al-Ḥārith al-Muhāsibī المحاسبي | |
|---|---|
| Personal life | |
| Born | 781 CE 170 AH Basra, Abbasid Caliphate (now Basra,Basra Governorate,Iraq) |
| Died | 857 CE (aged 73) 243 AH Baghdad,Abbasid Caliphate |
| Era | Islamic Golden Age |
| Region | Abbasid Caliphate |
| Main interest(s) | Sufism,Aqidah,Kalam (Islamic Theology) |
| Notable idea(s) | Baghdad School of Islamic philosophy, Muhasabah |
| Notable work(s) | Kitab al-Khalwa,Kitab al-Ri`aya li-huquq Allah,Kitab al-Wasaya |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Islam |
| Denomination | Sunni |
| Jurisprudence | Shafi'i |
| Creed | Kullabi[1] |
| Muslim leader | |
Influenced by | |
Influenced | |
Al-Muḥāsibī (Arabic:المحاسبي) (781–857 CE) was a MuslimArab,theologian,philosopher andascetic. He is considered to be the founder of the Baghdad School of Islamic philosophy which combinedKalam andSufism, and a teacher of the Sufi mastersJunayd al-Baghdadi andSirri Saqti.
His full name isAbu Abdullah Harith bin Asad bin Abdullah al-Anizi al-Basri, and he hailed from the ArabAnazzah tribe. He was born inBasra in about 781.Muhasibi means self-inspection or audit. He was a founder of what later became the mainstream Sufi doctrine, and influenced many subsequent theologians, such asal-Ghazali.
The author of approximately 200 works,[3] he wrote about theology andTasawwuf (Sufism), among themKitab al-Khalwa andKitab al-Ri`aya li-huquq Allah ("Obeying God's Permits").
His parents left Basra for Baghdad shortly after his birth, perhaps inclined to the economic opportunities in the new capital. His father became wealthy, though al-Muhasibi refused it due to his fathers belief in the createdness of the Quran. Despite the affluent lifestyle available to him, he retained an ascetic quality influenced byal-Hasan al-Basri. The Sufis of his time had taken on certain practices, such as wearing woolen clothing, reciting the Qur'an at night, and limited the kind and quantity of food eaten. He saw that Sufi practices can help control the passions, but can also result in other problems like hypocrisy and pride. When outward piety becomes a part of one's image, it can mask hidden problems with the ego. Both the inner and outward states must be rectified. Constant self-examination in anticipation of theDay of Judgement was his proposed method for developing an awareness of the inner self and purifying the heart.
Al-Muhasibi was a student ofal-Shafi'i before he moved to Egypt. Al-Muhasibi later joined a group of scholars of theology, led byAbdullah ibn Kullāb (died 855) and al-Karibisi. They criticized theJahmis,Mu'tazilis, and theAnthropomorphists. The Mu'tazilis argued that the Qur'an was created, while Ibn Kullab argued against the createdness of the Qur'an by introducing a distinction between the speech of God and its realization: God is eternally speaking, but he can only be addressing Himself to somebody, if this addressee exists.
In 848 (or possibly 851), the caliphal-Mutawakkil ended theMihna (a period of religious and ideological persecution) and two years later, banned the Mu'tazilites' theology.
In his book, theal-Khalwa, on a discourse on fear and hope:
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