Key Figures of Islamic Tradition, According to Marshall Hodgson (2)

Early Sufi Masters

728, al-Hasan al-Basri, hadith scholar and ascetic who preached fear of God

776, Ibrahim b. Adham, figure of later importance to some Sufis (as first mystic)

801, Rabiah, woman mystic exemplifying love of God

857, al-Muhasibi, familiar with Mutazili positions, representative of transition of non-wordly piety from asceticism to full mysticism; wrote on moral purification through self-perfection; influential on al-Ghazali

861, Dhul-Nun al-Misri, associated with Coptic neo-Platonism, systematically described the mystical states and stages, also interested in alchemy

874, Abu-Yazid al-Bistami, first of the drunken Sufis

898, al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi, biographer of early Sufis, wrote on themese usually assocaited with Ghulat and Hellenistic circles; influential on Ibn-Arabi

910, al-Junayd, pupil of al-Muhasibi, who developed a comprehensive system

922, al-Hallaj, pupil of al-Junayd, drunken Sufi executed for heresy; became martyr for later Sufis