Al-Harith al-Muhasibi (d. 243)
He was one of the earliest author of Sufi treatises and the teacher of al-Junayd. `Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi, Taj al-Din al-Subki, and Jamal al-Din al-Isnawi all reiterate the statement whereby “Upon the books of al-Harith ibn Asad al-Muhasibi on kalam, fiqh, and hadith rest those among us who are mutakallim (theologian), faqih (jurist), and sufi.”1 His extant works are:
- Kitab al-ri`aya li huquq Allah (Book of observance of the rights of Allah); Shaykh al-Islam al-`Izz ibn `Abd al-Salam wrote an abridgment of it.2
- Kitab al-tawahhum (Book of imagination), a description of the Day of Judgment;
- Kitab al-khalwa (Book of seclusion);
- Risalat al-mustarshidin (Treatise for those who ask for guidance);
- Kitab al-ri`aya li-huquq Allah (Book of the observance of the rights of Allah);
- Kitab fahm al-Qur’an (Book of the understanding of Qur’an);
- Kitab mahiyyat al-`aql wa ma`nahu wa ikhtilaf al-nas fihi (Book of the nature and meaning of the mind and the differences among people concerning it);
- al-Masa’il fi a`mal al-qulub wa al-jawarih wa al-`aql (The questions concerning the works of the hearts, the limbs, and the mind);
- Kitab al-`azama (The book of magnificence);
- al-Wasaya wa al-nasa’ih al-diniyya wa al-nafahat al-qudsiyya li naf`i jami` al-bariyya (The spiritual legacies and counsels and the sanctified gifts for the benefit of all creatures).
1 ‘Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi, Kitab Usul al-Din p. 308-309; Taj al-Din Subki, Tabaqat al-shafi`iyya 2:275; Jamal al-Din al-Isnawi, Tabaqat al-Shafi`iyya 1:(#9)26-27.
2 al-Subki mentions it in Tabaqat al-shafi`iyya. A copy of it is found at the Chester Beatty Library, ms. 3184
Reproduced with permission from Shaykh M. Hisham Kabbani’s The Repudiation of “Salafi” Innovations (Kazi, 1996) p. 281-282.
Blessings and Peace on the Prophet, his Family, and his Companions
