Abū al-Ḥakam Ibn Barrajān (d. 536/1141) is one of the most important and prolific sūfī exegetes (mufassir) of Andalusī mystical thought in the sixth/twelfth century. The author, who is referred to in the sources by the honorific title “Ghazālī of al-Andalus” (Ghazāliyyu’l-Andalus), was most likely born in the city of Ishbīliyya (Seville), and his family origins trace back to the African continent. Possessing a multifaceted scholarly identity, he acquired profound knowledge in the fields of Qur ʾānic variant readings (qirāʾāt), Ḥadīth, Qur ʾānic exegesis (tafsīr), Islamic theology (kalām), and astronomy. He received his education in the science of Ḥadīth from Abū ʿAbd Allāh Ibn Manẓūr.
Abū al-Ḥakam Ibn Barrajān (d. 536/1141) is one of the most important and prolific sūfī exegetes (mufassir) of Andalusī mystical thought in the sixth/twelfth century. The author, who is referred to in the sources by the honorific title “Ghazālī of al-Andalus” (Ghazāliyyu’l-Andalus), was most likely born in the city of Ishbīliyya (Seville), and his family origins trace back to the African continent. Possessing a multifaceted scholarly identity, he acquired profound knowledge in the fields of Qur ʾānic variant readings (qirāʾāt), Ḥadīth, Qur ʾānic exegesis (tafsīr), Islamic theology (kalām), and astronomy. He received his education in the science of Ḥadīth from Abū ʿAbd Allāh Ibn Manẓūr. Possessing suficient independent means to sustain himself, Ibn Barrajān remained in Seville until his forties, after which he retreated into solitude (inqibāḍ / seclusion) in a village near Seville. In accordance with his reclusive personality, he continued his teaching with a small number of students in the village where he lived a life of seclusion, advising them to be renunciants (zāhid) toward the world and especially to keep away from rulers. Despite this life of seclusion, his growing fame attracted the attention of the state-jurist entente during the al-Murābiṭūn period. Due to the authority of the Mālikī jurists (fuqahāʾ) over the rulers and their unwillingness to make room for other ideas, Ibn Barrajān was perceived as a political threat. As a result of these tensions, he was summoned to Marrakesh by Sultan ʿAlī b. Yūsuf, where he was put on trial by the fuqahāʾ and imprisoned. When he died in the year 536/1141, at the instigation of the fuqahāʾ , it was intended that his corpse be thrown into a garbage dump without funeral rites; however, thanks to a large crowd of people gathered by the announcement of the Sūfī Ibn Ḥirzihim, his funeral prayer was performed, and he was buried close to Ibn al-ʿArīf in Marrakesh. The Qur ʾān and Ḥadīth constitute the absolute center of the author’s thought system. He accepts divine revelation (waḥy) as the litmus test and ultimate reference for all kinds of knowledge. Inheriting the mystical legacy continuously transmitted from Ibn Masarra in al-Andalus, he systematized it through the concept of contemplative crossing (iʿtibār) centered on the Qur ʾān and prophecy. In his view, iʿtibār is not a purely intellectual endeavor but a fundamental mode of apprehension representing the “crossing from the visible to the unseen” (al-ʿibra min al-shāhid ilā al-ghāʾib), in which the intellect ascends, and which is strictly acquired through empirical experience. The foundation of his ideas regarding creation is formed by the directly Qur ʾānicbased concept of “The Reality Upon Which Creation is Created” (al-ḥaqq al-makhlūq bihi). He elaborates on the Allāh-cosmos-human relationship through the concepts of the Universal Servant (al-ʿ abd al-kullī) and the Particular Servant (al-ʿ abd al-juz ʾī). The human being is a prototype of the universe (the particular world, al-ʿālam al-juz ʾī), while the universe is the magnified state of the human being (the universal man, al-insān al-kullī), and all of existence is a servant standing in prayer before Allāh. He constructs the dialogical relationship between the human being and Allāh through the concepts of revelation and cosmos (waḥy-ʿālam), which he terms as “two beings” (wujūdān). He explains the functioning of the world through the polarities of “Opening” (fatḥ), which represents the goodness originating from heaven, and “Scorching” (fayḥ), which represents the evils coming from hell. On the same plane, he uses the concepts of remembrance (al-dhikr) and strife (al-fitna) to indicate the dual aspects of the human being and the universe. He authored the works named al-Irshād, of which very little has survived to the present day, concerning the concordance of Ḥadīth and the Qur ʾān; Sharḥ asmāʾ Allāh al-ḥusnā, in which he commented on the divine names; his comprehensive Qur ʾān commentary (tafsīr), Tanbīh alafhām; and his shorter commentary, Īḍāḥ al-ḥikma. His ideas exerted influence on many sūfīs, exegetes, and authors of the sciences of the Qur ʾān (ʿ ulūm al-qur ʾān), most notably Ibn ʿArabī. His allusion in his commentary, Tanbīh, to the date when Jerusalem, which was under Crusader occupation during his time, would be recaptured by Muslims increased his fame, and these inferences were considered evidence of his mystical insight (kashf / spiritual unveiling).