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[[File:Jahangir with sufi.jpg|thumb|upright|A [[Mughal miniature]] dated from the early 1620s depicting the [[Mughal emperor]] [[Jahangir]] (d. 1627) preferring a Sufi saint to his contemporary, the [[King of England]] [[James VI and I|James I]] (d. 1625); the picture is inscribed: "Though outwardly kings stand before him, he fixes his gazes on saints."]]
According to various traditional Sufi interpretations of the [[Quran]], the concept of sainthood is clearly described.<ref>{{citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=64U41q5MgLYC|title=Classical Islam and the Naqshbandi Sufi Tradition|author=Muhammad Hisham Kabbani|year=2003|isbn=
Collected stories about the "lives or ''vitae'' of the saints", began to be compiled "and transmitted at an early stage"<ref name="ReferenceA"/> by many regular Muslim scholars, including [[Ibn Abi al-Dunya]] (d. 894),<ref name="ReferenceA"/> who wrote a work entitled ''Kitāb al-Awliyāʾ'' (''Lives of the Saints'') in the ninth-century, which constitutes "the earliest [complete] compilation on the theme of God's friends."<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Prior to Ibn Abi al-Dunya's work, the stories of the saints were transmitted through [[oral tradition]]; but after the composition of his work, many Islamic scholars began writing down the widely circulated accounts,<ref name="ReferenceA"/> with later scholars like Abū Nuʿaym al-Iṣfahānī (d. 948) making extensive use of Ibn Abi al-Dunya's work in his own ''Ḥilyat al-awliyāʾ'' (''The Adornment of the Saints'').<ref name="ReferenceA"/> It is, moreover, evident from the ''Kitāb al-Kas̲h̲f wa 'l-bayān'' of the early [[Baghdad]]i [[Sufi]] [[Islamic mysticism|mystic]] [[Abu Sa'id al-Kharraz]] (d. 899) that a cohesive understanding of the Muslim saints was already in existence, with al-Kharraz spending ample space distinguishing between the virtues and miracles (''karāmāt'') of the [[Prophets and messengers in Islam|prophets]] and the saints.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> The genre of [[hagiography]] (''[[manāḳib]]'') only became more popular with the passage of time, with numerous prominent Islamic thinkers of the [[Middle Ages|medieval period]] devoting large works to collecting stories of ''various'' saints or to focusing upon "the marvelous aspects of the life, the miracles or at least the prodigies of a [specific] Ṣūfī or of a saint believed to have been endowed with miraculous powers."<ref>Pellat, Ch., "Manāḳib", in: ''Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition'', Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W. P. Heinrichs.</ref>
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===Seeking of blessings===
The rationale for veneration of deceased saints by pilgrims in an appeal for blessings (''[[Barakah]]'') even though the saints will not rise from the dead until the Day of Resurrection (''[[Yawmuddin|Yawm ad-Dīn]]'') may come from the hadith that states "the Prophets are alive in their graves and they pray".{{citation needed|date=March 2022}} (According to the Islamic concept of [[Punishment of the Grave]]—established by [[hadith]]—the dead are still conscious and active, with the wicked suffering in their graves as a prelude to hell and the pious at ease.) According to Islamic historian Jonathan A.C. Brown, "saints are thought to be no different" than prophets, "as able in death to answer invocations for assistance" as they were while alive.<ref name=brown-59>{{cite book|last1 = Brown|first1 = Jonathan A.C.|author-link = Jonathan A.C. Brown|title = Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet's Legacy|date = 2014|publisher = [[Oneworld Publications]]|isbn =
==Types and hierarchy==
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