al-Sulami
937 CE–1021 CE · Baghdad
Abu 'Abd al-Rahman Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Sulami was a scholar of Nishapur, a great learning-centre in Khurasan (north-eastern Iran). The standard reference works place his birth in 325 AH (937 CE) and his death in 412 AH (1021 CE), though some early sources give his birth as 330 AH (942 CE). He came from a devout family; after his father left for Mecca, he was raised by his maternal grandfather, Ibn Nujayd, a leading figure of the Malamatiyya — a Khurasani movement that prized hidden piety and self-blame over outward display.
Trained as a Shafi'i (one of the four Sunni schools of law) and as a hadith specialist, he travelled to study in Iraq, the Hijaz, and across Iran. In Nishapur he built a small lodge (duwayra) where he taught.
He is best known for two works. The Tabaqat al-sufiyya ("Generations of the Sufis") is among the earliest collective biographies of Sufi masters and a major source for later tradition. The Haqa'iq al-tafsir gathers earlier mystics' readings of the Qur'an; some later scholars admired it, while others questioned attributions within it. Modern study treats al-Sulami as a pivotal organiser and defender of emerging Sufism, though he also drew criticism in his own and later times. He died and was buried in Nishapur.
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BaghdadIraq
What they did here
Travelled to Iraq to collect and narrate hadith; the biographical sources name 'Iraq' rather than a specific city. He is reported to have put hadith-criticism questions to the Baghdad traditionist al-Daraqutni (d. 385/995) — preserved in the text known as al-Su'alat — so a Baghdad stop is a reasonable inference, but the sources do not fix the city or the dating of the visit.
About Baghdad
Major Mizrahi center; home of Yosef Hayyim (Ben Ish Chai).
Across the traditions, in Baghdad at the same time
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with al-Sulami’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
Across the traditions
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with al-Sulami’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Jewish world
Works
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