216 – al-Qirmīsīnī, Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Shaybān *
The shaykh of the Sufis, Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Shaybān al-Qirmīsīnī (1), known as “the Ascetic of the Mountain.”
He kept company with Ibrāhīm al-Khawwāṣ and Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Maghribī.
He transmitted hadith from ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Abī al-ʿAnbar.
Those who narrated from him include the jurist Abū Zayd al-Marwazī, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Rāzī, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Thawābah, and others. He roamed throughout Syria and beyond.
The ascetic ʿAbd Allāh ibn Munāzil (2) was asked about him and replied, “He is Allah’s proof against the poor and against those devoted to spiritual transactions and refined conduct (3).”
Ibrāhīm also said, “Whoever wishes to be idle and unemployed should cling to the dispensations (4).”
(*) Tabaqat al-Sufiyya, pp. 402-405; Hilyat al-Awliya, 10/361; al-Risala al-Qushayriyya, p. 27; al-Ansab, 10/110; Tarikh Ibn Asakir, 2/225a-225b; al-Muntazam, 6/390-391; al-Ibar, 2/244-245; al-Wafi bi-l-wafayat, 6/20; Mirat al-Jinan, 2/325; al-Bidaya wa-l-nihaya, 11/234; Tabaqat al-Awliya, pp. 21-23; Shadharat al-dhahab, 2/334.
(1) The nisba is pronounced with a kasra on the qaf, a sukun on the ra, a kasra on the mim, and a kasra on the sin, which falls between two quiescent ya’s, and ends with a nun. It refers to Qarmisin, a town in the Iraqi mountain region, thirty farsakhs from Hamadan near Dinur, on the pilgrims’ route (al-Ansab, 10/110).
(2) The original manuscript vocalised the mim with a damma; the correct form, however, is with a fatha, as shown in the author’s Mushtabih 2/567, Tawdih an-Nasir al-Din, and Tabsir Ibn Hajar.
(3) Tabaqat al-Sufiyya, p. 402.
(4) Tabaqat al-Sufiyya, p. 403.