al-Kalābādhī

Abū Bakr Muhammad al-Kalābādhī ( Arabic أبو بكر محمد الكلاباذي, DMG Abū Bakr Muḥammad al-Kalābāḏī * unknown, but very likely in Bukhara ; † depending on the source 990 , 994 or 995 also in Bukhara) was the author of the Kitab at-ta'arruf , one of the most important works on Sufism ( Islamic mysticism ) in the first three centuries of Islam. The name of his father is given differently with Ibrāhīm or Ishāq.

Life

Very little is known about the life of Abu Bakr al-Kalabadhi. His nisba indicates that he lived in Kalabadh, a district of Bukhara, and that he was probably of Persian descent. Bukhara was a city in Transoxania , then Persia and now Uzbekistan . Depending on the source, he died in 990, 994, or 995 (see the introduction of Arberry for details ). The tomb in Bukhara is still visited today for worship and devotion.

al-Kalabadhi studied Sufism under Abu al-Husayn al-Farisi and Hanafi Fiqh under Muhammad ibn Fadl .

Works

Of his five or six works, two Arabic ones have survived to this day:

1. The Bahr al-fawa'id fi ma'ani al-akhar . A brief review of moral 22 Hadith that Muhammad be awarded
2. The Kitab at-ta'arruf (the English translation by AJ Arberry is entitled The Doctrine of the Sufis , see literature).

The fame of al-Kalabadhi rests on the Kitab at -ta'arruf. Several detailed comments were written on the rather short work, which far exceed the scope of the Kitab at-ta'arruf . The Kitab at-ta'arruf consists of 75 mostly short chapters. The book was written for two main purposes: On the one hand, it introduces soberly (Sufi technical term) to Sufism of the first three centuries of Islam. On the other hand, al-Kalabadhi wants to prove in it that Islamic orthodoxy and Sufism do not contradict each other.

The second point in particular was of great importance at the time of al-Kalabadhi, as there was a danger that Sufism could be declared heresy. Not long before that, in the year 922, the famous Sufi al-Hallaj was publicly executed for alleged heresy. That this must have had an influence on al-Kalabadhi can be inferred from two indications: al-Kalabadhi's teacher, Abu al-Husayn al-Farisi, was a friend of al-Hallaja's. Although al-Kalabadhi often quotes al-Hallaj, he never mentions him by name. Instead, he usually uses the cipher One of the great Sufis .

The book is still understandable for today's readers. It is particularly important for Islamic studies because of the many quotations used, which are one of the main sources for an insight into the first three centuries of Sufism.

literature

• Arthur J. Arberry (transl.): The Doctrine of the Sufis . University Press, Cambridge 1977, ISBN 0-521-21647-8 (reprint of the London 1935 edition; an introduction to and English translation of the Kitab at-ta'arruf ).
• Kalabadhi . In: Emeri van Donzel (Ed.): Encyclopaedia of Islam . Brill, Leiden 1978, ISBN 90-04-05745-5 .
• Kalabadhi . In: Mircea Eliade (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Religion, Vol. 8 . Macmillan, New York 1987, ISBN 0-02-909790-8 , pp. 230-231.