Yusuf Hamadani

{{Short description|Central Asian Sufi teacher (1048/49–1140)}} {{more citations needed|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox religious biography | religion = [[Islam]] | region = [[Central Asia]] | era = [[Islamic Golden Age]] | image = File:Domed Adobe Structures Surrounded by an Adobe Wall.jpg | caption = Shrine of Yusuf Hammandina | name = Yusuf Hammandina | birth_date = 1048 or 1049 [[Common Era|CE]]<br/>([[Islamic calendar|440 AH]]) | birth_place = [[Hamadan]], [[Seljuq empire]] | death_date = 1140 [[Common Era|CE]]<br/>([[Islamic calendar| 535AH]]) | death_place = [[Merv]], [[Seljuq empire]] | resting_place = [[Bayramaly]], [[Turkmenistan]] | Sufi_order = Proto-[[Naqshbandi]] ([[Khwajagan]]) | main_interests = [[Sufism]] | denomination = [[Sunni]] | jurisprudence = first [[Shafi'i school]], later [[Hanafi school]] }}

{{Sufism|Sufis}} '''Abū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf al-Hammandinā''', best simply known as '''Yusuf Hammandina''' (born 1048 or 1049 / 440 AH - died 1140 / 535 AH), was a [[Persians|Persian]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Soucek |first1=Svat |author1-link=Svat Soucek |title=A History of Inner Asia |date=2000 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521657044 |page=141 |quote=Khwaja Yusuf was a Persian, and, as his nisba suggests, came from Hamadan.}}</ref> [[Sufism|Sufi]] of the Middle Ages. He was the first of the group of [[Central Asian]] Sufi teachers known simply as ''[[Khwajagan]]'' (the Masters) of the [[Naqshbandi]] order. His [[shrine]] is at [[Merv]], [[Turkmenistan]].

==Life== {{Sunni Islam}} Born in Buzanjird (Bozineh Jerd) near [[Hamadan]] in 1048 or 1049, he moved to [[Baghdad]] when he was eighteen years of age.{{sfn|Algar|1983|pages=395-396}} He studied the [[Shafi'i]] school of fiqh under the supervision of the master of his time, Shaykh Ibrahim ibn Ali ibn Yusuf al-Fairuzabadi. He kept association in Baghdad with the great scholar, [[Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi]], who gave him greater deference than to any of his other students although he was the youngest. But he was a [[Hanafi]] [[Maturidi]] unlike his teachers.<ref>{{citation|url=https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/harranilahiyatdergisi/issue/26248/276468|title=Khawaja Yusuf Hemedani: The Inspirer of Two Major Sufi Tariqas |journal=Harran Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi |date=December 2011 |volume=26 |issue=26 |publisher=Harran University Theology Faculty Journal |pages=168|last1=Mansurov |first1=Fatkhiddin |last2=Badaruddi̇n |first2=Faudzinaim Hj |language=tr}}</ref>

According to [[Ibn Khallikan]], he began his religious career with the cultivation of the religious sciences, becoming both a respected scholar of [[hadith]] and [[fiqh]] and a popular preacher in [[Baghdad]]. He was so brilliant a [[jurisprudent]] that he became the [[Marja'|Marja]] of his time for all scholars in that field. He was known in Baghdad, the center of Islamic knowledge, in [[Isfahan]], [[Bukhara]], [[Samarqand]], [[Khwarazm]], and throughout Central Asia.

Later he abandoned these pursuits, adopting an intensely ascetic way of life and travelled east, first settling in [[Herat]] and later in [[Merv]], where his [[tomb]] is still reputed to exist. He became an ascetic and engaged in constant worship and mujahada (spiritual struggle), instructed by [[Abu Ali Farmadi|Shaykh Abu Ali Farmadi]]. He associated with Shaykh Abdullah Ghuwayni and Shaykh Hasan Simnani. He named four khalifas or successors, a pattern that repeated itself for several succeeding generations of the [[Khwajagan]], including [[Ahmad Yasawi]] and Khwaja [[Abdul Khaliq Gajadwani|Abdul Khaliq Ghijduwani]], the next link in the [[Naqshbandi]] [[silsila]].

== In popular culture == The Turkish television series ''[[:tr:Mavera (dizi)|Mavera: Hace Ahmed Yesevi]]'' (2021) is based on the life of poet [[Ahmad Yasawi]] (portrayed by the Turkish actor Korei Cezayirli), who was sent to Baghdad by his ''[[murshid]]'' (spiritual guide) Yusuf Hammandina.<ref>{{Citation |title=Mavera: Hace Ahmed Yesevi |date=2021-04-12 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14385558/ |type=History |publisher=ES Film |access-date=2022-12-27}}</ref>

==See also== *[[Naqshbandi]]

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Sources== * ''Abu Ya`qub Yusuf ibn Ayyab ibn Yusuf ibn al-Husayn al-Hammandina——May Allah Sanctify His Soul''; https://web.archive.org/web/20120303111446/http://www.naqshbandi.org/chain/9.htm * {{Encyclopaedia Iranica | title = ABU YAʿQUB HAMMANDINĀ | last = Algar | first = H. | author-link = Hamid Algar | url = https://iranicaonline.org/articles/abu-yaqub-hammandina | volume = 1 | fascicle = 4 | pages = 395–396 }} * {{cite book | author = Omar Ali Shah | title = The Rules or Secrets of the Naqshbandi Order | publisher = Tractus Books | year = 1998 | isbn = 2-909347-09-5}} * {{cite book | author = John G. Bennett | title = The Masters of Wisdom | publisher = Bennett Books | year = 1995 | isbn = 1-881408-01-9}}

==Further reading==

* {{EI3|last=Paul|first=Jürgen|title=Abū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf al-Hammandina|year=2010|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-3/abu-yaqub-yusuf-al-hammandina-COM_23650}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hammandina, Yusuf}} [[Category:Sufi teachers]] [[Category:1140 deaths]] [[Category:Iranian Sufis]] [[Category:Year of birth unknown]] [[Category:11th-century jurists]] [[Category:12th-century jurists]] [[Category:1062 births]] [[Category:Hanafis]] [[Category:Maturidis]] [[Category:Naqshbandi order]] [[Category:11th-century Iranian people]] [[Category:People from Hamadan]] [[Category:Iranian Muslim mystics]] [[Category:12th-century Iranian people]]