Bayazid Bastami
| Bayazid Bastami | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 804 |
| Died | 874 |
| Region | Western Asia |
| School | Sunni Naqshbandi |
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Main interests
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mysticism, philosophy |
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Notable ideas
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Shukr |
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Influences
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Influenced
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Abū Yazīd Ṭayfūr b. ʿĪsā b. Surūshān al-Bisṭāmī (al-Basṭāmī) (d. 261/874–5 or 234/848–9), commonly known in the Iranian world as Bāyazīd Bisṭāmī, was a PersianSufi, from north-central Iran. Known to future Sufis as Sultān-ul-Ārifīn ("King of the Gnostics"), Bastami, who was famous for "the boldness of his expression of the mystic’s complete absorption into the ," was one of the pioneers of what later came to be known as the "drunken" or "ecstatic" (sukr) school of Islamic mysticism.
His grandfather Surūshān was born a Zoroastrian, an indication that Bastami had Persian origins despite the fact that his transmitted sayings are in Arabic. Very little is known about the life of Bastami, whose importance lies in his biographical tradition, since he left no written works. The early biographical reports portray him as a wanderer but also as leading teaching circles. They describe him as a mystic dismissive of excessive asceticism but also as one scrupulous about ritual purity such as washing his tongue before chanting God’s names and one appreciative of the work of the great jurists. A measure of the influence of his image in posterity is the fact that he is named in the lineage (silsila) of one of the largest Sufi brotherhoods today, the Naqshbandi order.
The name Bastami means "from Bastam". Bayazid's grandfather was a Zoroastrian who converted to Islam. His grandfather had three sons, Adam, Tayfur and 'Ali. All of them were ascetics. Bayazid was born to Tayfur. Not much is known of his childhood, but Bayazid spent most of his time in isolation in his house and the mosque. Although he remained in isolation, he did not isolate himself from the Sufi realm. He welcomed people into his house to discuss Islam. Bayazid also led a life of asceticism and renounced all worldly pleasures in order to be one with Allah The Exalted. Ultimately, this led Bayazid to a state of "self union" which, according to many Sufi orders, is the only state a person could be in order to attain unity with God.
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