Taiis Abu Abd - ur -Rahman died A.n. 102 (A.D. 720). He M'aS the friend of Zain-ul-Abidin, grandson of Ali. He was a pupil of Abu Hurayra, the most devout of Mahomed's friend.s, and of Ibn Abbas, renowned alike for his profound learning and for his spotless life. Taiis wa.s the founder of a school of disciples whom he trained in mortification, poverty, contempt of the world, and the various spiritual arts aud devout practices of the contemplative life. It was he who first adopted the high cap of suf, woollen stuff;from which the term Sufi originated, and the Khirqa or long patched robe, which is their distinctive habit. Among his followers has been 1bn-us Sammak, an eloquent preacher, who said, Fear God as though you had never obeyed him, and hope in him as though you had never sinned against him.' Faz1 Abu Ali Talikani, of Khorasan, lived in the 2t1 century of the Ilijira. Ile commenced life as a robber, but while on the watch on one occasion, he overheard a verse of the Koran, which awed him so that lie was instantly converted, and became widely celebratcdfor his sanctity and works. On one occasion he said to Ilarnu-ur-Rashid, 011, Klialifali, I have only detached myself froin this little world, but you have detached yourself inn!' the world which shall endure for ever.' Fags successor as the head of the ortler was Bashr (13islir), the barefooted, who was converted in Baghdad by a dream.
Zu un Nun, a native of Egypt, lived in the 3d century, and his tomb at Cairo still attracts pilgrims. Ile courageously rebuked wickedness in high places. Ile scourged himself ; WAS I 11 chains and bondage.
Ilusn-ul-Hillrij, who was martyred at Baghdad am. 303 (A.D. 915), founded a school, which sub sequently attained to great influence.
In the 4th century also there lived the famed Abd-ul-Kadar Ghilani, the doctor 3Iohi-ud-Din ibn-ul-Arabiya-ul-Maghrabi, and also Umar-ibn ur Ridh, author of a celebrated Dewan. He fasted for three or four days, and was subject to ecstasies or Wajd. He taught the freedom of the human will, and was put to death with circum stances of revolting cruelty, on the accusation of teaching Christianity in a covert manner.
Farid-ud-Din Attar, author of the Pind Nama, of the Lives of the Pirs, and the Mantiq-ut-Taer. He had a biographer in Daulat Shalt of Satuarcand. He was born AIL 513 ; but one day he spoke harshly to a darvesh, who rebuked him so as to sub due Farid, who entered the monastery of Rukn-ud Din Asaf, and attained a high degree of spirituality. He was martyred by the Mogiml invaders under Chengiz Khan.
Jalal-ud-Din Muni, commonly entitled Maulana, also Maulana Runai. His father was Baha-ud-Din, a lineal descendant of Abubakr, successor of Maho med. His mother was a princess of the royal house of Khorasan. He was born A.H. 603 (A.D. 1205). When Jalal-ud-Din was five years old, Baha-ud Din left Balkh, after denouncing the innovations there in the religion. He went to Baghdad, where he rebuked the khalif ; then on to Mecca, and finally settled in Qonya, the ancient Iconimn, whose monarch he also rebuked • 'and he died A.H. 628. After his demise, Jalal-uid-Din studied in Aleppo and Damascus, particularly following the philosophy of Al Gazzali, his teacher being Shaikh Syed Burhan-ud-Din, a pupil of his father and an anchorite of great renown, and from him Jalal was instructed in the mysteries of mute reality and ecstasy, and the science spoken of in Koran xviii.
64. He afterwards assumed the rectorship of his father's college in Qonya, where he abode till his death. His SOD Baha-ud-Din survived him. At his funeral, mourners of all creeds and of various nations attended his remains to the grave. He died at sUndown, Sunday, 5th Jamadi-ul Akhir, A.H. 672 (16th December A.D. 1273), 68 years old. In the religious dances of the darvesh, lie introduced instrumental music, the flute, the rebec, the drum, and the tambourine. He says— ' Learn what are the terms of the musalrnan's creed,— Fasting, pilgrimage, prayer, and alms.' Thus, when self-abascd, man's spirit From each earthly tie Rises disenthralled to inherit Immortality.' Sad - - Din Malimud, of Shahbistari, near Tabreez, lived in A.H. 717 (A.D. 1317). 15 questions were received from Amir Syed Husaini of Herat on the Sufi doctrines, and Sad-ud-Din was chosen by his sect to answer them. This he did in verse, and his book is called the Gulshan-i-Raz or Mystic Rose Garden. tittle is known of the writer. In his answer to the 13th question he says— The spiritual world is infinite, How can finite words attain to it ? How can the mysteries beheld in ecstatic vision Be interpreted by spoken words ? When mystics treat of these mysteries, They interpret them by types.' On this point, however, the outside world will regard it, to say the least, as unfortunate that the Sufi should eniploy, in telling of their love of God, all the expressions usually adapted when de scribing the beauties of a mistress, the joys of sexual love, and pleasures of alcoholic stimulants.
The Sufi re,st all their system of morality upon the practice of divine love, and the darvesh and fakirs are their expounders.
M. Dozy says the influence of Sufism is rather increasing than diminishing in Turkish provinces, and M. de Kremer considers it the preponderating element in Muhammadan civilisation.
In Constantinople they have 200 monasteries, and there are 32 distinct orders in Turkey. They are styled fakirs, and constitute thoroughly organized bodies, minutely discriminated from each other. Every school, every brotherhood, has its own distinctive teaching and technicalities, its peculiar practices and observances, its great men and founders, its saints and doctors. Within the 19th century, owing to Sufi efforts, Muham madanism has had a revival in Turkey. A system of primary schools has been established, and the present generation has been taught to regard the ordinances with reverence. Sufi doctrines have been but little avowed in British India. Mullah Shah, a saint and poet, died at Lahore, A.11. 1072 (A.D. 1661-62), and Fatima, daught,er of Shah Jahan, erected a tomb over him.—Burton's Scinde, p. 406 ; Westminster Review, 1869 ; Malcolm's Persia, ii. pp. 382-44,5 ; Home and Foreign Review, iv. p. 571 ; IF. S. Lilly in Cont. Rev., August 1883 Gulshan-i-Raz. See Zikkir.