Abulfazl al-Baghdādī: the Unknown Successor of Ahmad Ghazālī

Subject Areas : Christianity

انسیه  شیخسفلی ¹ (ندارد)
شهرام  پازوکی ² (ندارد)

Received: 2012-10-17 Accepted : 2012-12-03 Published : 2012-03-20

Keywords: the Sufis’ chains of authoriti, Ahmad Ghazālī, Abulfazl al-Baghdādī, Shāh Nimatullāh Valī,

Abstract :

According to the Sufis’ chains of authorities, the tradition of ShāhNimatullāh Valī (d. 1430 C.E.) goes back to Ahmad Ghazālī (d. 1126C.E.), the head of the Marufī order and the brother of the famousImām Muhammad Ghazālī. This chain was developed outside Iran bythe unknown successor of Ahmad Ghazālī, mentioned as Abulfazl al-Baghdādī, and through some intermediaries reached Abu Madyan (d.1198 C.E.), in Tlemcen (a town in Northwestern Algeria). The name ofAbu Madyan is frequently mentioned in Ibn al-Arabi’s works as hismaster. This chain finally came up to Shāh Nimatullāh Valī, thusreturned to Iran. This article tries to survey the real identity of ShaikhAbulfazl al-Baghdādī.