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Sober and Intoxicated

The early Sufis of Baghdad and Khorasan: Bāyazīd, Junayd and al-Ḥallāj, and the debate over ecstasy and return.

Intermediate. 7 steps

Orientation

  1. Concept

    Sobriety and intoxication

    The two states and the two schools, and why the distinction mattered.

The sayings

  1. Text

    Muslim Saints and Mystics

    Farīd al-Dīn ʿAṭṭār, tr. A. J. Arberry, 1966

    ʿAṭṭār’s lives of the early Sufis: read Bāyazīd, Junayd and al-Ḥallāj.

Intoxication

  1. Author

    Bāyazīd Bisṭāmī

    The ecstatic of Bisṭām, whose sayings scandalized and inspired.

Sobriety

  1. Author

    Junayd of Baghdad

    The master of Baghdad, who taught that the mystic must return.

  2. Text

    The Life, Personality and Writings of al-Junayd

    Junayd of Baghdad, 1962

    Junayd’s own letters, difficult and allusive, with a full study.

Beyond the debate

  1. Text

    Kitab al Tawasin

    al-Ḥallāj, 1913

    Al-Ḥallāj, who proclaimed what Junayd guarded, and died for it.

  2. Text

    The Kashf al-Maḥjúb

    ʿAlī al-Hujwīrī, tr. Reynold A. Nicholson, 1911

    Al-Hujwīrī’s survey of the schools, which weighs the two ways.

Cite this entry
Chicago (bibliography)

“Sober and Intoxicated.” Reading list. The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society. Last modified November 7, 2026. https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/reading-lists/sober-and-intoxicated.

Chicago (note)

“Sober and Intoxicated,” reading list, The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society, last modified November 7, 2026, https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/reading-lists/sober-and-intoxicated.

MLA

“Sober and Intoxicated.” The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society, 7 Nov. 2026, www.unitiveknowledge.org/reading-lists/sober-and-intoxicated.

BibTeX
@misc{reading-lists-sober-and-intoxicated,
  title = {{Sober and Intoxicated}},
  howpublished = {The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society},
  note = {Reading list. Last modified November 7, 2026},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/reading-lists/sober-and-intoxicated}
}

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