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Abū Ḥayyān al-Tawḥīdī, ʿAlī b. Muḥammad b. al-ʿAbbās (ca. 310–414/922–1023), was a man of letters and a philosopher. According to evidence in his own writings it is estimated that he was born during the second decade of the 4th century of the hijra, probably in 310/922 (Yāqūt, 15/20; Ibrāhīm, 16–17; Muḥyī al-Dīn, 10; Qazwīnī, 2/167), either in Shīrāz, Nīsābūr or Wāsīṭ (see Yāqūt, 15/5; al-Ṣafadī, 22/39; al-Subkī, 4/2). According to Yāqūt (15/5), who wrote the most extensive account of Abū Ḥayyān's life, he was originally from Shīrāz; and according to Ibn al-Dimy…

Abū Nuʿaym al-Iṣfahānī, Aḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Aḥmad b. Isḥāq b. Mūsā b. Mihrān (336–430/947–1038), was a well-known Sunni traditionist and writer.Doctrines and PerspectivesThere are references in some sources to Abū Nuʿaym's school of law and his doctrinal inclinations, as well as his relationship with Shiʿism, which are highly relevant to an understanding of his personality.Al-Subkī considered Abū Nuʿaym a Shāfiʿī (4/18), without stating any particular reason for this affirmation. The theory that because of his hostility and enmity with the Ḥanbalī…

ʿAyn al-Quḍāt Hamadānī, ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad b. ʿAlī (490 or 492–525/1096 or 1098–1131), a famous Persian philosopher and mystic. No information on his early life has come down to us; we know only that he was born in Hamadān to a pious and cultured family and was brought up there. The sources record only the date of his execution (525/1131), not his birth date, with the exception of Ibn al-Fuwaṭī’s Majmaʿ al-ādāb (4(2)/1131). Some scholars who consider Shakwā al-gharīb to be his last work, written shortly before his death at the age of thirty-three, identify 492/1098 as …

Faḍl Allāh Ḥurūfī Astarābādī (d. 796/1394), the founder of the Ḥurūfī movement which emerged in Iran during the Tīmūrid period and was centred around his person and teachings. The Ḥurūfīs believed that the letters of the Arabo-Persian alphabet contained hidden meanings and that these meanings took primacy over the apparent meaning of the text when interpreting the Qurʾān. They also believed that human beings along with all other creatures were created from these letters and, therefore, that understa…