Hujwīrī's Kashf al-maḥjūb

Abū ’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. ʿUthmān al-Jullābī al-Hujwīrī was a Sufi scholar of the eleventh century who was born in Ghazna and settled eventually in Lahore. ¹ The most reliable source of information about his life is his sole surviving work, the Kashf al-maḥjūb. ² This work suggests that, whilst he was first and foremost a Sufi, he had also received a traditional scholastic education, and was particularly interested in kalām (scholastic theology); it contains repeated criticism of anthropomorphists (mutashahbiha, ḥashwiyān) ³ Qadarites (qadariyān) ⁴ and Mu’tazilites (muʿtazila/ahl-i iʿtizāl). ⁵ Moreover Hujwīrī frequently uses the method of dialectical reasoning in his exposition of Sufi doctrine, as indicated by the frequent occurrence in the text of the construct agar gūyand… mīgū’īm… (‘if they say… we say…’). ⁶ A comparison of Hujwīrī’s own biographies of the eponymous founders of the major law-schools suggest that he was most likely affiliated to the Hanafite school, since Abū Ḥanīfa is afforded the most attention and praise. ⁷