Poet and Pietist: Shaykh Said Abu'l Khayr (d. 1049 CE)

Abu'l Khayr is remembered as a dervish-poet who encouraged his fellow wearers of the suf "to dance and feast, and worship God with joyful hearts" (John Alden Williams, Islam [1961], 150). Although extravagant views and miraculous deeds are often attributed to him, he is also considered to be the author of remarkably sober apothegms:

(a) If men wish to draw near to God, they must seek him in the hearts of men. They should speak well of all men, whether present or absent, and if they themselves seek to be a light to guide others, then like the sun, they must show the same face to all. To bring joy to a single heart is better than to build many shrines for worship, and to enslave one soul by kindness is worth more than the setting free of a thousand slaves.



(b) The (true saint) sits in the midst of his fellow-men, and rises up and eats and sleeps and buys and sells and gives and takes in the bazaars among other people, and marries and has social intercourse with other folk, and never for an instant forgets God.

[Margaret Smith, Readings from the Mystics of Islam, p. 49]