Ibn Barrajan

Abū al-Ḥakam ʿAbd al-Salām b. ʿAbd al Raḥmān b. Abī al-Rijāl Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Lakhmī al-Ifrīqī al-Ishbīlī (Arabic: عبد السلام بن عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن برجان اللخمي; died 1141) was an Arab Sufi figure of Al-Andalus, considered to be one of the greatest Sufi masters and hadith scholars.^[1] He spread his teachings in the first half of the 12th century.

Ibn Barrajān ابن برجان
Born	Taifa of Seville
Died	1141 Marrakesh, Almoravid dynasty

Works

Ibn Barrajan wrote a two-volume commentary on the names of God in Islam and two famous tafsirs, ʾīḍāḥ al-ḥikma "Wisdom Deciphered the Unseen Discovered", which exists in a critical edition.^[2][3] and Tanbih al-Afham Ila Tadabbur al-Kitab al-Hakim wa Ta'arruf al-Ayat wa-l-Naba al-'Athim, which is currently in print in three editions.^[4][5][6]

Ibn Barrajan is most famous for his prediction of the conquest of Jerusalem from the Crusaders by Saladin, only being a few days off.^[7]

His writings had a great influence on Ibn 'Arabi,^[8] who was quite sceptical of ibn Barrajan's methods of prognostication of the Jerusalem conquest, calling them ʿIlm al-Hurūf.^[9]

Death

He died in prison in Marrakesh, when he was summoned to that city by the Almoravid sultan Ali ibn Yusuf, who feared his influence.^[10] Against the wishes of the sultan he received an official burial on the initiative of Ali ibn Harzihim.

See also

• Islam portal

• List of Ash'aris and Maturidis

References

1. Denis Gril, "La <<lecture supérieure>> du Coran selon Ibn Barragan" in Arabica, Tome XLVII, Brill 2000, page 510, note 1: Ibn al-Abbar calls him "al-Lakhmi al-Ifriqi thumma al-Ishbili", someone from Africa who became a Sevilian.
2. Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi (28 January 2008). Contemplation of the Holy Mysteries: The Mashahid al-asrar of Ibn 'Arabi. Anqa Publishing. p. 116. ISBN 978-1-905937-22-6.
3. A Qur'an Commentary by Ibn Barrajan of Seville ed. by Gerhard Boewering and Yusuf Casewit, Leiden and Boston: Brill 2016
4. Tanbih al-Afham Ila Tadabbur al-Kitab al-Hakim wa Ta'arruf al-Ayat wa-l-Naba al-'Athim, 5 Vols. Ed. Fateh Hoseni 'Abd al-Karim, 'Amman: Dar al-Nur al-Mubeen, 2016.
5. Tanbih al-Afham Ila Tadabbur al-Kitab al-Hakim wa Ta'arruf al-Ayat wa-l-Naba al-'Athim, 5 Vols, Ed. Ahmed Farid al-Mazyadi, Beirut: Dar al-Kotob al-Ilmiyyah, 2013.
6. Tanbih al-Afham Ila Tadabbur al-Kitab al-Hakim wa Ta'arruf al-Ayat wa-l-Naba al-'Athim, 2 Vols Ed. Muhammad al-'Adluni, Casablanca: Dar al-Thaqafah, 2011.
7. The Mystics of al-Andalus, Yusuf Casewit, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017, Pg 294.
8. Claude Addas, in Salma Khadra Jayyusi and Manuela Marín, eds., Handbuch der Orientalistik, Part 1, Volume 12, Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten. The legacy of Muslim Spain, BRILL, 1992, page 921 and 922 and passim (see index)
9. Ibn Barraǧān and Ibn ʿArabī on the prediction of the capture of Jerusalem in 583/1187 by Saladin, José Bellver, The University of Barcelona, 2014
10. Miguel Asín Palacios, Elmer H. Douglas, Howard W. Yoder, The mystical philosophy of Ibn Masarra and his followers, Brill Archive, 1978, p. 122 (on the life of Ibn Barrajan see footnote 8)

• Sarh Asma' Allah Al-Husna: Comentario Sobre Los Nombres Mas Bellos De Dios Ibn Barrajan, Abd al-Salam ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad; Madrid, 2000. 571pp. ISBN 9788400079765.
• Paul Nwiya, "Notes sur quelques fragments inédits de la correspondence d'Ibn al-'Arif avec Ibn Barrajan"in Hesperis 43 (1956)
• A. Faure, entry "Ibn Barradjan" in: N. Hanif, Biographical encyclopaedia of Sufis: Africa and Europe, Sarup & Sons, 2002, p. 64-65 (retrieved 3-12-2010)