GREAT PEOPLE OF TERMEZ: TAKIM~AT-TERMIZI AND MUHAMMAD AT-TERMIZI

Hakim-at-Termizi

His full name is Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Ali bin Hasan bin Bashir (in some sources it is Bishr) al-Hakim at Termizi. Information about his life and scientific and creative activities can be found in the works by Taj ad-Din Subki (tabakat ash-Shafii'yya al-kubro), Hatiba Baghdad! (Tarih Baghdad), Ibn Hajara Askalani (Lisan al-Miyzan), Sulami (Tabakat as-Sufiyya) and in a number of other treatises Hakim at-Termizi speaks about his life in his book "Bad'u Shaani Abu Abdullah»("The Beginning of Abu Abdullah's Pursuit"), published in Beirut in 1965 by Yakh'ya Ismail Usman together with the work of the scientist "Hatm al-Avliya»("Seal of the Saints"). Different dates are used in written sources and present literature to indicate Hakim at-Termizi's date of birth and death.
Some authors, Khwaja Khalif in particular, in his "Kashf as-Zunun»the year 255 in Khijra / 869 AD was called Hakim. at-Termizi's date of death. The same date was written on Hakim at-Termizi's tomb. If we proceed from the fact that Hakim at-Termizi lived more than one hundred years, some sources say 112, 116 or 120 years, he was born approximately be­tween 750 - 760. At the same time Abdulfattah Abdullah Baraka who wrote his great work "Al-Hakim at-Termizi and nazariyyatukhu fil vilayati»("Al-Hakim at-Termizi and his Theory Regarding

Holiness") thirty years ago, said that al-Hakim at-Termizi, was born in 205 in Khijri / 820 and died in 320 in Khijri / 932 and he lived 112 years. Detailed information about Hakim at-Termizi's childhood and youth is not available in the sources. According to his "autobiography»he started learn­ing religious sciences hard when he was eight and he made a Khaj to Mecca when he was twenty-eight. Returning from Mecca Hakim at-Termizi became a Sufi follower; he withdrew from people and learned mystic treatises.

His father AH bin Hasan was a leading scholar, a khadith specialist, looking for knowledge he went to Baghdad, took an active part in scientific discus­sions with prominent scholars of the time on various problems of khadith. His mother and uncle were considered to be experts of Khadith. Consequently Hakim at-Termizi grew in the circle of educated and scientific people, which influenced greatly on his ideology.

Some written sources contain reliable informa­tion about Hakim at-Termizi's teachers. His first teacher was his father Ali bin al-Hasan at-Termizi about which "History of Baghdad»by Khatib al-Baghdadi contains some information. Among his other teachers were Kutaiba bin Sayid as-Sakafi al-Balkhi (798-888), Salih bin Abdullah at-Termizi of whom much interesting facts had been written in the book "Books about Famous People»by Ibn Khibbana; Salih bin Muhammad at-Termizi who was former kazi of Termez for some time, Sufyan bin Vaki (died in 860), Hasan bin Umar bin Shafiq al-Balkhi (died in 840), Ahmad bin Khadravayh (died in 854), Abu Turab an-Nakhshabi, and Yakhiya bin Maaz ar-Razi (died in 875).

Based on data given in the written sources that characterise al-Hakim at-Termizi's life and activity his long life can be divided into the following peri­ods:

The first period includes al- Hakim at-Termizi's childhood up to seven. Unfortunately we do not have exact information about this part of his life. But nevertheless, one can say that unlike the chil­dren of his age he displayed ability at this age to various games, as if he prepared himself to the fu­ture scientific life, he worked hard with his teach­ers, obtained knowledge on various sciences (partic­ularly on theology) and got ready to mystic spiritu­al life.

The second period embraces Hakim at-Termizi's life from eight to twenty eight, when he obtained knowledge from different teachers (shaihs). Looking for knowledge he visited other oriental cities, was in Mecca and made a pilgrimage. Some sources pointed to the fact that he paid much attention to learning khadith and problems of fikh in the period of his life.

The third period of his life is related to learning the Qur'an thoroughly. He was assimilated by deep studying God's words, their essence, fasting, pray­ing and pious deeds and so on. The philosophic mys­tic work by al-Antahi "Healing of Hearts»had a great influence on him.

Hakim at-Termizi had a lot of students, we shall mention some of them: Abu Muhammad Yakhiya bin Mansur al-Kadi (died in 960), Abu Ali Mansur bin Abdullah bin Halid al-Zuhli al Hiravi; Abu Ali al-Hasan bin Ali al-Jurjani. Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Isa, Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Umar al-Hakim al-Varrak, Muhammad bin Jafar bin Muhammad bin al-Haisam bin Umran bin Buraida and others.

Al- Hakim at-Termizi's scientific and creative ac­tivity is closely connected with his travels to other countries and cities. He visited Balkh, Nishapur, and Baghdad, where science and culture reached its zenith and he met famous scholars and took part in scientific discussions. Nevertheless Termez, his na­tive city played an important role in his scientific and creative activity and there he created his basic works. His sermons and as well as his some works, first of all "Hatam al-Avliya»(Seal of Saints), "Hal ash-Shari'a»(Arguments of the Shariat) in which we discussed about Moslim rituals, about "love for God»and about various categories of mystics, about "the seals of Saints", along with existing "seals of prophets", dissatisfied some parts of the falikh and rich. Escaping his enemies' chase al- Hakim at-Termizi had to move to Balkh and then to Nishapur where he was very well accepted and where he ob­tained a large number of followers later (1)

Works of Hakim at-Termizi

Different figures on the number of Hakim at-Termizi's works are mentioned in the written sources. Some authors say that the number of his work reach four hundred. But the majority of au­thors tend to think that about eighty works belong to him. As a famous Egyptian scholar Abdelfattah Abdulla Baraka writes that out of four hundred works by Hakim at-Termizi only about sixty had reached us. Though many works were lost the most important ones that contain the great scholar's basic teachings, which comprise his scientific and spiritual legacy reached us (2). The first work that must be mentioned is "Navodir al-Usul fi Ma'rifat Akhbor ar-Rasul (Unique Principles of Learning about Rasulallah - the Messenger of God)". It consists of 291 Khadith and that to some extent it reflects the author's points of view, his outlook, his understand­ing the world. One copy of "Navodir al-Usul»is kept in Tashkent, in the library of Moslim Board of Uzbekistan. Other works of the scholar are: "Kitab Khaqiyqat al-Odamiyya»("Book about the Nature of a Man"), "Adab an-Nafs»("Bringing up the Soul"). The majority of the works of Hakim at-Termizi reached us in the form of manuscripts and they are kept in different manuscript funds of the world. Conditionally they may be divided into five groups: manuscripts that are kept in Paris, Cairo, Damascus, Alexandriya, Istanbul and London. The following works by al- Hakim at-Termizi are kept in the National Library of Paris (under ISBN 5018 in the Arab department):

1.   Kitab as-Salot va makasidiho (A Book about Prayer and its Aims)

2.   Kitab   al-Khaj   va   asrorihi   (A   Book   about Pilgrimage and its Secrets)

3.   Kitab      al-Ihtiyatot      (A      Book      about Precautions)

4.   Kitab al-Jumal al-lazim ma'rifitiho (A Book about Sentences that Should be Known)

5.  Kitab al-Fumk va man' at-taroduf (A Book about Differences and Eliminating Echoes)

6.  Kitab Khaqiyqat al-odamiyya (A Book about the Essence of Human Nature)

7.      Kitab   Urs   al-muvakhkhadiyn   (A   Book Abilities of Believers in One God)

8.  Kitab al-A'za van-Nafs va Yussama Kazalika Gavr al-Umr (Book of Human Organs and Human Soul)

9.  Kitab Manazil al-ibod Min al-Iboduti (Book of Degrees of Slaves of God in Respect to their Worship)

10.Kitab al-Akl val-Havo (Books of Reason and Whimsies)

11.Kitab al-Amsol Min al-Kitab vas-Sunna (Book of Proverbs from the Qur'an and Sunna)

12.Kitab al-Manahi (A Book About Answers).

Two manuscripts of two works and five treatises by al-Hakim at-Termizi (belonging to tasawuf seri­ous under N° 104) are kept in the az-Zahiriyya li­brary in Damascus; three treatises by al-Hakim at-Termizi (Maktabat al-baladiyya under Mb 3585 /K) are kept in the Egyptian city Alexandria; the London lists of works consist of five books by al-Hakim at-Termizi. The manuscript copy of "Hal al-U'budiyya»(The Motifs of Worship), which is more known under the title "Hal ush-Shariy'a»(The Motifs of Shariat), is in the "Dor al-kutub al-Ilmiyya»(The House of Scientific Books) in Cairo. This book of the author is the abridged variant of Hakim at-Termizi's work, called "Kitab as-Salot»(A Book About Worships). Besides there are some works by Hakim at-Termizi in Leipzig and Istambul. We would like to dwell upon one of the main works by Hakim at-Termizi "Hatm at-Avliya»("Saints Seal") briefly. It was considered that this work had not reached us. Fortunately, this supposition was not correct. "Hatm al-Avliyya»was published by Usnian Ismail Yakh'ya, member of the branch of the Paris Islam Values Research centre, in Beirut in 1965. This big publication contained 586 pages and several treatises were enclosed, including small auto­biographic work by Hakim at-Termizi "Bad'u Shaani Abu Abdullah»(The Beginning of Abu Abdullah's Business). Namely based on this treatise we have some truthful information about Hakim at-Termizi's life. This small work gives us information about his life, and it says that at first his father was his teacher, that he visited Kufa, Basra and Mecca. We also know that it was Kufa.where he got knowl­edge on Khadith by prophet Muhammad in this book. On the way back to Termez learned by heart some parts of the sacred Qur'an and etc. If we touch upon the content of "Hatm al-Avliyys", it is neces­sary to underline that the truth of holiness and its questions related to its prophecy and mission com­prise the main content of "Hatm al-Avliyya". The work consists of preface and twenty chapters. The main content of the work is presented in the form of a dialogue between his teacher (shaih) and pupil (murid).

This book by Hakim at-Termizi describes the question of prophecy as an exclusive finished theory in the history of Sufism for the first time. It can be said a peculiar new phenomenon in the history of Sufism. This theory served as a spiritual testament or an educational programme for a group of famous Sufis, called "Hakimiyya", who were widespread in Termez and Balkh. This work by Hakim at-Termizi made a great impact on ideology of Moslims of the east and however, this work, as it was mentioned above, dissatisfied some fikihs and people of higher rank.

The importance of Hakim at-Termizi in the histo­ry of Sufism was mainly determined by his works, which numbered about eighty. Teaching of 'soul', its 'state' as 'movements', and means of self-perfec­tion and bridling means instincts, suffering as be­coming pure and so on had a great impact on the following Sufi psychology. Hakim at-Termizi consid­ered mystical "gnosis»(ma'rifa or hikma) as the highest knowledge accessible to a man. He homolo­gated it with "God's light»which was concluded in people's heart. Unlike the usual knowledge lending to interpretation and using the rulers of Shariat gno­sis comprehends the latent meaning of things and "God's nature»in the long run. If ilm (knowledge) is obtained during the process of learning, ma'rifat is a grace granted by God his chosen one. The sphere and time of using "ilm»is limited while ma'rifat is limitless. "Gnosis»is accessible for those whose affection and whose soul purified from their worldly affection and whose thoughts directed to God. Hakim at-Termizi considered Sufi saints to be such people. It is "gnosis»that differs them from other believers.

Probably, Hakim at-Termizi was the first to ground Sufi's formulation of auliya (saints), practi­cally equalised them in "rights»with representatives (rasuls) and prophets (anbiya). His ideas on corre­lating of "prophecy»and "holiness", on hierarchy of saints in Sufism was advanced by Ibn Arabi who very often used to include to his works large frag­ments from treatises by Hakim at-Termizi.

According to researchers, Hakim at-Terniizi had probably the elements of Buddha, Christian and Manikhey teachings, the impact of which can be found in his works. Doing justice to the deepness of his knowledge and broad outlook his contemporaries gave him a nickname at-Termizi (Wise). (3)