Ali al-Balkhi
ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib al-Balkhī | |
|---|---|
The Blue Mosque of Mazar-i-Sharif was built over an earlier mosque which was a memorial to Ali al-Balkhi. | |
| Title | Abū al-Ḥasan |
| Personal life | |
| Born | |
| Died | 1092 CE |
| Era | Islamic Golden Age |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Islam |
| Denomination | Sunni (Ḥanafī) |
Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib al-Balkhī (Arabic: أبو الحسن علي بن أبي طالب البلخي; died 1092) was a Khorasani Arab Muslim scholar and jurist, belonging to the Hanafi school of thought. He was a nobleman under the Seljuk Empire while maintaining his identity as a devout Sufi ascetic. Al-Balkhi was a Sayyid who claimed descent from Husayn ibn Ali, grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Biography
According to the genealogist Ibn 'Inaba, the father of Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Abi Talib al-Balkhi was a descendant of Husayn ibn Ali, while his mother was a descendant of Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah.[1] Both Husayn and Ibn Hanafiyyah were sons of the fourth Rashidun caliph Ali, hence Al-Balkhi is only a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad on his father's side while he is a descendant of Ali on both father and mother's side.[2] His uncle, Muhammad ibn 'Ubayd Allah, was the head of the al-ʿAlawiyyīn (direct descendants of Ali) in Seljuk-ruled Khorasan.[1]
Al-Balkhi was a scholar and jurist with a nobleman status amongst the Seljuk court.[3][4][5][6] Despite his nobility, he attempted to maintain a status as a devout Sufi ascetic. He was also a religious teacher and travelled to Damascus, Syria to teach religion.[7] A mosque was constructed as a memorial to him, which became erroneously attributed to the actual Rashidun caliph Ali and was eventually replaced by the larger Blue Mosque.[4][5][6]
See also
References
- ^ a b Ibn 'Inaba (2003). Umdat al-ṭālib fī nasab Āl Abī Ṭālib [The Seeker's Guide to the Genealogies of the Family of Abu Talib] (in Arabic) (1 ed.). Riyadh: Maktabat Jull al-Ma‘rifah.
- ^ Shamsuddin Dhahabi (1947). Tārīkh al-Islām [The History of the Islamic Religion] (in Arabic). Casablanca, Morocco: Maṭbaʻat al-Aṭlas.
- ^ Al-Samarra'i (2013). Niqābat al-Ashrāf fī al-Mashriq al-Islāmī [Syndicates of the Ashraf in the Islamic East] (in Arabic). Beirut, Lebanon: Dār al-Kutub al-ʻIlmīyah. ISBN 9782745175311.
- ^ a b Al-Hadithi, Qahtan Abdul Sattar (1988). "علي بن أبي طالب البلخي" [Ali ibn Abi Talib al-Balkhi]. Ṣaḥīfat al-Rāshid. Baghdad, Iraq.
- ^ a b Al-Hadithi, Qahtan Abdul Sattar (1988). "أبو الحسن علي بن أبي طالب البلخي والمسجد الأزرق" [Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib al-Balkhī and the Blue Mosque]. Ṣaḥīfat al-Rāshid. Baghdad, Iraq.
- ^ a b al-Kilani, Jamal al-Din (2011). "مرقد الشريف والضريح: جدلية الأسطورة والتاريخ: ملامح سيرة علي بن أبي طالب البلخي" [The Shrine of Al-Sharif and the Mausoleum: The Dialectic of Myth and History: Features of the Biography of Ali ibn Abi Talib al-Balkhi]. Majallat al-Fikr al-Ḥurr. Iraq.
- ^ al-Dhahabi (2014). Siyar A'lām al-Nubalā [Biographies of Eminent Nobles] (in Arabic). Beirut, Lebanon: Resalah Publishers.