94-648: [REDACTED] Look up أَوْلِيَاء in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. In the Arabic language Auliya is the plural of Wali , which means protectors, and may refer to: Madinat-ul-Auliya , Multan, " the city of the saints " Nizamuddin Auliya , Sunni Muslim scholar, Sufi saint of the Chishti Order Qalandar Baba Auliya , Sufi mystic The Auliyas ,
188-595: A pīr's role is to guide and instruct his disciples on the mystical path. Hence, the key difference between the use of walī and pīr is that the former does not imply a saint who is also a spiritual master with disciples, while the latter directly does so through its connotations of "elder". Additionally, other Arabic and Persian words that also often have the same connotations as pīr , and hence are also sometimes translated into English as "saint", include murshid ( Arabic : مرشد , meaning "guide" or "teacher"), sheikh and sarkar (Persian word meaning "master"). In
282-473: A "[friend of God] marked by [special] divine favor ... [and] holiness", being specifically "chosen by God and endowed with exceptional gifts, such as the ability to work miracles ." Moreover, the saint is also portrayed in traditional hagiographies as one who "in some way ... acquires his Friend's, i.e. God's, good qualities, and therefore he possesses particular authority, forces, capacities and abilities." Amongst classical scholars, Qushayri (d. 1073) defined
376-406: A manner akin to all those Christian saints who began to be venerated prior to the institution of canonization . In fact, a belief in the existence of saints became such an important part of medieval Islam that many of the most important creeds articulated during the time period, like the famous Creed of Tahawi , explicitly declared it a requirement for being an "orthodox" Muslim to believe in
470-670: A master and a 'pole' by" Abu 'l-Ḥasan al-S̲h̲ād̲h̲ilī (d. 1258). It was this last figure who became the preeminent saint in Maghrebi piety, due to his being the founder of one of the most famous Sunni Sufi orders of North Africa: the Shadhiliyya tariqa . Adhering to the Maliki maddhab in its jurisprudence , the Shadhili order produced numerous widely honored Sunni saints in the intervening years, including Fāsī Aḥmad al-Zarrūq (d. 1494), who
564-523: A number of scholars including Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Ibn Qudamah . Shiʿi Muslims are different as they hold that there are five articles of belief. Similar to the Sunnis, the Shiʿis do not believe in complete predestination, or complete free will. They believe that in human life there is both free will and predestination. The branch of Islam known as Isma'ilism is the second largest Shiʿi community. They observe
658-580: A people within the Uchhala peoples See also [ edit ] Wali (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Auliya . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Auliya&oldid=1182501712 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
752-566: A public role. Rasuls likewise have a mission of transformation of the world at large. The amount of veneration a specific saint received varied from region to region in Islamic civilization, often on the basis of the saint's own history in that region. While the veneration of saints played a crucial role in the daily piety of Sunni Muslims all over the Islamic world for more than a thousand years (ca. 800–1800), exactly which saints were most widely venerated in any given cultural climate depended on
846-443: A rank below the prophets but are nevertheless exalted by God. The references in the corpus of hadith literature to bona fide saints like the pre-Islamic Jurayj̲, only lent further credence to this early understanding of saints. Collected stories about the "lives or vitae of the saints", began to be compiled "and transmitted at an early stage" by many regular Muslim scholars, including Ibn Abi al-Dunya (d. 894), who wrote
940-531: A rank below the prophets. Later important works which detailed the hierarchy of saints were composed by the mystic ʿAmmār al-Bidlīsī (d. between 1194 and 1207), the spiritual teacher of Najmuddin Kubra (d. 1220), and by Ruzbihan Baqli (d. 1209), who evidently knew of "a highly developed hierarchy of God's friends." The differences in terminology between the various celestial hierarchies presented by these authors were reconciled by later scholars through their belief that
1034-480: A religious worker or in a volunteer community effort, is called a dā‘ī (داعي plural du‘āh, gen: du‘āt دعاة). A dā‘ī is thus a person who invites people to understand Islam through dialogue, not unlike the Islamic equivalent of a missionary inviting people to the faith, prayer and manner of Islamic life. Eschatology is literally understood as the last things or ultimate things and in Muslim theology, eschatology refers to
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#17328488192821128-529: A saint is portrayed as someone "marked by [special] divine favor ... [and] holiness", and who is specifically "chosen by God and endowed with exceptional gifts, such as the ability to work miracles ". The doctrine of saints was articulated by Muslim scholars very early on in Islamic history , and particular verses of the Quran and certain hadith were interpreted by early Muslim thinkers as "documentary evidence" of
1222-588: A work entitled Kitāb al-Awliyāʾ ( Lives of the Saints ) in the ninth-century, which constitutes "the earliest [complete] compilation on the theme of God's friends." Prior to Ibn Abi al-Dunya's work, the stories of the saints were transmitted through oral tradition ; but after the composition of his work, many Islamic scholars began writing down the widely circulated accounts, with later scholars like Abū Nuʿaym al-Iṣfahānī (d. 948) making extensive use of Ibn Abi al-Dunya's work in his own Ḥilyat al-awliyāʾ ( The Adornment of
1316-549: Is Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari , one of the first to study under but then quit the Mu'tazilis. He then towards the end of his life became an Ashari. It was the historic foe of the Mu'tazili school, the "rationalists" in terms of speculative theology. Ash'arism accepts reason over evidence in regard of exegetical matters and traditionalistic ideas. What God does or commands—as revealed in the Quran and ahadith—is by definition just. What He prohibits
1410-499: Is a universal God, rather than a local, tribal, or parochial one, and is an absolute who integrates all affirmative values. Iman, in Islamic theology denotes a believer's faith in the metaphysical aspects of Islam . Its most simple definition is the belief in the six articles of faith , known as arkān al-īmān . The Hadith of Gabriel includes the Five Pillars of Islam ( Tawhid , Salat , Sawm , Zakat , Hajj ) in answer to
1504-501: Is absolutely forbidden. Atharis engage in an amodal reading of the Qur'an, as opposed to one engaged in Ta'wil (metaphorical interpretation). They do not attempt to rationally conceptualize the meanings of the Qur'an and believe that the real meanings should be consigned to God alone ( tafwid ). This theology was taken from exegesis of the Qur'an and statements of the early Muslims and later codified by
1598-410: Is also called Islamic creed or Islamic theology . Aqidah goes beyond concise statements of faith and may not be part of an ordinary Muslim's religious instruction. It has been distinguished from iman in "taking the aspects of Iman and extending it to a detail level" often using "human interpretation or sources". Also, in contrast with iman , the word aqidah is not explicitly mentioned in
1692-568: Is an "Islamic scholastic theology" of seeking theological principles through dialectic . In Arabic , the word literally means "speech/words." A scholar of kalām is referred to as a mutakallim (Muslim theologian; plural mutakallimūn ). There are many schools of Kalam, the main ones being the Ash'ari and Maturidi schools in Sunni Islam , and the Mu'tazilis (who are not Sunni). Traditionalist theology rejects
1786-583: Is by definition unjust. Right and wrong are objective realities. The Quran is the uncreated word of God in essence, however, it is created when it takes on a form in letters or sound. Maturidism is a Sunni theological school founded by Abu Mansur al-Maturidi , holding many positions in common with the Ash'aris but differing from them on others. Much like the Ash'arite approach to Qur'anic verses that could yield an anthropomorphic concept of God, they affirmed His transcendence while understanding these expressions by
1880-402: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Wali The term wali ( Arabic : وَلِيّ , romanized : waliyy , lit. 'friend'; plural أَوْلِيَاء , ʾawliyāʾ ) is most commonly used by Muslims to refer to a saint , or literally a "friend of God ". In the traditional Islamic understanding,
1974-497: Is difficult to pray Salat in formal ways. People who find it physically difficult can perform Salat in a way suitable to them. To perform valid Salat, Muslims must be in a state of ritual purity, which is mainly achieved by ritual wash ups, (wuḍūʾ), as per prescribed procedures. Salat consists of "standing" (Qiyam) intending to call God, bow at knees (Ruku) meaning to ready to obey, prostrate (Sajda) willing to surrender worshipper's will to God's, then to sit (Tashhud) asserting evidence of
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#17328488192822068-458: Is no confusion, for Muslims, over their specific referents in Islam, namely: the reality of iman with Godwariness and those who possess those qualities." In Persian , which became the second most influential and widely spoken language in the Islamic world after Arabic , the general title for a saint or a spiritual master became pīr ( Persian : پیر , literally "old [person]", "elder" ). Although
2162-749: Is obligatory for all who are able to do so. It is considered to be a personal responsibility for Muslims to ease economic hardship for others and eliminate inequality. The Hajj is an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca and the largest gathering of Muslims in the world every year. It is one of the five pillars of Islam, and a religious duty which must be carried out by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so at least once in his or her lifetime. In addition, some Muslims include Jihad and Dawah as part of aqidah . Jihad (to struggle) and literally means to endeavor, strive, labor to apply oneself, to concentrate, to work hard, to accomplish. It could be used to refer to those who physically, mentally or economically serve in
2256-547: The Balkans . Regarding the rendering of the Arabic walī by the English "saint", prominent scholars such as Gibril Haddad have regarded this as an appropriate translation, with Haddad describing the aversion of some Muslims towards the use of "saint" for walī as "a specious objection ... for [this is] – like 'Religion' ( din ), 'Believer' ( mu'min ), 'prayer' ( salat ), etc. – [a] generic term for holiness and holy persons while there
2350-416: The Quran and Sunnah , are accepted by all Muslims. While there are differences between Shia and Sunni Islam and other different schools or sects concerning issues such as the attributes of God or about the purpose of angels, the six articles are not disputed. The six Sunni articles of belief are: The first five are based on several Qurʾanic beliefs: The sixth point made it into the creed because of
2444-700: The Quran , the concept of sainthood is clearly described. Some modern scholars, however, assert that the Quran does not explicitly outline a doctrine or theory of saints. In the Quran, the adjective walī is applied to God , in the sense of him being the "friend" of all believers (Q 2:257 ). However, particular Quranic verses were interpreted by early Islamic scholars to refer to a special, exalted group of holy people. These included 10:62 : "Surely God's friends ( awliyāa l-lahi ): no fear shall be on them, neither shall they sorrow," and 5:54 , which refers to God's love for those who love him. Additionally, some scholars interpreted 4:69 , "Whosoever obeys God and
2538-757: The Quran . Many schools of Islamic theology expressing different aqidah exist. However, this term has taken a significant technical usage in the Islamic theology, and is a branch of Islamic studies describing the beliefs of Islam. Aqidah comes from the Semitic root ʿ-q-d , which means "to tie; knot". ("Aqidah" used not only as an expression of a school of Islamic theology or belief system, but as another word for "theology" in Islam, as in: "Theology (Aqidah) covers all beliefs and belief systems of Muslims, including sectarian differences and points of contention".) According to Muslim scholar Cyril Glasse, "systematic statements of belief became necessary, from early [on in
2632-518: The Salafi movement , Wahhabism , and Islamic Modernism , all three of which have, to a greater or lesser degree, "formed a front against the veneration and theory of saints". As has been noted by scholars, the development of these movements has indirectly led to a trend amongst some mainstream Muslims to resist "acknowledging the existence of Muslim saints altogether or ... [to view] their presence and veneration as unacceptable deviations". However, despite
2726-461: The Shafi'i . Al-Ghazali also had an aqidah . These creeds were more detailed than those described below. According to Malcolm Clark, while Islam "is not a creedal religion", it has produced some detailed creeds, "some containing 100 or more belief statements" that summarized "the theological position of a particular scholar or school." The six articles of faith or belief (Arkan al-Iman) derived from
2820-500: The Wali'Allah of a particular place prays for that place's well-being and for the health and happiness of all who live therein. Here is a partial list of Muslim Awliya Allah : Aqidah Including: Aqidah ( Arabic : عَقِيدَة , romanized : ʿaqīdah , IPA: [ʕɑˈqiːdæ] , pl. عَقَائِد , ʿaqāʾid , [ʕɑˈqɑːʔɪd] ) is an Islamic term of Arabic origin that literally means " creed ". It
2914-451: The puritanical and revivalist Islamic movements of Salafism and Wahhabism , whose influence has "formed a front against the veneration and theory of saints." For the adherents of Wahhabi ideology, for example, the practice of venerating saints appears as an "abomination", for they see in this a form of idolatry . It is for this reason that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , which adheres to
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3008-446: The walī ḥaḳḳ Allāh on the one hand and the walī Allāh on the other. According to the author, "the [spiritual] ascent of the walī ḥaḳḳ Allāh must stop at the end of the created cosmos ... he can attain God's proximity, but not God Himself; he is only admitted to God's proximity ( muḳarrab ). It is the walī Allāh who reaches God. Ascent beyond God's throne means to traverse consciously
3102-413: The Islamic world today, playing a vital part in the daily piety of vast portions of Muslim countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Turkey, Senegal , Iraq, Iran, Algeria, Tunisia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Morocco, as well as in countries with substantive Islamic populations like India, China, Russia, and the Balkans . The general definition of the Muslim saint in classical texts is that he represents
3196-580: The Maghreb, Abū Madyan stopped at Béjaïa and "formed a circle of disciples." Abū Madyan eventually died in Tlemcen , while making his way to the Almohad court of Marrakesh ; he was later venerated as a prime Awliya Allah of Tlemcen by popular acclaim. One of Abū Madyan's most notable disciples was ʿAbd al-Salām Ibn Mas̲h̲īs̲h̲ (d. 1127), a "saint ... [who] had a posthumous fame through his being recognised as
3290-461: The Messenger, they are with those unto whom God hath shown favor: the prophets and the ṣidīqīna and the martyrs and the righteous. The best of company are they," to carry a reference to holy people who were not prophets and were ranked below the latter. The word ṣidīqīna in this verse literally connotes "the truthful ones" or "the just ones," and was often interpreted by the early Islamic thinkers in
3384-500: The Qur'an has pointed to it in different places, and the sayings of the Prophet have mentioned it, and whoever denies the miraculous power of saints are only people who are innovators and their followers." In the words of one contemporary academic, practically all Muslims of that era believed that "the lives of saints and their miracles were incontestable." In the modern world , the traditional idea of saints in Islam has been challenged by
3478-527: The Qutb in order that he may direct his attention to the weak spot and that by his blessings the imperfection may be remedied. Another is from Ibn Arabi , who lived in Moorish Spain. It has a more exclusive structure. There are eight nujabā ("nobles"), twelve nuqabā , seven abdāl , four awtād , two a'immah ("guides"), and the qutb. According to the 20th-century Sufi Inayat Khan , there are seven degrees in
3572-478: The Saints ). It is, moreover, evident from the Kitāb al-Kas̲h̲f wa 'l-bayān of the early Baghdadi Sufi mystic Abu Sa'id al-Kharraz (d. 899) that a cohesive understanding of the Muslim saints was already in existence, with al-Kharraz spending ample space distinguishing between the virtues and miracles ( karāmāt ) of the prophets and the saints. The genre of hagiography ( manāḳib ) only became more popular with
3666-446: The Sufi's spotless mind realizes that it has no real existence in itself; his existence is only God's light and he is only the mirror. In certain esoteric teachings of Islam, there is said to be a cosmic spiritual hierarchy whose ranks include walis (saints, friends of God), abdals (changed ones), headed by a ghawth (helper) or qutb (pole, axis). The details vary according to
3760-522: The Sufis were responsible for articulating the religion's deepest inward truths, later prominent mystics like Ibn Arabi (d. 1240) only further reinforced this idea of a saintly hierarchy, and the notion of "types" of saints became a mainstay of Sunni mystical thought, with such types including the ṣiddīqūn ("the truthful ones") and the abdāl ("the substitute-saints"), amongst others. Many of these concepts appear in writing far before al-Tirmidhi and Ibn Arabi;
3854-745: The Sunnis of the area. Some of the most popular and influential Maghrebi saints and mystics of the following centuries were Muḥammad b. Nāṣir (d. 1674), Aḥmad al-Tij̲ānī (d. 1815), Abū Ḥāmid al-ʿArabī al-Darqāwī (d. 1823), and Aḥmad b. ʿAlāwī (d. 1934), with the latter three originating Sufi orders of their own. Famous adherents of the Shadhili order amongst modern Islamic scholars include Abdallah Bin Bayyah (b. 1935), Muhammad Alawi al-Maliki (d. 2004), Hamza Yusuf (b. 1958), and Muhammad al-Yaqoubi (b. 1963). The veneration of saints in Maghrebi Sunni Islam has been studied by scholars with regard to
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3948-690: The Turkish Islamic lands, saints have been referred to by many terms, including the Arabic walī , the Persian s̲h̲āh and pīr , and Turkish alternatives like baba in Anatolia, ata in Central Asia (both meaning "father"), and eren or ermis̲h̲ (< ermek "to reach, attain") or yati̊r ("one who settles down") in Anatolia . Their tombs, meanwhile, are "denoted by terms of Arabic or Persian origin alluding to
4042-548: The Wahhabi creed, "destroyed the tombs of saints wherever ... able" during its expansion in the Arabian Peninsula from the eighteenth-century onwards. As has been noted by scholars, the development of these movements have indirectly led to a trend amongst some mainstream Muslims to also resist "acknowledging the existence of Muslim saints altogether or ... [to view] their presence and veneration as unacceptable deviations." At
4136-471: The common expressions of Islamic piety of this period, the saint was understood to be "a contemplative whose state of spiritual perfection ... [found] permanent expression in the teaching bequeathed to his disciples". In many prominent Sunni creeds of the time, such as the famous Creed of Tahawi ( c. 900 ) and the Creed of Nasafi ( c. 1000 ), a belief in the existence and miracles of saints
4230-461: The concept of the saint and the organisation of pilgrimages displays no fundamental differences." The veneration of saints really spread in the Turkish lands from the tenth to the fourteenth centuries, and played a crucial role in medieval Turkic Sunni piety not only in cosmopolitan cities but also "in rural areas and amongst nomads of the whole Turkish world." One of the reasons proposed by scholars for
4324-565: The conventional figurative meanings they had garnered in Arabic. Maturidism holds, that humans are creatures endowed with reason, that differentiates them from animals. Further, the relationship between people and God differs from that of nature and God; humans are endowed with free will , but due to God's sovereignty, God creates the acts the humans choose, so humans can perform them. Ethics can be understood just by reason and do not need prophetic guidances. Maturidi also considered hadiths as unreliable, when they are in odd with reason. However,
4418-428: The doctrine of the hierarchy of saints is already found in written sources as early as the eighth-century, it was al-Tirmidhi who gave it its first systematic articulation. According to the author, forty major saints, whom he refers to by the various names of ṣiddīḳīn , abdāl , umanāʾ , and nuṣaḥāʾ , were appointed after the death of Muhammad to perpetuate the knowledge of the divine mysteries vouchsafed to them by
4512-399: The earlier mystics had highlighted particular parts and different aspects of a single, cohesive hierarchy of saints. The goal of the Sufi path is to achieve unification of the self with God ( fanāʾ ). The concept is often described in Sufi allegories as the self mirroring the light of God. Accordingly, the soul is tainted and in need of purification. In the purified state of the Sufi saint,
4606-408: The early Sufi mystics, like Hasan of Basra (d. 728), Farqad Sabakhi (d. 729), Dawud Tai (d. 777–781), Rabia of Basra (d. 801), Maruf Karkhi (d. 815), and Junayd of Baghdad (d. 910). From the twelfth to the fourteenth century, "the general veneration of saints, among both people and sovereigns, reached its definitive form with the organization of Sufism ... into orders or brotherhoods". In
4700-458: The end of this world and what will happen in the next world or hereafter. Eschatology covers the death of human beings, their souls after their bodily death, the total destruction of this world, the resurrection of humans, the Last Judgment of human deeds by God after the resurrection, and the rewards and punishments for the believers and non-believers respectively. The places for the believers in
4794-478: The existence and veneration of saints and in the traditional narratives of their lives and miracles. Hence, we find that even medieval critics of the widespread practice of venerating the tombs of saints , like Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 1328), never denied the existence of saints as such, with the Hanbali jurist stating: "The miracles of saints are absolutely true and correct, by the acceptance of all Muslim scholars. And
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#17328488192824888-433: The existence of saints. Graves of saints around the Muslim world became centers of pilgrimage – especially after 1200 CE – for masses of Muslims seeking their barakah (blessing). Since the first Muslim hagiographies were written during the period when the Islamic mystical trend of Sufism began its rapid expansion, many of the figures who later came to be regarded as the major saints in orthodox Sunni Islam were
4982-518: The first theological controversy in Islam. Although not connected with the Sunni-Shiʿi controversy about the succession, the majority of Twelver Shiʿites do not stress God's limitless power (qadar), but rather His boundless justice ( ʿadl ) as the sixth point of belief – this does not mean that Sunnis deny His justice, or Shiʿites negate His power, just that the emphasis is different. In Sunni and Shia view, having Iman literally means having belief in
5076-608: The grace of God. The contemporary scholar of Sufism Martin Lings described the Islamic saints as "the great incarnations of the Islamic ideal.... spiritual giants with which almost every generation was blessed." The doctrine of saints, and of their miracles, seems to have been taken for granted by many of the major authors of the Islamic Golden Age (ca. 700–1400), as well as by many prominent late-medieval scholars. The phenomena in traditional Islam can be at least partly ascribed to
5170-941: The hadith that states "the Prophets are alive in their graves and they pray". (According to the Islamic concept of Punishment of the Grave —established by hadith —the dead are still conscious and active, with the wicked suffering in their graves as a prelude to hell and the pious at ease.) According to Islamic historian Jonathan A.C. Brown, "saints are thought to be no different" than prophets, "as able in death to answer invocations for assistance" as they were while alive. Saints were envisaged to be of different "types" in classical Islamic tradition. Aside from their earthly differences as regard their temporal duty (i.e. jurist , hadith scholar , judge , traditionist , historian , ascetic , poet), saints were also distinguished cosmologically as regards their celestial function or standing. In Islam, however,
5264-587: The hagiographic traditions of that particular area. Thus, while Moinuddin Chishti (d. 1236), for example, was honored throughout the Sunni world in the medieval period, his cultus was especially prominent in the Indian subcontinent , as that is where he was believed to have preached, performed the majority of his miracles, and ultimately settled at the end of his life. The veneration of saints has played "an essential role in
5358-562: The heavenly advocates for specific Muslim empires, nations, cities, towns, and villages. With regard to the sheer omnipresence of this belief, the late Martin Lings wrote: "There is scarcely a region in the empire of Islam which has not a Sufi for its Patron Saint." As the veneration accorded saints often develops purely organically in Islamic climates, the Awliya Allah are often recognized through popular acclaim rather than through official declaration. Traditionally, it has been understood that
5452-599: The hereafter are known as Paradise and for the non-believers as Hell . Sunni Muslim theology is the theology and interpretation of creed ( aqidah ) that derived from the Qur'an and Hadith . The contents of Muslim theology can be divided into theology proper such as theodicy , eschatology , anthropology , apophatic theology , and comparative religion . In the history of Sunni Muslim theology, there have been theological schools among Muslims displaying both similarities and differences with each other in regard to beliefs. Kalām
5546-448: The hierarchy. In ascending order, they are pir , buzurg , wali, ghaus , qutb, nabi and rasul He does not say how the levels are populated. Pirs and buzurgs assist the spiritual progress of those who approach them. Walis may take responsibility for protecting a community and generally work in secret. Qutbs are similarly responsible for large regions. Nabis are charged with bringing a reforming message to nations or faiths, and hence have
5640-491: The history of] Islam, initially to refute heresies, and later to distinguish points of view and to present them, as the divergences of schools of theology or opinion increased." The "first" creed written as "a short answer to the pressing heresies of the time" is known as Fiqh Akbar and ascribed to Abu Hanifa . Two creeds were the Fiqh Akbar II "representative" of the Ash'ari , and Fiqh Akbar III , "representative" of
5734-592: The human mind alone could not grasp the entire truth, thus it is in need of revelation in regard of mysterious affairs. Further, Maturidism opposes anthropomorphism and similitude, while simultaneously does not deny the divine attributes. They must be either interpreted in the light of Tawhid or be left out. For the Athari theology, the apparent meaning of the Qur'an and especially the prophetic traditions have ultimate precedence in matters of belief, as well as law, and to engage in rational disputation, without textual evidence,
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#17328488192825828-490: The idea of pilgrimage ( mazār , ziyāratgāh ), tomb ( ḳabr , maḳbar ) or domed mausoleum ( gunbad , ḳubba ). But such tombs are also denoted by terms usually used for dervish convents, or a particular part of it ( tekke in the Balkans , langar , 'refectory,' and ribāṭ in Central Asia ), or by a quality of the saint ( pīr , 'venerable, respectable,' in Azerbaijan )." According to various traditional Sufi interpretations of
5922-454: The idea of the abdāl , for example, appears as early as the Musnad of Ibn Hanbal (d. 855), where the word signifies a group of major saints "whose number would remain constant, one always being replaced by some other on his death." It is, in fact, reported that Ibn Hanbal explicitly identified his contemporary, the mystic Maruf Karkhi (d. 815-20), as one of the abdal , saying: "He is one of
6016-472: The latter being something only the prophets receive; (5) he can work miracles ( karāmāt ) by the leave of God , which may differ from saint to saint, but may include marvels such as walking on water ( al-mas̲h̲y ʿalā 'l-māʾ ) and shortening space and time ( ṭayy al-arḍ ); and (6) he associates with Khidr . Al-Tirmidhi states, furthermore, that although the saint is not sinless like the prophets, he or she can nevertheless be "preserved from sin" ( maḥfūz ) by
6110-544: The most significant ninth-century expositor of the doctrine, posited six common attributes of true saints (not necessarily applicable to all, according to the author, but nevertheless indicative of a significant portion of them), which are: (1) when people see him, they are automatically reminded of God; (2) anyone who advances towards him in a hostile way is destroyed; (3) he possesses the gift of clairvoyance ( firāsa ); (4) he receives divine inspiration ( ilhām ), to be strictly distinguished from revelation proper ( waḥy ), with
6204-434: The oneness of God and the finality of God's apostle (Nabi). In the terminology of Islamic law , sawm means to abstain from eating, drinking (including water) and sexual intercourse from dawn until dusk. The observance of sawm during the holy month of Ramadan is one of the Five Pillars of Islam , but is not confined to that month. Zakat is the practice of charitable giving by Muslims based on accumulated wealth and
6298-423: The passage of time, with numerous prominent Islamic thinkers of the medieval period devoting large works to collecting stories of various saints or to focusing upon "the marvelous aspects of the life, the miracles or at least the prodigies of a [specific] Ṣūfī or of a saint believed to have been endowed with miraculous powers." In the late ninth-century, important thinkers in Sunni Islam officially articulated
6392-652: The popularity of saints in pre-modern Turkey is that Islam was majorly spread by the early Sunni Sufis in the Turkish lands, rather than by purely exoteric teachers. Most of the saints venerated in Turkey belonged to the Hanafi school of Sunni jurisprudence. As scholars have noted, saints venerated in traditional Turkish Sunni Islam may be classified into three principal categories: Reverence for Awliya Allah have been an important part of both Sunni and Shia Islamic tradition that particularly important classical saints have served as
6486-480: The presence of these opposing streams of thought, the classical doctrine of saint veneration continues to thrive in many parts of the Islamic world today, playing a vital role in daily expressions of piety among vast segments of Muslim populations in Muslim countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Turkey, Senegal , Iraq, Iran, Algeria, Tunisia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Morocco, as well as in countries with substantial Islamic populations like India, China, Russia, and
6580-401: The previously-oral doctrine of an entire hierarchy of saints, with the first written account of this hierarchy coming from the pen of al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi (d. 907-912). With the general consensus of Islamic scholars of the period accepting that the ulema were responsible for maintaining the "exoteric" part of Islamic orthodoxy, including the disciplines of law and jurisprudence , while
6674-407: The prophet. These forty saints, al-Tirmidhi stated, would be replaced in each generation after their earthly death; and, according to him, "the fact that they exist is a guarantee for the continuing existence of the world." Among these forty, al-Tirmidhi specified that seven of them were especially blessed. Despite their exalted nature, however, al-Tirmidhi emphasized that these forty saints occupied
6768-432: The prophets are exalted by Muslims as the greatest of all humanity, it is a general tenet of Sunni belief that a single prophet is greater than all the regular saints put together. In short, it is believed that "every prophet is a saint, but not every saint is a prophet". In the modern world , traditional Sunni and Shia ideas of saints has been challenged by fundamentalist and revivalist Islamic movements such as
6862-505: The question, "O messenger of God, what is Islam?" This hadith is sometimes called the "truly first and most fundamental creed." Salat is an act of worship. Salat means to call to the Lord Who created and gives life to the worshipper in Islam. This call realizes one to surrender caller's will, obeying his God. It is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. Islam gives concession conditionally if it
6956-475: The ramifications of this phrase include the connotations of a general "saint," it is often used to specifically signify a spiritual guide of some type. Amongst Indian Muslims , the title pīr baba (पीर बाबा) is commonly used in Hindi to refer to Sufi masters or similarly honored saints. Additionally, saints are also sometimes referred to in the Persian or Urdu vernacular with " Hazrat ." In Islamic mysticism ,
7050-580: The realms of light of the Divine Names .... When the walī Allāh has traversed all the realms of the Divine Names, i.e. has come to know God in His names as completely as possible, he is then extinguished in God's essence. His soul, his ego, is eliminated and ... when he acts, it is God Who acts through him. And so the state of extinction means at the same time the highest degree of activity in this world." Although
7144-507: The religious, and social life of the Maghreb for more or less a millennium"; in other words, since Islam first reached the lands of North Africa in the eighth century. The first written references to ascetic Muslim saints in Africa, "popularly admired and with followings," appear in tenth-century hagiographies. As has been noted by scholars, however, "the phenomenon may well be older," for many of
7238-456: The saint as someone "whose obedience attains permanence without interference of sin; whom God preserves and guards, in permanent fashion, from the failures of sin through the power of acts of obedience." Elsewhere, the same author quoted an older tradition in order to convey his understanding of the purpose of saints, which states: "The saints of God are those who, when they are seen, God is remembered." Meanwhile, al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi (d. 869),
7332-437: The saints are represented in traditional texts as serving separate celestial functions, in a manner similar to the angels , and this is closely linked to the idea of a celestial hierarchy in which the various types of saints play different roles. A fundamental distinction was described in the ninth century by al-Tirmidhi in his Sīrat al-awliyāʾ ( Lives of the Saints ), who distinguished between two principal varieties of saints:
7426-435: The same time, the movement of Islamic Modernism has also opposed the traditional veneration of saints, for many proponents of this ideology regard the practice as "being both un-Islamic and backwards ... rather than the integral part of Islam which they were for over a millennium." Despite the presence, however, of these opposing streams of thought, the classical doctrine of saint-veneration continues to thrive in many parts of
7520-501: The sense of "saints," with the famous Quran translator Marmaduke Pickthall rendering it as "saints" in their interpretations of the scripture. Furthermore, the Quran referred to the miracles of saintly people who were not prophets like Khidr ( 18:65-82 ) and the People of the Cave ( 18:7-26 ), which also led many early scholars to deduce that a group of venerable people must exist who occupy
7614-423: The six articles. Tawhid ("doctrine of Oneness") is the religion's most fundamental concept and holds that Allah (the Arabic word for God) is one ( aḥad ), unique ( wāḥid ), and the only being worthy of worship. The Quran teaches the existence of a single and absolute truth that transcends the world—a unique, independent and indivisible being who is independent of the entire creation. God, according to Islam,
7708-613: The source. One source is the 12th Century Persian Ali Hujwiri . In his divine court, there are three hundred akhyār ("excellent ones"), forty abdāl ("substitutes"), seven abrār ("piously devoted ones"), four awtād ("pillars"), three nuqabā ("leaders") and one qutb. All these saints know one another and cannot act without mutual consent. It is the task of the Awtad to go round the whole world every night, and if there should be any place on which their eyes have not fallen, next day some flaw will appear in that place, and they must then inform
7802-462: The spiritual life of Muslims in the region. For the vast majority of Muslims in the Maghreb even today, the saints remain "very much alive at their tomb, to the point that the person's name most often serves to denote the place." While this classical type of Sunni veneration represents the most widespread stance in the area, the modern influence of Salafism and Wahhabism have challenged the traditional practice in some quarters. Scholars have noted
7896-495: The stories of the Islamic saints were passed down orally before finally being put to writing. One of the most widely venerated saints in early North African Islamic history was Abū Yaʿzā (or Yaʿazzā, d. 1177), an illiterate Sunni Maliki miracle worker whose reputation for sanctity was admired even in his own life. Another immensely popular saint of the time-period was Ibn Ḥirzihim (d. 1163), who also gained renown for his personal devoutness and his ability to work miracles. It
7990-449: The substitute-saints, and his supplication is answered." From the twelfth to the fourteenth century, "the general veneration of saints, among both people and sovereigns, reached its definitive form with the organization of Sufism —the mysticism of Islam—into orders or brotherhoods." In general Islamic piety of the period, the saint was understood to be "a contemplative whose state of spiritual perfection ... [found] permanent expression in
8084-521: The teaching bequeathed to his disciples." It was by virtue of his spiritual wisdom that the saint was accorded veneration in medieval Islam, "and it is this which ... [effected] his 'canonization,' and not some ecclesiastical institution" as in Christianity . In fact, the latter point represents one of the crucial differences between the Islamic and Christian veneration of saints, for saints are venerated by unanimous consensus or popular acclaim in Islam, in
8178-554: The tremendously "important role" the veneration of saints has historically played in Islamic life all these areas, especially amongst Sunnis who frequent the many thousands of tombs scattered throughout the region for blessings in performing the act of ziyāra . According to scholars, "between the Turks of the Balkans and Anatolia, and those in Central Asia, despite the distance separating them,
8272-459: The use of kalam, regarding human reason as sinful in unseen matters. In terms of the relationship between human beings and their creator, the Muʿtazila emphasize human free will over predestination. They also reduced the divine attributes to the divine essence. The Mu'tazilites are considered heretics by all the traditional Sunni Islamic schools of theology. The eponymous founder of this school
8366-471: The various "types" of saints venerated by Sunnis in those areas. These include: Regarding the veneration of saints amongst Sunni Muslims in the Maghreb in the present day, scholars have noted the presence of many "thousands of minor, local saints whose tombs remain visible in villages or the quarters of towns." Although many of these saints lack precise historiographies or hagiographies, "their presence and their social efficacity ... [are] immense" in shaping
8460-471: The way of God. In the religious context, it is the struggle against disbelief and injustice using any means possible to establish, propagate and defend the faith and its principles on individualistic and societal levels. Da‘wah ("invitation") means the preaching of Islam. Da‘wah literally means "issuing a summon" or "making an invitation", being an active participle of a verb meaning variously "to summon" or "to invite." A Muslim who practices da‘wah, either as
8554-491: The writings of many of the most prominent Sunni theologians and doctors of the classical and medieval periods, many of whom considered the belief in saints to be "orthodox" doctrine. Examples of classical testimonies include: The rationale for veneration of deceased saints by pilgrims in an appeal for blessings ( Barakah ) even though the saints will not rise from the dead until the Day of Resurrection ( Yawm ad-Dīn ) may come from
8648-573: Was Abu Madyan (d. 1197), however, who eventually became one of the Awliya Allah of the entire Maghreb . A "spiritual disciple of these two preceding saints," Abū Madyan, a prominent Sunni Maliki scholar, was the first figure in Maghrebi Sufism "to exercise an influence beyond his own region." Abū Madyan travelled to the East, where he is said to have met prominent mystics like the renowned Hanbali jurist Abdul-Qadir Gilani (d. 1166). Upon returning to
8742-578: Was educated in Egypt but taught in Libya and Morocco , and Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad al-Jazūlī (d. 1465), "who returned to Morocco after a long trip to the East and then began a life as a hermit," and who achieved widespread renown for the miracles he is said to have wrought by the leave of God. Eventually, the latter was buried in Marrakesh , where he ended up becoming of the city's seven most famous Awliya Allah for
8836-563: Was presented as "a requirement" for being an orthodox Muslim believer. Aside from the Sufis, the preeminent saints in traditional Islamic piety are the Companions of the Prophet , their Successors , and the Successors of the Successors . Additionally, the prophets and messengers in Islam are also believed to be saints by definition, although they are rarely referred to as such, in order to prevent confusion between them and ordinary saints; as
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