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Abu Hafs Umar al-Suhrawardi

Abu Hafs Umar al-Suhrawardi

1145 CE1234 CE · Baghdad

Shihab al-Din Abu Hafs Umar al-Suhrawardi (c. 1145–1234 CE / c. 539–632 AH) was a Persian Sunni Sufi master and Shafi'i jurist, and the nephew of the Sufi teacher Abu al-Najib al-Suhrawardi. He is best known for his manual Awarif al-Maarif, an influential systematic treatise on Sufi doctrine, etiquette, and the discipline of spiritual life that became a standard textbook of the tradition. Based in Baghdad, he gave enduring institutional form to the Suhrawardiyya order founded by his uncle, and served the Abbasid caliph al-Nasir li-Din Allah as a diplomat to several courts and in the office of Shaykh al-Islam. He is not to be confused with his contemporary Shihab al-Din Yahya al-Suhrawardi, the founder of the Illuminationist (Ishraqi) school.

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BaghdadIraq

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Major Mizrahi center; home of Yosef Hayyim (Ben Ish Chai).

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