Hazrat Abu al-Hassan al-Kharaqani رحمتہ اللہ علیہ


Hazrat Abu al-Hassan al-Kharaqani رحمتہ اللہ علیہ was born in 963 (352 Hijri) in a village called Kharaqan near Bustam.

He was the disciple of Shaikh Abul-Abbas Qassab Amili رحمتہ اللہ علیہ in tariqah but had deep spiritual relation with Bayazid Bastami رحمتہ اللہ علیہ , who died almost a century before him but had spoken about the personality and state of Abul Hassan Kharaqani.

Farid al-Din Attar رحمتہ اللہ علیہ called him as Sultān-e Salāteen-e Mashāyekh سلطان سلاطین مشائخ, Ocean of the spiritual knowledge, Mystery of the Lord and Qibla of his people.

Abul Hassan Kharaqani رحمتہ اللہ علیہ was the Shaikh of the famous Persian sufi and poet, Khwajah Abdullah Ansari. Ibn Sina, Shah Mahmood of Ghazna, Abu-Saïd Abul-Khair and Nasir Khusraw had traveled to Kharaqan to meet him and expressed their deep admiring feelings and respect for him.

He devoided himself of everything except Allah's Oneness, he said: "I am not a rahib (hermit). I am not a zahid (ascetic). I am not a speaker. I am not a Sufi. O Allah, You are One, and I am one in Your Oneness."
 
About being a Sufi he said:
 
"The Sufi is not the one who is always carrying the prayer rug, nor the one who is wearing patched clothes, nor the one who keeps certain customs and appearances; but the Sufi is the one to whom everyone's focus is drawn, although he is hiding himself."

"The Sufi is the one who in the daylight doesn't need the sun and in the night doesn't need the moon. The essence of Sufism is absolute nonexistence that has no need of existence because there is no existence besides Allah's existence."

Of knowledge and practice he said:
 
"Scholars and servants in the lower world are numerous but they don't benefit you unless you are engaged in the satisfaction of Allah's desire, and from morning to night are occupied with the deeds that Allah accepts."

Of the heart he said:
 
"What is the best thing? The heart which is always in Remembrance of God (dhikr Allah)."

"The best of hearts is the heart which contains nothing but the presence of Allah, Almighty and Exalted."

"Today it will have been 40 years that Allah has been looking in my heart and has seen nothing except Himself. I have had nothing in my heart nor my breast except Allah for 40 years; and while my ego is asking for cold water and a drink of milk, I have not allowed it that for 40 years in order to control myself."

"The vision with the eyes of the head doesn't bring happiness, but the vision with the eyes of the heart and the secret that Allah gives to the soul will bring out that happiness."

Of Bayazid رحمتہ اللہ علیہ he said:
 
One time Sultan Mahmoud al-Ghazi visited Abul Hassan and asked his opinion of Bayazid al-Bistami. He said, "Whoever follows Bayazid is going to be guided. And whoever saw him and felt love towards him in his heart will reach a happy ending." At that Sultan Mahmoud said, "How is that possible, when Abu Jahl saw the Prophet and he was unable to reach a happy ending but rather ended up in misery?" He answered, "It is because Abu Jahl didn't see the Prophet but he saw Muhammad bin `Abdullah. And if he saw the Messenger of Allah he would have been taken out of misery into happiness. As Allah said, "You see them looking at you but without clear vision" [7:198]. He continued with the saying "The vision with the eyes of the head..."

In the whole world only one person could understand me, and it was Bayazid.

Some of his sayings.
 
Shaikh Abul Hassan had written on the door of his khaneqah: “Anyone who comes to this house, give him food and do not ask about his faith. Because, as he merits a life next to the exalted God, no doubt he deserves a meal on my table.”

"I feel, I hear, I speak, but I do not exist."

"People cannot describe me. No matter in which words or in which terms they present me, I am the opposite of what they say."

"A scholar wakes up early in the morning and seeks how to increase his knowledge. A pious wakes up and seeks how to increase his faith. But Abul-Hassan looks for how to make a human being happy."

"The one who said "I reached Allah (to the God, to the Truth and Reality)", he did not. And the one who said "He (God) himself made me reach him", he reached Allah (or he attained the reality)."

He was asked: "Where did you see the God?" He answered: "...wherever I did not see my own self."

"Whatever exists in the entire universe, it is also in your own heart. You have to gain the ability to see it."

"The one who fell in Love found Allah. And the one who found Allah, forgot his own self."

"Ask for difficulties in order for tears to appear because Allah loves those who cry," referring to the advice of the Prophet  to cry much.

"In whatever way you ask Allah for anything, still the Qur'an is the best way. Don't ask Allah except through the Qur'an." 

"The Inheritor of the Prophet  is the one who follows his footsteps and never puts black marks in his Book of Deeds."


Abul-Hasan al-Kharqani died on Tuesday, 10th of Muharram in 425 H. (1033 CE). He was buried in Kharaqan, a village of the city of Bustam in Persia