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AL-HARAWI AL-ANSARI, ABD ALLAH

by GF Haddad - Rabi` al-Awwal 1424

`Abd Allh ibn Muhammad ibn `Al Ab Ism`l al-Haraw al-Ansr al-Hanbal

(396-481), a major Sf shaykh, hadth Master, Qur'nic commentator, and philologistof the Hanbal school eulogized by al-Dhahab as "a genuine advocate of the

transmitted sources" (athar quhh). He used to distribute his wealth once a year to

students and townspeople and was fearless in speaking the truth to princes. He is one

of those known as "Shaykh al-Islm" but Ibn al-Subk said: "He does not deserve that

title but was given out of fanaticism, in imitation of Ab `Uthmn [al-Sbn]."1

A fanatical censor of innovations, he was an arch-enemy of Ash`ars in his time,

against whom he wrote Dhamm al-Kalm ("The Blame of Dialectic Theology"),

admired by al-Dhahab but banned by Ibn Hajar - who forbade his students to read it -

as a model of bad writing.2 Because of this enmity he was expelled from Balkhrepeatedly and jailed together with his students. Asked before Nizm al-Mulk's court

why he cursed Ab al-Hasan al-Ash`ar, he replied:

I do not know Ab al-Hasan, but I curse whoever does not firmly hold that Allh

is in the heaven, or that the Qur'n is in the mushaf, and says that the Prophet Allah

bless and greet him - today is no longer a prophet!

To hold that Allh is located in, above, or below the heaven is

anthropomorphism; to hold that the mushaf is pre-eternal is indwelling (hull); finally,

al-Ash`ar and his School never held that the Prophet Allah bless and greet him - todayis no longer a Prophet, but the reverse.3

Another work al-Haraw compiled in refutation of Ash`ars is al-Frq fl-Sift -

also known as al-Frq fl-Farq bayn al-Muthbita wal-Mu`attila - in which he states:

"Allh is in the seventh heaven (f al-sam' al-sbi`a) over the Throne (`al al-`arsh)

Himself (bi nafsihi)" and "in (f) as well as over (`al) the seventh heaven."4

A third work compiled against Ash`ars, al-Arba`n fl-Tawhd is replete, like the

Frq, with blatant anthropomorphism and hadth forgeries. Perhaps the most extreme

illustration of anthropomorphism ever authored by a purportedly Sunni authority, it

contains about forty chapters, among them:

"Exposition on the Fact that Allh Most High is Something (shay')";

"Exposition of the Fact that Allh Most High is a Person (shakhs)";

"Affirmation of the Fact that Allh Most High has a Limit (hadd)";

"Affirmation of the Fact that Allh Most High has Sides or Directions (jiht)";

"Affirmation of the Fact that Allh Most High has an Image (sra)";

"Affirmation of His Handwriting (khatt)";

"Affirmation of the Fact that Allh Most High has Fingers (asbi`)";

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and - in conclusion - "The Prohibition of Delving Too Deep into the Divine

Attributes"!5

Upon the encouragement of a female relative, Bb Nznn, al-Haraw al-Ansr

met then became the student of the unlettered Naqshband Shaykh, Khwj Ab al-

Hasan al-Kharqn (d 425).6

He authored several treatises detailing the principles and methods of the Sf

path. Among them:

Manzil al-S'irn il al-Haqq al-Mubn, frowned upon by Ibn al-Qayyim, al-

Dhahab, Ibn Rajab, and characterized by their teacher Ibn Taymiyya as "falling into

the doctrine of incarnationism (hull)"7 and "ending up in literal merging with the

Divine (haqqat al-ittihd),"8 of which Ibn al-Qayyim wrote an expurged version -cum-

critical commentary entitled Madrij al-Slikn.

Tabaqt al-Sfiyya ("Synchronical Layers of the Sf Masters"), the expanded

version of an earlier work by the - Ash`ar - Shaykh Ab `Abd al-Rahmn al-Sulam (d

411) bearing the same title.

`Ilal al-Maqmt ("The Pitfalls of Spiritual Stations"), his testament, describing

the characteristics of spiritual states for the student and the teacher in the Sf path; Ibn

Taymiyya in his Minhj al-Sunna again said that al-Haraw filled it with notions of

indwelling and union-with-the-Divine.9

Sd Maydn (in Persian, "The Hundred Fields"), a commentary on themeanings of love in the verse: {If you love Allh, follow me, and Allh will love you}

(3:31). This book collects al-Haraw's lectures in the years 447-448 at the Great Mosque

of Herat (in present-day Afghanistan) in which he presents his most eloquent

exposition of the necessity of following the Sf path. He is also said to have devoted

three hundred and sixty sittings to the commentary of the verse {Lo! those unto whom

kindness has gone forth before from Us, they will be far removed from thence

[Hellfire]} (21:101).

Kashf al-Asrr wa `Uddat al-Abrr (in Persian, "The Unveiling of the Secrets

and the Harness of the Righteous"), in ten volumes by al-Maybd, it contains al-Haraw's Qur'nic commentary.

Al-Haraw al-Ansr is documented by al-Dhahab in his Trkh al-Islm and

Siyar A`lm al-Nubal', Ibn Rajab in his Dhayl Tabaqt al-Hanbila,10 and Jm in his

book in Persian Manqib-i Shaykh al-Islm Ansr11 among others.

Main source: Siyar 14:38-48 4333.

NOTES

1_Ibn al-Subk, Tabaqt al-Shfi`iyya al-Kubr (4:272-273).

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2_As mentioned by Ibn Hajar's student al-Sakhw in the introduction to al-Jawhir wal-Durar.

3_See on these notions Shaykh Nuh Keller's article, "Is It Permissible for a Muslim to Believe

that Allh Is in the Sky in a Literal Sense?" at http://www.masud.co.uk/ and Ibn `Abd al-Salm's

al-Mulha in general, especially the section entitled "Proofs Against Those Who Claim the

mushaf is Pre-Eternal". On the attribution to Ash`ars of the heretical notion that "the Prophetupon him peace - today is no longer a prophet," see our notice on Ibn Frk at

livingislam.org/n/shf_e.html .

4_As quoted by al-Dhahab in Mukhtasar al-`Uluw (p. 278 339 and p. 151 150).

5_More alarming yet is the characterization of the above as "Salaf doctrine" (al-`aqda al-

salafiyya) by al-Haraw's admirer `Abd Allh ibn Muhammad al-Ansr in his recent 5-volume

edition of Dhamm al-Kalm (1:83, 1:86).

6_The Naqshband chain of masters at the time of al-Kharqn is as follows: Ab Yazd al-

Bistm > Ab al-Hasan al-Kharqn > Ab `Al al-Farmad (al-Ghazzl's teacher) > Ab Ysufal-Hamadn > Ab al-`Abbs al-Khidr > `Abd al-Khliq al-Ghujdawn.

7_In his Majm` al-Fatw (5:126, 5:230, 14:11, cf. 5:485, 8:317).

8_In his Minhj al-Sunna (1986 ed 5:342).

9_As quoted in al-Ghumr's al-Burhn (p. 52).

10_Ibn Rajab, Dhayl Tabaqt al-Hanbila (1:64-85).

11_Edited by A.J. Arberry, "Jami's Biography of Ansr" in The Islamic Quarterly (July-December 1963) p. 57-82.

http://www.livingislam.org/n/shf_e.htmlhttp://www.livingislam.org/n/shf_e.htmlhttp://www.livingislam.org/n/shf_e.html