Abu Talib al-Makki

Abu Talib Muhammad b. 'Ali b. 'Atiyya al-Harithi, the preacher of Mecca, author of Qut al-qulub; he was not of Mecca's people but of al-Jabal — he settled at Mecca and was named for it. A righteous man strenuous in worship who used riyada much — it is said he abandoned food so long his skin greened. ¹

He entered Basra after Abu'l-Hasan Ibn Salim's death and attached himself to his doctrine; he came to Baghdad and preached, but muddled his speech — he was left and shunned, and kept from speaking thereafter. ¹

The Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.), signed by L. Massignon, describes Abu Talib al-Makki as a mu'tazili-minded theologian and mystic who died in Baghdad in 386/996-8, and as head of the dogmatic school of the Salimiyya in Basra. His chief work is the Qut al-Qulub, whole pages of which al-Ghazali copied into his Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din. The article lists as sources Murtada's Ithaf, al-Sha'rani's Latai'f and Ibn 'Abbad al-Rundi's al-Rasa'il al-Kubra. ²