Junayd Baghdadi
Abu’l Qasim al Junayd (d.910) who was born in Persia, was the son of a
glass merchant. He moved in the Sufi circles of Baghdad where he became
a disciple of al Muhasibi and he studied law according to the Shafi’i school of
jurisprudence. He eventually became the chief judge in Baghdad at a time
when the orthodox religious authorities were increasingly hostile towards
the Sufis, especially the ‘intoxicated’ ones linked with the name of Bayazid
Bistami. Junayd, on the other hand, is described as the chief exponent of the
‘sober’ school of Sufism of which, together with al Muhasibi, he is considered
the founder.
Junayd held the view that mystic knowledge of the Sufis should not be
passed on to the uninitiated.This is how he described his own practice: ‘For
ten years I had to protect my heart from straying away and kept a watch on
it. Thereafter, for the next ten years, my heart took care of me. Now my
condition is such that the heart does not knowme and I do not mind me. For
the last twenty years the Lord is speaking through me. I am not in between,
although the world is not acquainted with this. I have been narrating only
formal Sufism for the last twenty years. I have been warned against uttering
the mysteries in public. I lose my senses when the fear of God overpowers
me, but recover when I am reminded of His mercy.’
5
One of his disciples was al Hallaj, one of the most ecstatic of the Sufis,
who utterly disregarded Junayd’s advice to exercise patience and moderation.
Consequently, Junayd predicted that Hallaj would die on the gibbet and, in
his turn, Hallaj retorted that on that day Junayd would be wearing the robe
of a scholar. Some years later Hallaj was indeed charged with blasphemy and
5
as above, p. 103
T owar d s Mys t i c i sm 36
