A Lover of God

The Ecstatic Sufi Nuri

Zsom, Dora

One of the so-called ecstatic (or intoxicated) Sufis of Baghdad, Abu Husayn al-Nuri (d. 907/8) was famous for his quasi-blasphemous utterances and shocking public behavior. He was often enraptured by a passionate love of God that led him to eccentric acts that scandalized both ordinary people and the religious authorities. Besides yielding to divine love and beauty, he would occasionally come near succumbing to bodily temptations and carnal passions. Despite Nuri’s outrageous behavior, Junayd, the moderate or sober Sufi par excellence, held him in high esteem, kept corresponding with him, and commented upon his controversial ecstatic sayings. This book collects Nuri’s literary legacy by surveying the sources for his life—poems, sayings, and comments on the Quran, including an exchange of letters between him and Junayd preserved in the Cairo Genizah—and by discussing the authorship of the Stations of the Hearts, which has been widely attributed to Nuri.