ABSTRACT
Although they traced their origins to early Muslim spiritual athletes, later Sufi writers expressed discomfort with certain acts of these early ascetic figures. Sufi hagiographers showed discomfort with ascetic practices that seemed to emulate Christian practice, especially when they diverged from the Prophet Muhammad’s model, as with celibacy. This chapter will examine changing Sufi views on celibacy through the shifting hagiography of Ibn Khafif (d. 982/371), who was renowned for his asceticism. Though he had multiple wives, one popular story implies that he was a lifelong celibate. This chapter will examine changes in Ibn Khafif’s hagiography across several Sufi biographical collections. Separated by hundreds of years, these accounts repeat many elements of Ibn Khafif’s life, but each successive hagiography adds new stories to contextualize or moderate his more ostentatious ascetic acts. Over the span of 400 years, Ibn Khafif thereby transforms from a celibate renunciate to a hadith transmitter concerned with emulating, but not surpassing, the bodily discipline of the Prophet Muhammad.
