The name Al Muhasibi was aptly given to him because of his habit of
continuous self-examination. He believed one should approach God in
humility, with a feeling of shame for one’s shortcomings and repentance for
the ingratitude and selfishness present in every human soul.
Al Muhasibi was the first Sufi who tried to reconcile the law (
shariah
)
with the Sufi path (
tariqa
) and what he wrote had a profound influence on
the later Sufis. Al Ghazali greatly admired his writings and one of his most
illustrious pupils was al Junayd. Together with al Junayd, al Muhasibi is
considered to be the founder of the sober or
sahw
school of Sufism.
Dhu’l Nun Misri
Abu’l Faiz Sauban ibn Ibrahim al Misri better known as Dhu’l Nun Misri
(796-861) was a contemporary of al-Muhasibi. He was of Numidian descent
and born in Upper Egypt. In all probability he studied medicine and alchemy
and may have been influenced by Greek thought. He left Egypt and traveled
widely in Arabia and Syria. During his travels he met Fatima of Nishapur
(d.838), a famous woman Sufi of Khorasan, whom he called his ‘lady teacher’
(
ustadhi
) and from whom he sought spiritual advice. In 829 he was arrested
for heresy and imprisoned in Baghdad. After his release, he returned to
Cairo and it was there that he died.
Dhu’l Nun is reputed to be one of the first to discuss the spiritual states
or
ahwa
l (sing.
hal
) and stations or
maqamat
(sing.
maqam
). He considered the
self to be the chief obstacle to all spiritual progress and was all for solitary
quest. He was the first to describe the real nature of gnosis (
ma’rifa
):
‘…knowledge of the attributes of the Unity, and this belongs to the saints,
those who contemplate the Face of God within their hearts, so that God
reveals Himself to them in a way in which He is not revealed to any others in
T owar d s Mys t i c i sm 34
