The Adab of Prayer (Salah) in Kitab Al-Luma‘ f? Al-Ta?awwuf of Abu Nasr ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Ali Al-Sarraj Al-Tusi

Abstract

Ab? Na?r ?Abd All?h b. ?Al? al-Sarr?j al-??s? was born in ??s in Khur?s?n in the middle of 10th century
CE and died in the same place in 988 CE. He was honored with the title “the peacock of the poor”
(??w?s al-fuqar?’). In his book Kit?b al-Luma?, Ab? Na?r al-Sarr?j explains on the definition of Sufism,
the origin of the name, on its principles and practices and these have their roots in the sayings and
practices of the beloved Prophet Mu?ammad (pbuh), the blessed Companions, and the pious Muslims.
For our purpose here, we are only going to focus on the part of the ?d?b of the religious rituals,
particularly on the ?d?b of the ritual prayer. How do the ??f?s define ?d?b? What is it that makes it
differ from the external requirement of the Shar??ah? What are the ?d?b of prayer? How do the Prophet
(pbuh), the blessed Companions and the ??f?s exemplify the best ?d?b of ritual prayer, and what we can
learn and imitate from these par excellent Servants of Allah Ta??l?. These are some of the questions
that we will try to deal with in this paper. The methodology is a literature review, and we will also refer
to the works of other scholars, of which, primarily, are the works of ?ujjat al-Isl?m, Ab? ?amid
Mu?ammad al-Ghaz?l? (d. 450/1111).
Keywords: ?Ilm al-Ta?aww?f (Sufism), ?d?b, ?al?h (Prayer), Ab? Na?r al-Sarr?j.