Hazrat Abu Eshaq Ibrahim ibn Adham[R A] was born in Balkh and of Arab descent. He is one of the earliest documented great Sufis. He was a King of Balkh who renounced his throne for a spiritual kingdom and wandered to live a life of complete asceticism, earning his bread in Syria by honest manual toil until his death in c. 165 AH (782 AD). According to Arabic and Persian sources like al-Bukhari and others, Ibrahim ibn Adham received a warning from God through Khidr who appeared to him twice, and as such, Ibrahim abdicated his throne to take up the ascetic life in Syria. He is described in the Kashf-al-Mahjub, written by Ali Hujwiri (Data Ganj Bakhsh)[R A], as "unique in this path; the chieftain of his contemporaries, and a disciple of al-Khidr."

Khwaja Fuzail [R A] was one of the greatest of the early Sufis, who in that formative period of Islam, were distinguished not specialized action or formal designation, but by the loftiness of their characters and their closeness to Allah. It was about one of Khwaja Fuzail’s Khalifa, Hazrat Bashr al-Hafi[R A], that Imam Ahmed Hanbal[R A] said, “ I know fiqh, tafsir, logic, Hadith and linguistics better than he, but he knows my Lord better than I.” What was true fo the pupil was even more true for the master. The Sufis were held in awe by all around them by virtue of their tremendous piety, even though their peers were the greatest of Imams of religion. It was said of Imam Abu Hanifah[R A], “ how could he possibly have lapsed into error or impiety, with a companion like al-Fuzail to guide and correct him?”

Habib ibn Mohammad al-‘Ajami al-Basri ( R A ), a Persian settled at Basra, was a noted traditionist who transmitted from al-Hasan al-Basri, Ibn Sirin( R A ), and other authorities. His conversion from a life of ease and self-indulgence was brought about by al-Ha’an’s eloquence; he was a frequent attendant at his lectures, and became one of his closest associates.

Hazrat Malik bin Dinar (R A) was Persian scholar and traveller. He was one of the first known Muslims to have come to India in order to propagate Islam in the Indian Subcontinent after the departure of King Cheraman Perumal. Even though historians do not agree on the exact place of his death, it is widely accepted that he departed at Kasaragod and that his relics were buried at Mosque in Thalangara, Kasaragod. Belonging to the generation of the tabi'i, Malik is called a reliable traditionalist in Sunni sources, and is said to have transmitted from such authorities as Malik ibn Anas and Ibn Sirin. He was the son of a Persian slave from Kabul who became a disciple of Hasan al-Basri. He died just before the epidemic of plague which caused considerable ravages in Basra in 748-49 CE, with various traditions placing his depart either at 744-45 or 747-48 CE.

By Renowned Islamic Scholar Allama Muqthar Shah Naeemi Ashrafi from USA