A literary history of Persia

298 RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHYdistinctive name save in regard to their companionship with theApostle, seeing that there existed no greater distinction than this;wherefore they were called ' the Companions.' And when those ofthe second period came in contact with them, such of these as hadheld converse with the ''Companions were named the 'Followers,'a title which they regarded as of the noblest. Then those whosucceeded them were called ' Followers of the Followers.' Thereaftermen differed, and diverse degrees became distinguished, andthe elect of mankind, who were vehemently concerned with mattersof religion, were called ' Ascetics and '' Devotees.' Then heresiesarose, and there ensued disputes between the different sects, eachone claiming to possess 'Ascetics,' and the elect of the people of theSunna (the Sunnites), whose souls were set on God, and who guardedtheir hearts from the disasters of heedlessness, became known bythe name of Sufis ; and this name became generally applied to thesegreat men a little before the end of the second century of theFlight" (A.H. 2oo = A.D. 815-816).A little further on (op.cit. y p. 34) Jami explicitlystates thatthe term "Sufi" was first applied to Abu Hashim, who wasborn at Kufa, but passed most of his life in Syria, and diedin A.D. 777-8 ;and (p. 36) that the Sufi doctrines were firstexplained and expressed by Dhu'n-Nun of Egypt, a pupil ofMalik (the founder of the Malikite school mentioned above),who died in A.D. 860, that they were expanded, systematised,and reduced to writing by Junayd of Baghdad (d. A.D. 910),and openly preached in the pulpit by Shibli (d. A.D. 945).Very few of the great Sufi teachers lived before the close ofthe second century of the Flight (A.D. 815-816): Ibrahimb. Adham (t A.D. 777), Da'iid of Tayy (t A.D. 781), Fudaylb. 'lyad (t A.D. 803), and Ma'ruf of Karkh (t A.D. 815),were, I think, the only ones of note except the above-mentionedAbu Hashim. Hasan of Basra (t A.D. 728), who hasbeen already spoken of inconnection with the Mu'tazilites, issometimes reckoned amongst them ; but, as Dozy has pointedout, 1 his sombre religion, chiefly inspired by fear, contrasts1L'lslamisme (Chauvin's French translation), pp. 319-320. Cf. alsopp. 201-202, where Hasan's character is well depicted.