governors and the judges (
qadi
), and through them implemented repressive
measures against those who opposed them. For these reasons many pious
Muslims regard this era as a betrayal and subversion of the true prophetic
model.
Since people felt themselves helpless to counter this oppressive rule,
they turned inwards, withdrawing altogether from the world. In this way,
a change in political and social circumstances spurred the piously inclined
to opt for a life of asceticism and led to the development of Sufism.
Hasan al-Basri
Hasan al-Basri (642-728) is the most prominent figure of the early ascetic
movement, which stressed other-worldliness, piety and fear of God. He
was born in Madinah and settled in Basra. In all probability, he is too young
to have been the disciple of Ali bin abi Talib (d.661), yet the Sufi orders
trace their spiritual descent through him to the Prophet Muhammad and
Hazrat Ali. Some Sufi traditions have it that Hasan became Ali’s disciple
because of some indescribable spiritual experience.
Hasan al Basri was an outstanding scholar of his time and the author of a
tafsir
, which, unfortunately, did not survive. Only some fragments of his
sermons and
risalas,
or epistles to the Umayyad Caliphs,‘Abdu’l Malik (685-
705) and ‘Umar II (Umar bin Abdul Aziz) (717-720) remain. He expressed
disapproval of the malfeasance of the Umayyads, but was not in favour of a
revolt against ostensibly lawful authorities. In a letter to‘Umar II, he writes:
‘Beware of this world, for it is like a snake, for its hopes are lies, its
expectations false.’
2
2
A.J.Arberry, Sufism, pp .33-34
