Al-Risala al-Qushayriyya (The Epistle of al-Qushayri)

Al-Risala al-Qushayriyya is an epistle that Abu al-Qasim 'Abd al-Karim ibn Hawazin al-Qushayri wrote "to the community of Sufis in the lands of Islam" in the year 437 AH. ² Its editor quotes Ibn al-Subki calling it "the famous and blessed" Risala and Ibn Hajar al-Haytami calling it "the greatest of the books of the Sufi masters", and says it became "the book of the Sufis", so that scholars would say of a man "he is one of the men of the Risala", meaning that al-Qushayri gave him a notice or quoted him. ⁵ Among its titles on the covers of some copies is "the Epistle to the Sufis". ⁵

At its opening al-Qushayri describes the state of the path in his time: most of the genuine members of this community had passed away, "a lapse has come upon the path", scrupulousness had vanished and greed grown strong, and some made light of acts of worship and claimed they were freed from the bonds of servitude, with no blame on them for what they did or left. ^{6 7} He says he had held back from censure "out of jealousy for this path, lest its people be spoken of ill", since in his lands the trial from those who denounced it was severe; but when this went on he feared that hearts would think the whole matter was built on such foundations, so he wrote the epistle and set down in it the lives of the shaykhs in their manners, character, beliefs and experiences. ⁷ The editor sees in this a critique of Sufism from within, not a change to its fixed principles. ⁸

Al-Qushayri opens the epistle with a section "explaining the creed of this community on the principles of religion": its shaykhs built their affair on sound principles of unification, kept their beliefs free of innovation, and held to what they found the early generations and Ahl al-Sunna upon, "a unification with neither likening nor stripping away". ³ He quotes al-Junayd: unification is setting apart the eternal from the originated; and al-Jurayri: whoever does not grasp the science of unification by one of its proofs, the foot of delusion slips with him. ³ Among his quotations here is Abu 'Uthman al-Maghribi's saying that he used to hold something of the doctrine of direction (jiha) for God, but when he came to Baghdad it left his heart, and a saying of al-Wasiti from which al-Qushayri argues that the acts acquired by servants are created by God. ⁹ The editor holds that putting this creedal section first is deliberate, since worship and asceticism are shared by others than Ahl al-Sunna and what counts is soundness of principles. ¹⁰

Al-Qushayri next gives "a chapter on the shaykhs of this path" (p. 100), with notices, by the editor's count, of eighty-three Sufi figures; he shares many with his teacher al-Sulami and adds to them, especially his own shaykhs and those of his generation. ^{1 11} A notice is short: name and origin, companions, year of death, then sayings, usually with chains through al-Sulami. Examples are Sari al-Saqati, Hamdun al-Qassar, Ruwaym, 'Amr ibn 'Uthman al-Makki, Abu Sa'id al-Kharraz and Ibrahim al-Khawwas. ^{12 13 14 15 16 17} The editor points out that he mentions the trial of the Sufis at the hands of Ghulam Khalil, gives a notice to Ibn Yazdanyar, whom al-Sarraj disparaged in al-Luma', and quotes al-Hallaj often without a notice; the editor says the Risala shows that al-Daqqaq and al-Sulami held a good opinion of al-Hallaj — this is the editor's reading, on a disputed matter. ^{1 10}

Al-Qushayri then explains "terms current among this community" (from p. 231), and then the chapters on stations and states, the first being the chapter on repentance (p. 295), followed by spiritual struggle, retreat and seclusion, piety, scrupulousness, renunciation, silence, fear, hope, sorrow, hunger, humility, opposing the self, envy, backbiting, contentment, trust, gratitude, certainty, patience, watchfulness, satisfaction, servanthood, will, steadfastness, sincerity, truthfulness, modesty and freedom. ^{18 19} Later chapters include remembrance (p. 498), chivalry, insight, character, generosity, jealousy, sainthood, supplication and poverty, Sufism (p. 584), conduct (p. 593), companionship and unification, their states on leaving this world (p. 625), gnosis (p. 638), love (p. 648), longing, audition (p. 677), the affirmation of the saints' miracles (p. 701), the Sufis' dreams (p. 754), and finally counsel to disciples (p. 771). ^{20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 4}

The editor says al-Qushayri transmits nearly a hundred reports traced to the Prophet ﷺ, some found only with him; that the Risala preserves many sayings of his shaykh Abu 'Ali al-Daqqaq; and that it documents texts from earlier books such as al-Luma' of Abu Nasr al-Sarraj, al-Sulami's works, above all his Tabaqat and Ta'rikh, al-Kharkushi's Tahdhib al-Asrar, Ibn Jahdam's Bahjat al-Asrar and Abu Nu'aym's books, above all the Hilya. ¹ For instance, in the chapter on the shaykhs the editor notes a passage that is "a summary of what al-Sarraj said" in al-Luma'. ¹¹ In his chains al-Qushayri also transmits from al-Sarraj himself through an intermediary. ²⁹

The edition used here is that of Dar al-Minhaj (1st edition, 2nd issue, 1438 AH / 2017), prepared by Anas Muhammad 'Adnan al-Sharfawi and described as "a unique edition, critically established with sources traced, based on twelve manuscripts, two of them copied from an original bearing the author's hand". ^{30 31} Its introduction has a life of al-Qushayri, a description of the manuscripts (from p. 43) and the editorial method. ^{32 33} Another printing in this collection is that of Dar Jawami' al-Kalim in Cairo, with the notes of Zakariyya al-Ansari. ³⁴