Abu ´l-Ḥasan `Alí b. `Uthmán b. `Alí al-Ghaznawí al-Jullábí al-Hujwírí[1] was a native of Ghazna in Afghanistan.[2] Of his life very little is known beyond what he relates incidentally in the _Kashf al-Maḥjúb_. He studied Ṣúfiism under Abu ´l-Faḍl Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-Khuttalí[3] (p. 166), who was a pupil of Abu ´l-Ḥasan al-Ḥuṣrí (ob. 371 A.H.), and under Abu ´l-`Abbás Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-Ashqání or al-Shaqání[4] (p. 168). He also received instruction from Abu ´l-Qásim Gurgání[5] (p. 169) and Khwája Muẕaffar[6] (p. 170), and he mentions a great number of Shaykhs whom he had met and conversed with in the course of his wanderings. He travelled far and wide through the Muḥammadan empire from Syria to Turkistán and from the Indus to the Caspian Sea. Among the countries and places which he visited were Ádharbáyaján (pp. 57 and 410), the tomb of Báyazíd at Bisṭám (p. 68), Damascus, Ramla, and Bayt al-Jinn in Syria (pp. 94, 167, 343), Ṭús and Uzkand (p. 234), the tomb of Abú Sa`íd b. Abi ´l-Khayr at Mihna (p. 235), Merv (p. 401), and the Jabal al-Buttam to the east of Samarcand (p. 407). He seems to have settled for a time in `Iráq, where he ran deeply into debt (p. 345). It may be inferred from a passage on p. 364 that he had a short and unpleasant experience of married life. Finally, according to the _Riyáḍ al-Awliyá_, he went to reside at Lahore and ended his days in that city. His own statement, however, shows that he was taken there as a prisoner against his will (p. 91), and that in composing the _Kashf al-Maḥjúb_ he was inconvenienced by the loss of the books which he had left at Ghazna. The date of his death is given as 456 A.H. (1063-4 A.D.) or 464 A.H. (1071-2 A.D.), but it is likely that he survived Abu ´l-Qásim al-Qushayrí, who died in 465 A.H. (1072 A.D.). Rieu’s observation (_Cat. of the Persian MSS. in the British Museum_, i, 343) that the author classes Qushayrí with the Ṣúfís who had passed away before the time at which he was writing, is not quite accurate. The author says (p. 161): “Some of those whom I shall mention in this chapter are already deceased, and some are still living.” But of the ten Ṣúfís in question only one, namely, Abu ´l-Qásim Gurgání, is referred to in terms which leave no doubt that he was alive when the author wrote. In the _Safínat al-Awliyá_, No. 71, it is stated that Abu ´l-Qásim Gurgání died in 450 A.H. If this date were correct, the _Kashf al-Maḥjúb_ must have been written at least fifteen years before Qushayrí’s death. On the other hand, my MS. of the _Shadharát al-Dhahab_ records the death of Abu ´l-Qásim Gurgání under the year 469 A.H., a date which appears to me more probable, and in that case the statement that the author survived Qushayrí may be accepted, although the evidence on which it rests is mainly negative, for we cannot lay much stress on the fact that Qushayrí’s name is sometimes followed by the Moslem equivalent for “of blessed memory”.