Showing posts with label Dhul Nun al-Misri. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dhul Nun al-Misri. Show all posts
Dhul-Nun al-Misri 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan (d.244H/859CE)
Famous Egyptian Sufi [full name Dhul Nun Abu Fayd Thawban ibn Ibrahim al-Misri]. Born in Akhmim, upper Egypt [796 CE]; died in Djiza near Cairo. Considered among the most prominent figures of early Sufism & holds a position in the Sufi chronicles as high as JUNAYD, AL-BAGHDADI [d.910] & ABU YAZID AL-BISTAMI [d.874] Allah be pleased with all. A legendary alchemist and thaumaturage, he is supposed to have known the secret of the Egyptian hieroglyphs.
He studied under various teachers and travelled extensively in Arabia and Syria. Wisdom sayings & poems, which are extremely dense & rich in sufi imagery, emphasize knowledge or gnosis [m'arifah] more than fear [makhafah] or love [mahabbah], the other two major paths of spiritual realization in Sufism. No written work has survived, but a vast collection of poems, sayings & aphorisms attributed to him continues to live on in oral tradition.
He studied under various teachers and travelled extensively in Arabia and Syria. Wisdom sayings & poems, which are extremely dense & rich in sufi imagery, emphasize knowledge or gnosis [m'arifah] more than fear [makhafah] or love [mahabbah], the other two major paths of spiritual realization in Sufism. No written work has survived, but a vast collection of poems, sayings & aphorisms attributed to him continues to live on in oral tradition.
