Abū Yazīd al-Bisṭāmī

An earlier mystic, Abū Yazīd al-Bisṭāmī (died 874), was the first to speak about the ascension of the mystic to heaven, which is a metaphor for higher unitive, mystical experience. A variation of the Buddha legend has been transferred onto the person of the first Sufi who practiced…

The mystics Abū Yazīd Biṣtāmī (died 874) and Abū al-Qāsim al-Junayd (died 910) had begun to pursue the experience of unity with God, first by being “drunk” with his love and with love of him and then by acquiring life-transforming self-possession and control. Masters (called sheikhs or…

…of the poet and mystic Abū Yazīd al-Bisṭāmī (d. 874) are a mausoleum, a 12th-century minaret and mosque wall, a superb portal (1313), and a 15th-century college. Nearby are interesting ruins, including a mosque and a cloister with fine stucco. Most of the town’s old constructions were ordered built by…

…as the tomb tower of Abū Yazīd al-Bisṭāmī (died 874) at Basṭām, were dedicated to holy men—both contemporary Muslim saints and all sorts of holy men dead for centuries (even pre-Islamic holy men, especially biblical prophets, acquired a monument). The most impressive mausoleums, however, like the one of Sanjar at…