Abd al-Ghani ibn Nuqta

عبد الغني ابن نقطة

c. September 1187 CE · 4 Jumada II 583 AH

The ascetic Abd al-Ghani b. Shuja', Abu Bakr the Baghdadi Hanbali known as Ibn Nuqta; al-Sakhawi calls him famed for wantlessness and self-denial — he kept a zawiya in Baghdad sheltering the poor, and none in his age matched his stripping-away: a thousand dinars would open to him before sunset and he would scatter it to fasting poor men keeping nothing, saying 'we do not work for wages'. The caliph al-Nasir's mother married him to one of her maids with ten thousand dinars, and before the year turned he had nothing left but a mortar — which he gave to a beggar who had not eaten in three days, saying 'it will feed you thirty days'; he died 4 Jumada II in Baghdad 1.

Depth

At a glance

Roles
sufi
Era
The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks
Region
Levant & Iraq
Review
Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it

Life in time

107511001125115011751200122512501275 c. c. c. c. c. c.
The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era · The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks · The Mongol and Post-Mongol Era Contemporaries: Muwaffaq al-Din Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi · Abd al-Qadir al-Rahawi · Abd al-Razzaq ibn Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani · Abd al-Salam ibn Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani · Abd al-Wahhab al-Shirazi

Overview

The ascetic 'Abd al-Ghani b. Shuja' Abu Bakr of Baghdad, the Hanbali known as Ibn Nuqa; al-Sakhawi said he was famed for self-denial, preferring others and zuhd — he had a zawiya at Baghdad where the poor sheltered, and in his age none rivalled him in stripping away the world. 1

His alms

Before sunset a thousand dinars would be opened to him; he would share it out while the poor were still fasting, keeping nothing, saying "we do not work for wages." The caliph al-Nasir's mother married him to one of her maids and dowered her with ten thousand dinars — before the year turned he had nothing left but a mortar; a faqir came and said, "for three days I have eaten nothing," and he brought out the mortar and said, "speak no ill of God — your meal in this for thirty days." He died 4 Jumada II at Baghdad. 1

Sources

  1. Shadharat al-Dhahab — Ibn al-Imad al-Hanbali , p. 758
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Abd al-Ghani ibn Nuqta”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/abd-al-ghani-ibn-nuqa/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.

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