ʿAbāṭa, Muḥammad Ḥasan - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
[Article]
Hoffman, Valerie J.
Leiden
Brill
(750 words)
Muḥammad Ḥasan ʿAbāṭa (d. 1941) was an Egyptian Ṣūfī and patron saint of Bayt ʿAbāṭa, an Egyptian branch of the Rifāʿiyya, a Ṣūfī order founded in lower Iraq by Aḥmad b. ʿAlī al-Rifāʿī (d. 578/1182). ʿAbāṭa is recognised as a majdhūb (lit. "attracted", a term referring to an eccentric, ecstatic, and love-maddened mystic). ʿAbāṭa ("stupidity") is a nickname attributed to Muḥammad Ḥasan because of his foolishness during his years of jadhba ("attraction"), a mental derangement resulting from the shock of mystical revelation. He wore his hair long