Pleasant Stories & Anecdotes — Page 76
76 Gulistān : Persian book written by Sa‘dī, literally meaning garden. H alvah : A traditional sweet dish made of semolina. Hārūn al-Rashīd : Fifth Abbasid king and Caliph, AD 766-809. He ruled from 786 to 809. He estab- lished the legendary library Bait- al- H ikmah (House of Wisdom) in Baghdad, Iraq. Imām Abū Hanīfa: Abū H anīfa al-Nu‘mān b. Thābit b. Zū t ā b. Marzubān (699-767 CE) was an eighth-century Muslim theolo- gian and jurist of Persian origin. He founded the H anaf i school of jurisprudence. He was a great Mus- lim scholar and saint. His works include Al-Fiqh al-Akbar. Imām M u s a Ri d ā : ‘Al i ibn M u s a ar- Ri da (766-818) was the eighth Shia Imam. Junaid Baghd a d i : He was a Persian mystic (835-910) and one of the most famous early Islamic saints. He taught in Baghdad throughout his lifetime and was an important figure in the development of Sufi doctrine. Khaw a jah Mu‘ i n-ud-D i n Chisht i : Chishtī Mu‘in al-Dīn Hasan Si- jzī (1143-1236 CE) was a Persian Muslim preacher, ascetic, religious scholar, philosopher, and mystic. He settled in the Indian subcon- tinent in the thirteenth century, where he promulgated the famous Chistiyyah Order of Sunni mys- ticism. He allowed his followers to incorporate the ‘use of music’ in their devotions. He arrived in Delhi during the reign of the Sul- tan Iltutmish. Later he moved to Ajmer, India. His tomb is visited daily by many tourists and reli- gious figures. Khaw a jah Qu t b-ud-D i n : Qu t bul Aq ta b Khaw a ja Sayyid Muham- mad Bakhtiy a r Al- H ussain i Qu t- budd i n Bakhti a r K a k i (1173-1235) was a Muslim Sufi mystic, saint, and scholar of the Chishti Order from Delhi, India. He is followed in Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Several rulers of the Mughal dynasty of South Asia were Chishti followers. King Mahmood : Mahmood of Ghazni (971-1030) was the first in- dependent ruler of the Turkic dy- nasty of Ghaznavids. His capital Ghazni evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellec- tual centre in the Islamic World. This capital appealed to many prominent figures such as al-Biruni and Firdausi.