Al-Fudayl ibn Iyad

Abu Ali al-Fudayl ibn Iyad ibn Mas'ud al-Tamimi belonged to the Arab tribe of Banu Tamim and grew up in Khurasan. Most sources say he was born in Samarkand in 107 AH (725 CE), although some biographies also name Merv, Mosul or Balkh. His youth was spent in the Khurasan town of Abiward.

Tradition holds that as a young man he robbed caravans on the road between Abiward and Sarakhs. According to the story, he once heard verse 16 of the Quranic chapter “Al-Hadid”, repented and gave up banditry. The account survives in later writings and its historical reliability is considered doubtful.

After repenting, al-Fudayl moved to Kufa and studied hadith. His teachers are said to have included Sulayman al-A'mash, Bayan ibn Bishr and Ibn Abi Layla, and some sources add Ja'far al-Sadiq. He later travelled to Mecca, stayed there and lived in the city for the rest of his life.

In Mecca al-Fudayl transmitted hadith and was known for his piety and ascetic way of life. Among those who transmitted hadith from him were Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak, Yahya al-Qattan, Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi, Sufyan ibn Uyayna, al-Asma'i, Abd al-Razzaq al-San'ani, Muhammad al-Shafi'i and al-Humaydi. Abu Nu'aym's “Hilyat al-Awliya” retells a tradition of a visit by Caliph Harun al-Rashid: unlike other scholars, al-Fudayl refused the caliph's gifts although he was in debt, answering that his greatest debt was to God.

Al-Fudayl ibn Iyad died in Mecca in 187 AH (803 CE). Sufis revere him as a saint, and his life and sayings appear in classical works on mysticism — al-Qushayri's “Risala”, Abu Nu'aym's “Hilyat al-Awliya” and Farid ud-Din Attar's “Tadhkirat al-Awliya”.