Imam Razi

Qarashi, ai-Bhaghdadi was born at Baghdad in 508 AH/1114 AD and died in 597 Al-I/1201 AD. He wrote

his ruagnuni opus book aI-Muntatim’ on world history starting from the creation of the universe upto the 574 AH/1178 AD and other key works.

Imam Razi 

(1149-1209 AD)

Imam Fakhruddin Razi was a prominent theologian and philosopher, who contested Mu’tazilits until compelled in exile, eventually settling in Heart (Afghanistan). There he founded a Madrasa and was accorded the title of Shaikh-ul-Islam. He wrote an exegesis of the Holy Quran namely (Mafatth alGhayab) “Tafsir-e-Kabeer”, in which he• showed theology and philosophy reconciled, because of this he was accused by some of betraying Islam.

Aftar

(1145-1221)

Persian poet and sufi, Farid al-Din Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Attar was born in Nishapur, in what is now Khorasan Province, Iran. Attar traveled widely throughout Egypt, Turkistan, and India during his youth, but then he eventually returned back to live in Nishapur. Attar’s most celebrated work is Mantiq alTay7 (The Conference of the Birds), a poem consisting

102 f 4600 couplets. The work describes the journey of a

flock of birds to the home of their leader, whom they have never met. When they arrive after an arciunuN voyage, the surviving birds discover that their hader is in fact not another individual, but themselves, as a cohesive group. The poem thus uses allegory to illustrate the soul’s progress towards God. Attar was an extremely prolific writer. His other important writings include his Divan and Tadhkirat al-Auliya (Memorial/ Biographies of the Muslim Saints), a prose work about the early Sufis.

Mu’inuddin Chishti Ajmiri (R.A)

(1141-1236 AD)

Indian Sufi Khuwaja Mu’inuddin bin Ghiasuddin Sijzi, also known as Khawaja Charib Nawaz, was born in the village of Sijz/Sanjar near Herat in western Afghanistan, in 536 AH/fl41 AD. After wide travels of the Muslim world, he settled in India, at Ajmir in Rajasthan (1192 AD). - He was the founder of Chishtiyah Sufi order in India which is spread throughout present-day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh (South Asia); it is characterised by its extreme enthusiasm for’ ecstatic listening (Sama) of music (Qawwali) and poetry.

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Qutubuddin Bakhtiar Kaki (R.A)

(11854236 AD)

Indian Sufi Khuwaja Qutuhuddin Bakhtiar Kaki bin Sayyed Kamaluddin Oshi was born in the city of Osh (Kyrghyzstan: Central Asia) in 583 AH/1184 AD and alter extensive travels, lie settled down in India at Delhi. He was a disciple of Khuwaja Mu’inuddin Chishti Ajmiri (RA). He spent his life in the old city of Delhi. He died in 633-4 AH/1236 AD and his tomb is in Delhi. He wrote; (1) Fawa’id al-Salkin (2) Diwan.

Jim Arabi (R.A)

(1165-1240 AD)

- Esoteric philosopher and an original thinker, called al-Shaikh al-Akhar (The Great Teacher) Muhiyuddin Ibn al-Arabi alias Muhammad bin Au alHa’imi, al-Tai was born at Murcia, in southern Spain on 17”Ramadan ,560 AH/July 29,1165 AD. lIe is known in the West as Ihn al’Arahi and in Spain as lbn Suraqa. But in the East, he is generally known as lbn’Arahi. He received his early education in Sveille (Ashbilia) In 1223 AD, he settled in Damascus (Damishq) anti it was there that he died, twelve years later, at the age of 75 on 28u of Rabi ul Akhir, 638 AH/1240 AD. He profoundly influenced the development of Islamic mysticism and• philosophy. His doctrine of the Unity of Being (wahdat al-wujud) espousing the notion of a single reality that both transcends and is manifest in the universe , has stimulated lively debate amongst Islamic intellectuals

104 vet many centuries.

Maulana Jalal-ud-Din Rumi (R.A)

(1207-1273 AD)

A great mystic poet, philosophers teacher, mufti (religious consultant), thinker and founder of the Maulawiyah Sufi order, A Sufi who spiritually ruled over the Muslim world during the lirst half of thirteenth century. Called ‘Jalaluddin Balkhi’ by the Persians and Afghans, Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi bin Bahauddin Muhammad was born at Baikh (Afghanistan). in 60 AH/Septemher 30, 1207 AD. Between 1215 and 1220 AD, he and his family emigrated to Qonya, Turkey; it was sometime after this that he became known as Rumi’meaning ‘from Roman Anatolia’, hence his surname. Rumi’s meeting with the Shamsuddin Tabrizi around 1244 AD, led him to abandon his teaching career and devote

himself entirely to the mystic path. From then on, th 105

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Fariduddin Ganj-.e-Shakar (R.A

(1173-1271 AD)

Sufi Fariduddin bin Qadi Jamaluddin Sulayman

Farooqi (R.A) was a great Sufi of his time. He was the

Murid (disciple) of Khuwaia Qutuhuddin Bakhtiar

Kaki (R.A) and Murshid (spiritual guide) of Khuwaja

Nizamuddin Auliya (R.A). He was born in a village

Khotwal (new name Chauli Masha’ikh) in District

Multan (Punjab Pakistan) in 569 AH/1173 AD and

died in 670 AH/1271 AD. His tomb is in Pak Patan,

District Multan, Punjab, Pakistan.

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