al-Anṣārī, ʿAbdallāh - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
[Article]
Angha, Nahid
Leiden
Brill
(1,689 words)
ʿAbdallāh Anṣārī (396-481/1006-89) is considered one of the greatest Islamic thinkers and most prolific Ṣūfī scholars of the classical age of Islam. His works were important contributions to the intellectual history of Islam. His masterpieces, in Persian and Arabic, treat philosophical and spiritual issues (trans. Angha, 17). 1. Life Anṣārī was born in Khurāsān (northeastern Persia) on 2 Shaʿbān 396/4 May 1006. He was a tenth-generation descendant of Abū Ayyūb Khālid b. Zayd al-Anṣārī (d. early 50s/670s), one of the Anṣār (helpers) during