammad al-Nasrabadhi (d. 367/977), the foremost Sufi master of Khurasan in his age, al-Daqqaq belonged to the spiritual tradition that stretched back to the celebrated Sufis of the Baghdad school, including Sari al-Saqati (d. 251/865 or somewhat later) al-Junayd al-Baghdadi (d. 297/910), and Abu Bakr al-Shibli (d. 334/946)"
"Around 340/951, in confirmation of his status as an accomplished master, al-Sulami received a Sufi cloak (khirqa) from Abù ’l-Qàsim al-NaBràbàdhì (367/977–8), who, in turn, was initiated into Sufism by Abù Bakr al-Shiblì at Baghdad in 330/942.
His long association with al-Nabràbàdhì further strengthened al-Sulamì’s links with the Baghdad school of Sufism with which he had already been connected via his grandfather and al-Luluki"
PXXI. (Translator’s Introduction: Al-Qushayri’s “Epistle on Sufism”