Bahauddin
Baha' al-Din Naqshband was a fourteenth-century Sufi and theologian who held citizenship in the Chagatai Khanate.
Born in 1318, he is associated with the Bukhara region, with both Qasri Orifon and Bukhara recorded as his place of birth. These two locations appear together in the sources, suggesting a close connection between the village of Qasri Orifon and the city of Bukhara in accounts of his early life.
He worked in both Persian and Arabic. These were the two languages he used across his life as a Sufi and theologian, and their pairing reflects the dual linguistic world in which his religious and intellectual work took place.
He died in 1389, with both Qasri Orifon and Bukhara again listed as his place of death — the same pairing given for his birth. His occupations as a Sufi and a theologian place him within the overlapping worlds of Islamic mystical practice and formal religious thought, and his use of Persian and Arabic ran through both.
Quotes by Bahauddin
You cannot have two foundations. Either you stand and act from your heart and soul, or your life will flow from the animal soul, the nafs, your lust and greed and forgetfulness, which are characteristics of what dies and does not surrender to receive the compassion of God.
Grief is better than happiness, because in grief a person draws close to God. Your wings open. A tent is set up in the desert where God can visit you. Wealth that arrives in grief is what we spend in joy. The soul is greater than anything you ever lost.
Wisdom brings a wholeness which understands its own ignorance. Someone with a little knowledge denies this, but those who study their lives long and diligently know they do not know anything.
I say this to myself alone: when you feel crushed, those around you look broken. When you glow, darkness turns to black light. If you hurt, even the comforts you are offered wound you. As you prosper, your failures prove to be just the right thing, perfect.