Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani

rdf:langString Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani

rdf:langString Abu Nu`aym al-Isfahani

rdf:langString Abu Nu`aym al-Isfahani

rdf:langString Abu Nuʿaym al-Isfahani (أبـو نـعـيـم الأصـفـهـانـي; full name: Ahmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ahmad ibn Ishāq ibn Mūsā ibn Mahrān al-Mihrānī al-Asbahānī (or al-Asfahānī) al-Ahwal al-Ash`arī al-Shāfi`ī, died 1038 CE / AH 430) was a medieval Persian Shafi'i scholar and a transmitter of hadith. His family was an offshoot of the aristocratic House of Mihran. Born in Buwayhid era Isfahan, he travelled widely, visiting Nishapur, Basra, Kufa, Baghdad, Mecca and Al-Andalus.He is the presumed author of Hilyat al-awliya', one of the most important sources for the early development of Sufism. He was regarded as one of the best hadith authorities by his contemporary Khatib al-Baghdadi, and by Dhahabi and Taqi al-Din al-Subki. Due to Abu Nu'aym criticisms of Hanbalite literalism in respect to anthropomorphic expressions in the Quran and Hadith, the Hanbalite Ibn Manda was reported to have been involved in a vicious dispute with him. He denounced Abu Nu’aym's creed as unorthodox and banished him from the Jami' mosque of Isfahan, that was dominated by Ibn Manda's Hanbali faction. Abu Nu'aym is unlikely to have been well trained in Ash'ari kalam himself however, but he did approve of it, calling it, "the kalam in accordance with the doctrine of the ahl al-sunnah".