Al-Muhasibi

Al-Muḥāsibī (المحاسبي) (781–857 CE) was a Muslim Arab, theologian, philosopher and ascetic. He is considered to be the founder of the Baghdad School of Islamic philosophy which combined Kalam and Sufism, and a teacher of the Sufi masters Junayd al-Baghdadi and Sirri Saqti.

His full name is Abu Abdullah Harith bin Asad bin Abdullah al-Anizi al-Basri, and he hailed from the Arab Anazzah tribe. He was born in Basra in about 781. Muhasibi means self-inspection or audit. He was a founder of what later became the mainstream Sufi doctrine, and influenced many subsequent theologians, such as al-Ghazali.

The author of approximately 200 works, he wrote about theology and Tasawwuf (Sufism), among them Kitab al-Khalwa and Kitab al-Ri`aya li-huquq Allah ("Obeying God's Permits").

Life
His parents left Basra for Baghdad shortly after his birth, perhaps inclined to the economic opportunities in the new capital. His father became wealthy, though al-Muhasibi refused it due to his fathers belief in the createdness of the Quran. Despite the affluent lifestyle available to him, he retained an ascetic quality influenced by al-Hasan al-Basri. The Sufis of his time had taken on certain practices, such as wearing woolen clothing, reciting the Qur'an at night, and limited the kind and quantity of food eaten. He saw that Sufi practices can help control the passions, but can also result in other problems like hypocrisy and pride. When outward piety becomes a part of one's image, it can mask hidden problems with the ego. Both the inner and outward states must be rectified. Constant self-examination in anticipation of the Day of Judgement was his proposed method for developing an awareness of the inner self and purifying the heart.

Al-Muhasibi was a student of al-Shafi'i before he moved to Egypt. Al-Muhasibi later joined a group of scholars of theology, led by Abdullah ibn Kullāb (died 855) and al-Karibisi. They criticized the Jahmis, Mu'tazilis, and the Anthropomorphists. The Mu'tazilis argued that the Qur'an was created, while Ibn Kullab argued against the createdness of the Qur'an by introducing a distinction between the speech of God and its realization: God is eternally speaking, but he can only be addressing Himself to somebody, if this addressee exists.

In 848 (or possibly 851), the caliph al-Mutawakkil ended the Mihna (a period of religious and ideological persecution) and two years later, banned the Mu'tazilites' theology.

In his book, the al-Khalwa, on a discourse on fear and hope:
 * Know that the first thing that corrects you and helps you correct others is renouncing this world. For renunciation is attained by realisation, and consideration is attained by reflection. For if you think of this world, you will not find it worth sacrificing your soul and faith for it. But you will find your soul worthier of honour by ridiculing this world. This world is abhorred of God almighty and the messengers. It is an abode of affliction and a station of foolishness. Be on your guard from it.