Abū al-Faḍl al-Sarakhsī, Muḥammad b. Ḥasan was a gnostic (ʿārif) of the 4th/10th century in Khurāsān, and a spiritual guide and teacher of Abū Saʿīd b. Abī al-Khayr. Little is known about his life, beliefs or spiritual practices, and it is only due to his relationship with Abū Saʿīd that it is possible to discover anything about him. According to Muḥammad b. Munawwar (1/26) and Abū Rūḥ (p. 15), he was a disciple of Abū Naṣr al-Sarrāj and was well versed in the formal religious sciences of his own time (N…