Shahab al-Din Abu Hafs Umar al-Suhrawardi ( – 1234) was a PersianJohn Renard, "Historical dictionary of Sufism ", Rowman & Littlefield, 2005. pg xxviii. excerpt: "Abu 'n-Najib 'Abd al-Qahir as-Suhrawardi, Persian shaykh and author, and scholar who thought Ahmad al-Ghazali, Najm al-Din Kubra and Abu Hafs 'Umar as-Suhrawardi Sufi and nephew of Abu al-Najib Suhrawardi. He expanded the Sufi order of Suhrawardiyya that had been created by his uncle, Abu al-Najib Suhrawardi, and is the person responsible for officially formalizing the order. Suhrawardi is the author of the ʿAwārif al-Maʿārif, which is recognized as a masterpiece work in Tasawwuf.

Life Suhrawardi traced his lineage back to Abu Bakr, the first Caliph. From an early age onwards, Suhrawardi studied Islamic jurisprudence, law, logic, theology, Quranic studies and Hadith studies.Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia (2006), p. 775 Suhrawardi quickly excelled in his studies and mastered, at an early age, the Shafi'i and Hanbali madhabs. Suhrawardi was eventually designated as Shaykh al-Islam by Caliph al-Nasir under the Abbasids.

The ʿAwārif al-Maʿārif Suhrawardi wrote the ʿAwārif al-Maʿārif (translated as "Benefits of Intimate Knowledge", or other as "The Knowledge of the Spiritually Learned").Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia (2006), p. 776 The ʿAwārif al-Maʿārif quickly became one of the most popular books on Sufism throughout the Muslim world. This book was allegedly translated into English by Henry Wilberforce-Clarke and published as "A Dervish Textbook" in 1891, although the Persian text which was the basis for this translation is likely to have been misattributed. It was reprinted by Octagon Press in 1980.

Gallery

See also Mausoleum of Umar Suhrawardi Suhrawardy family

References

Sources

Ohlander, Erik, Sufism in an Age of Transition: Umar al-Suhrawardi and the Rise of the Islamic Mystical Brotherhood (Leiden, Brill, 2008) (Islamic History and Civilization, 71). Huda, Qamar-ul, Striving for Divine Union: Spiritual Exercises for Suhrawardī Sūfīs (Psychology Press, 2003)