Saÿd al-Dën Muḥammad ibn al-Muþayyad ibn Ḥamuwayh al-Ḥamuwayë al-Juwaynë (1190/99 â 1252/60) was a Persian á¹¢à «fë shaykh from a prominent á¹¢à «fë family. He belonged to the order of the KubrÃÂwiyya. A prolific writer, he is credited with at least 47 works plus poetry. He was a noted mystic and much of his writing is esoteric and numerological.
Born and died in Khorasan, he studied in Damascus, went on a pilgrimage to Mecca and lived for a time in Tabrëz and Mosul. He fled the Mongol invasion of KhwÃÂrazm in 1220. By 1242 he had contracted an illness that resulted in the loss of a finger.
Saÿd al-Dën was born in BaḥrÃÂbÃÂd. His full name was Muḥammad ibn al-Muþayyad ibn Abë Bakr ibn Abu þl-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥamuwayh. A fuller name, complete with honorifics is given in the mashyakha: Saÿd al-Dën Abu þl-SaÿÃÂdÃÂt Muḥammad ibn Muÿën al-Dën Muþayyad ibn JamÃÂl al-Dën Abà « Bakr ÿAbd AllÃÂh Ḥasan ibn ÿAlë ibn Abà « ÿAbd AllÃÂh Muḥammad ibn Ḥamuwayh. Saÿd al-Dën's brother Muÿën al-Dën ÿUmar was also a á¹¢à «fë. He should not be confused with his like-named second cousin, Saÿd al-Dën ibn TÃÂj al-Dën. His family is known as the AwlÃÂd al-Shaykh (Banà « Ḥamawiya).
In his youth, Saÿd al-Dën studied at Jabal QÃÂsiyà «n outside Damascus under his father's paternal cousin, á¹¢adr al-Dën Abu þl-Ḥasan Muḥammad al-Ḥamuwayë. The source do not agree on what he studied. JÃÂmë believed it was mysticism, but al-Dhahabë calls á¹¢adr al-Dën a ShÃÂfiÿë jurist.
It is not known when Saÿd al-Dën became a disciple of Najm al-Dën KubrÃÂ, but it was before the Mongol invasion of KhwÃÂrazm in 1220. He had already completed his ḥajj (pilgrimage) at the time. At the approach of the Mongols, Kubràordered all his students to return to their homes. Saÿd al-Dën's ijÃÂza was issued around this time. Saÿd al-Dën appears to have returned to his uncle (then in Mosul) shortly before the latter's death in 1220. He eventually returned to Jabal QÃÂsiyà «n, where he taught á¹¢adr al-Dën al-Qà «nawë, who relayed Saÿd al-Dën's works to his step-father Ibn al-ÿArabë, who is said to have admired them.
How long Saÿd al-Dën remained in Jabal QÃÂsiyà «n is unknown, but he eventually moved back to BaḥrÃÂbÃÂd, where he resided in his family's khÃÂnqÃÂh (á¹¢à «fë school). He made a short trip to Gà «rpÃÂn to visit with Aḥmad al-Jà «rfÃÂnë, a student of RÃÂzë al-Dën ÿAlë LÃÂlÃÂ, a student of KubrÃÂ. He spent nine months in Tabrëz in 1242âÂÂ1243. According to Ibn al-KarbalÃÂþë, shortly before his arrival in Tabrëz, he developed a disease which caused him to lose a finger. Possibly this was leprosy. His followers in Tabrëz buried his finger in a local cemetery. According to a legend associated with this stay says that he saw the young Najm al-Dën Zarkub Tabrëzë playing with other children in the street, placed his hand on his head and predicted his future greatness. Saÿd al-Dën's son á¹¢adr al-Dën IbrÃÂhëm was born in Amol in Tabaristan in 644 (1247).
JÃÂmë records two anecdotes of Saÿd al-Dën entering into trances. In one, after sitting with his eyes closed for a long time, he called á¹¢adr al-Dën al-Qà «nawë to him, opened his eyes and told him, "I wished that the first face my eyes looked upon after they had been honored by a vision of [the Prophet's] beauty should be yours." In the other, he spirit left his body and he lay still for thirteen days. People believed he had died, and when he came to he was unaware how long he had been gone. Ibn al-KarbalÃÂþë in his Rawá¸ÂÃÂt al-jinÃÂn (1567) records instances of Saÿd al-Dën predicting the future.
Saÿd al-Dën died in Khorasan. The cause of his death is unknown; possibly it was related to the disease he had contracted almost two decades earlier.
Saÿd al-Dën wrote in both Arabic and Persian. There are at least 29 extant prose works attributed to him, plus another 18 attributed that are possibly lost. His prose works range from short treatises to lengthy books. He also wrote poetry. His works can be roughly divided between those that are esoteric, which often contain ÿilm al-ḥurà «f (letter and number mysticism), and those that are exhortative in a typically Kubrawë style. The latter include commentaries on the QurþÃÂn and the Ḥadëth.
There are 23 titled works that survive in manuscript copies. There are six further works that survive in copies but untitled. There are 18 works cited by title, but not known to survive. They include a work on the New Testament.
<u>Works in Persian</u>
<u>Works in Arabic</u>
<u>Lost works</u>