Nukhudakī Eṣfahānī, Hasan-Ali

Nukhudakī Eṣfahānī, Hasan-Ali, Emāmī scholar and mystic from Isfahan in the late 19th and early 20th/13th–14th centuries (1863–1942/1279–1321). He was born in 1863 in Isfahan. In his later years, he lived in Nukhudak, a village near Mashhad, and became known as “Nukhudakī” for this reason.¹ Hasan-Ali’s father, Ali-Akbar Meqdādī, was a merchant in Isfahan known for his asceticism and piety.² He was a devoted disciple of Muhammad-Ṣādeq Takht-e Pūlādī* (d.1873/1290), a prominent sheikh of the Chashtīyya Sufi Order who was believed to have the spiritual gift of having his prayers promptly answered and was widely regarded for his miraculous acts³. Ali-Akbar brought his son to Takht-e Pūlādī and asked him to take charge of the boy’s spiritual upbringing. From the age of seven to eleven, Nukhudakī engaged in ascetic practices under the supervision of Takht-e Pūlādī.⁴ After his mentor’s death, he continued these disciplines for another three years, remaining awake through the nights and fasting daily. He then moved to Qumshe* (present-day Shahreza*) to benefit from the presence of Sayyed Ja‛far Ḥusaynī Qazvīnī, who had apparently been drawn to his spiritual journey.⁵

In addition to engaging in ascetic practices and self-purification, Nukhudakī pursued formal religious studies. During his youth, he learned certain priminal education from his father. He then studied logic, philosophy, jurisprudence, and legal theory under prominent scholars of the Isfahan seminary, including Jahāngīr Khān Qashqāʾī* and Ākhūnd Mullā Muhammad Kāshī*. He also studied Qurʾanic exegesis with Sayyed Sīnā, the son of Sayyed Ja‛far Kashefī.⁶

In 1886/1303, Nukhudakī moved to Mashhad, where he spent about a year in ascetic retreat in one of the upper chambers of the Old Courtyard (Ṣaḥn-e ‛Atīq) of the shrine of Imam Reza. After some time, he returned to Isfahan, and in 1887/1304, he departed for Najaf, where he studied until 1894/1311, attending advanced classes in jurisprudence and legal theory taught by leading scholars of the Najaf seminary. Among his teachers were Mīrzā Ḥabībullāh Rashṭī, Sayyed Muhammad Feshārakī Eṣfahānī, Sayyed Muhammad-Kāẓem Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī, Muhammad-Hasan Māmaqānī, and Mullā Esmā‛īl Qarabāghī.⁷ During this time, he also met with the renowned scholar and ascetic Sayyed Murtaḍā Kashmīrī, from whom he received guidance in self-purification.⁸

Nukhudakī returned to Mashhad, where he continued his prescribed ascetic disciplines while also attending the lessons of prominent scholars such as Muhammad-Ali Khurāsānī (known as Ḥājjī Fāḍel), Sayyed Ali Ḥāʾerī Yazdī, Ḥājj Āqā Hussein Qumī, and ‛Abd al-Raḥmān Mudarres, until 1896/1314.⁹ In 1902/1319, he traveled to Shiraz, where he studied the text of Avecinna’s Qānūn (The Canon of Medicine) under the auspices of Mīrzā Ja‛far Ṭabīb.¹⁰ That same year, during the month of Ramadan, he sailed for Mecca to perform the ḥajj.¹¹ After several years residing in Isfahan, he returned to Mashhad in 1911/1329, where he remained for the rest of his life, living near the shrine of the eighth Shīʽa Imam¹².

Nukhudakī Eṣfahānī devoted most of his time to worship, ascetic practice, spiritual retreat, and visiting the tombs of Sufi masters such as Abū Ali Fārmadhī, Muhammad Kārandehī (known as Pīr-e Pālāndūz), and Muhammad Muʾmen. He would often spend hours engaged in invocations, supplications, and supererogatory prayers. He also dedicated part of his time to teaching, instructing students in works such as Sharḥ-e Lum‛a, Ma‛ālem al-Dīn, and Khulāṣat al-Ḥesāb, and he trained disciples in the occult sciences.¹³ His other occupations were responding to those in need, offering prayers and remedies to the afflicted and the ill.¹⁴ During this period of his life, he was widely known by the title ‘Ḥājj Sheikh,’ a title uniquely associated with him.¹⁵ It is said that he held the initiatory title ‘Bande-Ali’ and was considered a Sheikh or quṭb (the spiritual pole) of the Chashtīyya Sufi order, though he apparently did not invite anyone to formally join the order.¹⁶ He was also drawn to the Khāksārī dervishes of Mashhad, regularly attending their Friday night gatherings at the Gunbad-e Sabz lodge, where he maintained friendly relations with them.¹⁷

In several of his letters, Nukhudakī Eṣfahānī remarked that, in his time, there was no fully realized gnostic or capable master available to guide spiritual desciples. Acknowledging his own shortcomings, he nonetheless offered advice to aspirants and recommended that they remain steadfast in their spiritual practice until they could find a complete spiritual guide.¹⁸ The foundation of Nukhudakī’s spiritual instructions was a strong commitment to the dictates of Islamic law, with particular emphasis on practices such as waking before dawn, consuming only what was lawfully earned, and performing the obligatory prayers at their prescribed times with full presence of heart.¹⁹ In his view, Sufism was the path to attaining proximity to God. He believed that although forms of mysticism exist in all religions, Sufism finds its most complete expression within Islam. In his view, the outward form of Sufism was none other than adherence to the Islamic sharīʿa, while its inward essence lay in spiritual allegiance (welāya) to Ali b. Abī Ṭāleb and his rightful successors. Accordingly, a quṭb (spiritual pole) could only be considered qualified to guide desciples if his chain of spiritual authorization could be traced back to them. Otherwise, he is far removed from both Islam and Sufism, even if the outward form of his actions conforms to the prophetic law.²⁰

Nukhudakī Eṣfahānī passed away on 30 August 1942/8 Shahrīvar 1321 and was buried in the Old Courtyard (Ṣaḥn-e ‛Atīq) of the shrine of Imam Reza.²¹ Numerous accounts of his extraordinary deeds and spiritual miraculous acts have been reported in hagiographies.²² Among his distinguished disciples and followers were Ali Meqdādī Eṣfahānī (his son), ‛Abd al-Nabī Khurāsānī, Dhabīḥullāh Amīr Shahīdī, Muhammad-Hussein Khurāsānī, Maḥmūd Ḥalabī, Muhammad-Ali Rushan, Muhammad Aḥmadābādī (known as Ṭabīb-zāde), Sayyed Ali Raḍavī, and Abū al-Hasan Ḥāfeẓīyān.²³ Sayyed Shahāb al-Dīn Mar‛ashī Najafī and Sheikh Ghulām-Reza ‛Erfānīyān Yazdī also received authorization (Ejāza) from him to transmit hadith.²⁴

Nukhudakī Eṣfahānī’s collected writings were compiled and published by his son, Meqdādī Eṣfahānī, in a two-volume work titled Neshān az Bī-Neshānhā. The collection comprises various materials, including an annotation on Tadhkerat al-Muttaqīn by Muhammad Bahārī Hamadānī, a selection of personal letters to his disciples, transcripts of some of his sermons, and several treatises on mystical and ethical themes, such as monotheism, spiritual authority, love for the Ahl al-Bayt, divine love, asceticism and piety, the rights of Muslims over another Muslim, supplication and its conditions of acceptance, and sincerity.²⁵ In 1936/1315, Nukhudakī published Ershād al-Bayān, also known as Bayān al-Ershād, a work attributed to ‛Aṭṭār Neyshābūrī. The following year, he brought out ‛Aṭṭār’s Asrār-Nāme. He also edited and annotated Tarjumat al-Ṣalāt, a treatise by Mullā Muḥsen Feyḍ Kāshānī, supplementing it with his own esoteric interpretations on ritual prayer.²⁶ In addition to his scholarly and spiritual pursuits, Nukhudakī also wrote poetry, and several of his verses have been preserved.²⁷

/Shahram Sahraei/

Bibliography

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1. Nukhudakī Eṣfahānī, vol. 1, pp. 14–15, 80–81, n. 1; Āshtīyānī, p. 136.[↩]
2. Emāmī Khūʾī, vol. 2, p. 965; Nukhudakī Eṣfahānī, vol. 1, p. 14. Cf. Sharīf Rāzī, vol. 7, p. 111; Mar‛ashī, vol. 2, p. 307; Amīnī, vol. 3, p. 1228, all of whom refer to Nukhudakī’s father as Ākhūnd or Mullā.  [↩]
3. Nukhudakī Eṣfahānī, vol. 1, p. 14; Humāyī, p. 121; Mudarresī Chahārdehī, p. 182. Cf. ibid., where instead of Muhammad-Ṣādeq Takht Pūlādī, the name Muhammad-Ṣādeq Eṣfahānī Rangraz appears.[↩]
4. See: Nukhudakī Eṣfahānī, vol. 1, pp. 15–16.[↩]
5. Nukhudakī Eṣfahānī, vol. 1, pp. 15–16, 18; Sharīf Rāzī, vol. 7, p. 112. Cf. Mahdavī, p. 184, who considers Nukhudakī a disciple of Muhammad-Jawād Sarjūʾī Bīdābādī; see also: Balāghī, p. 217, who identifies him as a follower of a mystic named Rustam of the Ne‛matullāhī order.[↩]
6. See: Emāmī Khūʾī, vol. 2, p. 965; Nukhudakī Eṣfahānī, vol. 1, pp. 16–17; Sharīf Rāzī, vol. 7, p. 111; Mar‛ashī, vol. 2, p. 307.[↩]
7. See: Nukhudakī Eṣfahānī, vol. 1, pp. 17, 20–21; Amīnī, vol. 3, p. 1228; Mar‛ashī, vol. 2, p. 307.[↩]
8. See: Nukhudakī Eṣfahānī, vol. 1, p. 17.[↩]
9. See: Nukhudakī Eṣfahānī, vol. 1, pp. 17–18; vol. 2, p. 37.[↩]
10. See: Nukhudakī Eṣfahānī, vol. 1, pp. 22–23.[↩]
11. See: Nukhudakī Eṣfahānī, vol. 1, pp. 23, 102–103.  [↩]
12. See: Nukhudakī Eṣfahānī, vol. 1, pp. 23–24.[↩]
13. See: Abṭaḥī, pp. 243–244.[↩]
14. See: Mudarres, p. 252–253; Sharīf Rāzī, vol. 7, pp. 112–113; Nukhudakī Eṣfahānī, vol. 1, pp. 24–25, 28; Āshtīyānī, p. 136; Mar‛ashī, vol. 2, p. 307.[↩]
15. See: ‛Umarī, p. 93, n.[↩]
16. See: Mudarresī Chahārdehī, p. 182; Āshtīyānī, p. 137; cf. Balāghī, p. 217, who—based on one report—identified him as affiliated with the Dhahabīyya order.[↩]
17. Mudarresī Chahārdehī, p. 182; Nukhudakī Eṣfahānī, vol. 1, p. 25.[↩]
18. See: Nukhudakī Eṣfahānī, vol. 1, pp. 134, 137, 139–140, 142, 144–146, 153.  [↩]
19. For example, see: ibid., vol. 1, pp. 141, 145, 147–148.[↩]
20. Ibid., vol. 1, pp. 256–266.[↩]
21. Nukhudakī Eṣfahānī, vol. 1, pp. 34–35; Sharīf Rāzī, vol. 7, p. 112; Amīnī, vol. 3, pp. 1228–1229; cf. Balāghī, p. 217, who mistakenly gives the date of his death as 1365/1986.[↩]
22. Mudarres, pp. 252–253; Amīnī, vol. 3, p. 1229; Āshtīyānī, p. 137; Ḥujjat Hāshemī Khurāsānī, p. 11; for example, see: Nukhudakī Eṣfahānī, vol. 1, from p. 49 onward.[↩]
23. See: Balāghī, pp. 217, 220–221; Nukhudakī Eṣfahānī, vol. 1, p. 107; Ebn Bābewayh, editor’s introduction by ‛Erfānīyān, p. 150; Ḥujjat Hāshemī Khurāsānī, pp. 3, 11, 33; Mudarres Gīlānī, commentary by Ṣadūqī-Suhā, pp. 25–26.[↩]
24. See: Ḥāfeẓīyān, introduction by Ḥakīmī, p. 13; Abṭaḥī, pp. 243–244; Kūfī Ahvāzī, editor’s introduction by ‛Erfānīyān, p. 42; Mar‛ashī, vol. 2, p. 307.[↩]
25. See: Nukhudakī Eṣfahānī, vol. 1, pp. 117–166, 168–493, 504–593.[↩]
26. Aqā Buzurg Ṭehrānī, vol. 9, part 3, p. 730; vol. 11, p. 57; Mudarres, pp. 252–253; Mahdavī, p. 184; cf. Mudarresī Chahārdahī, p. 183, who states that Nukhudakī published Manṭeq al-Ṭayr after removing the panegyrics of the first three caliphs; also cf. Amīnī, vol. 3, p. 1229; Mar‛ashī, vol. 2, p. 307, both of whom mistakenly attributed the translation of Ketāb al-Ṣalāt to Nukhudakī.[↩]
27. For a sample of his poetry, see: Ḥujjat Hāshemī Khurāsānī, p. 11; Nukhudakī Eṣfahānī, vol. 2, p. 186.[↩]