Abū-Sa'īd Abul-Khayr

Abusa'id Abolkhayr or Abū-Sa'īd Abul-Khayr (Persian: ‫( )ابوسعید ابوالخیر‬December 7, 967 -

January 12, 1049), also known as Sheikh Abusaeid or Abu Sa'eed, was a famous Persian Sufi
and poet who contributed extensively to the evolution of Sufi tradition. The majority of what
is known from his life comes from the book Asrar al-Tawhid ( ‫اسرارالتوحید‬, or "The Mysteries of
Unification") written by Mohammad Ibn Monavvar, one of his grandsons, 130 years after his
death. The book, which is an important early Sufi writing in Persian, presents a record of his
life in the form of anecdotes from a variety of sources and contains a collection of his words.

During his life his fame spread throughout the Islamic world, even to Spain. He was the first
Sufi writer to widely use ordinary love poems as way to express and illuminate mysticism,
and as such he played a major role in foundation of Persian Sufi poetry. He spent most of his
life in Nishapur. Abū-Sa'īd was born in the village of Mihne, part of Greater Khorasan, today
located near Torbat-e Heydarieh in Khorāsān-e Razavī Province. His father was a herbalist
and physician with an interest in Sufism. He then moved and lived a few years in the city of
Nishapur, and subsequently moved back to Meyhaneh after a few years. Abū-Sa'īd’s formal
education included Islamic scholarship and Arabic literature that he continued until the age 23
when he left them for Sufism. He also traveled to and spent time in small towns around the
same province visiting other Sufis or his teachers.

His mysticism is a typical example of the Khorasani school of Sufism. He extracted the
essence of the teachings of the past Sufis of this school (and to some extent other schools as
well) and expressed them in a simpler, and in a sense deeper, form without the use of
philosophy.

He held a special reverence for earlier Sufis, especially Bayazid Bastami and Hallaj.
Moreover, in Asrar al-Tawhid, Tazkiratul Awliyā and Noorul Uloom it has been written that
Abū-Sa'īd went for the visit of Shaikh Abul Hassan Kharaqani and got deeply influenced by
his personality and state.

His system is based on a few themes that appear frequently in his words, generally in the form
of simple emotional poems.

The main focus of his teachings is liberation from “I”, which he considered the one and only
cause of separation from God and to which he attributed all personal and social misfortunes.
His biography mentions that he would never call himself "I" or "we" but “they” instead. This
idea of selflessness appears as Fotovvat 1 (a concept very near to chivalry) in his ethical
teachings and as Malaamat2, a kind of selflessness before the Beloved which he considers a
sign of perfect love in his strictly mystical teachings.

Both of these concepts in a certain sense are spiritual forms of warrior ethics. Despite their
simplicity he believed that the full application of these teachings to one's life requires both
divine grace and the guidance of an experienced Sufi, and is impossible through personal
efforts alone. His picture as portrayed in various Sufi writings is a particularly joyful one of
1
Futuwwa (Arabic: ‫فتوة‬, "young-manliness" or "chivalry") is a Sufi term that has some similarities to chivalry
and virtue. It was also a name of ethical urban organizations or "guilds" in medieval Muslim realms that
emphasised honesty, peacefulness, gentleness, generosity, avoidance of complaint and hospitality in life.
According to Ibn Battuta, a member was called fata (youth, pl. fityan) and group leaders were called akhi.
2
The Malāmatiyya (‫ )مالماتیة‬or Malamatis were a Muslim mystic group active in 9th century Greater Khorasan.

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continuous ecstasy. Other famous Sufis made frequent references to him, a notable example
being the Persian Sufi poet Farid al-Din Attar, who mentions Abū-Sa'īd as his spiritual guide.
Many miracles are attributed to him in Sufi writings.

Many short Persian poems are attributed to him and he is considered one of the great
medieval Persian poets. The attribution of these poems has always been doubtful and due to
recent research, it is generally believed that he wrote only two poems in his life. The
attribution of so many poems to Abū-Sa'īd was due to his great fondness for poetry. His love
for poetry can be seen from the fact that he usually used love poetry written by non-Sufis in
his daily prayers. Even his last words were a poem, and at his funeral instead of the recitation
of Qur’anic verses, he requested the following poem.

What sweeter than this in the world!

Friend met friend and the lover joined his Beloved.

That was all sorrow, this is all joy

Those were all words, this is all reality.

Another example of the poems attributed to him.

Love came and flew as blood in my veins

Emptied me of myself and filled me with beloved.

Each part of my being she conquered

Now a mere name is left to me and the rest is she.