al-Harith al-Muhasibi (d. 243)
He was one of the earliest author of Sufi treatises and the
teacher of al-Junayd. `Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi, Taj al-Din
al-Subki, and Jamal al-Din al-Isnawi all reiterate the statement
whereby "Upon the books of al-Harith ibn Asad al-Muhasibi on
kalam, fiqh, and hadith rest those among us who are mutakallim
(theologian), faqih (jurist), and sufi."1 His
extant works are:
- Kitab al-ri`aya li huquq Allah (Book of observance of the
rights of Allah); Shaykh al-Islam al-`Izz ibn `Abd
al-Salam wrote an abridgment of it.2
- Kitab al-tawahhum (Book of imagination), a description of
the Day of Judgment;
- Kitab al-khalwa (Book of seclusion);
- Risalat al-mustarshidin (Treatise for those who ask for
guidance);
- Kitab al-ri`aya li-huquq Allah (Book of the observance of
the rights of Allah);
- Kitab fahm al-Qur'an (Book of the understanding of
Qur'an);
- Kitab mahiyyat al-`aql wa ma`nahu wa ikhtilaf al-nas fihi
(Book of the nature and meaning of the mind and the
differences among people concerning it);
- al-Masa'il fi a`mal al-qulub wa al-jawarih wa al-`aql
(The questions concerning the works of the hearts, the
limbs, and the mind);
- Kitab al-`azama (The book of magnificence);
- al-Wasaya wa al-nasa'ih al-diniyya wa al-nafahat
al-qudsiyya li naf`i jami` al-bariyya (The spiritual
legacies and counsels and the sanctified gifts for the
benefit of all creatures).
1 'Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi, Kitab
Usul al-Din p. 308-309; Taj al-Din Subki, Tabaqat al-shafi`iyya
2:275; Jamal al-Din al-Isnawi, Tabaqat al-Shafi`iyya 1:(#9)26-27.
2 al-Subki mentions it in Tabaqat
al-shafi`iyya. A copy of it is found at the Chester Beatty
Library, ms. 3184
Reproduced with permission from Shaykh M. Hisham Kabbani's
The Repudiation of "Salafi"
Innovations (Kazi, 1996) p. 281-282.
Blessings and Peace on the Prophet, his Family,
and his Companions