the believers any fighting; Ahmad ibn ‘Abd Allah’s belly has been slashed open.’ Thereupon Abu ‘Uthman rose and pronounced the iqamah.
I say: It is by such deeds that the shaykhs of the age are exalted.
Abu al-Husayn Ahmad ibn Abi ‘Uthman said: ‘My father died with ten days remaining of Rabi‘ al-Akhir in the year 298 AH, and Emir Abu Salih led the funeral prayer over him.’
In that same year, in Shawwal, the knowledgeable master also passed away:
34 – Abu al-Qasim al-Junayd ibn Muhammad ibn al-Junayd al-Nahawandi * (1), later known as al-Baghdadi, al-Qawariri; his father was a silk-merchant.
He was the shaykh of the Sufis. He was born in the early 220s AH and studied jurisprudence under Abu Thawr. He heard hadith from al-Sari al-Saqati (2)—whose company he kept—and from al-Hasan ibn ‘Arafah. He also kept company with al-Harith al-Muhasibi (3) and Abu Hamzah al-Baghdadi.
After mastering religious knowledge, he turned wholly to his own spiritual affairs, devoted himself to God, engaged in worship, and spoke words of wisdom. He narrated only a few traditions.
(*) Principal sources: Tabaqat al-Sufiyya, pp. 155–163; Hilyat al-Awliya, 10/255–287; Tarikh Baghdad, 7/241–249; al-Risala al-Qushayriyya, pp. 18–19; Tabaqat al-Hanabila, 1/127–129; al-Ansab, fol. 463b; al-Muntazam, 6/105–106; Sifat al-Safwa, 2/416–424; Wafayat al-Ayan, 1/373–375; al-Ibar, 2/110–111; Duwal al-Islam, 1/181; Mirat al-Janan, 2/231–236; Tabaqat al-Shafiiyya by al-Subki, 2/260–275; al-Bidaya wa-l-Nihaya, 11/113–115; Tabaqat al-Awliya, pp. 126–136; al-Nujum al-Zahira, 3/168–170; Shadharat al-Dhahab, 2/228–230; Rawdat al-Jannat, pp. 164–165.
(1) The nisba “Nihawandi” derives from Nihawand, pronounced with any of the three short vowels on the first nun, followed by an open ha and a waw preceded by an alif, while the second nun is quiescent. Yaqut, Mu jam al-Buldan 5/313, describes Nihawand as “a large city south of Hamadhan, three days’ journey away.”
(2) Abu al-Hasan Sari b. al-Mughlis al-Saqati was the leading shaykh of the Baghdadis; he died in 251 AH. His biography has already been given.
(3) Abu Abd Allah al-Harith b. Asad al-Muhasibi, originally from Basra, was the well-known ascetic and prolific author; he died in 243 AH. His life was recorded earlier in vol. 12, no. 35.