Ruwaym

Ruwaym was an early teacher of Ibn Khafif, another famous mystic.^[3] Ruwaym has been described as both being on poor terms with Ibn Khafif's other teacher, Junayd of Baghdad,^[4] and with being a "friendly rival" and associate of Junayd's.^[5][6] In addition to his students, Ruwaym was a devoted family man, an attachment to the material world which put him in contrast to many other Sufi mystics at his time.^[7][8] Ruwaym spent some time as the deputy of the chief judge of Baghdad, his home town.^[9]

Ruwaym died in the year 303 of the Islamic calendar,^[10] corresponding to the year 915 on the Gregorian calendar.^{[11][12][13][14]}

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Ibn Khafif

Ibn Khafif

Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad ibn al-Khafif (882-982) known as al-Shaykh al-Kabir or Shaykh al-Shirazi was a Persian mystic and sufi from Iran. He is credited with bringing Sufism (tasawwuf) to Shiraz.

Junayd of Baghdad

Junayd of Baghdad

Junayd of Baghdad was a Persian mystic and one of the most famous of the early Islamic saints. He is a central figure in the spiritual lineage of many Sufi orders.

Baghdad

Baghdad

Baghdad is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon. In 762 CE, Baghdad was chosen as the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, and became its most notable major development project. Within a short time, the city evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center of the Muslim world. This, in addition to housing several key academic institutions, including the House of Wisdom, as well as a multiethnic and multi-religious environment, garnered it a worldwide reputation as the "Center of Learning".

Islamic calendar

Islamic calendar

The Hijri calendar, also known in English as the Muslim calendar and Islamic calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to determine the proper days of Islamic holidays and rituals, such as the annual fasting and the annual season for the great pilgrimage. In almost all countries where the predominant religion is Islam, the civil calendar is the Gregorian calendar, with Syriac month-names used in the Levant and Mesopotamia but the religious calendar is the Hijri one.

Gregorian calendar

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced on February 24 with a papal bull, and went into effect in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years differently so as to make the average calendar year 365.2425 days long, more closely approximating the 365.2422-day 'tropical' or 'solar' year that is determined by the Earth's revolution around the Sun.

One of the first practitioners of Sufism, Ruwaym viewed the practice as a resignation of the empirical self.^[15] Tawhid, under Ruwaym's definition, was the annihilation of humanity and the overarching importance of the divine.^[11] In fact, Ruwaym's humility was to the extent that shame was a virtue as no matter where a person went God is near, and a human being should be ashamed in such a situation.^[16] Less emphasis was placed on absolute trust in God for all things, and more on stewardship and responsibility.^[6] His influence within Sufism was strong early on, with many of Baghdad's early Sufis having been disciples of his.^[17] Ruwaym held a negative view of Mansur Al-Hallaj, initially believing in his miracles though later rejecting such claims.^[18]

In terms of Muslim jurisprudence, Ruwaym was a Zahirite, following the school of Dawud al-Zahiri.^[3][19] He was one of the school's important early jurists, being remembered by later adherent Ibn Hazm as one of the top leaders of the school.^[20]

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Sufism

Sufism

Sufism, also known as Tasawwuf, is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ritualism, asceticism and esotericism. It has been variously defined as "Islamic mysticism", "the mystical expression of Islamic faith", "the inward dimension of Islam", "the phenomenon of mysticism within Islam", the "main manifestation and the most important and central crystallization" of mystical practice in Islam, and "the interiorization and intensification of Islamic faith and practice".

Tawhid

Tawhid

Tawhid is the indivisible oneness concept of monotheism in Islam. Tawhid is the religion's central and single most important concept, upon which a Muslim's entire religious adherence rests. It unequivocally holds that God in Islam is One and Single.

Fiqh

Fiqh

Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is often described as the human understanding and practices of the sharia, that is human understanding of the divine Islamic law as revealed in the Quran and the Sunnah. Fiqh expands and develops Shariah through interpretation (ijtihad) of the Quran and Sunnah by Islamic jurists (ulama) and is implemented by the rulings (fatwa) of jurists on questions presented to them. Thus, whereas sharia is considered immutable and infallible by Muslims, fiqh is considered fallible and changeable. Fiqh deals with the observance of rituals, morals and social legislation in Islam as well as economic and political system. In the modern era, there are four prominent schools (madh'hab) of fiqh within Sunni practice, plus two within Shi'a practice. A person trained in fiqh is known as a faqīh.

Dawud al-Zahiri

Dawud al-Zahiri

Dāwūd bin ʿAlī bin Khalaf al-Ẓāhirī was a Persian Muslim scholar, jurist, and theologian during the Islamic Golden Age, specialized in the study of Islamic law (sharīʿa) and the fields of hermeneutics, biographical evaluation, and historiography of early Islam. He is widely regarded as the founder of the Ẓāhirī school of thought (madhhab), the fifth school of thought in Sunnī Islam, characterized by its strict adherence to literalism and reliance on the outward (ẓāhir) meaning of expressions in the Quran and ḥadīth literature; the consensus (ijmāʿ) of the first generation of Muhammad's closest companions (ṣaḥāba), for sources of Islamic law (sharīʿa); and rejection of analogical deduction (qiyās) and societal custom or knowledge (urf), used by other schools of Islamic jurisprudence. He was a celebrated, if not controversial, figure during his time, being referred to in Islamic historiographical texts as "the scholar of the era."

Ibn Hazm

Ibn Hazm

Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm was an Arab Andalusian Muslim polymath, historian, muhaddith, jurist, philosopher, and theologian, born in the Caliphate of Córdoba, present-day Spain. Described as one of the strictest hadith interpreters, Ibn Hazm was a leading proponent and codifier of the Zahiri school of Islamic thought and produced a reported 400 works, of which only 40 still survive. In all, his written works amounted to some 80 000 pages. Described as one of the fathers of comparative religion, the Encyclopaedia of Islam refers to him as having been one of the leading thinkers of the Muslim world.

Although Ruwaym was a Sufi, he was also critical of other practitioners due to perceived errors. His book Errors of the Ecstatics was a compilation of what he viewed as such errors.^[21] He also warned Muslims from the mainstream against arguing with Sufis about metaphysical matters of which the mainstream had little knowledge, viewing that such a person would lose faith and that such matters should be left to experts in Sufism.^[22][23]

Quotes

The following were recorded by Abu Bakr al-Kalabadhi, translated by Arthur John Arberry:

• "Satisfaction is the anticipation of the decrees (of God) with joy." (Kalabadhi 93)
• "Poverty is the non-existence of every existent thing, and the abandonment of every lost thing." (Kalabadhi 86)
• "The meaning of repentance is, that thou shalt repent of repentance."^[24] (Kalabadhi 83)
• The repentance of conversion is "that thou shouldst fear God because of the power He has over thee." (Kalabadhi 83)
• The repentance of repose is "that thou shouldst be ashamed before God because He is near thee." (Kalabadhi 83)
• "Sincerity is lifting one's regard from the deed." (Kalabadhi 90)

Commenting on the meaning of intimacy, Ruwaym observed: (Kalabadhi 99)

Thy beauty is my heart's delight,

And holds my mind unceasingly:

Thy love hath set me in Thy sight,

Estranged from all humanity.

Thy recollection comes to me

With friendly tidings from the Friend:

"Behold, as He hath promised thee

Thou shalt attain and gain thy end."

Wherever Thou mayst chance to light,

O Thou who are my soul's intent!

Thou comest clearly to my sight,

And in my heart art immanent.