‘Abdu’llah Ansari

Ansari-yi Hiravi, Abu Isma'il Kh^waja 'Abdullah b, Abi Mansur Muhammad (1005-1089), [] mystic, traditionist, jurisprudent and poet, born in Kuhanduz, Herat, to a mother hailing from Bactria (Balkh). His genealogy traces back to Abu Ayyub Khalid b. Yazid Ansari, the famous companion of the Prophet, who stayed in his home when on his Migration he first arrived in Medina, whence the epithet ‘Sahib Rahl’ (‘Companion of the Stopover’) granted to this happy host. 'Abdullah was a favored child in the family, engaged from early childhood in the study of prophetic traditions and Koranic exegesis with eminent teachers, who included Yahya b. 'Ammar Shaybani, who came all the way from Shiraz to engage in his teaching career there. His effort was to stress the link between the approach of the mystics and the canon law (shari’at), a teaching which was inculcated in his student to remain forever afterward. He was so precocious that by all accounts he had a prodigious memory, outstanding for his ability to commit the Qur'an and Arabic poetry to heart. Although his teachers were Shafi'is, he soon turned toward the Hanbali school of jurisprudence. He departed for Nayshabur at the age of 21 in 1026 to further his studies. Then he traveled to Tus and Bastam, where learned and recorded traditions. He went on pilgrimage to Mecca in 1032, staying in Baghdad en route to attend the teaching sessions held by Abu Muhammad Khallal Baghdadi. On his return from Mecca he managed to visit the renowned Sufi master, Abu al-Hasan Kharaqani. This encounter deeply moved him, bringing to fruition the stirrings of mystical consciousness instilled in his being by the charisma of his father. He also drew inspiration from other distinguished Sufis of his time, such as Shaykh Abu Sa'id Abu al-Khayr. He studied hadith with a number of scholars, including 'Abd al-Jabbar Jarrahi, Qazi Abu Mansur Azdi, Abu Sa'id Sarakhsi, Abu al-Fawaris Pushanji, Ahmad ibn Manjawayh Isfahani, and Muhammad b. 'Abdullah Shirazi. In turn, scholars like Mu'tamin Saji, 'Abdullah Samarqandi, 'Abd al-Sabur Hiravi, Hanbal-i Bukhari, and his deputy Abu al-Waqt transmitted traditions on his authority. In jurisprudence he followed Ahmad  b. Hanbal. Finally, he returned to his hometown, settling there and engaging in instruction of disciples. These were the days when the powerful Shafi’ite authority Juwayni, famous as the Imam al-Haramayn, held sway at the Nizamiya Academy in Nishapur. As a proponent of the Ash’arite theology associated with Shafi’ism, he was the object of attack by Ansari, who wrote books repudiating this school. As a result, he received numerous death threats and was even exiled from Herat on the orders of Khwaja Nizam al-Mulk, the chief minister of the caliphate. Representing the Seljuq rulers of the realm, the minister, however much he respected the Master of Herat for his piety and erudition, thus protecting him from his enemies, [] could not allow him to incite riot in the city. Khwaja 'Abdullah had the honour of being granted the title of Shaykh al-Islam and enjoyed the following of many disciples in Herat. Having lost his eyesight in his final years, died at the age of 84 on Friday 8 March 1089 and was buried at Gazurgah, located 10 kilometers from Herat. His tomb is a shrine of visitation.

This prodigy had begun school at the age of four and was composing serious poetry by the age of nine. An important authority as a traditionist, he underwent great hardship defending his position on the Traditions of the Prophet. He toiled from dawn to dark on study of the Koran, wasting nary a moment in his life, paying close heed to the guidelines of the authorities. He composed poetry, including much of his verse in his treatises, though his fame does not lie in the limited number of his surviving poems, but rather in his books and dissertations. He was not only a notable Koranic exegete, traditionist, mystic and scholar, but also as a stylist in prose and verse. Not only was he already a talented writer as a child, but, according to one account, collected and transmitted traditions as early as the age of nine. His works include Manazil al-sa'irin on mysticism and Sufism; Anwar al-fahqiq; Rahl al-Rasul; Risala-yi arba'in; Tabaqat al-sufiya (in the dialect of Herat), a compendium of the biographies of mystics; Tafsir-i adabi u ‘irfani, a seminal combined canonical and mystical exegesis of the Koran which served as the basis for Maybudi's monumental Kashf al-asrar u ‘uddat al-abrar; Zad al-'arifin; Kanz al-salikin; Qalandar-nama; Mahabbat-nama; Ilahi-nama; Risala-yi waridat; Haft hisar; Risaa-yi dil u jan; Munajat-nama; Nasa'ih u zamm al-kalam. The Tabaqat al-Sufiyya, amongst his best known works, ranks as one of the greatest sources in the field. The work is based on the Arabic text of Abu 'Abd al-Rahman Muhammad b. Husayn al-Sulami Nayshaburi of the same name, comprising accounts and sayings of five generations of Sufi masters, enlarged by a disciple of Ansari, translating the work into Persian and adding notes taken from lectures by his master.

Atashkada-yi Azar (2, 739-741); Tarikh-i adabiyyat dar Iran (2, 911-915); Riyad al-'arifin (30-31); Nafahat al-uns (336-339).