al-Hujwiri

Abu al-Hasan 'Ali ibn 'Uthman ibn Abi 'Ali al-Jullabi al-Hujwiri al-Ghaznawi was a Sufi scholar of the fifth century AH, contemporary with the Ghaznavid state, who died in the reign of Sultan Ibrahim of Ghazna; he is the author of Kashf al-Mahjub. ¹

Badi' Jum'a, introducing the Arabic translation, says he was born in the city of Ghazna, hence "al-Ghaznawi", and is called al-Jullabi and al-Hujwiri after Jullab and Hujwir, two quarters of Ghazna; his date of birth is unknown, probably at the end of the fourth century. ¹ Little is known of his private life beyond what he mentions in his book: he studied with Abu al-'Abbas al-Shaqqani, followed the Sufi path under Abu al-Fadl Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Khuttali, received some Sufi teaching from Abu al-Qasim al-Jurjani and "Khwaja" al-Muzaffar Ahmad ibn Hamdan, and met his contemporary Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri. ¹

Al-Hujwiri travelled across the Islamic world from Syria to Turkestan and from the Caspian to India, visiting Iraq, Khurasan, Transoxiana, Khuzistan, Fars, Azerbaijan and Jurjan, and frequenting a number of Sufi shaykhs. ¹ His travels lasted until 431 AH, when he first visited Lahore; he was there during the disturbance of 435 AH under Sultan Mawdud of Ghazna and was taken among the captives; he probably left for Ghazna and Khurasan between 435 and 441 AH, then returned to India and settled in Lahore until his death. ^{1 2}

The introducer says he was among the first callers to Islam in the Indian subcontinent and contributed to the conversion of many people of Lahore, foremost among them "Rai Raju", deputy governor of Lahore under Sultan Mawdud. ² He died in Lahore around 465 AH, and his tomb is still there within the shrine known as "Data Ganj Bakhsh", the name by which he is known in India and Pakistan. ²

Al-Hujwiri wrote many books whose titles he mentions in Kashf al-Mahjub; some were lost in his lifetime and some after his death, and only Kashf al-Mahjub survives. ² He himself says in his preface that he had earlier written books on the subject that were all lost, and that some pretenders borrowed from them to snare people. ³ In the chapter on blame he speaks in the first person — "I, 'Ali ibn 'Uthman al-Jullabi" — saying that in earlier times blame required some objectionable act, whereas in his time anyone who wanted to be blamed need only pray long. ⁴