Sufi Biographies and Stories of Saints
Sufism is the name given to the mystical movement within Islam; a Sufi is a Muslim who dedicates himself to the quest after mystical union (or, better said, reunion) with his Creator. The name is Arabic in origin, being derived from the word suf meaning wool; the Sufis were distinguishable from their fellows by wearing a habit of coarse woolen cloth, in time when silks and brocades had become the fashion of the wealthy and mundane-minded, symbolic of their renunciation of worldly values and their abhorrence for physical comforts.
The ascetic outlook and practice, an indispensable preparation to mystical communion, characterized the life not only of Mohammad himself but of many of his earliest followers. Even when the rapid spread of Islam and the astonishing military conquests of neighbouring ancient kingdoms brought undreamed-of riches to the public exchequer, not a few of the leading men in the new commonwealth withstood all temptation to abandon the austere life of the desert, and their example was admired and emulated by multitudes of humbler rank. Nevertheless with the passage of time, and as Islam became increasing secularized consequent upon further victories and rapidly augmenting complications of state craft, the original ascetic impulse tended to be overwhelmed in the flood of worldly preoccupation.
Farid al-Din Attar, author of the book Tadhkirat al-Auliya here presented in an abridged translation, is to be accounted amongst the greatest poets of Persia; his dimensions as a literary genius increase with the further investigation of his writings.
Below are the biographies of Sufis and Saints, mostly as accounted by Shaykh Faridudin Attar in his book Tadhkirat al-Auliya. New Biographies such as Imam Ghazali added in June 2023.
● Mevlana Jalaludin Rumi
● Farid ud Din Attar
● Rabia Basri
● Mansoor al Hallaj
● Imam Ghazali
● Hasan of Basra
● Bayazid Bestami
● Al-Fozail ibn Iyaz
● Habib al-Ajami
● Malek ibn Dinar
● Ibrahim ibn Adham
● Beshr Ibn al-Hareth
● Dhol-Nun al-Mesri
● Abd Allah Ibn al-Mobarak
● Shaqiq of Balkh
● Dawud al-Tai
● Al-Mohasebi
● Ahmad Ibn Harb
● Hatem al Asamm
● Sahl Ibn Abd Allah al-Tostari
● Maruf al-Karkhi
● Sari al-Saqati
● Yahya Ibn Moadh
● Shah Ibn Shoja
● Yusof Ibn al-Hosain
● Abu Hafs al-Haddad
● Abol-Qasem al-Jonaid
● Amr Ibn Othman
● Abu Said al-Kharraz
● Abul-Hosain al-Nuri
● Abu Othman al-Hiri
● Ibn Ata
● Somnun
● al-Termedhi
● Khair al-Nassaj
● Abu Bakr al-Kattani
● Ibn Khafif
● Ebrahim al-Khauwas
● Al-Shebli.
Also read more Sufi Stories and Sufi Quote here.
Muslim Saints and Mystics Episodes from the Tadhkirat al-Auliya (Memorial of the Saints) by Shaykh Farid al-Din Attar. [Translation by A. J. Arberry, extract below reproduced with permission of Omphaloskepsis, see here]
