Scrupulousness and trust in God: Sufyan Sawri, the legal scholar, and Shaqiq Balkhi, the Sufi warrior

Abstract

The paper offers an annotated translation of two hagiographic narratives from Farid ad-Din ‘Attar's Memorial of God's friends, the XII–XIII century compendium depicting the multiple ways of approaching God. The protagonist of the frst life, Sufyan Ṣawri, was the founder of the Ṣauriyya law school, a traditionalist, a translator of hadiths, and an interpreter of the Koran. His life narrative focuses on his signature virtue, the religious scrupulousness and delicacy of conscience, due to which, as his life states, he could enter paradise upon his death. In other lives in the same compendium, he is portrayed as diligently visiting and listening to famous mystics who bestow on him their spiritual lessons. The second life, of Shaqiq Balkhi, the celebrated ascetic and theoretician of Sufsm, focuses on the virtue of absolute trust in God (tavakkul): Shaqiq sought to rigorously apply it to his own actions and was the frst to create the theory of tavakkul. Shaqiq was a preacher and a versatile spiritual writer but, unlike Sawri, he was also an active participant in religious wars.