Ibrahim ibn Adham also called Ibrahim Balkhi and Ebrahim-e Adham (); c. 718 – c. 782 / AH c. 100 – c. 165 is one of the most prominent of the early Sufi saints known for his zuhd (asceticism). The story of his conversion is one of the most celebrated in Sufi legend, mentioned in the ''

Tazkirat al-Awliya ''Tazkirat al-Awliyā'' ( or , lit. "Biographies of the Saints")variant transliterations: Tadhkirat al-Awliya, Tazkerat-ol-Owliya , Tezkereh-i-Evliā etc. is a hagiographic collection of ninety-six Sufi saints (''wali'', plural ''awliya'') and th ...

'' of

Attar of Nishapur Faridoddin Abu Hamed Mohammad Attar Nishapuri ( – c. 1221; ), better known by his pen-names Faridoddin () and ʿAttar of Nishapur (, Attar means apothecary), was a poet, theoretician of Sufism, and hagiographer from Nishapur who had an immense ...

. Sufi tradition ascribes to Ibrahim countless acts of righteousness and his humble lifestyle, which contrasted sharply with his early life as the king of

Balkh Balkh is a town in the Balkh Province of Afghanistan. It is located approximately to the northwest of the provincial capital city Mazar-i-Sharif and approximately to the south of the Amu Darya and the Afghanistan–Uzbekistan border. In 2021 ...

(itself an earlier centre of Buddhism). As recounted by

Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani Abu Nuʿaym al-Isfahani (; full name: ''Ahmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ahmad ibn Ishāq ibn Mūsā ibn Mahrān al-Mihrānī al-Asbahānī'' (or ''al-Asfahānī'') ''al-Ahwal al-Ash`arī al-Shāfi`ī'', died 1038 CE / AH 430) was a medieval Persian S ...

, Ibrahim emphasized the importance of stillness and

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness and detach from reflexive, "discursive thinking", achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state, while not judging the meditat ...

for asceticism.

Rumi Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (), or simply Rumi (30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273), was a 13th-century poet, Hanafi '' faqih'' (jurist), Maturidi theologian (''mutakallim''), and Sufi mystic born during the Khwarazmian Empire ...

extensively described the legend of Ibrahim in his ''

Masnavi The ''Masnavi'', or ''Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi'' (, DIN 31635, DMG: ''Mas̲navī-e maʻnavī''), also written ''Mathnawi'', or ''Mathnavi'', is an extensive poem written in Persian language, Persian by Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, also known as Rumi. I ...

''. The most famous of Ibrahim's students is Shaqiq al-Balkhi (d. 810).

Life

Ibrahim's family was either from

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

nobles of the region or from Arab origins from

Kufa Kufa ( ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates, Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Along with Samarra, Karbala, Kadhimiya ...

in what is now

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. He was born in Balkh, now in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. According to some historians he was maternally descended from the 2nd Rashid caliph

Umar Umar ibn al-Khattab (; ), also spelled Omar, was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () and is regarded as a senior companion and father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Mu ...

. Accounts of Ibrahim's life are recorded by medieval authors such as

ibn Asakir Ibn Asakir (; 1105–c. 1176) was a Syrian Sunni Islamic scholar, who was one of the most prominent and renowned experts on Hadith and Islamic history in the medieval era. and a disciple of the Sufi mystic Abu al-Najib Suhrawardi. Ibn Asakir was ...

and

Muhammad al-Bukhari Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm al-Juʿfī al-Bukhārī (; 21 July 810 – 1 September 870) was a 9th-century Persian Muslim '' muhaddith'' who is widely regarded as the most important ''hadith'' scholar in the histor ...

. Ibrahim was born into the Arab community of Balkh as the king of the area in around 730 CE, but he abandoned the throne to become an

ascetic Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures through self-discipline, self-imposed poverty, and simple living, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their pra ...

. He received a warning from God through

Khidr Al-Khidr (, ; also Romanized as ''al-Khadir, Khader, Khidr, Hidr, Khizr, Kezr, Kathir, Khazer, Khadr, Khedher, Khizir, Khizar, Khilr'') is a folk figure of Islam. He is described in Surah Al-Kahf, as a righteous servant of God possessing great w ...

, who appeared to him twice and abdicated his throne to take up the ascetic life in Syria. Having migrated around 750 CE, he lived the rest of his life semi-nomadic, often travelling as far south as Gaza. Ibrahim abhorred begging and worked tirelessly for his livelihood, frequently grinding grain or tending orchards. In addition, he is also said to have engaged in military operations on the border with

Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion () was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' continued to be used as a n ...

and his untimely death is supposed to have occurred on one of these naval expeditions. Legend states his earliest spiritual master was a Christian monk named Simeon. Ibrahim then recounted his dialogue with Simeon in his writings: According to the records of the

Chishti Order The Chishti order () is a Sufi Tariqa, order of Sunni Islam named after the town of Chishti Sharif District, Chisht, Afghanistan where it was initiated by Abu Ishaq Shami. The order was brought to Herat and later spread across South Asia by Mu ...

of Sufism, he is among their early masters and was also taught for some time by al-Fuḍayl ibn ʻIyāḍ. As is often with the graves of saints, numerous locations have been placed as the burial place of Ibrahim ibn Adham.

Ibn Asakir Ibn Asakir (; 1105–c. 1176) was a Syrian Sunni Islamic scholar, who was one of the most prominent and renowned experts on Hadith and Islamic history in the medieval era. and a disciple of the Sufi mystic Abu al-Najib Suhrawardi. Ibn Asakir was ...

stated that Ebrahim was buried on a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

island, While other sources state his tomb is in Tyre, in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

, in the "city of the prophet Lot," in the "cave of

Jeremiah Jeremiah ( – ), also called Jeremias, was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah authored the Book of Jeremiah, book that bears his name, the Books of Kings, and the Book of Lamentations, with t ...

" in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

and, in the city of Jablah on the Syrian coast, where a mosque bearing his name is located (35.3626975, 35.9244253). However, in the city of Sur in the

Sultanate of Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

, a small shrine is a place of pilgrimage (22.5528326, 59.5295567).

Historicity and literary reception

The medieval narratives of the life of Ibrahim are semi-historical. Ibrahim may have been a historical Sufi of the 8th century whose legend was embellished in later accounts. Attar's ''Tazkirat'', for example, remains one of the richest sources on Ebrahim's conversion and early life as the king of Balkh. Through the Persian memorials, literature on Ibrahim passed into the legendary literature of India and Indonesia, where further unhistorical embellishments were added. One of the main features of non-Arabic literature on Ibrahim is the feature of full-length biographies on the figure, as opposed to anecdotes centring on the main incidents in his life. Moreover, many of the non-Arabic accounts on Ebrahim's life preceded with a short account of the life of his father Adham. One of the most famous of these biographies was written in

New Persian New Persian (), also known as Modern Persian () is the current stage of the Persian language spoken since the 8th to 9th centuries until now in Greater Iran and surroundings. It is conventionally divided into three stages: Early New Persian (8th ...

, which was adapted into Arabic. Other such biographies were written in

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

, Awadhi, and Malay, which laid the basis for short biographies in Javanese and Sundanese. English poet

Leigh Hunt James Henry Leigh Hunt (19 October 178428 August 1859), best known as Leigh Hunt, was an English critic, essayist and poet. Hunt co-founded '' The Examiner'', a leading intellectual journal expounding radical principles. He was the centre ...

's poem " Abou Ben Adhem" is a story of Ibrahim ibn Adham. In turn, the musical '' Flahooley'' features a genie named Abou Ben Atom, played in the original 1951 Broadway production by Irwin Corey.T. Rees Shapiro, "Irwin Corey, 102: Comedian Billed Himself as 'World's Foremost Authority'", ''Washington Post'', February 8, 2017, p. B5.

References

{{Authority control Taba‘ at-Tabi‘in Sunni Sufis Afghan Sufis Afghan people of Arab descent Iranian people of Arab descent People from Balkh 8th-century Arab people 718 births 782 deaths

Life

Historicity and literary reception

See also

References