Farqad al-Sabakhī - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
[Article]
Melchert, Christopher
Leiden
Brill
(484 words)
Abū Yaʿqūb Farqad b. Yaʿqūb al-Sabakhī , a Basran renunciant ( zāhid , one who renounces the world for spiritual reasons), was apparently born to a Christian family in Armenia but moved to Basra, where he supported himself as a weaver and died in 131/748-9 or earlier. His nisba , al-Sabakhī, refers to the sabkha s (salt flats) to which he would retreat. He is regularly called a worshipper (ʿābid) , implying that he devoted much time to supererogatory ritual prayer. Stories about him and his reported sayings are mostly encouragements