Anyone who comes to this house, give him food and do not ask about his faith.
Because, as he merits a life next to the exalted God,
no doubt he deserves a meal on my table."
- Abul-Hasan 'Ali al-Kharqani qs -

Abul-Hasan 'Ali bin Ahmad (or bin Ja'far) bin Salman al-Kharaqani or Shaykh Abul-Hasan 'Ali al-Kharqani [also written Kherqani] is one of the great Sufis of Islam. He was born in 963 CE (352 Hijri) in Khorasan in a village called Kharaqan (today located in Semnan province of Iran, near Bustam) and died in the day of Ashura (10th of Muharram) in 1033 CE (425 Hijri).

He was the disciple of Shaykh Abul-'Abbas Qassab Amili in tariqa (Sufi term for "Spiritual Way" or "Path") but had deep spiritual connection (or Uwaysi in sufi term) with Bayazid al-Bistami qs, a well-known Sufi Master who died almost a century before him but had spoken about the personality and state of Abul-Hasan 'Ali al-Kharqani qs.

He once said: The one who said "I reached to Allah (God, the Truth and Reality)", he did not.
And the one who said "He (God) himself made me reach him", he reached to Allah

Farid al-Din 'Attar qs, a famous Persian poet and sufi, devoted a large part of his book Tadhkiratul-Awliya (Biography of the Saints) about the personality, state and stories of Abul-Hassan 'Ali al-Kharqani qs. 'Attar has called him as Sultan-e Salateen-e Mashayekh (The King of the kings of Sufi Masters), Ocean of the spiritual knowledge, Sun of the Lord, Mystery of the Lord and Qibla (focus of attention) of his people.

Abul-Hasan 'Ali al-Kharqani qs. was the Master (or 'Shaykh' in Sufi term) of the famous Persian sufi and poet, Khwajah 'Abdullah al-'Ansari. Avicenna (Ibn Sina), Shah Mahmood of Ghazna, Abu-Sa'd Abul-Khayr and Nasir Khusraw had traveled to Kharaqan to meet him and expressed their deep admiring feelings and respect to him.

Sufi Masters Mawlana Shaykh Jalal'uddin Balkhi al-Rumi qs, Farid al-Din 'Attar, Khwajah 'Abdullah al-'Ansari, al-Jami' qs. and others have narrated many poems about Shaykh Abul-Hassan qs. and have reported his several stories. One time he was asked: "Where did you see the God?" He answered: "...wherever I did not see my own self."

He was illiterate but had wide inspirational knowledge about the Holy Qu'ran and Hadith (the traditions of the Holy Beloved Prophet Muhammad sallaAllahu'alayhi wa-sallam); his sayings and speeches are significantly magnificent due to their philosophical views. He practiced Shafi'i sect, a school of Sunnite Islam.

Some of his many sayings are:

What if there were neither the Hell nor the Heaven. So that we could see the real devout person.
There are 24 hours in a day. I die a thousand times in an hour, and I cannot explain the other 23 hours.

Whatever exists in the entire universe, it is also in your own heart. You have to gain the ability to see it.
I am neither a ascetic, nor a scholar, nor a pious. Oh Lord, you are the one and only, and I am one of your oneness.

A scholar wakes up early in the morning and thinks how to increase his knowledge.
A pious wakes up and seeks how to increase his faith.
But Abul-Hasan thinks how to make a human being happy.

People cannot describe me. No matter in which words or in which terms they present me,
I am the opposite of what they say.

The one who fell in Love found Allah. And the one who found Allah, forgot his own self.
In the whole world only one person could understand me, and it was Bayazid (al-Bistami).

I feel, I hear, I speak, but I do not exist.

The book Noorul-'Uloom (The light of Sciences) is dedicated to Shaykh Abul-Hasan 'Ali al-Kharqani. It is believed to have been written by his disciples (murids) after his death. Its single manuscript copy is in the British Museum.

Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abul-Hassan_Kharaqani

[Forwarded post from Bapak Cucu Jayanadi, Indonesie]

Isn't truly amazing the congruence between Zen and Sufism - or is it?
Any opinions?