Hasan al-Basri

Born in Medina in 642, Hasan al-Basri belonged to the tabi'un, the second generation of Muslims who never met Muhammad but knew his companions. Those close relationships with the Prophet's circle gave him standing as a scholar of Quran exegesis and theology, and his austere sermons on renunciation made a deep impression during the early Umayyad era. His disciples transmitted his maxims orally; the few complete manuscripts bearing his name are later forgeries, including a ninth-century epistle on predestination and a spurious letter to Umar II. From the ninth century onward, Sunni mystics place…