Al-Qushayri

'Abd al-Karīm ibn Hawazin Abū al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī al-Naysābūrī (Persian: عبدالکریم قُشَیری‎, Arabic: عبد الكريم بن هوازن بن عبد الملك بن طلحة أبو القاسم القشيري; 986 – 30 December 1072) was an Arab Muslim scholar, theologian, jurist, legal theoretician, commentator of the Qur’an, muhaddith, grammarian, spiritual master, orator, poet, and an eminent scholar who mastered a number of Islamic sciences.

[3] Al-Qushayri, combined the routine instruction of a Shafi'i law specialist and Hadith expert (muhaddith) with a solid slant to mysticism and ascetic lifestyle.

[6] Al Qushayri was born into a privileged Arab family from among the Banu Qushayr who had settled near Nishapur.

[7] As a young man he received the education of a country squire of the time: adab, the Arabic language, chivalry and weaponry (istiʿmāl al-silāḥ), but that all changed when he journeyed to the city of Nishapur and was introduced to the Sufi shaykh Abū ʿAlī al-Daqqāq.

[10] He left behind six sons and several daughters between Fatima and his second wife and was buried near al-Madrasa al-Qushayriyya, next to his father in-law Abū ʿAlī al-Daqqāq[11] Laṭā'if al-Isharat bi-Tafsīr al-Qur'ān is a famous work of al-Qushayri that is a complete commentary of the Qur'an.

This text is essentially a reminder to the people of his era that Sufis had authentic ancestral tradition, as well as a defence of Sufism against the doubters that rose during that time of his life.

Daqqaq was instrumental in introducing Qushayri to another outstanding Sufi authority of Khurasan, al-Sulami, who is quoted on almost every page of the Risala.

Abd al-Ghafir al-Farsi said about his grandfather (Al-Qushayri):[3] The absolute Imam, jurist, theologian, legal theorist, the interpreter of the Qu'ran, a man of letters, grammarian, writer/poet, the master of his time, God's secret among His creation, the axis of reality, source of happiness, the pole of masterhood, one who joined the Shari'a and the Truth.

When the Sufi Shaykhs had agreed upon the favor he possessed and saw his nearness and allotment from the al-Haqq, they faded before him and disappeared in comparison with him.