At a glance
- Era
- The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era
- Region
- Levant & Iraq
- Identifiers
- Wikidata
- Review
- Draft Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it
Sects and schoolsSpirituality and Sufism
Overview
Ikhwan al-Safa was a literary-philosophical circle in fourth-century Basra, authors of the fifty-one Epistles of the Brethren of Purity 1.
In the sources
Al-Dhahabi's Siyar records Abu Hamid al-Ghazali's engagement with the epistles and his entanglement with the philosophers' doctrines, and describes the epistles elsewhere through their critics' words 1.
People and things also explored
The Bektashi order· The Chishti order (Chishtiyya)· The Shadhili order (Shadhiliyya)· Al-Kadhimiya Mosque (Kazimayn shrine)· Imam Husayn Shrine, Karbala· Prophetic adab (proper conduct)· Ahl al-Ahwa (the people of deviant opinions in Islam, and the rules on their testimony, narration and prayer behind them)· The people of the qibla and not declaring takfir for sin
Sources
- Siyar a'lam al-nubala' — al-Dhahabi (Ideas House International edition, 2004)
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Ikhwan al-Safa (Brethren of Purity)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/group/ikhwan-al-safa/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.