, Abū Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Yūnus b. ʿĪsā b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Rafīʿ, an influential Ṣūfī of mediaeval Islam, was probably born in 203/818 in Tustar, K̲h̲ūzistān, and died in 283/896 in Baṣra. The essential course of his life can be reconstructed on the basis of fragmentary hagiographical accounts, included in the Ṣūfī primary sources, and incidental references of Islamic historical literature.

Until a short time after his pilgrimage to Mecca in 219/834, al-Tustarī received his basic education from his maternal uncle Muḥammad b. Sawwār (who transmitted ḥadīt̲h̲ on the authority of S…