Shaykh Abu ‘Abd ar-Rahman Hatim ibn ‘Unwan al-Aswam (q.s.) in Brief
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Imam Abu al-Qasim ‘Abd al-Karim ibn Huzan al-Qushayri ( r.a. ) recorded, in his Risalah al-Qushayriyyah , Shaykh Abu ‘Abd ar-Rahman Hatim ibn ‘Unwan al-Aswam ( q.s. ) was a great Sufi master of Khurasan. Some say that his name was Shaykh Hatim ibn Yusuf al-Aswam ( q.s. ). He was a disciple of Shaykh Abu ‘Ali Shaqiq ibn Ibrahim al-Azdi al-Balkhi ( q.s. ), and a teacher of Shaykh Abu Hamid Ahmad ibn Khadrawayh al-Balkhi ( q.s. ). People say that he was not deaf, and that he only feigned deafness once, which explains his nickname, “al-Aswam”, “the Deaf”. Shaykh Abu ‘Ali Hasan ibn ‘Ali ad-Daqqaq ( q.s. ) said that, once, a woman came to Shaykh Hatim al-Aswam ( q.s. ), and asked him a question. It so happened that as she was with him there came from her an embarrassing sound. She was greatly mortified. Shaykh Hatim al-Aswam ( q.s. ) told her, “Speak louder!” and put on a show of deafness. ...