Abu Talib al-Makki

Abu Talib Muhammad ibn Ali al-Makki (; died 386 AH/996 AD in Baghdad), was a hadith scholar, Shafi'i jurist, and Sufi mystic.

Biography He was born in the Abbasid province of Jibal in the early 3rd AH / 9th AD centuries. In “The Sustenance of Hearts,” he interprets the Prophet's saying, “The quest for knowledge is a duty,” through the five pillars of Islam, as a divine assertion that the sciences of the heart have transcendent value. He outlines at length the elements of a wholly pious life- one informed by the sciences of the heart- and disparages the ‘knowledge of tongues.’ This refers to any form of knowledge that can be used for social and economic benefit. Al-Makki's focused attack on this form of knowledge was likely influenced by the careerism of religious specialities that accompanied Islam's expansion. In part because of his feelings towards the ‘knowledge of tongues’, Al-Makki has been compared to the early renunciants and People of The Blame. These severe ascetics disdained similarly selfish and innovative practitioners of Islam.