al-Harawi al-Ansari أبو إسماعيل عبد الله بن محمد الأنصاري الهروي

Imam Abu Ismail Abd Allah b. Muhammad al-Ansari al-Harawi rahimahullah (396-481 AH / 1006-1089 CE) was one of the great Hanbali scholars of the fifth Islamic century, combining mastery of fiqh and hadith with the highest ranks of the Sufi path. Born and based in Herat (present-day Afghanistan), he stood at the center of the Khurasani Sufi tradition while maintaining a firm commitment to Hanbali doctrine and Sunni orthodoxy. His Persian Munajat - intimate devotional prayers addressed directly to Allah - became among the most beloved texts of Islamic spirituality across the Persian-speaking world. His Arabic Manazil al-Sairin organizes one hundred stations of the spiritual path across ten ascending categories: Beginnings, Gates, Transactions, Character, Foundations, Valleys, States, Sainthood, Realities, and Ends - each station given a brief definition and three degrees (for the common, the intermediate, and the realized). The Manazil attracted the great commentary Madarij al-Salikin by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, cementing its status as a canonical reference in the tradition.