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A
THE SUFI ORDERS
IN ISLAM
!
THE SUFI ORDERS
IN ISLAM
■ ; 1
BY
J. SPENCEBUXRIMINGHAM
T
OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1971
Oxford University Pym Eh, z?„
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PREFACE
hilst Islamic mysticism has exercised a compelling attrac-
tion upon many Western scholars, its organizational aspect,
V ? the mystical orders, has been neglected. Yet a misleading
impression of Islamic mysticism is conveyed if it is based exclu-
sively upon the writings of its poets and theosophists, for mysticism
is essentially a practical discipline based upon the insights of these
illuminated seekers.
No modem study of the orders exists; the pioneer work of
Louis Rinn, Marabouts et Khouan, published in Algiers in 1884,
though concerned primarily with Algeria, still forms a valuable
introduction, whilst its range was extended with the publication of
A. le Chatelier's Les Confreries miisuhnanes du Hedjaz (Paris, 1887).
Studies have appeared of particular orders or areas, especially
north Africa, but nothing concerning their development through
the centuries. The way in which my own views have changed
since commencing this study has confirmed the need for a reassess-
ment.
This study is primarily concerned with the historical develop-
ment of the orders and seeks to trace the successive phases through
which the practice of the Sufi spirit passed. This process took
place within the Arabic and Persian spheres upon which the main
emphasis is naturally placed. Other cultural spheres took over this
development which continued to dominate, even though regional
cultures made their own contributions and formed their distinctive
practices.
The intellectual aspect is not ignored, but concern is restricted
to the spiritual and intellectual movement which lay behind the
practical working of the orders, their methods of organization and
ritual. In terms of the wider setting within the Islamic culture
we are concerned with a vast movement of the spirit which spread
throughout the Islamic world, influencing the ordinary person
no less than a mystical elite (which cannot be said of the mystical
movement in Christendom), and which today faces a grave crisis
through erosion by modern life and thought.
I wish to acknowledge the help given me by the Carnegie
Trust for the Universities of Scotland, when I was a member
vi
PREFACE
of the staff of Glasgow University, through a grant which enabled
me to make a study tour in north Africa in i960. My thanks are
also due to my colleague, Professor Nicola Ziadeh, for his help
in reading my draft and calling my attention to mistakes and to
matters which needed clarification.
J. S. T.
Beirut
September 1969
CONTENTS
ABBREVIATIONS IX
I. The Formation of Schools of Mysticism i
II. The Chief Tariqa Lines 31
in. The Formation of To* if as 67
iv. Nineteenth-Century Revival Movements 105
v. The Mysticism and Theosophy of the Orders 133
vi. The Organization of the Orders 166
vii. Ritual and Ceremonial 194
vni. Role of the Orders in the Life of Islamic Society 218
ix. The Orders in the Contemporary Islamic World 245
APPENDICES
A. Relating to Early Sihilas 261
B. Sufis, Malamatls, and Qalandarls 264
c. Suhrawardi Silsilas facing page 270
d. Qadirl Groups 271
e. Independent Orders of the Badawiyya and Burhaniyya 274
f. Shadhili Groups in the Maghrib deriving from al-
Jazuli 276
G. Madyani and Shadhili Groups in Egypt and Syria 278
h. Rifa'i TaHfas in the Arab World 280
viii CONTENTS
BIBLIOGRAPHY 2^2
INDEXES
Glossary of Arabic Terms 3 00
General Index 3*5
ABBREVIATIONS
A. I.E.O. Annates de VInstitut d' etudes orientales de V University
d> Alger.
Archiv. maroc. Archives marocaines.
b. ibn = son of.
B. I.F.A.O. Bulletin de VInstitut francais d* Archeologie onentale dn
Caire.
D. I si. Der Islam, Berlin.
E. I.1, E.I.2 Encyclopaedia of Islam, ist edition, and edition.
E.R.E. Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics.
G.A.L. Brockelrnann, Carl, Geschichte der arabischen Literatur.
G.A.L.S. Supplement to G.A.L.
G.M.S. E. J. W. Gibb Memorial Series.
J. Asiat. Journal asiatique, Paris.
J.R.A.S. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, London.
M. Muhammad.
M.E.J. Middle East Journal, Washington, D.C.
M.I.D.E. O. Melanges de VInstitut dominicain d'fitudes orientales, Cairo.
M.S.O.S. Mitteilungen des Seminars fiir orientalische Sprachen,
Berlin.
M.W. The Muslim World, Hartford.
R.E.I. Revue des etudes islamiques, Paris.
R.M.M. Revue du Monde musulman, Paris.
R.S.O. Rivista degli studi orientali, Rome.
Z.D.M.G. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenldndischen Gesellschaft,
Wiesbaden.
I
The Formation of Schools of Mysticism
The term sufi was first applied to Muslim ascetics who clothed
themselves in coarse garments of wool (suf). From it comes
the form tasawwuf 'for 'mysticism'. There are excellent guides
to Islamic mysticism and all that is necessary by way of introduc-
tion is to give some idea of how I am using the terms sufi and
Sufism in the context of this study on the mystical Ways and their
expression in orders.
I define the word sufi in wide terms by applying it to anyone
who believes that it is possible to have direct experience of God
and who is prepared to go out of his way to put himself in a state
whereby he may be enabled to do this. Many will not be happy
about this definition, but I find it the only possible way to embrace
all the varieties of people involved in the orders.
The term Sufism as used in this book is equally comprehensive.
It embraces those tendencies in Islam which aim at direct com-
munion between God and man. It is a sphere of spiritual experience
which runs parallel to the main stream of Islamic consciousness
deriving from prophetic revelation and comprehended within the
Shari'a and theology. This contrast is the reason for the enmity
legalists have always borne towards Sufism, for it means that the
mystics are claiming a knowledge of the Real {al-Haqq, their
term for God) that could not be gained through revealed religion
which in Islam became codified religion.
Mysticism is a particular method of approach to Reality
(Haqiqa, another special Sufi term), making use of intuitive and
emotional spiritual faculties which are generally dormant and
latent unless called into play through training under guidance.
This training, thought of as 'travelling the Path' {salak at-tariq),
aims at dispersing the veils which hide the self from the Real and
thereby become transformed or absorbed into undifferentiated
Unity. It is not primarily an intellectual process, though the
experience of the mystic led to the formulation of various types
of mystical philosophy, but rather a reaction against the external
a THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM
rationalization of Islam in law and systematic theology, aiming at
spiritual freedom whereby man's intrinsic intuitive spiritual senses
could be allowed full scope. The various Ways (turuq, sing, tariqd)
are concerned with this process, and it is with the historical develop-
ment, practical organization, and modes of worship of these Ways
that this book is concerned.
Early Sufism was a natural expression of personal religion in
relation to the expression of religion as a communal matter. It
was an assertion of a person's right to pursue a life of contempla-
tion, seeking contact with the source of being and reality, over
against institutionalized religion based on authority, a one-way
Master-slave relationship, with its emphasis upon ritual obser-
vance and a legalistic morality. The spirit of Qur'anic piety had
flowed into the lives and modes of expression, as in the form of
'recollection' (dhikr), of the early devotees (zuhhad) and ascetics
(nussak). Sufism was a natural development out of these tendencies
manifest in early Islam, and it continued to stress them as an
essential aspect of the Way. These seekers after direct experience
of communion with God ensured that Islam was not confined
within a legalistic directive. Their aim was to attain ethical per-
ception (we shall see how this was to recur in later developments)
and this was redirected or transformed to the aim of the Sufis to
attain mystical perception.
Sufism was a natural development within Islam, owing little
to non-Muslim sources, though receiving radiations from the
ascetical-mystical life and thought of eastern Christianity. The
outcome was an Islamic mysticism following distinctive Islamic
lines of development. Subsequently, a vast and elaborate mystical
system was formed which, whatever it may owe to neo-Platonism,
gnosticism, Christian mysticism, or other systems, we may truly
regard, as did the Sufis themselves, as 'the inner doctrine of Islam,
the underlying mystery of the Qur'an'.
Sufism has received much attention from Western scholars,
yet the study of the development, writings, beliefs, and practices
of the orders which are its objective expression has scarcely been
attempted. Sufism in practice is primarily contemplative and
emotional mysticism. As the organized cultivation of religious
experience it is not a philosophical system, though it developed
such a system, but it is a 'Way', the Way of purification. This
practical aspect is our main concern. Sufi teaching and practice
THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM 3
were diffused throughout the Islamic world through the growth
of particular Ways which were disseminated among the people
through the medium of religious orders, and as a religious move-
ment displayed many aspects.
The foundation of the orders is the system and relationship
of master and disciple, in Arabic murshid (director) and murid
(aspirant). It was natural to accept the authority and guidance of
those who had traversed the stages (maqamat) of the Sufi Path.
Masters of the Way say that every man has inherent within
him the possibility for release from self and union with God,
but this is latent and dormant and cannot be released, except
with certain illuminates gifted by God, without guidance from a
leader.
The early masters were more concerned with experiencing than
with theosophical theorizing. They sought to guide rather than
teach, directing the aspirant in ways of meditation whereby he
himself acquired insight into spiritual truth and was shielded
against the dangers of illusions. Sufism in practice consists of
feeling and unveiling, since mcfrifa (gnosis) is reached by passage
through ecstatic states. Consequently teaching succeeds rather
than precedes experience. Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, a theorist of
ethical mysticism, writes of his own realization that what is most
peculiar to Sufis 'cannot be learned but only attained by direct
experience, ecstasy, and inward transformation'. The drunken
man knows nothing about the definition, causes, and conditions
of drunkenness, yet he is drunk, whilst the sober man acquainted
with the theory is not drunk.1 Al-Ghazali's own intellectual back-
ground, his inability to submit himself unreservedly to guidance,
imposed too great a barrier for him to attain direct Sufi experience.
Teaching about the state of fana (transmutation of self) will
not help anyone to attain it, only guidance under an experienced
director. Hence the great importance the guides attached to per-
mission to recite adhkar (mystical exercises) and undertake re-
treats, for thereby the burden is adjusted to the capacity of the
individual.
A iariqa was a practical method (other terms were madhhab,
rVaya, and sulilk) to guide a seeker by tracing a way of thought,
feeling, and action, leading through a succession of 'stages'
1 Al-Ghazall, al-Mungidh min ad-dalal, Damascus edn., i358/i939> PP-
124-5-
4 THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM
(maqtlmdt, in integral association with psychological experiences
called 'states', ahwal) to experience of divine Reality (haqiqa).
At first a tariqa meant simply this gradual method of contempla-
tive and soul-releasing mysticism. Circles of disciples began to
gather around an acknowledged master of the Way, seeking train-
ing through association or companionship,1 but not linked to him
by any initiatory tie or vow of allegiance.
Two contrasting tendencies came to be distinguished as Junaidi
and BistamI, or 'Iraqi and Khurasan! (but must not be taken too
seriously or called schools of thought) after two men, Abu'l-
Qasim al-Junaid (d. 298/910) and Abu Yazld Taifur al-Bistami
(d. 260/874), who captured the imaginations more than any other
of their contemporaries. These two are held to embody the con-
trasts between the way based on tazvakkul (trust) and that on
malama (blame),2 between intoxicated and sober, safe and sus-
pect, illuminate and conformist, solitude and companionship, theist
and monist, guidance under a this-world director (with a chain
of transmitters to regularize in conformity with standard Islamic
practice) and guidance under a spirit-shaikh.
'AH al-Hujwiri refers* to Bistami's teaching, which he calls Tai-
fur!, as characterized by ghalaba (rapture, ecstasy) and sukr
(intoxication); whereas that derived from al-Junaid cis based on
sobriety Qahzo) and is opposed to that of the Tayfuris ... It is
the best-known and most celebrated of all doctrines, and all the
Shaykhs have adopted it, notwithstanding that there is much
difference in their sayings on the ethics of Sufiism.'4 Because he
won the approval of orthodoxy as relatively 'safe', al-Junaid comes
to be regarded as 'the Shaikh of the Way', the common ancestor
of most subsequent mystical congregations, even though many
followed heterodox teaching; his inclusion in their genealogies
1 Li 's~suhba wa 'd-dars wa W-riwdya 'anku.
2 See Appendix B.
3 Abu M-Hasan 'Ali al-Jullabi al-Hujwirl (d. c. 465/1073), Kashf al-Mafijub,
tr. R. A. Nicholson, London, 1936, pp. 184—5.
4 Ibid., p. 189. Junaid as the apostle of moderation (though he in fact held
esoteric views) sought to tone down and explain away his ecstatic utterances,
see Sarraj, Luma\ pp. 380-90. On al-Bistami see 'Abd ar-Rahman BadawT,
Shathat as~$ufiyya: I. Abu Yazld al-Bistami, Cairo, 1949, which includes
(PP* 37-r48) a biography entitled An-Nur min kalimat Abi Taifur, attributed to
as-Sahlaji. The ideas of a far more significant contemporary, al-Haklm at-
Tirmidhl (d. c. 295/908), fell into oblivion until resurrected by the genius of
Ibn al-*Arabi.
THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM 5
was a guarantee of orthodoxy, for a sound isnad can support a
multitude of heresies.
These groups were very loose and mobile; members travelled
widely seeking masters, some earning their way, others supporting
themselves upon alms. But foundations came into being which
served as centres for these wanderers. In Arab regions many were
attached to frontier-posts or hostels called ribat;1 those in Khu-
rasan were associated with rest-houses or hospices (khanaqah2),
whilst others were the retreat (khalwa or zawiya) of a spiritual
director. All these terms came to mean a Sufi convent. An early
ribat was found on ' Abbadan island (the name itself is significant)
on the Persian Gulf, which grew up around an ascetic called
cAbd al-Wahid ibn Zaid (d. 177/793), survived his death, and
became especially well known.3 Other ribats were found on the
marches with Byzantium and in north Africa. Centres for de-
votees are mentioned at Damascus around 150/767, at Ramlah,
capital of Palestine, founded by a Christian amir before a.d. 800,4
in Khurasan about the same time, whilst 'there appeared in Alex-
andria an organization (ta'ifa) calling itself as-Sufiyya* in the year
A.H. 200.s
By the fifth/eleventh century organized convents of a quite
different character had become numerous, though they still re-
tained their character as collections of individuals pursuing their
own way, even though they associated with and sought guidance
from experienced men and ascribed themselves to such guides.
The personnel of these places was still impermanent and migrant,
and they adopted the bare minimum of institutional rules con-
cerning their day-to-day life. Such Sufi 'companionship' {suhba)
rules eventually became a religious obligation.6
Al-Maqdisi, whose range of interests was wider than that of
1 On ribats, see Chap, vi, pp. 167-8.
2 Khane-gdh (monastery, cloister).
3 See Sarraj, Lnma\ p. 429 ; al-MaqdisI, p. 1 18 ; Yaqut, iii. 598 ; L. Massignon,
Lexique mystique, p. 157.
* Jam!, Nafahat al-wis, Calcutta, 1859, p. 34; though this reference is too
late to be of any value by itself (the book was written in a.h. 881 though based
upon earlier material).
s Al-KindZ, Qtidat Misr, ed. R. Guest, 1912, p. 162.
6 The first such work, though concerned with general ethical relationships,
appears to be Adah as-suhba, by as-Sularm(33o/94i-4I2/I02I)> edited by M. J.
Kister, 1954. 'AH al-Hujwm refers to a number of treatises explaining the
rules; see Kashf, p. 338.
6 THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM
most geographers, gives some information about Sufi groups. He
says that in Shiraz 'Sufis were numerous, performing the dhikr
(yukabbtr) in their mosques after the Friday prayer and reciting
blessings on the Prophet from the pulpit'.1 As an organized
movement he shows that the Karramiyya2 in his time (he is writing
around a.d. 975) was more effective, having khanaqahs all over
Islamic Asia,3 and it seems that it was from them that Sufis
adopted the khanaqah system. The only reference I have come
across in al-Maqdisi to a khanaqah where Sufi exercises take
place is, 'There was a khanaqah in Dabil [Dwin, capital of Ar-
menia] whose inmates were gnostics ('arifs) in the system of
tasawwuf, living in the straitest poverty.'4 Yet the Karramiyya
was relatively short-lived (two centuries) whereas the Sufi move-
ment went on from an individualistic discipline to change the
whole devotional outlook of Muslims.
In the Syrian Jawlan mountains al-Maqdisi writes: 'I met Abu
Ishaq al-Ballutl with forty men, all wearing wool, who had a
place for worship where they congregated. I found out that this
man was a learned jurist of the school of Sufyan ath-Thawri, and
that their sustenance consisted of acorns (balliit), a fruit the size
of dates, bitter, which is split, sweetened, ground up and then
mixed with wild barley.'5
Al-Maqdisi was assiduous in seeking new experiences as well
as geographical information, and the following engaging account
shows that organized congregations existed in his time and that
you needed to belong to one to gain insight into Sufi experience, as
1 Al-Maqdisi, Ahsan at-taqdsim (completed in Shiraz in 375/985), ed. de
Goeje, 1906, p. 439, cf. p. 430. A non-Sufi usage of the term dhikr has to be
looked for. Al-Maqdisi writes that in Jerusalem (Iliya) were 'mudhakkirun
who are [pious] story-tellers (qu^ds), and the followers of Abu Hanlfa have
a majlis dhikr in the Aqsa mosque where they recite from a book' ; op. cit., p. 182,
and cf. p. 327.
2 Founded by Muhammad ibn Karram, d. 255/869. Al-Maqdisi calls them
men of zuhd and taabbud (p. 365). It was a revivalist and ascetic school dis-
tinguished by a special mode of dress. They were by no means happy with the
Sufis, especially with the quietists.
3 And even outside, for they had their own section in Fatimid Fustatj see
al-Maqdisi, p. 202.
4 Op. cit., p. 379. References like the following in the section on Khurasan
are common : 'The Karramiyya have a group (jalaba) in Herat and Gharch of
the Sher, and khauodniq in Ferghana, Khuttal, and Guzganan, and in Marv
ar-rudh a khanaqah, and another in Samarqand* (p. 323).
s Al-Maqdisi, op. cit., p. 188.
THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM 7
well as showing that it was as easy to be a false Sufi in those days
as at any other:
When I entered Sus [in Khuzistan] I sought out the main mosque,
seeking a shaikh whom I might question concerning points of hadith.
It chanced that I was wearing ajubba of Cypriot wool and a Basran futa,
and I was directed to a congregation of Sufis. As I approached they took
it for granted that I was a Sufi and welcomed me with open arms. They
settled me among them and began questioning me. Then they sent a man
to bring food. I felt ill at ease about taking the food since I had not
associated with such a group before this occasion. They showed sur-
prise at my reluctance and absention from their ceremonial.1 I felt
drawn to associate myself with this congregation and find out about
their method, and learn the true nature [of Sufismj. So I said within
myself, 'This is your opportunity, here where you are unknown.1 I
therefore threw off all restraint with them, stripping the veil of bash-
fulness from off my face. On one occasion I might engage in antiphonal
singing with them, on another I might yell with them, and at another
recite poems to them. I would go out with them to visit ribats and to
engage in religious recitals, with the result, by God, that I won a place
both in their hearts and in the hearts of the people of that place to an
extraordinary degree. I gained a great reputation, being visited [for
my virtue] and being sent presents of garments and purses, which I
would accept but immediately hand over intact to the Sufis, since I was
well off, having ample means. Every day I used to spend engaged in
devotions, and what devotions ! and they used to suppose I did it out of
piety. People began touching me [to obtain baraka] and broadcasting
my fame, saying that they had never seen a more excellent faqir. So it
went on until, when the time came that I had penetrated into their
secrets and learnt all that I wished, I just ran away from them at dead
of night and by morning had got well clear.2
Whilst some centres of withdrawal, more especially the ribafs
and khanaqahs which were supported by endowments (awqaf),
became permanent centres, those which were based upon the
reputation of a particular master broke up after his death. Most
masters were themselves migrants. There were no self-continua-
tive orders, but groups of people possessing similar spiritual
aspirations who had become disciples of an honoured master with
whom the bond of allegiance was purely personal..
The eleventh century marks a turning-point in the history of
1 Clearly not a question of accepting normal hospitality but a ritual meal.
2 Al-Maqdisi, op. cit., p. 415-
8266247 B
8 THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM
Islam. Among other things it was characterized by the suppression
of Shf ism, which had attained political power in the dynasties of
the Fatimids of north Africa and the Buyids of Persia, where even
then it seemed likely to become the Persian form of Islam. The
overthrow of political Shi'ism was brought about by the Seljuq
rulers of Turkish nomads from central Asia. In a,d. 1055 they
gained control of Baghdad and took over tutelage of the 'Abbasid
caliph from the Buyids. In the Maghrib and Egypt the power of
the Fatimids weakened1 until finally they were overthrown by the
Kurd Saladin in a.d. 1171.
The Turks were upholders of the Sunna and opponents of
Shrite tendencies. The counter-revolution they accomplished in
the Islamic sphere took the form of the reorganization of the
madrasa from a private school, a circle around a learned master,
to an official institution to which the Seljuqs ensured the recruit-
ment of masters sympathetic to their religious policy. In these
institutions the stress was placed on the religious sciences, whilst
the profane sciences which had flourished equally under the early
'Abbasid and Shi'ite dynasties were discouraged or banned. The
new form of madrasa soon spread from Iraq into Syria, Egypt,
and eventually the Maghrib.2
But Islamic religious spirit could not be limited and confined
within this institution alone and the cultivation of the deeper
spiritual life took the form of the parallel institution of the organ-
ized, endowed, and supervised khanaqah with which the Seljuqs
were familiar from those of the Karramiyya in central Asia and
Iran. The institution is a means of control, but it is to their credit
that they encouraged the foundation of khanaqahs and endowed
them liberally.
The speculative Sufi spirit was viewed with suspicion. The
dissociation of Sufis from recognized religious leaders had always
been suspected and resented by the 'ulamci (doctors of law), and
provoked a reaction to which Shihab ad-dm Yahya as-Suhrawardi
1 The Zirids of Ifriqiya, Berber vnssals of the Fatimids, repudiated their
authority. Al-Mu'izz's recognition of the 'Abbasid caliph in the khutba is
ascribed to various dates between 433/1041 and 437/1045. In far western Islam
other nomads, the Murabitun, ensured the triumph of Sunnism in its Malik!
form when Sanhaja from western Sahara overwhelmed Morocco (at the time
the Seljuqs were taking Baghdad) and then Spain (Battle of Zallaqa in a.d.
1086).
2 Madrasas did not increase greatly in the Maghrib until the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries under the Hafsids, Marlnids, and 'Abd al-Wadids.
THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM 9
fell victim.1 But it was the formation of esoteric and mystical
congregations outside the regular organization of Islam, together
with the liturgical organization of the sama\ or spiritual concert
for inducing ecstasy, which was more likely to provoke the reaction
of the orthodox than suspect ideas.
By the end of the fifth century a.h. the change in the attitude of
Islamic legalists towards a grudging and qualified acceptance of
Sufism, begun by as-Sulami and his disciple al-Qushairl, had been
brought to a conclusion by al-GhazalT, whilst the need for associa-
tions caring for religious needs other than the ritual sanctified and
fixed by the Law was recognized. The association of Sufism in its
khdnaqah form with the official favour of Nur ad-din, Saladin,
and their lieutenants and successors had made Sufi associations
respectable. When the formation of separate congregations for
liturgical 'recitals5 became possible there began the development
of an inner Islam with its own leaders, hierarchy, and forms of
worship. But though accommodated in this way orthodoxy and
mysticism followed not only separate but divergent paths. This
is shown by the parallel institutional development of madrasas
and khanaqahs. The next stage is the formation of mystical schools
consisting of circles of initiates. When this reconciliation or com-
promise was accomplished Sufism was still a Way which appealed
only to the few, and the Sunni doctors had no conception of what
was to happen when it was mediated to the people in the form of
a popular movement.
From the eleventh century the zawiyas and khanaqahs which
provided temporary resting-places for wandering Sufis spread
the new devotional life throughout the countryside and played
a decisive role in the Islamization of borderland and non-Arab
regions in central Asia and north Africa. By the twelfth century
many khanaqahs had become rich and flourishing establishments
and Ibn Jubair, who travelled (a.d. 1183-5) in the near East in
Saladin's time, writes of Damascus:
Ribdts for Sufis, which here go under the name of khawaniq, are
numerous. They are ornamented palaces through all of which flow
1 This Suhrawardi is to be distinguished from the tariqa leaders bearing the
same nisba by the epithet al-Maqtul, 'the Martyr'. He taught in Anatolia at the
court of Qilij Arslan II and his son, and wrote a number of remarkable theo-
sophical works before he was tried and executed, martyr to the fanaticism of the
orthodox 'ulama of Aleppo, by al-Malik az-£ahir at the order of Saladin, at
the age of 38 in 587/1191.
io THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM
streams of water, presenting as delightful a picture as anyone could
wish for. The members of this type of Sufi organization are really the
kings in these parts, since God has provided for them over and above
the material things of life, freeing their minds from concern with the
need to earn their living so that they can devote themselves to His
service. He has lodged them in palaces which provide them with a fore-
taste of those of Paradise. So these fortunates, the favoured ones among
the Sufis, enjoy through God's favour the blessings of this world and
the next. They follow an honourable calling and their life in common
is admirably conducted. Their mode of conducting their forms of wor-
ship is peculiar. Their custom of assembling for impassioned musical
recitals (samd() is delightful. Sometimes, so enraptured do some of
these absorbed ecstatics become when under the influence of a state
that they can hardly be regarded as belonging to this world at all.1
However, it was not through such establishments that the next
development in Sufi institutionalism took place but through a
single master, sometimes settled in a retreat far from the dis-
tractions of khanaqah life, sometimes in his zawiya home in the
big city, frequently a wanderer travelling around with his circle
of disciples. Ibn Jubair occasionally mentions these humble
ascetics of desert or mountain if something special calls them to
his attention, such as when he finds Christians paying tribute to
their dedication to the religious life.2
From the beginning of the thirteenth century certain centres (if
we think of the centre as being a man, not a place) became the
sees of fariqas, mystical schools or teaching centres. This happened
when a centre or circle became focused on one director in a new
way and turned into a school designed to perpetuate his name,
type of teaching, mystical exercises, and rule of life. Each such
iariqa was handed down through a continuous 'chain' (sihila), or
mystical hnad? The derivative shaikhs are, therefore, the spiritual
heirs of the founder.
The link of a person with this sihila acquired an esoteric charac-
ter, and initiation, whereby the seeker swore an oath of allegiance
to founder and earthly deputy and received in return the secret
wird which concentrates the spiritual power of the chain, was the
means of gaining this link. Ibn Khallikan describes fuqara having
1 The Travels of Ibn Jubair, ed. W. Wright and M. J. de Goeje, 2nd edn.,
1907, p. 284.
2 Ibid., p. 287.
3 See Appendix A for some early silsilas.
THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM n
such a tie ('uqda, itiqad) with Ibn ar-Rifa'i (d. a.d. 1182),1 whose
silsila is probably the earliest consciously maintained chain.2
The szTw/fl-path was not intended to replace the formal Muslim
religious organization which the Sufis regarded as a necessary
concession (rukhsa) to human frailty. This development can be
regarded as the beginning of the process whereby the creative
freedom of the mystic was to be channelled into an institution.
These paths never developed sectarian tendencies. Their founders
maintained careful links with the orthodox institution and did
not repudiate the formal duties of Islam. One of their functions
in Islamic life was to fill the gap left through the suppression of
ShTi sectarianism. The difference between the paths lay in such
aspects as loyalty to the head of the order and belief in a particular
power-line, in types of organization, methods of teaching, peculiar
practices and ritual. They differed considerably in their inner
beliefs, but their link with orthodoxy was guaranteed by their
acceptance of the law and ritual practices of Islam. All the same
they formed inner coteries within Islam and introduced a hier-
archical structure and modes of spiritual outlook and worship
foreign to its essential genius.
How this process of ascription came about is not clear. Pupils
had normally traced or ascribed3 their madhhab (method), or
tariqa (course), to their revered teacher, for he was their guarantee
of validity and training, but so far this had been primarily a
direct personal link. It is true 'AH al-Hujwiri (d. c. 467/1074)
enumerates twelve schools of Sufism:
The whole body of aspirants to Sufiism is composed of twelve sects,
two of which are condemned (mardfid), while the remaining ten are
approved {maqbul). The latter are the Muhasibis, the Qassaris, the
Tayfuris, the Junaydis, the Nuns, the Sahlis, the Hakimis, the Khar-
razis, the Khafifis, and the Sayyaris. All these assert the truth and
belong to the mass of orthodox Muslims. The two condemned sects are,
firstly, the Hululis, who derive their name from the doctrine of incarna-
tion (hulul) and incorporation (imtizdj), and with whom are connected
the Salimi sect of anthropomorphists; and secondly, the Hallajis, who
1 Ibn Khallikan, Wafayat, i. 95.
2 See al-Wasiti, Tirydq al-muhibbin, Cairo, a.h. 1305, pp. 5~6» which gives
three silsilas culminating in him. Most of the links linking him with al-Junaid
are obscure figures, which implies that the chains were not invented as so many
were later.
3 Intasaba, intama, and tasammd are the terms used.
iz THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM
have abandoned the sacred law and have adopted heresy, and with
whom are connected the Ibahatis and the Farisis.1
But these are theoretical ways, none of which developed into
silsila-tariqas. Their teaching was modified by their pupils in
accordance with their own mystical experiences. In fact, al-
Hujwin singles out as exceptional the transmission from Abu
'1- 'Abbas as-Sayyari whose 'school of Sufiism is the only one that
has kept its original doctrine unchanged, and the cause of this
fact is that Nasa and Merv have never been without some person
who acknowledged his authority and took care that his followers
should maintain the doctrine of their founder'. 2
The names of certain of these early masters were incorporated
in the mystical isnads of the tariqas. The key figure in the lines
of most tariqas is Abu 'l-Qasim al-Junaid (d. a,d. 910), yet Dhu
'n-Nun al-Misrl, though continually quoted in support of mystical
thought,* is missing from the isnads. Similarly, Husain ibn JVlansur
al-Hallaj is not normally found in them (though a Way was later
attributed to him), whereas al-Bistami is found in the chains
of many orders (for example, the Naqshabandiyya).* Al-Wasiti,
writing around a.d. 1320 when the Ways were fully established,
says that there were two distinct primitive sanads to which all the
then existing khirqas went back, the Junaidi and the BistamT,*
and two extinct lines, the Bilaliyya and the Uwaisiyya.6 The
grounds for incorporation in the chains, or for their rejection, are
not made clear. It is not a simple question of condemnation by
orthodoxy. Some figure as founders of artificial tariqas, and we
have just mentioned that attributed to al-Hallaj ;7 that is, specific
esoteric doctrines, dhikrs, and rules were ascribed to them in
books of khirqa lines such as as-Sanusi's Salsabil, and certain
masters would claim to initiate into the dhikrs of these figures. One
of the earliest was Uwais al-Qarani, a Yemeni contemporary of
the Prophet.8 The method {tariqa or madhhab) of al-Junaid was
1 Kashf al-mahjub, pp. 130-1. These schools are studied in die Kashf on
pp. 176-366.
2 Kashf \ p. 251,
3 Although most of these sayings may not be authentic it must be remembered
that inspired inventions had to be in line with the Sufi's known genuine thought.
4 As-SanusI, Salsabil, p. 121. s Al-WSsifl, Tiryaq, p. 47.
6 Ibid., p. 44. 7 As-SanusI, Salsabil, p. 57.
8 He was unacquainted with the Prophet and is said to have been initiated
after his death (traditionally in a.h. 37) by the spirit of the Prophet, hence
THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM 13
known to al-Hujwm,1 and is mentioned in the thirteenth century
in Ibn 'Ata' Allah's treatise on the dhikr2 which gives the eight
stipulations of his Way. This method, though, was not confined
to one line, but was inherited by all the Junaidl orders.3
The true silsila-tariqas had a new element, not merely the
teacher-pupil relationship which had prevailed so far, but the
fuller one of director and disciple. A new aura emanates from
the master as a wait (protege) of God, which eventually, in the third
stage, was to become belief in his mediumship and intercessory
status with God. The Sufi life of recollection and meditation now
becomes increasingly associated with a line of ascription so far as
the majority of Sun aspirants were concerned. Murshids (guide-
initiators) bestowed the tariqa, its mrd, formulae, and symbols,
as from their dead master and guided their own pupils along his
Way in his name. This was primarily a consequence of the Islamic
ideal of providing oneself with an isnad of guarantee and authority.
The distinction within Sufism between Sufis and Malamatls now
becomes defined, the Sufis being those who submit to direction
and conformity and the Malamatls are those who retain their
freedom.4
The change in the Sufis can be seen in the nature of the bond
which unites them. The earlier groups had been linked by en-
thusiasm, common devotions, and methods of spiritual discipline,
with the aim of stripping the soul and eliminating self to attain
vision of Reality. They were, therefore, integrated by spirit and
aim rather than by any formal organization, and were, in fact,
very loose organizations. The change came with the development
of such a collegium pietatis into a collegium initiati whose members
ascribed themselves to their initiator and his spiritual ancestry,
and were prepared to follow his Path and transmit it themselves
to future generations.
dervishes who had no direct initiator were frequently called Uwaisis. Such
attribution is late (16th century?), though as a Sufi figure Uwais was known
from an early date; see Kashf al-Mahjub, pp. 83-4- On his dhikr attribution see
as-SanusI, Salsabil, pp. 49-50; and cf. D'Ohsson, Tableau, iv. 2, 619-21.
* See Kashf, p. 189.
2 Ibn *Ata' Allah, Miftdh al-Faldh, margin of Sha'rani, Lata if al-mman,
Cairo, 1357, ii. 144- . „ „r
3 At any time a Sufi might be told in a dream to convey al-Junaid s Way.
We read, for example, that Yusuf al-'Ajami al-Kurani (d. 768/1366) 'was the
first to revivify the tariqa of al-Junaid in Egypt after its obliteration'; Sha'rani,
Lawaqih, Cairo, a.h. 1355, ii- 60, 4 See Appendix B,
H THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM
The transformation of Sufi companionships into initiatory-
colleges began with the Sunn! triumphs over Shl'ite dynasties
(Biiyids in Baghdad, A.d. 1055: Fatimids in Egypt, a.d. 1171),
and was settled during the troubled time of the Mongol conquests
(Baghdad, a.d. 1258), which were accompanied by considerable
Sufi migrations whereby it became a rural, as well as urban, move-
ment of the spirit. A significant feature of the change is that the
groups, about the time of Saladin, took over the Shi'ite custom
of bai'a, initiation with oath of allegiance to the shaikh. There
was also some linkage with and transmission from artisan futuwwa
orders, another compensatory reaction against the suppression of
open Shf ism. Futuwwa orders were brought into prominence by
Caliph an-Nasir's (a.d. 1219-36) attempt to create a knightly
futuwwa, with whose patronage the great murshid, Shihab ad-din
Abu Hafs as-Suhrawardi, was associated, acting as an-Nasir's
envoy in girding those grandees whom the Caliph wished to
honour.
The tariqas which became the most significant for the develop-
ment of institutional Sufism were the Suhrawardiyya attributed
to Diva* ad-din Abu Najib as-Suhrawardi (d. a.d. 1168), but
developed by his nephew, the just-mentioned Shihab ad- din Abu
Hafs (d. a.d. 1234); the Qadiriyya attributed to 'Abd al-Qadir
al-JIlam (d. a.d. 1166), whose line of ascription did not extend
before the fourteenth century; the Rifa'iyya deriving from Ahmad
ibn ar-Rifa'i (d. a.d. 1182); the nomadic Yasaviyya of Ahmad
al-YasavI (d. a.d. 1166); the Kubrawiyya of Najm ad-din Kubra
(d. a.d. 1221); the Chishtiyya of Mu'in ad-din M. Chishti (d. a.d.
1236), mainly confined to India; the Shadhiliyya deriving from
Abu Madyan Shu'aib (d. a.d. 1197) but attributed to Abu '1-
Hasan 'All ash-Shadhili (d. a.d. 1258); the Badawiyya of Ahmad
al-BadawI (d. a.d. 1276) centred in Egypt; the Mawlawiyya
inspired by the Persian Sufi poet, Jalal ad-din ar-Rumi (d, a.d.
a.d. 1273), which was restricted to Anatolia; and the central Asian
Naqshabandiyya, a mystical school, first called Khwajagan, which
owes its initial insights to Yusuf al-Hamadani (d. a.d. i 140) and
'Abd al-Khaliq al-Ghujdawani (d. a.d. 1179), but was eventually
associated with the name of Muhammad Baha* ad-din an-
Naqshabandi (d. A.D. 1389). All subsequent tariqas claim to be
derivatives of one or more of these chains. An account of the
founders of these lines and their principal characteristics will be
THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM 15
given in the next chapter when other masters, such as Ahmad al-
Ghazali and rAH al-Kharaqani, who played an important role in
founding lines but do not have a silsila named after them, will be
given the recognition that is their due.
Many other groups continued for a time as family or localized
orders, but unlike the Qadiriyya, which also was for long a
restricted family order, did not lead to the formation of distinc-
tive Ways such as those just mentioned. Such was the Ruzbihaniyya
founded in Shiraz by Ruzbihan Baqli (d. a.d. 1209), which became
hereditary from the death of the founder1 but did not spread out-
side Fars or even survive for very long. Ibn Khallikan mentions
the Kizaniyya founded in Cairo by Abu 'Abdallah Muhammad,
known as Ibn al-Kizam (d. 562/1 167)^ as such a tariqa manque.
Of another he writes :
Yunus ibn Yllsuf ibn Musa'id ash-Shaibam, shaikh of the fuqara*
known after him as the Ytanusiyya, was a holy man. I asked a group of
his followers who was his shaikh and they replied, 'He had no shaikh,
he was a majdhub* By this word they designate one who has no shaikh
but has been attracted (judhiba) to a life of piety and sanctity ... He
died in 619 (a.d. 1222-3) in his village of al-Qunayya in the province of
Dara [in the Jazira], where his tomb is well known and attracts pilgrims.3
Yunus's great-grandson, Saif ad-dm Rajihi b. Sabiq b. Hilal b.
Yunus (d. 706/1306) went to live in Damascus where he was
allotted the house of the wazir Arnin ad-dawla for his zazdya as
well as a village in the Ghuta. From that time his line became a
hereditary tdHfa, with a branch in Jerusalem, and was still in
existence in 1500.4
1 The Ruzbihaniyya was a simple td'ifa, a derivative of the Kazeruniyya,
a fariqa which later changed its role into a religio-commercial guild. Accounts
of the sons and grandsons of Ruzbihan (who were also invested with the Suhra-
wardi khirqa) are given by Abu '1-Qasim Junaid Shirazt, Shadd al-izar ft khatt
al-awzdr 'an zuwuidr al-mazar (written 791/1389), ed. M. Qazwlnl and Abbas
Iqbal, Tehran, 1338/1910, pp. zz7"39, 243~54- The tomb-centre in Shiraz
was still famous when Ibn Baftuta visited that city in 1325 (Paris edn., ii. 83),
but after Junaid Shirazl's time it fell into oblivion.
2 Ibn Khallikan, Wafdydt al-A'yan, Cairo, a.h. 1199, ii- 39*5 tr» De Slane>
iii, 158. Examples of his poetry are given in Salah ad-din Khalil as-Safadl,
Al-Wdfi bi 'l-Wafdydt, ed. H. Ritter, Leipzig/Istanbul, 1931, i. 347-5°.
3 Ibn Khallikan, op. cit. iii. 522-3; tr. iv. 598; see also H. Sauvaire (ed.),
•Description de Damas', y. Asiat. se>. ix. v. 399-4°* • The t^ifa still existed in
Maqrlzi's time, see his Khitat, Cairo, a.h. 1326, iv. 304-5, which gives his date
incorrectly as 719/1319- , , ,
♦ Mujlr ad-din 'Ulaimi, Al-Uns al-jalil bi ta'rikh al-Quds, extracts tr. by
i6 THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM
There were many other small independent-lineage tariqas which
had only a restricted local influence,1 but those mentioned above,
together with the western Turkish Khalwatiyya,2 were the founda-
tion lines sponsoring distinctive Ways of mystical thought and
spiritual exercises. Through these tariqas the Sufi message was
mediated to the Islamic world.
The sz'/tt'/a-founders belonged to two main schools of Sufi
thought which may be designated as the Junaidi and Bistami
schools, or the Mesopotamian and central Asian, though the
exponents were not confined to these areas. Later, Maghrib!
Sufism, deriving from Abu Madyan (d. a.d. 1197), was to form
a third area with its own special characteristics, but though the
main silsila-f ounder, ash-ShadhilT, came from the Maghrib,
he and his successors only received recognition and encourage-
ment in Egypt and his line of attribution did not become popular
in the Maghrib until much later.
Antinomian tendencies were stronger in Khorasan and central
Asia, though by no means exclusive to these areas, but such
elements are not seen in the M'/sz/a-founders, who were frequently
men trained in the legal sciences. They were strong among the
large numbers of vagrant dervishes [maldmatis and qalandaris)
unattached to any recognized master or line, who were above the
Law. But once sikilas were established and recognized as Sunm
they could incorporate all sorts of other elements.
Sufism had now become a profession and this period is charac-
terized by a great growth of unspecialized Sufi establishments.
The popularity of the Persian-type hospices in particular is asso-
ciated with the Seljuq period as can be seen from any list of
H, Sauvaire, 1876, p. 159, mentions a #aw*yrt-Yunusiyya in Jerusalem in his
time (a.d. 1500).
1 One such early family [arlqci which had great influence upon Islamic life
in Hadramawt and has survived until the present day is the 'Alawiyya in south
Arabia, founded by Muhammad ibn 'AH of the Ba 'Alawl tribe (574/1178-
6S3/I255) who was initiated into the Way deriving from Abu Madyan Shu'aib,
but developed his independent Way. He is said to have been the first to intro-
duce Sufi discipline (tahklm) into Hadramawt (see F. Wiistenfeld, Die Qufiten
in Siid-Arobien, Gottingen, 1883, p. 5; E.I* i. 839). An example of a Dama-
scene family zdwiya which survived for some time without expanding was the
Qawamiyya-Baiisiyya, founded by Abu Bakr ibn Qawam ibn *AIT al-BalisI
(584/1 188-658/1260). An account of his life is given in Ibn Shakir's Fawat
al-Wafaydt (Bulaq, a.h, 1283, i. 101-2).
* Discussion of the Khalwatiyya has been reserved for the third chapter,
$ee pp. 74-8,
THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM 17
the dates when these were founded,1 and the tendency accelerated
under the Ayyubids, Saladin welcomed Asiatic Sufis to Egypt and
he and his followers founded and endowed many khanaqahs,
ribdts, and zawiyas of which al-Maqrlzi gives a long list.* Mujir
ad-din has accounts of these places in Jerusalem, Hebron, and
Damascus.3 Saladin in 585/1189 endowed a Khanaqah Salahiyya
in Jerusalem,4 diverting for this purpose the palace of the Latin
patriarch.5 His lieutenant in Egypt, Qaraqush ibn 'Abdallah al-
Asadi, 'erected a ribat at al-Maqs',6 whilst Muzaflfar ad- din
Gokbori, Saladin's brother-in-law (d. 630/1233),
built two khanaqahs [at Irbil] for the Sufis, which housed a large
number, both of residents and visitors. Festival days used to draw-
together so numerous a concourse that everyone marvelled. Both were
well endowed to provide all that was needed by those staying there,
each of whom must accept his expenses when he departed. Gokbori
used to visit them frequently and associate himself with them in con-
certs.7
Ibn Khallikan then describes the pomp with which he celebrated
the Prophet's birthday at Irbil in a.d. 1207 when he passed the
nights listening to Sufi concerts. Gokbori also built a khanaqah at
Aleppo.8
The difference between the institutions mentioned seems to be
that the ribat was an Arab type of hostel or training-centre;9 the
1 The Seljuq conquest of northern Syria and Damascus was completed
between a.d. 1071 and 1079, but the Isma'ill Fatimid state in Egypt survived
until 1 171. Khanaqah al-Balat, the first new-type convent in Aleppo, was
built by Shams al-Khawass Lu'lu', freedman of Ridwan ibn Tutush, in 509/
1 1 1 5 when he was governor of that city; see Abu Dharr (d. 884/1479) in Kunuz
adh-dhahab, quoted by M. Raghib at>Tabbakh, I'Um an-mibald* fi ta'rikh
Ilalab, Aleppo, 1933-6, iv. 218-21.
2 Maqrizt, Khitat, ed- a.h. 1334-6, iv. 371-306.
3 Al-Uns al-jaltl, already referred to, and for Damascus the translation of
H. Sauvaire, 'Description de Damas', J. Asiat. ser. IX. v (1895), khanaqahs
(pp. 269-97), ribafs (pp. 377-80. and zawiyas (pp. 387-403).
4 See Ibn Khallikan, iii. 521, 1. 12; tr. iv. 547.
5 See Mujir ad-din, tr. H. Sauvaire, 1876, pp. 77, 166.
6 Ibn Khallikan, n, 183; tr. ii. 520. 7 Ibid. iii. 195; tr. ii. 538.
8 See J. Sauvaget(tr.), LesPerles choisies d'Ibnach-Chifoia, Beirut, 1933, p. 100.
9 M. ibn Ahmad al-Fasi (a.d. 1373-1429) in his Shifd' al-Ghardmfi akhbdr
al-Balad al-ljar&m (Cairo, 1956) names some fifty ribdts in Mecca (i. 330-7),
many of which were founded about this time. For example, 'the ribat of Ramusht
by the Hazwara Gate. Ramusht, whose name was Shaikh Abu 'l-Qasim Ibrahim
ibn al-Husain al-FarisI [as-Slrafl, d. 534], gave it as a waqj in the year 529
[11 35] for all male Sufis, exclusive of females, who wear the muraqqa'a, from
the whole of Iraq'; i. 332, and cf. i. 232-
18 THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM
khanaqah was the Persian non-training hostel type introduced
into the cities of the Arab world; zawiya was the term applied to
smaller establishments where one shaikh dwelt with his pupils ;
whilst a khalwa designated the 'retreat' of a single dervish, fre-
quently a cell situated around a mosque square. A more isolated
'hermitage' was sometimes called a rabita.
Mysticism was the only religious sphere where women could
find a place. There were many women Sufis, of whom Rabifa
al-fAdawiyya (d. a.d. 8oi) is the best known.1 During this period
there are references to convents for women. Al-Irbilli2 uses the
term khanaqah for convents for men and ribat for those of women.
There were seven convents for women in Aleppo alone, all founded
between a.d. 1150 and 1250. 3 Baghdad also had a number, of
which the ribat of Fatirna Raziya (d. 521/1127) was the best
known. In Cairo there was Ribat al-Baghdadiyya, built by a
daughter of al-Malik az-Zahir Baibars in 684/1285 for a shaikha
called Zainab ibnat Abi '1-Barakat, known as Bint al-Baghdadiyya,
and her followers,4 which still exists in ad-Darb al-Asfar.
MaqrizI says that the first khanaqah in Egypt was Dar Sarid
as-Sufada',s so called (its proper name was as-Salahiyya) from
being situated in the confiscated house of Sa'id as-Su'ada', a
eunuch employed in the Fatimid palace who was enfranchised by
al-Mustansir and put to death in 544/1 149. 6 It was constituted
a waqf'm A.D. 1173. Its primary function was to serve as a hostel
for foreign Sufis, but it expanded its functions to become the chief
centre of Egyptian Sufism. Its shaikh had the official title of shaikh
ash-shuyukh,7 which, however, was only honorific and did not
imply any wider jurisdiction than that of his own establishment,
and later the title was frequently given to heads of other khanaqahs*
1 See Margaret Smith, RdbVa the Mystic and Her Fellow-Saints in Islam,
Cambridge, 1928.
2 Al-IrbilH, Maddris Di?nishq, ed. Dahman, Damascus, 1366/1947, pp. 15-16.
3 See J. Sauvaget, Les Perles choisies, 1933, pp. 105-6.
4 MaqrizI, Khitat, iv. 293-4.
s Ibid. 273-85; Ibn Khallikan, iii. 521, 1. 6; Ibn Khaldun, Ta'rif, 1951,
p. 121; as-Suyutf, Husn al-nmhadara, ii. 141 f.
6 MaqrizI, Khitat, Bulaq edn., ii, 415.
7 Ibn Fadl Allah al-'Umari (writing a.d. 1342-9) has preserved the directive
(wasiyya) that the chancellery of the Egyptian Mamluk sultans gave to shaikh
ash-shuyukh at the time of his appointment; see At- Ta'rif bi "l-mmtalah ash-
sharif, Cairo, A.H. 13 12, pp. 127-30.
8 Notably that of Siryaqiis on the outskirts of Cairo, founded by An-Nasir
Muhammad ibn Qalawun; Khitat of. al-Maqrlzi, iv. 285.
THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM 19
The foundation of khanaqahs continued under the Bahri (a.d.
1250-77) and other Mamluk successors of the Ayyubids. Ibn
Khaldun writes:
Since the old days of their masters, the Ayyubid rulers, the members
of this Turkish dynasty in Egypt and Syria have been erecting colleges
for the teaching of the sciences, and monastic houses for the purpose
of enabling the poor [Sufis] to follow the rules for acquiring orthodox
Sufi ways of behaviour through dhikr exercises and supererogatory
prayers. They took over that [custom] from the preceding caliphal
dynasties. They set up buildings for [those institutions as mortmain gifts]
and endowed [them] with lands that yielded income [sufficient] to pro-
vide stipends for students and Sufi ascetics ... As a result, colleges and
monastic houses are numerous in Cairo. They now furnish livings for
poor jurists and Sufis.1
Ibn Battuta describes these khanaqahs and their rules at the
time of his visit to Cairo in a.d. 1326. He writes: 'Each zawiyaz in
Cairo is assigned to a tciifa of dervishes, most of whom are Per-
sians, men of culture and trained in the Way of tasawwuf.'3 This
means an organized group, but it is unlikely that that means a
group perpetuating a particular rule, certainly not in the govern-
ment-sponsored khanaqahs.
Al-Qalqashandl (d. a.d. 141 8) describes briefly the relationship
of the khanaqahs of Egypt and Syria with the Mamluk authority.4
Since these institutions were in the gift of the Mamluk rulers and
often very lucrative to their heads, anyone whom the ruler wished
to provide with a sinecure without affecting his own pocket was
frequently given the appointment. None of the heads of the
Sumaisatiyya (or Salahiyya) khdnaqah in Damascus (founded c.
453/1061) seems to have been a Sufi.5 The first to hold the post
(which also carried the charge of mashyakhat ash-shuyukh)6 was
1 Ibn Khaldun, At-Ta'rif, ed. Muhammad af-Tanji (Cairo, 1370/195 1),
p. 279. The above translation is by F. Rosenthal, Mvqaddama, ii. 435-6, n. 68.
2 Ibn Battuta generally uses the word sdwiya, the term with which he was
most familiar, but in regard to Cairo he has just specified that he is describing
convents known under the term khazvdniq.
3 Rihla, Cairo, 1939, i. 27.
4 Al-Qalqashandi, $ubJi, iv. 193, 22 1 ; xiii. 322-51. He is especially concerned
with the oaths taken by the various groups.
5 See the list of heads in H. Sauvaire, 'Description de Damas', J. Asiat, ser.
IX, t. v. 279-80, 301-3; cf. Qalqashandl, $ttbh, xii. 401, iv. 193. Ibn Jubair
visited it (pp. 289-90).
6 Al-Qalqashandl, $ubfy, xii. 410.
ao THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM
a former wazir of Khwarazm, Sa'Id ibn Sahl al-Falaki, who was
detained in Damascus by Nur ad-dm Mahmud b. Zangi (a.d.
i 146-73) and given the post to provide for his support, since all
these were waqf foundations. In 791/1392 Ibn Khaldun was
appointed to the directorship of Khanaqah Baibars.1
Whereas the khanaqahs were little more than hostels for Sufis
(and concert halls for the great) and ribats had an indefinite
character as the establishment of a teacher or preacher, not
necessarily a Sufi, zawiyas were centres for a genuine teaching
shaikh, whose successors consciously carried on his particular
teaching and method. Whereas appointments to the headship of
khanaqahs was made by the secular authorities, the superior of
a zdwiya was elected by the ikhwan (brethren), and it was in these
that hereditary succession began. In the accounts of the religious
establishments of the great Muslim cities, their founders, pupils,
and successors, only of the zawiyas do the authors assert or imply
continuity of teaching and a particular rule of life. Ibn Battuta
lodged in many zawiyas and eastern khanaqaJis distinguished by
specific attributions; Suhrawardi in Isfahan (a.d. 1326), Mawlawi
in Qonya, and numerous Rifa'i establishments in Anatolia and
Caucasus (a.d. 1332), in Damascus (Harm branch), as well as the
founder-centre in the Bata'ih of Iraq. Of Qonya he writes: 'In this
city is the tomb of . . . Jalal ad-din, known as Mawlana. An
organization (ta'ifa) exists in the land of Rum whose members
derive from him,2 and are known by his name, being called the
Jalaliyya, similar to the derivation of the 'Iraqian Ahmadiyya
[= Rifa'iyya], or the Khurasanian Haidariyya. Around his tomb
is a large zdwiya in which food is provided for all migrants.'3
These, therefore, were Sufi taifas in the full sense.
Ibn Battuta's narrative also demonstrates how important these
establishments were in the expansion of Muslim commerce, in
accommodation to their Hindu environment, and in the diffusion
of Islam. For instance, all along the Malabar coast, which was
under Hindu rulers, he was entertained in khanaqahs: at Haunur
1 At-Ta'Hf, ed. Tanji, pp. 311-13. Ibn Khaldun, though not a Sufi, was
acquainted with the general theory of ta$avmntf. Apart from a short account
in his Muqaddama he also has a work on the subject: Shifd1 as-sd'il li tahdhib
al-masd'il, ed. Muhammad at-Tanji, Istanbul, 1958, and I. A. Khalifa, Beirut,
I059-
1 The verb used is intamd ild.
3 Ibn Ba^uta, Rihla, Cairo edn., 1939, i. 234.
THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM zi
(near Bombay) at that of Shaikh Muhammad an-Najorl,1 at
Ghogah (Bhaimagar) where he came across a company oifuqarff
Haidariyya,2 and in Kanbaya (Cambay in Gujarat), Calicut, and
Kolam (Travancore) where he lodged in the khanaqahs of the
Kazerunl Sufi insurance company.3
By Maqrlzl's day (a.d. 1364-1442) the lines of derivation were
well established. Thus he writes of the fuqara' al-Ahmadiyya
ar-Rifd'iyya in Cairo.* About the same time the Qadiri attribution
begins to expand and a branch was formed in Damascus towards
the end of the fourteenth century.* Sufis were frequently allowed
the use of mosques for their exercises. Maqrlzi says that the
Azhar was open to Sufis and dhikrs were performed there.6 Some
were even found in madrasas, Aqbuga's madrasa in the Azhar
having a permanent group.7
Iranian regions do not seem to have developed the officially
sponsored khanaqah and the change of their Sufi hostels to repre-
sentation of a holy line (stage three of change) was not marked
by any change of name but by the addition of an honoured tomb,
though more commonly the later khanaqahs were new founda-
tions in association with a tomb. Later Turk and Mongol rulers
rebuilt the tombs of famous saints and associated convents on
more magnificent lines.
Sufis trained in these institutions founded daughter lodges in
1 Ibn Batata, Cairo edn., 1928, ii. 109-10.
z Ibid. ii. 108. On the r^aidariyya, see below, p. 39.
3 Ibid. ii. 106, 1 15-18.
4 Khitat, ed. a.h. 1326, iv. 294, referring to the ribdf known as the Rizcdq
of Ahmad ibn Sulaiman al-Bata'ihi (d. 691/1292), an introducer of the Rifa-
'iyya into Egypt. This building still exists outside Bab Zuwaila.
5 Zawiya Da'iidiyya founded by a Hanbali, Abu Bakr ibn Da'ud (d. 806/
1403), about 800/1397, but developed by his son, 'Abd ar-Rahrnan (d. 856/
1452); see H. Sauvaire, 'Description de Damas', jf. Asiat. ix. v. 390-3:
'II fit de cette zSwyeh une merveille : il y installa une roue a eau, une citerne,
une grande grotte et une galerie ou se trouvaient un iudn, une mosquee, des
cellules, une bibliotheque pour les livres constitues en waqi en faveur de la
zawyeh, et des habitations pour les femmes. II y dtablit un imam, un mouazzin,
un gardien et un predicateur ... On y recitait les litanies (dhikr) chaque nuit
du (lundi au) mardi. De toutes parts les gens y accouraient et il leur faisait
preparer toutes sortes de mets.'
Many of these establishments functioned as pious nifjht clubs, and this is an
example. This 'Abd ar-Rahman was a Hanbali who composed a number of
books, none of them Sufi. After his death the sultan chose for his successor
someone outside his family; subsequent disputes over the leadership were
numerous, one superior being murdered in a.d. J515
6 Khitat > iv. 54. 7 Ibid- iv- 225-
zz THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM
their own countries or in entirely new pasture grounds, especially
in India. They rarely maintained direct contact with the mother
institution1 and became independent schools with their own
characteristics and tendencies.
The thirteenth century was an age of disturbance and change
as the Mongol hordes swept over central Asian Muslim states one
after the other, Baghdad being conquered in A.r>. 1258. Many
refugees fled to those parts of the Muslim world which seemed
more remote from the scourge. Among these were Anatolia in the
north-west and Hindustan in the south-east. Many Sufis found
a new home within the jurisdiction of the Turkish sultanate of
Delhi.
Indian Islam seems to have been essentially a holy-man Islam.
These migrants in the Hindu environment acquired an aura of
holiness, and it was this which attracted Indians to them, rather
than formal Islam. There were two categories of Sufis, those asso-
ciated with khdnaqahs and the wanderers. The khdnaqahs were in
a special sense focal points of Islam — centres of holiness, fervour,
ascetic exercises, and Sufi training. Contrary to the Arab-world
institutions bearing the same Persian name, the Indian khdnaqahs
grew up around a holy man and became associated with his tariqa
and method of discipline and exercises. Two distinctive tariqas were
formed.
Mu'in ad-din Chishti of Sijistan (d. a.d. 1236), after a lifetime
of wanderings, finally settled at Ajmer, capital of a powerful
Hindu state. From him stemmed a silsila which won widespread
popularity under his khalifa and successor, Qutb ad-dm Bakhtiyar
Kaki (d. a.d. 1235), to become eventually the leading Indian
tariqa. Of other tariqas only the Suhrawardi gained a following in
India. Shihab ad-din himself designated khalifas for India, the
chief being Hamid ad-din of Najore (d. a.d. 1274). Others were
Nur ad-din Mubarak Ghaznawl (d. 632/1234 at Delhi) and Baha'
ad-din Zakariya (d. a.d. 1262 at Multan), probably the most effec-
tive organizer of the rule and chain in India, with whom the Persian
qalandari poet, 'Iraqi,2 'associated' for some twenty years.
These shaikhs acquired such fame that they began to count in
the calculations of the ruling authorities. The sultans of Delhi
1 The Kazeruniyya was one of the exceptions; see p. 236,
2 His proper name is Fakhr ad-din. Ibrahim b. Shahriyar; born Hamadan,
a.d. 1313, died Damascus, 1289, and buried near his inspirer, Ibn al-'Arabl.
THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM 23
paid honour to those within their sphere of rule, khanaqahs sprang up
everywhere, the majority without definite ascriptions. Wandering
dervishes, for whom these khanaqahs formed centres for training,
meeting, and hospitality, were numerous and acted as cultural
agents in spreading and stabilizing Islam.
The attractions of the Sufi Way declined from the time of
Muhammad ibn Tughluq (a.d. 1325-51), though not in conse-
quence of the restrictions he imposed on leaders and convent
activities. It seems rather that Sufism had not yet taken such form
as would attract Indians, its outburst as a popular movement was
to come later. The decline finds expression in the reflections of
Nasir ad-din Mahmud (d. 757/1356), successor to the great shaikh
Nizam ad-din Awliya';
Some qalandars had arrived and were staying as guests of Khwajah
Shaykh Nasir ad-din for the night. (The Khwajah) said, 'These days
the number of darwishes has decreased. In the days of the Shaykh
[Nizam ad-din Awliya] darwishes used to come by twenties and thirties,
and the Shaykh used to keep them as guests for three days . . . When
there was an 'urs, the Shaykh [Nizam ad-din] would invite all lash-
kardars [men of the army] and darwishes would arrive from all sides . . .
Nowadays there are neither such soldiers, nor such slaves, nor such
armies. All have deteriorated. Men have to wait [in vain) for the dar-
wishes to come.*1
In Anatolia the Seljuq period was significant in that the mystical
movement was vitally linked with the spread of Islamic culture
in that region. Both Persian refugees like Baha* ad-din Walad,
1 Translated by Riazul Islam in J. Pakistan Or. Soc, iii (1955), 204. Sufis
at all times have voiced complaints about spiritual decline. Muhammad ibn
Tughluq was unpredictable and not opposed to Sufis as such. This Nizam
ad-din Awliya was noted for his avoidance of courts and Tughluq's son,
Muhammad Shah, used to visit him when he was in a state of Iidl (trance), and
when he died (725/1325) at the beginning of Tughluq's reign, the latter's
grandson assisted in carrying his bier, much to Tughluq's annoyance (Ibn
Battuta, iii. 211). Subservient khanaqahs benefited from his patronage. Ibn
Baftuta reports that Rukn ad-din as-Suhrawardi of Multan, grandson of Baha'
ad-din Zakariya, accepted njdgir of 100 villages from Tughluq for the upkeep
of his khanaqah (iii. 324, see also pp. 101-2, 201). The hagiographers give
accounts of his harshness to Nasir ad-din, successor of Nizam ad-din, and other
Sufis. The sultan was suspicious of the influence of some of these shaikhs and
no doubt the close regulation and supervision he exacted led to measures of
repression. Those who interfered in politics were dealt with severely, but one
must remember that many of these leaders were frequently intriguers for
position and power.
8205247 C
24 THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM
father of Jalal ad-din Rumi, and Turkish babas from central Asia
moved in considerable numbers into Anatolia during the thirteenth
century, especially during the time of the Mongol invasions, but
dervish activity was just as strong after the collapse of the Seljuq
state of Rum. The mystics, manifesting a fervour and spirit quite
different from that of legalist Islam, a spirit which also expressed
itself in practical social aspects such as hospitality to travellers
and care for the sick and poor, were mediators of Islam to the
Christians of the region. They had the support of the Seljuq
authorities. Jalal ad-din Rum! was highly honoured by the court
of Qonya and there are many references to official patronage at
other courts, such as that of Mujahid ad-din Bihruz ibn 'Abdallah,
Prefect of Iraq under Mas'fld ibn Ghiyath, who founded a ribat
at Baghdad.1
It is important to distinguish between the mystical orders proper
and such corporations as trade-guilds2 and futuwwa orders of
craftsmanship and chivalry,3 which are known under the same
term, td'ifa, and have similar forms of organization and possess
religious aspects. The difference between them is one of purpose
and intent, rather than in types of organization and linkages.
The tariqas are purely religious organizations, but the purpose
of the guilds was economic association, craftsmanship, or trade.
A religious fa' if a could not strictly be at the same time a trade
or craft taifa. This is true in spite of the fact that there are
1 Ibn Khallikan, iii. 473.
2 $inf (pi. asndf, sunuf), hirfa (pi. hiraf), and regional terms like Moroccan
hanta, pi. hanati. They are referred to more simply as fd'ifas. The akhi organiza-
tion in Anatolia was a similar Turkish futuwwa craft corporation. The members
were called fitydn (pi. of fata, 'youth', though not strictly a youth organization
except in enrolment) and the head akhi, which term, originally Turkish,
naturally became associated with Arabic akhi, 'my brother'. Ibn Batplta
received hospitality from akhis (c. 1333); see Travels, tr. H. A. R. Gibb, ii.
418 ff. On these see E.I.3, art. 'akhi'. This type of organization disappeared
during the 15th century with the full establishment of Ottoman power. But
craft orders of a different type were an important aspect of the life of Ottoman
Turkey. The Kazeruniyya, though it took the name of an eminent Sufi, was
developed rather as a religious-economic guild association; see below, p. 236.
3 Similarly they are to be distinguished from the Anatolian ghdsi movements
based on the futuwwa principle whose religious affiliations were with Turkish
dardwish. Sufis used the term futuwwa, not for an organization, but in their
own special sense of an ethical self-offering, as when Ahmad ar-Rifa'I is re-
ported as saying, 'Futuwwa means working for God's sake, not for any reward'
(Al-WasitI, Tirydq, p. 45). On futuwwa as understood by Sufis see, for example,
'Abdallah al-Ansari al-Harawi (a.d. 1006-89). Manazil as-Sd'irin, ed. S. de
Beaurecueil, Cairo, 196a, pp. 47-8; al-Qushairi, Risdla, p. 103.
THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM 25
apparent exceptions,1 and that the initial organization of the
religious orders owes much to that of the guilds, and that the
tariqas sanctify such secular associations. Every form of social
life embodies itself in associations and in a religious culture the
need for acting together for what we call secular purposes is given
a sacred character by religion. A particular guild and its members
tended to be linked with a particular tariqa and saint. At initiations
and other ceremonies, religious rites were the predominant feature,
and it was behind the banner of that tariqa that the guild members
proceeded to and from the 'id prayer-ground. They were not
secular associations, although centred on economic and social
interests, but neither were they Sufi orders.
The organization of the orders, however, owes much to that of
the guilds. These guilds had flourished under the Fatimid and
other Shi'ite states and with the triumph of the Ayyubids and
Seljuqs over political Shl'ism the necessity for recognizing them
was accepted by the Sunn! doctors. We have shown that the
Ayyubids encouraged the Sufi organization at the stage it had
then reached — association in khanaqahs. From then, when defined
lines of mystical tradition had emerged, the organization of the
khanaqahs, which were also secular associations in some aspects
of their relationship to the life of the community, drew more and
more features from guild organization. As the latter had a grand-
master (earif, amin, or shaikh al-hirfa) and a hierarchy of appren-
tices (mubtadi*), companions (sdni), and master-craftsmen
(mu'allim), so the religious orders acquired a hierarchy of novices,
initiates, and masters. Since legal Islam tolerated the secret
character of the initiation and oath of the guilds, it had to accept
the implications of the act of allegiance to the shaikh af-fariqa
when Shfi practice was maintained. Medical doctors too, without
necessarily belonging to a guild, would receive simple initiation
into a Sufi chain as a possible source of spiritual aid to them in
their work.3
1 The sacred origins of the corporations are stressed, the Imam Ja 'far being
especially important in their traditions. Consequently, it may on occasion be
difficult to distinguish which was the essential purpose of certain organizations
of akhis and central Asian Mongol-period futuwwa orders. The confusion is
noticeable in Evliya Chelebi's description (a.d, 1638) of the various guilds in
Constantinople; see Seyahat-name, tr. von Hammer, 1. ii. 90-100.
2 See the chain acquired by Dr. Rashid ad-din 'All in a.d. 121 8, given in
Appendix A.
26 THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM
And now we find manifestations of spiritual power becoming
associated with the orders. No clear distinction can henceforth
be made between the orders and saint-veneration, since God's
proteges (awliya li Hlah) are within the orders. Sufism provided
a philosophy of election which was diluted and adapted to the
needs of the masses by the orders. Not merely the great shaikh
but his successors who inherited his baraka (spiritual power)
were mediums of his power. With this was associated ziyara
(visitation) to saints' tombs. As in other aspects of Sufi thought
and practice there is an essential distinction between the way in
which the genuine Sufi approached a saint's tomb and the prac-
tice of the people. The mystic carries out a ziyara for the purpose
of muraqaba (spiritual communion) with the saint, finding in the
material symbol an aid to meditation. But the popular belief is
that the saint's soul lingers about his tomb and places (maqams)
specially associated with him whilst he was on earth or at which
he had manifested himself. At such places his intercession can be
sought.
The state of sanctity (wilaya) is charactemed by the manifesta-
tion of kardmat, gifted spiritual powers. The earlier spiritual
leaders dissociated themselves from the working of such powers,
though they all accepted the principle that saints did perform
them as gifts from God. Al-Qushairl remarks that though pro-
phets needed miracles (mu'jizat) to confirm the validity of their
mission, saints were under no such necessity and ought rather
to hide any they had involuntarily made. The extraordinary
graces with which they were favoured are a confirmation of their
progress and can nevertheless edify and confirm the faithful and
serve to distinguish a real wait from an impostor.1 Still, a true
wait does not necessarily, or indeed probably, know that he is
one.2 The writings of Sufis contain a vast amount on this sub-
ject of the validity of wilaya, but we are mainly concerned with
practical aspects.
1 See al-Qushairi, Risala (Cairo, 1319/1902), pp. 158-9. Ibn Khaldun re-
marks, 'Among the Sufis some who are favored by acts of divine grace are also
able to exercise an influence upon worldly conditions. This, however, is not
counted as a kind of sorcery. It is effected with divine support, because the
attitude and approach (of these men) result from prophesy and are a consequence
of it' {Muqaddama, tr. Rosenthal, iii. 167).
2 Cf. the hadith qudsit 'My saints are beneath my tents, none knoweth them
but me.'
THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM 37
With this development is associated a new reverence for the
Prophet, which not merely brought him into the category of
wonder-workers at the popular level, but also led to the popular
equivalent of the belief in the Spirit of Muhammad as the Logos,
guardian, and preserver of the universe. The celebration of the
Prophet's birthday seems, at least in part, to be a compensation
for the suppression of 'Alid demonstrations after the destruction
of Shfite regimes. Ibn Jubair (travelled a.d. 1183-5) refers t0
it as an established practice.1 It was fairly widespread in Ibn
Taimiyya's time, for it comes under his condemnation,2 but it
was not yet an aspect of the people's religion. By the time of
as-Suyuti (d. a.d. i 505) the mawlid had acquired its characteristic
features.3 These features and the writing of special recitations for
performance at Sufi gatherings belong to the next stage, but the
prophylactic poem, Qasidat al-Burda, by al-BusTri (d. 694/1295),
was written during this time.
The blending of the saint-cult with the orders and a new rever-
ence for the Prophet is one aspect of the change. The other is
a change in the constitution of the body of adherents. Concern
for his own spiritual welfare had led the devotee and early Sufi
to isolate himself from the world, but the need for spiritual
direction had necessitated the association of Sufis. Their con-
gregation in hospices concerned for the welfare of travellers and
care for the sick and unfortunate brought them back into the
world. The hospices with their associated tombs became the
foci of the religious aspirations of the ordinary man who sought
the bar aha of the saints. The dedicated disciples (fuqara\ dara-
wishy or ikhwdri) continued to devote themselves to ascetic prac-
tices and duties within the order, but membership was now
extended to embrace tertiaries or lay adherents who 'took the
tariqa' from the shaikh or more usually his representative [khalifa),
but continued to follow their ordinary mode of life. This meant
that they affirmed their belief in the ideals for which the fariqa
stood, especially valuing the link with the baraka of the saints, and
accepted such rules and modes of worship as were compatible with
the pursuit of a normal mode of life. In towns such association
1 Ibn Jubair, Travels, znd edn., 1907, pp. 1 14-15.
3 Ibn Taimiyya, Majmu' fatdwi, Cairo, a.h. 1326-9, a.d. 1908-11, i. 312.
3 See as-Suyuti, Husn al-maqsid ft 'amal al-mawlid — a kind of fativd on the
festival which concludes that it is a bid'a hasana, an acceptable innovation.
28 THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM
was especially linked with membership of guilds. Whilst, on the
one hand, new techniques for the individual dhikr were adopted,
this broadening of membership led to changes in methods for
the collective dhikr. The full development of this system of lay
adherence belongs to the next stage, when the fariqas come to be
represented by local organizations throughout the whole Islamic
world, wielding an immense influence throughout most strata of
society.
Along with the development of new forms of devotion and their
acceptance parallel to ritual prayer went the process of accommo-
dating the sciences of astrology, divination, and magic — techniques
which professed, not merely to reveal the secrets of the unseen
world, but to control them. This development is especially
associated with the name of Ahmad ibn 'Abdallah al-Buni
(d. 622/1225), who put the seal to the work of his predecessors
operating less openly by finally systematizing the sciences of
divination, astrology, and magical invocation. Popular works
brought all this within the range of the ordinary practitioner and
became part of the equipment of the shaikhs and brethren.
It is easy to see why this aspect was so important and how easy
it was to Islamize borrowed material. The orders stressed the
power of the Word of God, and hundreds of booklets have been
written on the virtues and properties of the names of God, of
phrases like the Basmala, or Qur'anic verses (Ayat al-Kursi), or
chapters (sura Ya Sin). The association of these 'words', as in
ash-Shadhilf s Hizb al-Bahr or al-Jazuli's DalaHl al-khairat, gives
these magical properties. Power symbolism in Islam is, therefore,
primarily based on words.
All the same, the ideals of the orders were maintained, however
much they were compromised in practice. The honour which
Islam accords to jurists is reflected by the fact that certain of the
sihila founders were also professional jurists. They and their
successors clung to the externals of Islamic practice and based
their litanies solidly on the Qur'an. They played an immense role
in enriching the devotional life of the ordinary Muslim as well as
adepts, within the sphere of the regular Islamic institutions. They
invested orthodox ritual with esoteric significance, for 'every act
commanded by the Law denotes a mystery'. Thus not merely
does wudvC (ablution) signify the abandonment of profane actions,
but every action within zvudu has its ethical and mystical meaning.
THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM 29
But apart from the deeper mysteries the effect of their stress
upon the spirit instead of the letter of the Law was morally and
spiritually stimulating.
Earlier Sufis had been concerned with ascetic-mystical theory,
or, if they were poets, with illuminating their search and the states
they experienced. The change towards greater systematization is
seen in the manuals now being produced as guides for the director
and his pupils. Whilst Najlb ad-din as-Suhrawardi wrote one of
the earliest manuals of this nature,1 Adah al-muridin, it was his
nephew, Shihab ad-din, who wrote what deservedly has been
the most popular guide, * Awarif al-ma'arif, the medieval vade-
mecum for spiritual directors. Other manuals were Najm ad-din
Kubra's Sifat al-adab2 and Ibn al-'Arabfs al-amr ed-muhkam,
suspect by many 'ulamcC because of its author's reputation as an
antinomian.
These manuals show that the ritual is now a traced-out Way,
a rule of life, by following which the novice may attain union with
God, founded upon a series of observances additional to the com-
mon ritual and duties of Islam. It involves a noviciate, during
which he receives guidance from a shaikh, and it is now that the
saying that the novice must be in the hands of his director like
the corpse in the hands of the washer of the dead becomes popular.3
This culminates in initiation, which includes investment with a
khirqa> mantle, and headdress.
The Way under guidance implies a life in common (mu'ashara)
for the dedicated group of aspirants and adepts in a convent under
the direct supervision of a superior. Suhrawardi in the book just
mentioned deals with the rules of behaviour in such an institution.*
The superior allots various prayer tasks, supererogatory exercises,
recitations of litanies, praises, and invocations (adhkdr, ahzab} and
1 An earlier manual on the rules of the noviciate was Ahkdm al-muridin, by
Tahir b. al-Husain al-Jassas, d. 418/1027. Adah a?-$uhba by as-Sulami (d. 1021)
is a general treatise on manners, concerned especially with imitation of the
prophet; it is not Sufi in content, though it has its place in as-Sulami's work
towards reconciling tasawwuf with orthodoxy.
z Translated by F.' Meier, *Ein Knigge fur Sufi's', R.S.O. xxxii (1057),
485-524.
3 The original, which is attributed to Sahl ibn 'Abdallah at-Tustari (d. a.d.
896), referred to God: 'The first stage in tawakkid (dependence upon God) is
that the worshipper should be in the hands of God like a corpse in the hands of
the washer, he turns it as he wills without impulse or initiative on its part'; al-
Qushairl, Risala (Cairo, a.h. 1319), p. 76.
4 'Awdrify chapters 29-55.
3o THE FORMATION OF SCHOOLS OF MYSTICISM
awrad), graded according to a person's stage, together with such
mortifications as vigils (sahr) and fasts (siyam). He is required to
make periodic retreats (khalwa, i'tikdf, 'uzla, i'tizal, or arba'iniyya
— quadragesima) individually in his cell or, if highly advanced, in
the society of the convent.
But, as may be seen from these manuals, although the lines of
the practice of the mystical Way had been worked out, the aims
of the Suns in association were still variable, confused, and
limited. There were great variations too between the Sufi establish-
ments. Some were rich and luxurious, favoured by authority,
whilst others followed the strictest principles of poverty and
unworldliness ; some had no shaikh, others were under the
authority of one leader and had become attached to one silsila;
whilst others were governed by a council of elders. Then there
were wandering dervishes such as the qalandars, who made use
of these hostels, and had their own rules and linkages but no
organization.1
1 On qalandars, see Appendix B.
Sufi
Junaidi
I
Iraqian Tradition
Abu '1-Qasim al-Gurgani (d. 469/1076)
Malamati
. I
BistamI
Khurasanian Tradition
Abu 'l-I.Iasan 'AH al-Kharaq5ni (d. 425/1034)
Abu Bakr an-Nassaj
d. 487/1094
r 1
Abu 'Ali al-Farmadhl
d. 477/1084
I
Abu 'l-F^usain al-Busti
Muhd al-^Jamuya, d. 1135
Ahmad al-Ghazali
(d, 520/1126)
Abu I^iimid al-Ghazali
d. 505/1 1 11 : no issue
r j
Yusuf ibn Ayyub
al-Hamadanl
d. 535/ 1 140
'Ain al-Qudat
al-Hamadanl
d. 53S/ii3i
Abu 5n-Najib
as-Suhrawardi
d. 563/1168
Qutb ad -din
Ahmad
al-Abhari
Abhariyya
Abu Jrlafs
as-Suhrawardi
d. 632/1234
Suhrawardiyya
(Appendix C)
'Ammar
al-Bidlisi
L
Isma'il
al-Qasri
I
Abu Fadl
al-Baghadi
Najm ad-din Rubra
d. 618/1221
Kubrawiyya
'Abd ar-Rahman
al-Isfara'ini
d. 717/1317
Ntiriyya
'Ala' ad-Dawla
as-Simnani
d. 736/1336
Ruknlyya
'Ali al-Hamadani
d. 786/1385
Hamadanlyya
Ishaq al-Khuttalani
d. 826/1423
IghtJshashiyya
Abu '1-
I Barakat
l
j Ytinis
ash-Shaibani
I d. 1222
Sa*d-ad-
din al-
Jibawid. 1335
Jibawiyya-
Sa'diyya
Ahmad al-Khatibl
al-Balkhi
Husain
Jalal ad -din
I
Baha' ad-din
M. Walad
d. 123 1
Burhan ad-din
Muhaqqiq
at-Tirmidhi
d. 1244
Jalal ad-din
ar-Rumi
1207-73
Mawlawiyya
Nur ad-din M.
Ni'matallah
Wali
d. 834^431
Ni'matallahiyya
'Abd al-Khaliq
al-Ghujdawanl
d. 617/1220
Khawajaganiyya
Shaikh Zahid
— Ibrahim ibn Rushan
d. c. 1296
1
Baha'ad-din
an-Naqshabandi
d. 1389
Naqshabandiyya
Muhammad Nur
al-Khalwati
d. 1350
'Urnar
al-Khalwati
d. c. 1397
Khalwatiyya
fpafiyyaddin
al-Ardabill
d. 1334
§afawiyya
§adr ad~dIn{Musa?)
d. 1393
YahyS-i
ShirwanI
d. c. 1460
'Urnar RushenI
d. 1487
'Ali (d. 1429)
Ibrahim (d. 1447)
Ibrahim Muhammad
Gttlshenl Demerdash
d. 1534 d. 1524
Junaid (d. 1460)
Gaidar (d. 1488)
Shfih'lsma'Il
(d. 15*4)
'Abdallah al-Ansari
al-Harawi, d, 481/1089
Ahmad al-Yasavi
d. 562/1169
Yasavlyya
I
LuqmSn Perende
al -Khurasan!
Muhammad 'Ata'
ibn Ibrahim —
tfajji Bektash
d. c. 1335
Bektashiyya
f
Mu'in ad-din 'Ali
'Qasim-i Anwar*
1356-1433
I
I^ajjt Bairam
d. 1430
BairSmiyya,
Jilwatiyya,
etc.
Mhd NQrbakhsh
d. 869/1465
'Abdallah
Barzishabadl
Dhahabiyya
Faid-Bakh&h
NDrbakhshlyya
Shams ad-din
al-Lahiji
d, 912/1506
I
LahiSniyya
II
The Chief Tariqa Lines
Having outlined the general stages in the development of
the Sufi organization leading to the formation of schools
of teaching and training we may now say something about
the personalities from whom the great tartqas derive and their
subsequent development. We have shown that they came into
existence through an outstanding director being succeeded by
men who combined practical abilities along with spiritual qualities
and insight, who made collections of his sayings and episodes
from his life, and taught their own pupils in his name. The diffi-
culty of utilizing the lives of the saints as historical sources is well
recognized. Hagiographa is simply biography designed, and con-
sequently distorted, to serve the cult of the saints. It forms an
essential aspect of any study of the orders since these qualities,
deeds, and manifestations are real to the believer, but they
obscure the historical personality. At the same time, the historian
is concerned with the effects, if not the reality, of such beliefs, since
they account for the existence of the cult and help to elucidate its
objective expression in an organization.
The main areas of Sufi thought and practice from the point
of view of subsequent tariqa development were Mesopotamia,
Khurasan, and the Maghrib. Anatolian forms derive from central
Asia, whilst Sufism in India, stemming originally from the first
two, subsequently developed along lines of its own and its phases
of growth, stagnation, and revival owed little to non-Indian in-
fluences.
I. MESOPOTAMIA
Here Sufism centred on Baghdad, embracing Syria and extend-
ing into Egypt. Lines of ascription go back through al-Junaid
al-Baghdadi (d. 298/910) to Ma'ruf al-Karkhi (d. 200/815) and
San as-Saqatt (d. 251/865). It is here that Sufism won a qualified
recognition from the doctors of Islamic legalism, on the one hand,
through the work of 'Abd ar-Rahman as-Sulaml (d. 412/1021),
32 THE CHIEF TARlQA LINES
the Khorasanian traditionalist and historian of early Sufism, his
disciple al-Qushairi (d. 465/1072) who taught in Baghdad and
wrote books on Ash'arite theology as well as tasawwuf, and Abu
Hamid al-Ghazali (d. 505/11 11); and, on the other, through its
association with the official favour of Nur ad-din, Saladin, and
their lieutenants and successors, who encouraged the development
of parallel institutions of madrasas and khdnaqdhs.
The Mesopotamian tradition is the nearest that we can get to
an Arab Sufism and its objective expression, even though most
of the leaders were not Arabs. We find two main lines, the
Suhrawardi and the Rifa'I. Both stand squarely in the JunaidI
tradition. The Rifa'i, with its family antecedents centred on the
Basran marshes, haunt of outlaws, stressed strongly the Arab
ancestry of Ahmad ar-Rifa'I and his standing in direct succession
to Arab Sufis. It was the only fariqa in this tradition which gained
any great following in the Seljuqid empire. The Suhrawardi
school was distinctively urban and orthodox Shafi'T. The Hanbali
Qadiriyya is also included since 'Abd al-Qadir, of Persian origin,
was a contemporary of the other two ; but he does not count in any
of the suhba and silsila Sufi ascriptions and the tariqa which carries
his name only came into existence later, and even then it was some
time before it became a universal tariqa.
The key figure in this tradition is Ahmad al-Ghazali. The way
in which he, and his equally important master, al-Farmadhi, 1
combined the lines of Sufi devotional expression is shown:
Abu 51-Q5sim
Abu '1-Qasim Abu 'l-Hasan al-Gurganl
al-Qushairi al-Kharaqani (al-Karrakani)
d. 465/1073 d. 435/1034 d. 469/1076
Abu 'AH al- Abu Bakr an-
Farmadhl af-fusl Nassaj at-Tusi
d. 477/1084 d. 487/1094
I ] _J
Ahmad al-Ghazali at-Tusi
Abu 1-Futuh Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-GhazalP (d. at Qaswm
1 See as-Subkl, Ap-Tabaqdt ash-Shdfi'iyya, Cairo, a.h. 1324, iv. 9, for his
training under al-Qushairi.
2 Not much is known about his life for he attracted no hagiographer. Ibn
Khallikan (writing c. a.d. 1256) has only a short account (Wafayat al-A'yan,
THE CHIEF TARIQA LINES
33
520/1126), younger brother of the ethical theologian Abu Hamid,
was early attracted to the Sufi life, serving his apprenticeship
with Sufis and then wholly devoting himself to the Way. Abu
'All al-Farmadhi, also a Tusi but teaching at Nisapur, was his
shaikh as-suhba.1 He was at one and the same time withdrawn
from and active in the world, no khanaqah Sufi but a vagrant
evangelist, 'visiting villages and the countryside, and even preach-
ing to bedouins the way of approach to God\2 He spent a period
in Baghdad, where his sincerity immediately won people's hearts,
and he taught for a time at the Nizamiyya, deputizing for his
brother when the latter was in the throes of his spiritual crisis
(488/1095). The part that he played in his brother's life during
this period can only be conjectured. According to M. al-Murtada,
the final straw
'which caused Abu Hamid to break the bonds with this world . . . came
one day when his brother Ahmad entered while he was preaching and
recited :
You lent a hand to them when they hung back, and you yourself have
been kept behind, whilst they went ahead of you.
You have taken the role of guide, yet you will not be guided; you
preach but do not listen.
0 whetstone, how long will you whet iron, but will not let yourself
be whetted?'3
(a) Suhrawardiyya
This tarlqa may be regarded as going back to Diva' ad-din
Cairo, a.h. 1299, i. 49; tr. de Slane, i. 79). As-Subki (a.d. 1327-70) brings to-
gether what material he could find in his fabaqdt (iv. 54-5), but he was much
more interested in his elder brother.
1 Abu Hamid also studied under him as well as under YQsuf an-Nassaj;
see SubkT, iv. 109, and the account of his friend, 'Abd al-Ghafir b. Isma'll
al-Farisi (d. 529/1134), quoted in M. al-Murtada's introduction to his commen-
tary on the Ihyd' in Jthdf as-Sdda, Cairo, 191 1, i. 19. Although he engaged
under al-Farmadhi's guidance in a course of Sufi discipline he received no
enlightenment at this stage of his career. That came later through Yusuf an-
Nassaj, mnrshid of his brother Ahmad. Abu Hamid told Qutb ad-dm M. b.
al-Ardabill: 'I was at first sceptical about the reality of the ecstatic states of the
Sufis and the stations of the gnostics until I put myself under the guidance of
my shaikh Yusuf an-Nassaj in Tiis. He persevered in the task of refining me
with soul-cleansing disciplines until I was vouchsafed revelations (wdriddt) and
saw God in a dream.' Then follows an account of the dialogue between God and
himself (Ithdf, i, 9).
2 As-Subki, iv. 55.
3 M. al-Murtacla az-Zabldi, Ithdf as-Sdda, i. 8.
34
THE CHIEF TARlQA LINES
Abu 5n-Najib as-Suhrawardi (490/1097-563/1 168)1 owing to his
influence upon his nephew Shihab ad-din. He belonged to a
family with initiatory filiation (nisbat al-khirqa). He left Suhraward
as a youth for Baghdad where he followed the customary courses
of uml andfiqh. He taught for a while at the Nizamiyya, 'then left
it in order to associate with Shaikh Ahmad al-Ghazali who wafted
upon him the breath of felicity and guided him along the Sufi
Path.2 He cut himself off from ordinary society in order to lead a
life of seclusion and retreat. Murids came to put themselves under
him and the fame of his haraka spread widely.'3 He built a ribat
on a ruined site on the Tigris, which also became a place of
refuge. He was the author of Adab al-muridm, a manual for Sufi
aspirants. Among his disciples were Abu Muhammad Ruzbihan
Baqli of Shiraz (d. 6o6/i209),4 Isma'il al-Qasri (d. 1193), and
'Ammar al-Bidlisi (d. c. 1200), the last two of whom were masters
of the great Khwarizmian mystic, Najm ad-din Kubra, from whom
stems the Kubrawiyya line of mystical ascription.5
The man regarded as the founder of the Way was Abu
'n-Najib's nephew, Shihab ad-din Abu Hafs 'Umar (539/1145-
632/1234), who received his early training in his uncle's ribat.6
He was no ascetic living withdrawn from the world, though he
passed periods in retreat, but associated with the great. The
caliph an-Nasir li dini 'Hah realized the importance of the in-
fluence of Sufi leaders and showed Shihab ad-din great favour.
He associated him with his aristocratized futuwwa and sent him
as ambassador to 'Ala' ad-din Kaiqubad I, Seljuq ruler of Qonya
(a.d. 1219-36),7 the Ayyubid al-Malik al-'Adil, and the Khwarizm-
1 Accounts of his life are found in Ibn Khallikan, i. 535-6 ; as-Subkl, Tabaqdt,
iv. 356-7; Yaqut, Mil jam, s.v. 'Suhraward'; as-Sam'anl, Ansdb, G.M.S. xx.
2 Hammad ad-Dabbas (d. 525/1 131) also gave him some Sufi training, but
Ahmad al-Ghazall was his true guide.
3 As-Subki, Tabaqdt, iv, 356.
♦ See Junaid ShirazI, Shadd, pp. 343-7. Ruzbihan Baqli travelled seeking
initiations, but his true silsila, the one he himself passed on, was the Kazeruniyya
of Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-Kazeruni (d. 436/1034), through Junaid and Ibn
Khafif, into which he was initiated by Siraj ad-din Mahmud ibn Khalifa
(d. 1 166), head of the khdnaqdh in Shiraz. The Ruzbihaniyya as a branch order
was restricted to Fars, but a later-stage Kazeruniyya became widespread; see
below, p. 336.
5 See the Kubrawi table of spiritual nisbas.
6 Ibn Khallikan says (tr. ii. 382) that one of Shihab ad-din's masters was
'Abd al-Qadir al-Jili, but the subject of study was usfil ad-din, not ta^azowuf,
according to al-Wasifi, Tirydq al-muhibbin, Cairo, a.h. 1305, p. 61.
7 J. von Hammer, Histoire de V Empire Ottoman, tr. J. J. Hellert, 1844, i. 41.
THE CHIEF TARlQA LINES
35
shah.1 An-Nasir built for him a ribdt, associated with a large
establishment which included a bath-house and a garden for him-
self and his family.2 He was no theoretical exponent of Sufism and
his association with the futuwwa may have encouraged the intro-
duction of certain initiatory practices, such as the shadd (girding),
into Sufi associations. He was a great teaching shaikh, whose
influence, not only through his pupils, but through his work,
'Azvarif al-matdrif) has extended to almost every Sufi leader to
this day. Sufis from all over the world came to him for training,
and he himself made extended stays at khanaqahs in various towns,
including Damascus and Aleppo. They also sent to him seeking
mystical 'opinions', as is seen from this account by Ibn Khallikan:
I met a number of those who had attended his courses and sojourned
in his khalwa, training under his direction according to Sufi custom.
They would give me an account of the strange sensations which over-
came them during those occasions when they experienced ecstatic
states (ahwdl). He came to Irbil as an envoy from the government in
Baghdad and held assemblies for spiritual counsel, but I had not the
opportunity of seeing him since I was too young. He performed the
pilgrimage frequently and sometimes resided near the House for a time.
Contemporary Sufi leaders in other lands used to write to him putting
to him problems, seeking advice in the form of fatwdsJ
The spiritual insight of Shihab ad-din was deeper than that of
the founders of the Qadiriyya and Rifa'iyya. The Suhrawardiyya
was a mystical school and his pupils introduced his teaching into
1 W. Barthold, Turkestan Down to the Mongol Invasion, 1928, pp. 373~4-
2 Ibn al-Fuwati, Al-Hawddith at-jami'a, ed. H. Jawad, Baghdad, 1351/1932.
p. 74-
3 Ibn Khallikan, ii. 95; tr. ii. 383. Correspondence became a regular feature
of the activities of many of these mystics. In the Arab world few collections were
made. The earliest include the Rasd'il of al-Junaid, edited and translated with
an introduction on his thought and work by Dr. AH Hassan Abdel-Kader, The
Life, Personality and Writings of Al-Junaid (London, 1962). Ar-Rasd'il as-
sughrd of the western mystic Ibn 'Abbad of Ronda (a.d. 1332-90) have been
edited by P. Nwyia (Beirut, 1958), who has also written a study of Ibn 'Abbad
based on this and his larger collection (Beirut, 1956)- The Persian Maktubdt
of 'Ain al-Qudat al-Hamadanl still exist only in manuscript. The letters of
Jalal ad-din RumI have been edited by Ahmed Remzi Akyurek, Istanbul, 1937.
Collections were more common in India. FazvdHd al-fudd, the letters of
Nizam ad-din Awliya', were collected by Amir Hasan Sijzi; Khair al-majdlis of
Na§Ir ad-din Mahmud (d. a.d. 1356) were collected by Hamid Qalandar. There
are also maktubdt by Ahmad ibn Yahya ManM(d. A.D. 1381), Ahmad al-Fariiql
as-Sirhindl (d. a.d. 1624), his son, Muhammad Ma 'sum, and the Chishti, Gizu
Daraz (d. 825/1422).
36
THE CHIEF TARlQA LINES
all parts of the Muslim world. From him only a few regularly
organized taHfas stemmed. His son, 'Imad ad-dm M. (655/1257)
succeeded him as warden of Ribat al-Ma*muniyya in Baghdad,
and he by his son, 'Abd ar-Rahman,1 but it only survived as a
family 09ifa. 'Abd ar-Rahman al-Wasiti, writing about a.d. 1325,
says2 that the Suhrawardiyya had more branches (furu) than any
other tariqa, but it is difficult to get confirmation of the existence
of many distinct taifas as compared with the large numbers of
Sufis claiming to belong to the Suhrawardi silsila.
Shihab ad-din maintained a careful orthodoxy and this was
continued by his more immediate followers, among whom may be
mentioned the well-known Shirazi shaikh, Najib ad-dm Buzghush
(d. 678/1279),3 and his son and successor, Zahlr ad-din eAbd
ar-Rahman. Many who could hardly be called Sufis received the
khirqa from him,4 such as Abu Bakr M. ibn Ahmad al-Qastallam
(6 1 4/1 2 1 8-686/1 287), who founded a school of traditionalists.5
Similarly, the great Persian poet Sa'di of Shiraz (a.d. 1208-92),
who came under his influence when he was in Baghdad, was not a
follower of the Sufi Path, though his wide range of understanding
embraced Sufism and the ways of dervishes, and in his Bustcin he
refers to Shihab ad-din's piety and love for his fellow men.6 Ibn
Battuta was another who loved to collect these affiliations and he
was invested with a Suhrawardi khirqa at Isfahan in A.D. 13 27, 7
and with another at Outch.8 This shows what little meaning was
sometimes to be attached to these initiations. Later leaders claim-
ing a Suhrawardi ascription included all types of Sufis, men of
such distinctive characteristics as Nur ad-dm *Abd as-Samad
1 Ibn al-Fuwati, Jrlawddith, p. 323.
2 Tiryaq, p. 49, cf. p. 61.
3 See Mu'In ad-din Abu '1-Qasim Junaid, Shadd al-izdr ft khatf al-awzdr
'an zuwwdr al-mazdr, ed. M. Qazwinl and 'Abbas Iqbal, Tehran, 1338/1950,
pp. 334-8, and £ahir ad-din, pp. 338-9,
4 Such references are incomplete unless one knows what type of khirqa is
involved. We have to distinguish between the khirqa of teaching (ta'lim),
companionship (?uhba) which includes training, and guidance (tarbiya).
5 G.A.L.S. i. 809. Al-Qastallani attacked his fellow Andalusian emigre^
Ibn Sab 'In, Aristotelian gnostic philosopher, then enjoying favour in Mecca.
He was expelled from Mecca but welcomed in Cairo by Baibars, who put him
in charge of Dar al-Hadith al-Kamiliyya in 667/1368; see L. Massignon,
Opera Minora, ii. 53, 409-10.
6 Sa'di, Biistdn, ed. Graf, p. 150.
■> Tr. H. A. R. Gibb, ii. 397.
8 French edition, iii. 116.
THE CHIEF TARlQA LINES 37
an-Natanzi, 'Abd ar-Razzaq al-Kashani (d. 730/1329), and Sa'id
ibn 'Abdallah al-Fargham (d. c. 700/1 300).1
(b) RifaHyya
The Way of Ahmad ibn 'All ar-Rifa'I (a.d. 1106-82) is no
derivative from the Qadiriyya as has been claimed. On the con-
trary, he himself inherited a family sikila and his order came into
prominence as a distinctive Way from his lifetime, whereas the
Qadiriyya did not emerge as a khirqa line until much later. The
Rifa'iyya was distinguished by peculiar practices deriving from
Ahmad himself, and his centre in the Bata'ih counted as a focus
of attraction for Sufis in a way that 'Abd al-Qadir's ribdf in Bagh-
dad did not.
Little is known about the life of Ibn ar-Rifa%2 but sufficient
to show its contrast to the careers of as-Suhrawardi and 'Abd al-
Qadir. He was born into an Arab family and spent the whole of
his life in the Bata'ih, the marshlands of southern Iraq between
Basra and Wasit, leaving it only once (a.d. 1160) to go on pilgrim-
age. Little learned in either fiqh or tasawwuf, he wrote nothing;
the few awrad attributed to him are probably not genuine. The
Basra-Kufa region was the nurture centre for Arab Sufism. From
it came Ma'ruf al-Karkhl (d. a.d. 813) whose parents were Sabians
(=Mandseans). His shaikh as-suhba, who invested him with his
first khirqa, was 'AH Abi '1-Fadi al-Qari' al-Wasitl, but he also
inherited a religious community called ar-Rifa'iyya from his
maternal uncle, Mansur al-Bata'ihi (d. 540/1 145).3 Mansur gave
him the khirqa in his 27th year and established him in Umm
'Abida; then, just before his death, he invested him with the
mashyakha (spiritual jurisdiction) and sajjadat ql-irsMd, or throne
of spiritual direction, Ibn Khallikan writes (around 654/1256):
Abu '1- 'Abbas Ahmad ibn Abi 'l-Hasan 'Ali, commonly known as
Ibn ar-Rifa'I, was a holy man and a faqih of the Shafi'i school. By origin
1 Jami, p. 651; G.A.L.S. ii. 807, 812. The Indian Suhrawardi school is dis-
cussed subsequently (pp. 65-6) and the chief affiliations are given in Appendix C.
2 The earliest life of Ahmad ar-Rifa'I is Tiryaq {theriake]_ al-muhibbin ft
sirat . . . A.b. ar-Rifa'i, by TaqI ad-din 'Abd ar-Rahrnan al-Wasiti (a.d. 12*75-
T343), published in Cairo 1305/1888. Subsequent mandqib-type works have
little sound material to add. Sha'rani's account in Lawaqih (Cairo, A.H. 1355,
i. 1 z 1-5) consists mainly of sayings.
3 Sha'rani gives the biographies of Mansur and other members of the group
drawn from the books of the order in Lazvdqty, i. 114-16.
38
THE CHIEF TARlQA LINES
he was an Arab and lived in the Bata'ih, at a village called Umm 'Abida.
A large concourse of fuqard* attached themselves to him, taking the
full compact of allegiance and following him [as their guide]. The
dervish order (at-ta'ifa min al-fuqara') deriving from him is known as
Rifa'iyya or Bata'ihiyya. His followers experience extraordinary states
during which they eat living snakes and enter ovens blazing with fires
which are thereupon extinguished. It is said that in their own country
[the marshlands] they ride on lions and perform similar feats. They hold
festival gatherings (mawasim) at which uncountable numbers of fuqard7
congregate and are all entertained. Ar-Rifa'I died without issue but
the spiritual and temporal succession1 was maintained in that region
through his brother's children until this day.2
Although Ahmad was no original thinker, the fame of his
marshland retreat spread widely, a focus of attraction for migrant
Sufis, four of whom founded independent tariqas: Badawiyya,
Dasuqiyya, Shadhiliyya, and 'Alwaniyya.3 In the time of Ibn
Battuta Rifa'i zawiyas were clearly differentiated; he refers to
them frequently in his travels, as well as to the extravagant prac-
tices for which they were notorious. When his caravan stayed at
Wasit in A.D. 1327 for three days he writes:
This gave me the opportunity of visiting the grave of the saint Abu
'1- 'Abbas Ahmad ar-Rifa'i, which is at a village called Umm 'Ubaida,
one day's journey from Wasit ... It is a vast convent in which there are
thousands of poor brethren . . . When the afternoon prayers have been
said drums and kettle-drums were beaten and the poor brethren began
to dance. After this they prayed the sunset prayer and brought in the
repast, consisting of rice-bread, fish, milk and dates. When all had
eaten and prayed the first night prayer, they began to recite their
dhikr, with the shaikh Ahmad sitting on the prayer-carpet of his an-
cestor above-mentioned, then they began the musical recital. They had
prepared loads of fire-wood which they kindled into a flame, and went
1 Al-mashyakha wa 'l-wildya.
z Ibn Khallikan, Cairo, 1299, i. 95-6. He was in fact succeeded by his sister's
son, 'AH ibn 'Uthman. Ibn Khallikan also reports that the Rifa'i dervishes
memorized the poems of the local poet, Ibn al-Mu'allim (d. 593/1196), and
sang them at their concerts in order to excite themselves to ecstasy (op. cit. ii.
400). Ahmad tried to get him to compose religious poetry; Tirydq, p. 24.
3 The first three are discussed subsequently; see pp. 45-51. The 'Alwaniyya
was a Yemenite fariqa founded by Abu '1-Hasan Safi ad-din Ahmad ibn
'Attaf ibn 'Alwan (d. 665/1266), who took the tariqa from Ahmad al-Badaw!
and Ahmad as-$ayyad, khalifa of Ibn ar-Rifa'i; al-Wasiti, Tirydq, p. 18. A list
of attribute-/a7jfas is given in Appendix H, most of them small nineteenth-
century family groups.
THE CHIEF^f ARlQ A LINES
39
into the midst of it dancing; some of them rolled in the fire, and others
ate it in their mouths, until finally they extinguished it entirely. This is
their regular custom and it is the peculiar characteristic of this cor-
poration of Ahmad! brethren. Some of them will take a large snake
and bite its head with their teeth until they bite it clean through.1
Elsewhere Ibn BattQta mentions the related Haidari group
centred in Khurasan south of Mashhad, derived from Qutb ad-
din Haidar,2 'who place iron rings in their hands, necks and ears,
and even their male members so that they are unable to indulge in
sexual intercourse'.3 These Rifa'I exercises signify the victory of
the spirit over the flesh and its temporary annihilation in absolute
Reality. Rifa'i dervishes are still noted for their fire-resistant and
snake-charming properties.* The Haidariyya spread into Iran,
Syria, Anatolia,5 and India6 where it was linked with and finally
absorbed in the qalandari trend. A notable khanaqah was that
of Abu Bakr TusI Qalandari, situated on the banks of the river
Jumna.7
The Rifa'iyya spread into Egypt through the agency of Abu
'l-Fath al-Wasiti (d. 632/1234) and into Syria through Abu
Muhammad 'All al-Hariri (d. at Busra, capital of the Hawran,
in 645/1248), whence this branch was known as the Haririyya.8
1 The Travels of Ibn Battvta, tr. H. A. R. Gibb, ii. 273-4-
2 He was a disciple of the qalandari, Muhammad ibn Yunus Jamal ad-din
as-SawajT, a refugee fleeing before the Mongol invasion who settled in Damascus
(A.D. I32i) and died in 630/1232.
3 French edition, iii. 79-80.
* An Egyptian Rifa'I gave the writer a demonstration of snake- and scorpion-
charming which was simply jugglery. He also offered to teach for a consideration
the formula of Ibn ar~Rifa% which he guaranteed to ensure infallible protection
against snake-bite. Lane (Modern Egyptians, Everyman edm, p. 460) refers to
members of the Sa'diyya branch eating snakes, but this would be a similar
process of disappearance into the mouth.
s Aflaki gives an account (tr. Huart, i. 196-7) of the installation in Qonya of
a Haidari named Hajji Mubarak, as shaikh of an establishment called Dar adh-
Dhakirin, when there were present, besides ftiqara and akhis, the dignitaries of
the state. On this occasion Jalal ad-din Rum! excelled himself in the dance of
the spheres.
6 Ibn Battuta, tr. Gibb, ii. 274-5. and French edn., iii. 439 (Tibet).
' K. A. Nizami, Religion and Politics in India during the Thirteenth Century,
Bombay, 1961, pp. 286-7.
8 See H. Sauvaire, 'Description de Damas', J. Astat, ser. IX, v. 387-9, 4°4-
A notable disciple of al-Hariri, Najm ad-din M. b. IsrS'il (a.h. 603-77), who
is given a notice in Fazvdt al-Wafdyat (ii, 269), received his khrqa from bhihab
ad-din as-Suhrawardi. Hasan al-Jawaliqt, a Persian qalandari who founded a
zdtoiya just outside Cairo, later went to 'AH al-Harlrl's zawiya in Damascus and
died there in 622/1225; Maqrlzi, Khifap, ed. Cairo, a.h. 1326, iv. 301.
8205247 D
4o
THE CHIEF TARlQA LINES
He was a noted Malamati who was imprisoned under al-Ashraf
(a.d. 1228-37), but was released by As-Salih Isma'il on condition
that he kept away from Damascus. Another branch in Damascus
(Zawiya Talibiyya) was founded by Talib ar-Rifa'i(d. 683/1284). 1
Other Syrian branches were the Sa'diyya or Jibawiyya2 and the
Sayyadiyya.3 There was a zawiya in Jerusalem.4 It spread into
Anatolia among Turks and Ibn Battuta lodged frequently in
Ahmad! (as he calls the Rifa'Is) establishments.5 One zawiya he
visited in Machar, had seventy fuqara\ of varied origins, Arabs,
Persians, Turks, and Greeks.6 A group was even found in the
Maldive island of Mahal.7
It is probably true to say that until the fifteenth century the
Rifa'iyya was the most widespread of all tariqas, but from that
century it began to loose its popularity in favour of the Qadiriyya,
which expanded as a fariqa, though never to the extent that is so
often claimed.
(c) Qadiriyya
It is difficult to penetrate through the mists of legend which
formed even during the lifetime of 'Abd al-Qadir ibn Abl Salih
Jangidost and thickened rapidly after his death,8 and to discern
1 See Jf. Asiat. ix. v. 394. 2 See below, p. 73.
3 Founded by 'Izz ad-din Ab.mad as-Sayyad (Jtqftd A. b. ar-Rifa'i), d. 670/
IZ73. On him and his successors see Muhammad Abu '1-Huda as-Sayyadi
(1 850-1 909), Tanwtr al-absdr fi fabaqdt as-sddat ar-Rif&iyya, Cairo, a.h.
1306.
4 Mujlr ad-din, Uns, tr. Sauvaire, 1876, p. 167.
5 See Travels, tr. Gibb, ii. 436, 445, 449. Aflaki has an account (tr. Huart,
ii. 203) of how Taj ad-din, great-grandson of Ahmad ar-Rifa'i, visited Qonya
accompanied by a group of dervishes who intrigued the whole population with
their extraordinary performances. Taj ad-din it seems settled in Anatolia,
since Ibn Battuta reports on his coming to Umm 'Abida to receive the investi-
ture; tr. Gibb, ii. 273. Taqi ad-din al-Wasiti says that he accompanied Taj
ad-din Abu Bakr ar-Rifa'i, shaikh Riwaq Umm 'Abida, on the pilgrimage in
the year 720/1321; Tirydq al-muhibbin, p. 72.
6 Tr. H. A. R. Gibb, ii. 479; 1928 edn., i. an.
1 Paris edn., 1879, iv. 141.
8 The most elaborate biography of *Abd al-Qadir, which completely obscures
his personality and presents him as a great miracle-monger, Bahjat al-Asrdr by
'All ibn Yusuf ash-Shattanawf i (d. 713/1314), was written over a hundred years
after his death (a.d. 1166). The shorter and still later notice of adh-Dhahabi
(d. 748/1348), but based on Ibn an-Najjar, edited and translated by D. S. Mar-
goliouth (J.R.A.S. 1907, 267-310), is more valuable because he adopts a
critical attitude and is sceptical of the more extravagant type of miracles ascribed
to 'Abd al-Qadir. Of the former treatise adh-Dhahabi writes: 'The Shaikh Nur
ad-din al-Shattanaufi the Mukri composed a lengthy work in three volumes on
THE CHIEF fARlQA LINES
4i
why he, out of the hundreds of saintly figures of the period,
survived in a unique way to become the inspirer of millions, a
heavenly receiver of petitions and bestower of benefits, right up to
the present day. Vast numbers have accorded him a devotion
which evoked the condemnation of orthodoxy, yet he himself
was a strict Hanbali, who would never have made such claims.
He is acclaimed as a great preacher, but his reputation was cer-
tainly not gained from the content of his sermons.1 And as for
his Sufi reputation there is not the slightest indication that he was
a Sufi at all or that he struck any new note, and it seems likely
that his reputation for soundness was used by others who were
responsible for such developments as paved the way for ordinary
people to participate in the insights and experiences of Sufis.
cAbd al-Qadir was born in Jllan,2 where Hanbalism was strong,
in 470/1077. He came to Baghdad in a.h. 488 and pursued a legalis-
tic course of Hanbali training, refusing to study at the Nizamiyya
where the Sufi, Ahmad al-Ghazali, had succeeded his brother
Abu Hamid. He received the khirqa of first investiture at the hands
his life and work, wherein he has produced milk with the cud equally, and has
mixed with truth statements that are groundless and false, being told on the
authority of persons of no worth. So they assert that the Shaikh took thirteen
steps in the air off his pupil at a meeting; and that once when the Shaikh was dis-
coursing and no-one was moved, he said, "You are not moved, and feel no
pleasure. Ye lamps, manifest your delight 1", whereupon the lamps moved about
and the dishes danced' (tr. D. S. Margoliouth, loc. cit, p. 310).
A contemporary, Taqi ad-din 'Abd ar-Rahman al-Wasifi (d. a.d. 1343), also
attacks Shaftanawfl's book as a tissue of lies. He mentions the names of authori-
ties who claimed that he was a kadhdhdb muttahim, an indicted liar. Even though
al-Wasitf is an interested party since Ibn ar-Rifa'i is his hero, his criticisms
seem fair and sound enough. He shows that Shaftanawfi's book has led to a
distorted estimate of 'Abd al-Qadir himself, whose undoubted qualities are
not enhanced by claiming that he was a Sufi subject to ahwdl and a miracle-
worker (Tiryaq, p. 51).
Still later works include al-Yafi'i (d. 768/1367), Khuldsat al-mafdkhir fi
'khtisdr mandqib ash-Shaikh 'Abd al-Qadir and the notice in his Mir* at aU
jindn, iii. 347-66. Ibn Khallikan (d. a.d. 1282) did not consider him important
enough to include in his 'Obituaries' and M. ibn Shakir's (d. A.H. 764) account
in his 'Omissions from the Obituaries' (Bulaq, 1283/1866, ii. 2-3) contains
nothing of interest.
1 See al-Fath ar-Rabbani, a collection of 62 sermons delivered in a.h. 54S~6.
His most important works are the collection of 78 of his discourses under the
title oiFutuh al-Ghaib (tr. W. Braune, Leipzig, 1933) and a treatise on legalistic
ethics and theology entitled Al-Ghunya li tdlibi fariq al-Haqq, Cairo, 1322/1905.
2 He was a Persian and when he visited the Bata'ih during his wanderings
he was known as al-'Ajaml. Al-Wasitf says that none of the genealogists sup-
ported his claim to a Hasani nasab (Tirydq, p. 50).
42
THE CHIEF TARIQA LINES
of the Hanbali faqih, Abu Sa'd 'All al-MukharrimT, 'by order of
al-Khadir5, but. there is no indication that he received any Sufi
training until he attended the school of Abu '1-Khair xlammad
ad-Dabbas (d. 525/1 131),1 to the disgust of Dabbas's other pupils
who resented the intrusion of this Hanbali. After this he seems to
have spent some twenty-five years as a wandering ascetic in the
deserts of Iraq. Only in 521/1127 when he was over fifty years
old did he suddenly come into prominence as a popular preacher
in Baghdad.2 From that date his reputation grew, but as a Hanbali
preacher, not as a Sufi. He dressed like an ^alim, not like a Sufi.
A madrasa with an attached ribat as a residence for himself, his
large family, and pupils was specially built for him (a.h. 528), but
there is no evidence that he ever claimed to have a Path or guided
anyone or initiated anybody. No Sufis ascribed themselves to him
but to such men as Ahmad al-Ghazali, Abu Najlb as-Suhrawardi,
and Abu Yusuf al-Hamadam. Taqi ad- din al-Wasiti wrote:
'Abd al-Qadir was renowned during his lifetime for his sermons and
courses of religious instruction, but he never at any time propagated
any khirqat at-tasawwuf. However, after his death, with the passage
of time, certain people were given his khirqa, then it grew through his
baraka and expanded through highland and lowland . . . The only
two of his children who did not pursue a secular career were 'Abd ar-
Razzaq [a.h. 528-603] and 'Abd al-'Aziz [d. a.h. 602]. These two shaikhs
set to work to propagate their father's Way in all sincerity, temperance
and modesty, and in that movement they were assisted by certain godly
and sympathetic associates of their father.3
Because it was suspect *Abd al-Qadir's silsila rarely figures in
other than Qadiri lines, for instance, in the attributions in Sanusi's
SalsabiL4 The order attributed to him produced few famous Sufis
1 Ibn al-Athlr, xi. 80; M. b. Shakir, Fawat al-wafayat, ii. 3; al-Wasiti,
Tirydq, p. 54; al-Yafi'I, Mir* at al-jimn, iii, 243.
% It is noteworthy that his biographers give no indication that he had any
contact, let alone training, with any of the great Sufis of the day, except for
one story of his appealing to Yusuf al-Hamadam (visited Baghdad in 506/ lira;
Ibn al-Athir, x. 496-7), and this very account shows his lack of Sufi training.
The story goes that 'Abd al-Qadir, troubled by inner voices ordering him to
go out and preach, consulted Yusuf al-Hamadam, 'the Qutb of the Age*.
Yusuf told him: 'Since you possess the light of fiqh and the Qur'an, you can
now preach to the people. Hesitate no longer! Mount the pulpit V
3 Al-Wasiti, Tiryaq, pp. 53-4.
* We read in Ibn Khallikan (it. 440) otfuqara tracing themselves (al-muntasi-
bun ilaihi) to Ahmad ar-Rifa'I, but no such attributions to 'Abd al-Qadir.
THE CHIEF TARlQA LINES 43
or Sufi works; the awrad, teaching and other material found
in Qadiri manuals, being largely borrowed. His later followers
attributed to him a line of mystery teaching he could not possibly
have taught. An inspired Qadiri would attribute to his master
the miracles he ought to have done and the overflowings he ex-
perienced when in a state of jadhb; things like the interesting
divine questionnaire called al-Ghawthiyya or al-MVrajiyya.1
According to ShattanawfP 'Abd al-Qadir's pupils taught his
madhhab (system) in various parts of the Islamic world, 'All al-
Haddad in Yemen, Muhammad al-Bata'ihi in Syria, and Muham-
mad ibn *Abd as-Samad in Egypt. This is unlikely since 'Abd
al-Qadir left no system, let alone Path, to be introduced, and
even the Bahja, as Margoliouth has pointed out,* does not support
the claim that his sons propagated his Way throughout the Muslim
world. Although Qadiri centres existed in Iraq and Syria in a.d.
1300, nothing indicates that it spread at all widely or rapidly before
the fifteenth century. In the course of time a body of rules, teach-
ing, and practice was formed,4 and some shaikhs began to initiate
their pupils into his name because his fame as an intercessor was
spreading. In Iraq it remained a local Baghdadi taifa* centred
upon his tomb-mosque which suffered a number of destructions
until Ottoman patronage restored the local influence of the family.
It gained greater influence at a later period among Kurds.
Although 'Abd al-Qadir became the most universally popular
saint, to whom many maqams were erected, we must stress that
the Qadiri tariqa never became popular. Its spread as a Way
belongs to the taifa stage discussed in the next chapter, but it
might be useful to bring together here some references to pro-
pagators. The foundation of the first Qadiri satoiya (Da'udiyya)
in Damascus in the early fifteenth century has been mentioned.6
1 See Isma'H ibn M. Sa'id, Al-Fuyudat ar-Rabbaniyya, Cairo, a.h. i353>
pp. 4-13.
2 Shattanawfl, Bahja, Cairo edn., 1304, pp. 101, 109-10.
3 E.I.1 ii. 609.
* According to tradition music and the rhythmic dance were not introduced
until the time of 'Abd al-Qadir's great-grandson, Shams ad-din.
* There are references to the family in the chronicles of Baghdad, such as
al-Mustansir's appointment of one of them as shaikh of a newly-built ribdt in
626/1229; Ibn al-Fuwati, ed-ffawodith al-jami'a, Baghdad, a.h, 1351, pp. 2,
86-7, but few references to its influence elsewhere. The Mongol conquest
put an end to any fame the tomb had acquired and when that assiduous tomb
visitor Ibn Batfuta went to Baghdad in 727/1326 be makes no mention of it.
6 See above, p. 21, n. 5.
44 THE CHIEF TARlQA LINES
In Egypt it has never been a popular order. In India it did not
become an established order until the arrival of Muhammad
Ghawth (d. a.d. 1517), who claimed descent from 'Abd al-Qadir,
and even then it remained localized. The author of A'tn-i Akbari>1
writing about a.d. 1600, does not include the tariqa among the
orders represented in India, Around a.d. 1550 it was introduced
from Hijaz into the Funj state of the two Niles by Taj ad-dm
al-Baharl al-Baghdadi.2 During the Turkish expansion in Asia
Minor there is no evidence that the Qadirl as a distinct line of
ascription was represented among the multitudes of dervishes
carving out their niches of holiness within the religious eclecticism
of that region. The order was only introduced in any definitive
fashion into Istanbul through the energetic initiative of Isma'il
Rum! (d. 1041/1631 or 1053/1643), who founded a khanaqah at
Top-khaneh. He is called Pir Thani (second master), which implies
that he was the first to introduce it (the first master, of course, was
'Abd al-Qadir), and he is said to have founded some 40 (or 48)
tekkes in the region.3
2. EGYPT AND THE MAGHRIB
Egypt and the Maghrib constitute a special zone, since most
orders founded in these regions, mainly in the next phase when
in the Maghrib they underwent a unique development, did not
spread far beyond their confines, or at least outside Africa.
Further, the Sufis of the region contributed little during the for-
mative period to the doctrines and method of tasawwuf.
A number of eminent Sufis were Egyptians, at least by adop-
tion: Dhu Jn-Nun (d. a.d. 860), whose father came from the
Nubian stretch, the greatest Arab Sufi poet, 'Umar ibn al-Farid
(d. a.d. 1234), of Syrian parentage but born and lived in Egypt,*
and al-Busirl (d. a.d. 1296), important because of his influence
1 Abu '1-Fadl al-'Allami, A'in-i Akbari, tr. H. S. Jarrett, new edition, 1948,
Hi. 398.
2 Tabaqat of Wad f)aif Allah, ed. Mandil, pp. 43-3; ed. §idaiq, pp. 44-5.
3 J. von Hammer-Purgstall, Histoire de VEmpire Ottoman, ed. J. J. Hellert,
Paris, 1835-43, xviii. 77. Among the hundreds of convents mentioned by
Evliya Chelebi very few are Qadiri; references in von Hammer's translation
under the title of Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia and Africa by Evliya
Effendi, London, 1834-50, 1. ii. 59, 81; 11. 8, 213.
* Some of Ibn al-FaridJs poems were composed for singing at Sufi ecstasy
concerts; see C. A. Nallino, Raccolta di Scritti, ii. 205-6.
THE CHIEF TARIQA LINES 45
upon popular piety. Though few schools of mystical insight had
their origin in Egypt, the cities abounded with khanaqahs which
welcomed Sufis from both East and West. Such khanaqahs, how-
ever, were urban and professional institutions and had little effect
upon the spiritual life of fallahin.
Egypt became the elected home of ash-Shadhili, the chief
centre from which his teaching spread, to become eventually one
of the great Ways. Two Egyptian tariqa founders whose orders
survived were Ahmad al-Badawi and Ibrahim ad-Dasuqi. Ahmad
al-BadawT (b. 596/1199) was an Egyptian by adoption, for he
belonged to an Arab family which had emigrated to Fez and then
returned to the Hijaz.1 He was originally a Rifa'I and received
his training at the centre in the Bata'ih of Iraq. On the death in
632/1234 of Abu 1-Fath al-Wasitl, khalifa of Ahmad ar-Rifa%
former murshid of ash-Shadhili and from a.h. 620 Rifa'i represen-
tative in Egypt, the 'Iraqi brethren sent Ahmad to take his place.2
He settled in Tanta, won great renown, and received divine
authority to found his own Way. He died in 675/1276 and his
tomb at Tanta was to become the most famous sanctuary and place
of ziydra in Egypt. His order, known as the Ahmadiyya but better
referred to as the Badawiyya to avoid confusion with other orders
of the same name, gave rise to a number of branches,3 not con-
fined to Egypt, for it spread into Hijaz, Syria, Turkey, Tripoli-
tania, and Tunisia.
Ibrahim ibn Abl 51-Majd ad-Dasuqi (c. 644/1246-687/1288) was
no khdnaqah Sufi but came from the soil of the Nile banks, being
born in a village into a baraka-inheriting family and deriving his
nisba from another village with which he was associated. Ash-
Sha'ranl's considerable notice on him* consists mainly of quota-
tions from his Jawahir, a book of instructions to murids, and little
is known about his life. He is shown to have been initiated into
the Suhrawardi,5 Rifa% and Badawi chains, and then received
1 Ash-Sha'ranl gives an account of his life and dicta transmitted by his brother
Hasan; at-Tabaqdt al-kubrd, Cairo, a.h. 1355, *• J5^~^3-
2 He received his nisba of al-Badawi through having arrived in Egypt wearing
Arab dress. Later he was called al-Mulaththam, 'the Muffled', but it is unlikely
that he was a §anhaji Berber. Ash-Sha'rani (op. cit. i. 160, 1. 16) says he wore
the two Uthdms (of the eastern Arabs) from childhood.
3 A list of these branches is given in Appendix E.
4 Ash-Sha'ranl, at-Tabaqdt al-Kubrd, A.H. 1355, i. 143-58.
5 Association with Najm ad-din Mahmud al-Isfahanl? al-Wasiti, Tirydq,
p. 61.
46
THE CHIEF TARlQA LINES
permission to found an independent fariqa. This was known as
the Ibrahimiyya until the ninth century a.h. when adherents began
calling themselves Dasuqis. It was also known as the Burhaniyya
from his laqab Burhan ad-dm. Like the Badawiyya it split into
independent groups and spread outside Egypt to Syria, Hijaz,
Yemen, and Hadramawt.
Sufism was slow in spreading into the Maghrib,1 but in spite
of the kind of Malik! and official obscurantism which had led to
the promulgation of zfatwa condemning and banning al-Ghazall's
works (503/1109) it gained a foothold during the Almoravid period
(a.d. 1056-1147) and even flourished under the Almohades (a.d,
1 130-1269). In Spain, although there was the brief flowering
associated with Ibn Masarra (a.d. 883-931) and his pupils,
Sufism could not thrive openly in the atmosphere of intolerance
and suspicion that prevailed there. Eminent Sufis of the age were
the Sanhaji Abu '1- 'Abbas Ahmad, known as Ibn al-'Arif (a.d.
1088-1141), whose disciple, Abu 'l-Qasim ibn Qasiyy, demon-
strated how easily spiritual power can aspire to mundane power
when he rose from his ribat of Silvas (a.d. 1141) and subjected
a large section of Algarves region (southern Portugal) before he
was killed in 546/1 151. The greatest Sufi to come out of Spain
was, of course, Ibn al-'Arabi (a.d. 1 165-1240), but he was of
Arab origin and a universal figure, against whose doctrines
Maliki literalism imposed, successfully for the most part, a
barrier of condemnation.
In enduring influence in relation to subsequent fariqa develop-
ment the greatest of the early Sufis was Abu Madyan Shu'aib
b. al-Husain (a.d. 1126-98).2 Born near Seville he moved as a
young man to Fez, where he was attracted to the pursuit of the
mystic Way and was initiated by Muhammad ad-Daqqaq and
Abu Ya'azza (d, a.d. i 176), the latter a crude non- Arabic-speaking
Berber. He went on pilgrimage and travelled to Iraq, where he
1 Al-Maqdisi (ed. de Goeje, 1906, p. 238) says that there was not a single
khdnaqdh of the Karramiyya in the Maghrib in his time (about a.d. 970) and
assuredly none of the Sufiyya.
2 Biographies of the Maghrib! mystics of this period are given in the collec-
tions of Ibn az-Zayyat at-Tadili, At-Tashauowuf ild rijdl at-Tasaiozmif, written
around 617/1220, and 'Abd al-IJaqq al-Badisi, Al-Maqsad, written c. 711/1311,
tr. G. S. Colin in Archives Marocatnes, xxvi (1926). Colin points out (p. 11 and
n.) that only one of the holy men mentioned in the Maqsad and none of the
260 in the Tashawwuf is qualified by the title of sharif, a title without which
holiness was impossible to achieve in the Maghrib at a later date.
Abu Madyan, d. 1197
Madyaniyya
Ahmad ibn ar-Rifa'i, d. 1182
Rlfa'iyya
Yusuf b. Khalaf 'Abd ar-Razzaq Abu 'Abdallah
al-Kuml al-Jazuli M. b. I.Iarazim
d. 1 180 d. Alexandria d. 1236
Muhyyiddln
Ibn al-'Arabl
d. 1240
Abu Musa
as-Sadratl
'Abd as-Salam Abu U-Fath al-Wasitl
ibn Mashlsh d. Alexandria,
d. 1228 1234
Abu 'l-lrlajjaj Abu Muhammad
Yusuf al-Uqsuri Salih al-MSgirl
d, Luxor, 1244 d. Asff, 1234
Abu 'l-I;Iasan
ash-Shadhitf
d. 1258
Ahmad al-BadawI
d. Tanta, 1276
'Abd al-Wahhab Shammas
al-Hindi an-NGb!
Ahmad b. Muhammad
at-Tabbasi (Dabbasi)
at-Tunisi
'All ibn MaimOn
d. Lebanon, 1511
'Alawan 'All Mhd b. 'Arraq 'AH b. Ahmad
b. 'Atfyya d. 1526 al-Kizwam
d. 1530 Khawatiriyya d. 1548
(Syria)
Abu Sa'id
al-Hansali
I
I
I
I
Sa'id ibn Yusuf
d. 1702
Han$aliyya
Aljmad a§-Sayyad
d. 1273
§ayyadiyya
I
'Abdallah
al-Maghribl
Abu '1- 'Abbas
Ahmad al~Mursi, d.
Ibrahim ad-Dasiiql
1287 d. 1288
Dastlqiyya- Burhamiyy a
Ahmad
ibn 'Alwan
d, 1266
'Alwaniyya
(Yemen)
Badawiyya
branches
Ibn 'A{a' Allah
al-Iskandari, d, 1309
'Abd ar-Rahman Yahya b.
al-Hazmirl
d. 1307
I
f
I
Hazmlriyya
'Abd
al-tfahi
'Aziz
IJahiyya
Abu 'Abdallah
M. Amghar
Abu 'AbdallSh
al-Jazul!
d. 1465/70
Jaztili
branches
Da'ud al-Bakhili
I
Muhammad Wafa'
d. 1358
'AH ibn Mhd Wafa'
d. 140*.
Wafa'iyya
Yahya
al-Qadirl (Qarafi?)
Ahmad b. 'Uqba
al-ffadrami (Egypt)
Yaqut al-'Arshi
d. Alexandria,
707/1307
Shihab ad-din
al-Mablaq
Nasir ad-din
al-Mablaq
d. 797/J394
Shams ad-din
Muhammad al-IJanafl
d. 847/1443
^lanafiyya
(Egypt)
Ahmad b, al-'Arus
d. 1460
'Arusiyya
Ahmad az-Zarruq
d. c. 1494
Zarruqiyya
Karzaziyya
Ra8hidiyya
etc.
I
Darqawlyya
THE CHIEF TARIQA LINES
47
met Ahmad ar-Rifa% ties of fraternity and extrasensory contact
being established between them.1 On his return he settled at
Bougie (Bijaya). His teaching and reputation stirred the envy and
opposition of the Almohade tulama>\ he was summoned to the
capital Marrakush to give an account of himself and died on the
way at the village of ' Ubbad (presumably a centre of 'devotees')
near Tilimsan.
Although a distinctive Madyam Way derives from him and he
was the master of the twelfth-century Sufis of western Islam,
relatively few Madyam taifas came into being. A number of
Abu Madyan's spiritual sons and grandsons went to Egypt and
gained great fame there.3 These included Abu '1-Hajjaj Yusuf,
a former customs officer, who founded a zdwiya at Luxor in the
ruins of the Temple of Amun where he died (642/1244) and whose
mawlid there became the most famous in upper Egypt.3 Another
was Abu 'l-Iiajjaj's master, fAbd ar-Razzaq al-Jazuli, who went
to live in the zawiya ascribed to Dhu 'n-Nun at Akhrnim and then
Alexandria where he is buried. Other western Sufis who found
a more congenial spiritual home in the East were the Andalusians
Ibn al-fArabi (d. Damascus 638/1240), Ibn Sab'in (d. Mecca
669/1270), and the latter's disciple the poet Shushtarl (d. 668/1269
near Damietta), a Madyam by mystical ascription, who wrote
short muwashshahat poems which have continued to be popular
in Shadhili hadras to this day + In Jerusalem there is a zawiya
founded by a grandson of Abu Madyan situated near Bab as-
Silsila of the Haram ash- Sharif which still survives.
Abu Madyan's Way was perpetuated through his pupil, eAbd
as-Salam ibn Mashlsh (d. 625/1228), and the latter's most eminent
disciple, Abu '1-Iiasan 'All ash-Shadhill, whose Way, called the
Shadhiliyya, was to become the most important in north Africa
1 See Ibn Battuta, Rihla, Cairo edn., 1938, i. 59.
2 Sha'rani* says (Lawaqih, ii. 19, 1. 27) that Abu Madyan himself sent many
of his followers to Egypt. These included the son, Madyan, from whom he
derives his kunya. The site of his tomb is mentioned; op. cit., i. 133.
3 On Abu '1-Hajjaj al-Uqsuri see al-BadisI, Maqsad (pp. 153-7), where his
successor, a Nubian of Christian origin, Shammas an-Nubi, and other 'com-
panions' are named. Sha'rani has a notice on him in Lawaqih (i. 136-7),
and Ibn Battuta visited his tomb (i. 107). Another immigrant Berber was
'Abd ar-Rahlm at-Targhi (d. at Qena, 592/1196), master of Abu '1-I?asan 'AH
b. as-Sabbagh al-QusI (d. at Qena, 613/1216).
^ Commentaries on these poems have appeared in Madyanx circles, e.g. the
Syrian, 'Alawan 'All b. 'Atfyya (d, a.D. 1530), an-Nafahat al-qudsiyyafi shark
al-abyat ash-Shushtariyyai see Ibn al-'Imad, Shadhardt, viii. ai8.
48
THE CHIEF TARlQA LINES
from Morocco to Egypt and also to gain a following in Syria and
Arabia.
This Abu '1-Hasan, born in the village of Ghumara in the far
West in 593/1196, received his first kkirqa from Abu 'Abdallah M.
b. Harazim (d. 633/1236), a pupil of Abu Madyan. He went east
in A.H. 615, where he was drawn to the Rifa'i school, accepting
Abu '1-Fath al-Wasiti as his shaikh (a.d. 618). He became obsessed
with the search for the Qutb (Pivot) of the universe1 and Abu
'l-Fath told him to return to the West where he would find him.
He returned and eventually found him in fAbd as-Salam ibn
Hashish of Fez who 'prepared him for the walaya\z Later, on
the advice of fAbd as-Salam, he left Morocco to go into retreat in
a cave near a village of Ifriqiya called Shadhila, whence derives his
nisba. Periodically he went out on preaching and teaching tours,
thereby incurring the hostility of the Tunisian *ulama\ So bitter
did the persecution become that, in spite of the support of the
sultan, Abu Zakariyya al-Hafsi, he was driven to take refuge in
Egypt, where he won great renown, not only among the populace,
but surprisingly enough even with 'ulamd*. He made a practice
of going on hajj every year and he died at Humaithra on the Red
Sea coast whilst on the way back from one of them in 656/1258.3
We have said that it is usually impossible to pierce through the
mists of pious legend to the real men beneath. A few letters of
Abu 'l-flasan have survived which show him as a very human
shaikh, a leader of pilgrimages, whose personal dedication did
not weaken his concern for the welfare of his followers. But in
addition they enable us to discern how he and other fariqa leaders
were able to become the inspirers of enduring systems. This
correspondence is inaccessible to me but here is a testimony to its
value from P. Nwyia:
This correspondence shows not only that Shadhili had a deep know-
ledge of the Sufi teaching of the eastern doctors, but a personal experi-
ence of spiritual realities. If Shadhili knew how to inspire his disciples
it was not so much that he preached to them a simple Sufism as because
he had the qualities of a spiritual master as is revealed by his letters.
He certainly formed no intellectual system, but he had qualities of
1 See Ahmad b. M. b. 'Abbad, Al-Mafdkhir al-'Aliyya, Cairo, a.h. 1327,
p. 10; and for the Qutb see below, pp. 163-5.
2 Walaya used in this way has the sense of 'spiritual office or jurisdiction'.
3 See Ibn Baftuta, 1939 edn., i. 42.
THE CHIEF TARlQA LINES
49
spiritual discernment and knew how to extract from his personal ex-
periences what was valuable to others.1
Abu 'l-Hasan as a shaikh saih or Vagabond ascetic' did not
himself initiate his pupils into any special rule or ritual, but his
teaching was maintained by his disciples. One disciple in particular,
Abu '1- 'Abbas Ahmad al-Mursi (6 16/12 19-686/1287), Andalusian
in origin, who joined his circle in Alexandria, was regarded as
his successor, and a ribat with a mosque was built for him. The
existence of any Shadhili tariqa at all is due to al-Mursi and his
successor, Taj ad-din ibn (Ata* Allah 'Abbas (d. Cairo yog/i^og),2
who wrote an account of the life and sayings of both Abu '1-Hasan
and Abu '1- 'Abbas3 and collected their awrad. Pupils carried on
the Way of ash- Shadhili in scattered zawiyas having little con-
nection with each other. In Ifriqiya his name was kept alive by
a small group of pupils with whom Abu 'l-fjasan had kept up
a correspondence after he had been forced to leave the country.4
An Egyptian derivative was the Wafa'iyya, founded by Shams
ad-din M. ibn Ahmad Wafa' (7oi/i30i-76o/i359),s whose son
cAli (761/1357-807/1404) is one of the great names in Egyptian
Sufism. The Wafa'iyya spread into Syria6 and survived in Egypt
into the present century.
1 P. Nwyia, Ibn 'Abbdd de Ronda, Beirut, 1958, p. 134.
2 At least one Egyptian line, the Hanafiyya, came directly from al-Mursi ; see
Maghrib! table of spiritual genealogies. On the founder, Muhammad al-Hanafi
(d. 847/1443), see Sha'riinl, a^Ta^a^dt al-Rubra, ii. 81-93 (the ascription is on
p. 82); 'AH Mubarak, Khifat Jadida, iv. 99-102.
3 Latd'if al-minan, by Taj ad-din Ahmad ibn 'A^a' Allah al-Iskandari, com-
posed in a.d. 1284, printed on margin of ash-Sha'rani, Lata* if al-minan, Cairo,
a.H. 1357.
4 Two of these wrote short lives of their master, which also include selections
from his correspondence: Muhammad ibn as-§abbagh, Kitdb durrat aUasrdr wa
tuhfat al-abrdr (ed. Tunis), compiled about 720/1320; and *Abd an-Nur ibn
M. al-'Imranl, Ft mandqib Abu *l-Hasan ash-Shadhili, composed about 745/
1344-
s On Muhammad Wafa' (also known as M. Baljr as-§afa) and his son 'All,
well known for his ahzab, see Sha'rani, Ap-fobaqat al-kubrd, ii. 19-60. He
took the tariqa from Da'ud ibn Bakhill and he from Ibn *Ata' Allah.
6 Mujir ad-din mentions a zdzviya in Jerusalem in his time (he died in 927/
1521); see al-Uns al-jalil, ii. 389; tr. Sauvaire, p. 147. He is to be distinguished
from Abu 'l-Wafa* called Kakish (417/1026-501/1107). This Abu '1-Wafa'
was connected with the khirqa line founded by Abu Muhammad 'Abdallah
Talha ash-Shunbuki (tenth century), hence the double name given to it of
Shunbukiyya- Wafa'iyya, which is one of the silsilas to which Ibn ar-Rifa'I was
connected. This 'Abdallah converted the former highway robber Abu '1-Waf a',
who became so famous in the Bafa'ih that he was nicknamed Taj al-'Arifin,
THE CHIEF TARlQA LINES
Through the circulation of Ibn fAta' Allah's works the Shad-
hili Way began to spread in the Maghrib, which had rejected
the master. But it remained an individualistic tradition, almost
Malarnati, though this term was not used, placing strong stress
upon the cultivation of the interior life. Shadhilis wore no habit
(references to investment with the khirqa now begin to disappear),
and no popular form of devotions was encouraged. It was made
clear that faqr (poverty) meant no life of mendicity or complete
withdrawal from normal life, rather the term refers to the interior
life. This is brought out in order to point the contrast with the
fifteenth-century Shadhili movement to which the diffusion of
Abu 'l-Hasan's silsila is largely due, a devotional movement which
affected every family in the Maghrib.1
The period of the early Marinids of Morocco (full dynastic
span, 1195--1470) and early Hafsids of Ifriqiya (a.d. 1228-1534)
was important for the flowering of western Suflsm. Like the Sel-
juqs in the East, the Marinids and Hafsids paralleled the founda-
tion of madrasas with patronage of Sufi leaders and their zawiyas.
The Marinid, Abu 'l-Hasan, after his capture of Tilimsan in a.d.
1337, sponsored the development of a large establishment around
the tomb of Abu Madyan by building a mosque, madrasa, public
baths, and ancillary buildings. Thus fiqh and tasawwuf became
mutually tolerated companions. Suflsm in the Maghrib, as also in
Nilotic Sudan, became a subject for regular teaching compatible
with the acquisition of legal sciences. This contrasts with their
relationship in Arab Near East in general, where classical Suflsm
was just tolerated.
It is clear that a basic, continuative MadyanI tradition was
maintained in the Maghrib quite distinct from the Shadhili
which was then more Egyptian than MaghribI, being known only
'Crown of the Gnostics'. On him see especially al-Wasitl, Tirydq, pp. 41-4;
later accounts are found in collections like Sha'ranl, Lawaqih, A.H. 1355, i. 116.
'Abd al-Qadir al-Jtlani is said 'to have frequented his majlis and benefited from
his baraka', but was not initiated by him (Tiryaq, p. 43), nor was he regarded
as one of Abu 'l-Wafa's star pupils: 'Someone said to Shaikh Baqa' ibn Batu,
"O my lord, was there among the disciples of Abu *1-Waf a' any man so carried
away by the flashings of ecstasy as 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jili?" He replied, "By
God's glory! there were ranged under the banner of Abu 51-Wafa* seventeen
sultans, everyone of them more perfect in ecstatic progression than fAbd al-
Qadir" * {Tiryaq, p. 44).
1 This is not to deny the existence of popular, even extravagant, dhikr devo-
tions practised in common, but these seem to be localized when contrasted with
their later profusion.
THE CHIEF TARlQA LINES
in Tunisia, and spreading only slowly westwards, not becoming
popular until the fifteenth- century revival. Al-Wasitl, writing in
Iraq about a.d. 1320, calls the Madyan! tradition the Tilimsaniyya,1
and zawiyas associated with it provided the nuclei from which
the popular movement began. Ibn Qunfudh in his Uns aLfaqir,
composed in a.d. 1385 and principally concerned with the life
of Abu Madyan, mentions2 six to* if as in western Morocco. The
Magiriyyun deriving from Abu Muhammad Salih ibn (Yansaran)
Sa'id al-Magiri (c. 550/11 55-631/1234), a disciple of Abu Madyan,
who spent twenty years in Alexandria and, on his return to
Morocco to found a ribat at Asfi, intensified the movement of
pilgrims to the holy places. He wrote a Talqin al-wird and had
much to endure from the enmity of the fuqaha'J At the end of the
seventh/thirteenth century his order was in a state of confusion
and a descendant, Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Magirl, wrote a life
called al-Minhaj al-wadih in order to preserve the name of the
master from the charge of bid' a cast upon it by the Malik! bigots, as
well as to recount his karamat or manifestations of God's favour.
Other defined Berber groups included: the Shu'aibiyyun,
deriving from Abu Shu'aib Ayyub b. Sa'id, patron saint of
Azammtir (d. A.D. 1165) and one of the masters of Abu Ya'azza;
the Hahiyyun, from Abu Zakariya Yahya al-IJahi; the Gham-
matiyyun (or Aghmatiyya) or Hazimriyya, from Abu Zaid 'Abd
ar- Rahman al-Hazmiri (d. a.d. 1307); a group of Banu Amghar
known as Sanhajiyyun, centred on the ribat of Tit-an-Fitr,
founded around a.d. 1140; and a Hujjaj group, whose members
were restricted to those who had accomplished the pilgrimage to
3. IRANIAN, TURKISH, AND INDIAN SPHERES
In the Iranian world Sufis blended the two traditions of interior
religion: that which came to be linked with the name of al-
Junaid (Sufi: Mesopotamian), and that associated with Abu Yazid
1 Al-Wasitf, Tirydq, p. 49.
2 References to these groups will be found in G. S. Colin's translation of the
Maq$ad of al-Badisi, Archiv, Maroc. xxvi (1926), 207-8; see also P. Nwyia,
Ibn 'Abbdd de Ronda, Beirut, 1958, pp. xxx-xxxi; A. Faure, art. 'Hazmiriyyun',
E.I? ill 338-9.
3 See al-Badisi, Maq$ad> pp. 92-3, 196-
Mecca.
52
THE CHIEF TARlQA LINES
al-Bistami (MalamatI: Khurasanian).1 Iranian Sufis tended to ex-
press greater individualism, divergent tendencies, and heterodox
doctrines and practices, and consequently it was here that such
tendencies are reflected in later orders. Many Sufis were strongly
drawn towards 'All as the source of esoteric teaching, and Imami-
Twelver (and to a lesser degree Isma'ili) ideas survived under the
cloak of Sufism. Later, these were to come into the open and con-
solidate themselves in new orders (Dhahabiyya, Nurbakhshiyya,
Ni'matullahiyya, and Bektashiyya), or as with the Safawiyya,
whose head in the early sixteenth century became the master
of Iran, actually change from a Sunn! to a Shi'I order.
The accompanying tree of spiritual genealogies, which shows
some aspects of the merging of the two traditions, serves at least
to introduce the names of famous Sufis whose leadership and
ideas were deeply to influence subsequent orders. Two significant
figures in central Asian Sufi history were Abu 1-Hasan 'All al-
Kharaqani (d. a.d. 1034 at the age of 80), who regarded himself
as the spiritual heir of al-Bistaml,2 and Abu 'All al-Farmadhi
(d. a.d. 1084). Two of the latter's pupils, important in that from
them the chief lines of mystical ascription are derived, are Ahmad
al-Ghazali (d. 520/1126), younger brother of the better-known Abu
yamid, and Yusuf al-Hamadam (441/1049-535/1140). The name
of Abu Hamid al-Ghazali has been inserted in the tree to show
why he counts so little in the teaching as well as the ascriptions
of the orders. He comes fully within our definition of a Sufi,
but, though his mysticism of intellectual insight and under-
standing is acknowledged, he is not regarded as being a practising
Sufi by the ecstatics and gnostics. Aflaki reports Jalal ad-dm Rumi
as commenting:
L'imam Mohammed Ghazali a nettoye la mer de la science dans le
monde des anges; il en a leve Tetandard; il est devenu le guide de
l'univers et le savant des mortels. S'il avait eu un atome d'amour
1 See al-Wasiti, Tiryaq, p. 47, Other early Khurasanian shaikhs with strong
MalamatI tendencies included Ytisuf ibn al-Husain ar-Razi (d. 301/913), Abu
Hafs al-Haddad (d. 365/879), and Abu 'Uthman al-Hairl (d. 298/911).
2 On al-Kharaqanl see E. Berthel's article in Islamica, iii. 5 ff. ; FarJd ad-din
'Aftar, Tadhkirat aUawliya\ ed. R. A. Nicholson, 1905-7, ii. 201-55. De
Beaurecueil has pointed out {Khavoddja 'Abdullah An§dri, Beirut, 1965, pp.
65-6) a number of traits which Kharaqani and Bistami had in common ; apart
from the fact that they came from the same district, they were both illiterates
who, on their own, without the supervision of any murshid, sought to follow
the Way to God by direct divine guidance.
THE CHIEF TARIQA LINES 53
mystique comme Ahmed Ghazali, cela aurait mieux valu, et il aurait
connu le mystere de la proximite mahometane, comme Ahmed l'a
connu, car il n'y a rien de pareil, dans FUnivers, a V amour d'un maitre,
d'un directeur spirituel, d'un introducteur [des profanes aupres de la
Divinite].1
The twelfth century was a period of transition in these regions
towards a distinctively Persian Suflsm, for which the way had
been prepared by Sufi poets like Abu Sa'id ibn Abi 'l-Khair
(a.d. 967-1049).* With this movement Abu Ya'qub Yusuf al-
Hamadani al-Buzanjirdi (a.d, 1049-1140) is especially associated.
He left his native Lur-Kurd village in Hamadan province for
Baghdad, where he studied fiqh under the famous Shafi'i jurist,
Abu Ishaq ash-Shlrazi (d. a.d. 1083). He did brilliantly, especially
devoting himself to Him an-nazar (rationalism), and was put in
1 CI. Huart, Les saints des derviches tourneurs, 1918, i. 200. See also Ibn
Sab'In's very shrewd assessment of Abu Hamid; Arabic text given by L.
Massignon, Recueil de textes inidits relatifs a la mystique musuhnane, Paris, 1929,
pp. 129-31.
The most remarkable of Ahmad's pupils, 'Abdallah ibn M., commonly known
as 'Ain al-Qudat al-Hamadani, regarded the JJiya* as primarily a treatise on
practical ethics. Although his reading of the Jhyd* marks his transition from
formal learning into Sufisra cAin al-Qudat owed his release from spiritual
impasse and subsequent Sufi training to Ahmad al-Ghazall. Enthusiastically
indiscreet he ignored the Sufi injunction Ifshd' sirr ar-rububiyya kufr (it is
impiety to reveal [to the commonalty] the secret of divine power), and after
Ahmad's death taught his inner doctrine openly. This led to his joining (in
525/1 131 at the early age of 33) al-HalJaj and preceding as-Suhrawardi 'al-
Maqtul' of Aleppo on the roll of Sufi martyrs. It was for him that Ahmad
wrote his treatise 'Intuitions of the Lovers' (Sawdnik al-'ushshdq) which he
(== 'Ain) paraphrased in Persian under the title LawaH)} (ed. H. Ritter, Aphoris-
tnen iiber die Liebe, Istanbul/Leipzig, 1942: Bibliotheca Islamica, Bd, 15). 'Ain
al-Qudat's remarkable defence in Arabic called Shaqwd 'l-gharib, addressed to
his friends whilst in prison, has been edited and translated by M. 'Abd al-Jalil
in J. Asiat. ccxvi (1930), 1-76, 193-297.
3 Other early Sufi writers in Persian include the Hujwlri to whose Kashf
(composed around a.d. 1050) we have referred frequently, the qalandari known
as Baba Tahir (d. a.d. ioio), Abu 'l-Majd Sana'! (d. c. a.d. 1141) ,and Abu
Isma'Ii 'Abdallah al-Ansarl al-Harawi(d. Herat, a.d. 1089). Harawl's Hanbalism
was tempered and his outlook modified through his coming under the influence
of Abu '1-Hasan al-Kharaqani. He headed a teaching circle in Herat; one who
studied under him being Yusuf al-Hamadani. Strictly he should not have been
included in the table of spiritual genealogies since he does not appear to have
been a transmitting murshid and his name does not appear in silsilas. As well
as his famous Sufi guide-book in Arabic, Mandzil as-sd'irin (ed. and tr. S. de
L. de Beaurecueil, Cairo, I.F.A.O., 1962), he wrote Mundjdt, meditations in
Persian saj' and verse, which is supposed to have influenced the composition of
Sa'di's Biistdn.
54 THE CHIEF TARlQA LINES
charge of a class of students. Then suddenly 'he abandoned all the
theoretical speculation to which he had been devoted and took
himself off into retreat to prepare to dedicate himself to the things
which really mattered — the personal life of devotion in God's
service, to calling people to God, and to guiding his contem-
poraries along the right Path'.1 He returned to Hamadan, then to
Merv, dividing his time between there and Herat. Many famous
Sufis ascribed themselves to him, but from two of his khalifas
in particular spring two major lines of ascription, one Persian,
derived from fAbd al-Khaliq al-Ghujdawani, the other Turkish,
derived from Ahmad al-YasavI.
The Paths of these great central Asian Sufis, after taking root
among Iranians, also took hold of the expanding Turks, and were
an important factor in facilitating their adjustment to Islam.
These ascriptions and tendencies spread with their dispersion,
a process accelerated by the Mongol conquests, and became
especially influential at the far extremes, in Anatolia and India.
Ahmad al-Yasavi stands as the prototype of all the Turkish Sufis,
and from him derives IJajji Bektash2 as a kind of mythical symbol
of hundreds of migrating Turkish babas,2 whose name served as
the eponym of a famous tariqa. The Yasavi tradition was strongly
Turkish from the beginning. Ahmad began his training under a
Turkish shaikh, Arslan Baba, after whose death he went to
Bukhara, at that time still largely Iranian, to join Yusuf al~
Harnadanl's circle, becoming his khalifa number four.4 Later, he
resigned his position to return to Turkestan to become the head
of a group of Turkish-ascribed shaikhs {sar-i silsila-i mashaikh-i
Turk),5 A long line of Turkish mystics derive from his inspiration
which, with the migration of babas, spread among the Turks of
Anatolia. Whereas the Mawlawiyya, which thrived in certain
1 Ibn Khallikan (Wafaydt, Cairo, a.h. 1399, i"- 42°) quoting Ibn an-Najjar
(d. 643/1245), who in turn is quoting Abu Sa'cl as-Sam'ani (d. 563/1166), his-
torian of Merv.
2 Al-WasitI shows (Tirydq, p. 47) that the derivation of the khirqa of Sayyid
Bektash al-Khurasanl, nazil bildd ar-Rum, from Ahmad al-Yasavi was accepted
in Iraq c. 1320.
3 Baba is the Turkish term for a missionary or popular preacher. Ata is an
equally common designation and title for a holy man.
4 His first khalifa was 'Abd al-Khaliq, the second 'Abdallah Barqi, and the
third Abu Muhammad Hasan al-Andaqi (d. a.d. 1157). It is highly unlikely
that Ahmad succeeded to the leadership of the Bukharan circle as Yasavi
tradition asserts.
s Aii ibn Husain al-Wa'iz, Rashahdt fain al-haydt, pp. 8-9.
THE CHIEF TARIQA LINES 55
circles in Anatolia, belonged to the Iranian tradition, the Khal-
watiyya derived from this central Asian Turkish tradition, but its
treatment has been reserved for the next chapter.
Having inserted a genealogical table it may be well to remark
that the lines of ascription up to this age do not imply the descent
of one rule. Sufis still wandered about seeking masters, many did
not transmit any one tradition, but formed their own Ways from
their various sources of enlightenment. This is particularly the
case with the order-founders. The difference after their establish-
ment is that they become true silsila-tariqas, that is to say, the
line traced back through certain figures is consciously maintained.
These chains of authority are often very complicated. Whilst that
from the founder to the ancestor tends to become stable, the lines
of each individual khalifa back to the founder varied.
The main tariqas emerging from the central Asian tradition
which survived in some form were the Kubrawiyya, Yasaviyya,
Mawlawiyya, Naqshabandiyya, Chishtiyya, and Bektashiyya. We
will give a short account of the founder and the development of
the tradition, with the exception of Hajjl Bektash, whose relation-
ship to the order attributed to him is tenuous, whilst the order
itself comes more appropriately into the next stage of development.
(a) Kubrawiyya
From Najm ad-din Kubra (540/1 145-618/1221)1 stem many
chains of mystical ascription or derivative orders, mostly now
defunct but important for the historical range of the orders and
for their sanads of dhikr practices. Although born in Khiva
(Khwarizm) Najm ad-din followed a course of ascetic discipline
in Egypt under the Persian shaikh-stfth, Ruzbihan al-Wazzan al-
Misrl (d. 584/1188), disciple of Abu Najib as-Suhrawardi, from
whom he received his first khirqa, but it was not until his search
led him to Baba Faraj of Tabriz that he adopted the full Sufi life.
Another teacher was 'Ammar ibn Yasir al-Bidlisi (d. c. a.d. 1200),
but his real training took place under Isma'll al-Qasri (d. 589/1193),
who gave him the khirqa of tabarruk. He settled eventually in his
native Khwarizm and built a khanaqah in which he trained a
number of remarkable men, including Majd ad-din al-Baghdadi2
1 On Najm ad-din Kubra see F. Meier's edition of his Fawd'fy al-jamal wa
fawatih al-jalal (Wiesbaden, 1957) which contains a valuable study of his life
and thought.
2 The nisba probably relates to Baghdadak in Khwarizm.
8265247 E
THE CHIEF fARtQA LINES
(d. a.d. 1 21 9), who was the shaikh of the great Persian poet,
Farid ad-din 'Attar (d. c. a.d. 1225), author of Mantiq at-Tair
('Speech of the Bifds5), an allegorical mathnam which traces the
spiritual pilgrimage through 'Seven Valleys' (stages) with deep
insight. Najm ad-din fell victim to the Mongol sack of Khwarizm
in a.d. 1 22 1. Although most of his works are in Arabic he wrote
in Persian a Sifat al-adab (rules of conduct) for the guidance of
neophytes, which forms an important landmark in the trend to-
wards the Iranization of Suflsm.
From many of Najm ad-din's khalifas no defined branch orders
stemmed but rather a Kubrawi taHfa localized around the khalifa's
tomb, to which were attached a convent and ancillary buildings.
Many establishments of this kind were visited by Ibn Battuta in
A.D. 1333. These included that of Najm ad-din himself outside
Khwarizm1 and that of Saif ad-din al-Bakharzi (d. 658/1260),
who received the adherence of Berke, Khan of the Golden Horde,
to Islam,2 and whose tomb and convent in Bukhara were built
under Timur's patronage.3 Another khalifa was the Shf i, Safd
ad-din M. al-IJamuya (or Iiamuyl, d. c, 650/1252), whose descen-
dants maintained a localized taHfa around his tomb at Bahrabad
in Khurasan.
The main orders deriving from Najm ad-din were:4
Firdawsiyya, an Indian branch of the line from the Bakharzi of
Bukhara who has just been mentioned. It derives its name from
a khalifa of his called Badr ad-din Firdawsi, whose khalifa,
Najib ad-din Muhammad (d. Delhi c. a.d. 1300), introduced
the order into India.5
Nuriyyay a Baghdadi branch, founded by Nur ad-din 'Abd ar-
Rahman al-Isfara'ini (d. 717/13 17), master of as-Simnani.
Rukniyya, a Khurasani branch, deriving from Rukn ad-din Abu
1-Makarim Ahmad ibn Sharaf ad-din, generally known as
'Ala* ad-Dawla as-Simnani, d. 736/1336.
Hamadaniyya, a Kashmiri branch of the Rukniyya, founded by
1 Ibn Batfuta, Paris edn., iii. 5-6.
2 Ibn Khaldun, ,Ibar> Bulaq, 1867, v. 534.
3 Ibn Baftuta (iii. 37), who attended a sama at the convent when songs
were sung in Turkish and Persian.
4 Most derivatives branched out from one line, that of Najm ad-din's most
forceful and independent pupil, Majd ad-din al-Baghdadi; see Kubrawi table.
s According to A'in-i Akbari, 1948 edn., iii. 407-8.
Najm ad-din Kubra
d. 618/1221
Kubrawiyya
Saif ad-din Sa'id
al-Bakharzi
d. Bukhara 658/1360
I
Badr ad-din
Firdawsi
as-Samarqandi
I
Najib ad-din
Muhammad
d. Delhi
Sharaf ad-din
Ahmad b. Yahya
al-Mauiri
d. 1380
Firdawsiyya
(in Bihar, India)
Farid ad-din
'Attar
d. c. 1225
I
Majd ad-din
al-Baghdadi
d. 616/1219
Radi ad-din
'Ali-i LalS
d. 642/1244
I
Ahmad al-Gurpani
d. 669/1270
Nur ad-din 'A.R.
al-Isfara'ini
Al-Kasirqi
d. 717/1317
Nuriyya
I
Rukn ad-din
'Ala' ad-dawla
as-Simnani
d. 736/1336
Sa'd ad-din
al-I^amtiya
d. 650/1252
L
Najm ad-din
ad~D5ya
d. 1256
- 1 lin 'Aziz b. M.
Ibrahim an-Nasafi
d. 1322 d. 661/1263
Bahrabad
fa 'if a
Rukniyya
Taqi ad-din
Akhi 'Ali-i Dusti
Mahmud Mazdaqani
*Ali-i Hamadam
b. Shihab ad-din
d. 786/1384
Ashraf jahangir
as-Simnani
d. 808/1405
1
Ashrafiyya
(Oudh3 India)
Rashid ad-din
M. al-Baidawari
i
'All al-Baidawari
i
Mubammad b, Siddiq
al-Khiyushabi
I
I^usain
al-Khwarizmi
Ishaq al-Khuttalani
d. 826/1423
Ightlshashiyya
, l ,
Hamadaniyya
'Abdallah
al-Barzishabadi
al-Mashhadl
Dhahabiyya
(Shiraz)
Muhammad ibn
'Abdallah
al-Ahsa'i
=NQrbakhsh
d. 869/1465
I
Qasim
Faid-bakhsh
Nurbakhshiyya
Shams ad-din
al-Lahiji
d. 912/1506
Lahjaniyya
Ya'qub
ibn al-IJasan
al-Kashmiri
I
Ya'qiibiyya
(in India)
I
I
THE CHIEF TARlQA LINES
57
Sayyid 'All ibn Shihab ad-din b. M. al-Hamadam, b. Hama-
dan 714/13 14, d. in Pakhli 786/1385, and buried at Khotlan in
Tajikistan. The definitive establishment of Islam in Kashmir
is ascribed to three visits of this vagrant Sufi in a.d. 1372, 1379,
and 1383. He was associated with a migration of seven hundred
Sufis seeking a haven from the Mongols under Timur, followed
by another three hundred under 'All's son, Mir Muhammad.1
Ightishdshiyya,2 a Khurasani branch founded by Ishaq al-Khutta-
lani (assassinated by emissaries of Shah Rukh in 826/1423),
a pupil of fAli ai-Hamadani. From him through his pupil,
'Abdallah Barzishabadi Mashhadi, came the Shfi order of
Dhahabiyya (centred today in Shiraz), the term by which
Najm ad-din's line is frequently and confusingly denominated.
Nurbakhshiyya, a Khurasani branch, deriving from Muhammad
ibn 'Abdallah, called Nurbakhsh (d. 869/1465), a pupil of
Ishaq al-Khuttalani, who developed his own distinctive Shi'I
beliefs. From him again stemmed two lines: that through his
son, Qasim Faid-bakhsh, carried on the Nurbakhshi, and the
other through Shams ad-din M. al-Lahiji (or Lahjani, d. 912/
1506-7), who had a khdnaqah in Shiraz, branched out inde-
pendently.
As-Simnam was a most important influence in the intellectual
development of central Asian and Indian orders, even though his
own order was of no great importance. Born in 659/1261 in the
Khurasanian village of Simnan into a family with a civil service
tradition he entered the service of the Buddhist Ilkhan Arghun
(reg. a.d. 1284-91); then, as a result of experiencing an involun-
tary hal, he adopted the mystical life. After surmounting initial
difficulties with Arghun he was allowed to pursue his new course,
and was initiated into the Kubrawi silsila by al-Kasirqi al-Isfara'im.
After accomplishing the pilgrimage and spending some training
spells in his master's khdnaqah in Baghdad, he settled in his
native place of Simnan, founded his own khdnaqah, Sufiyabad-i
Khudadad, and lived there tranquilly until his death in 736/1336.
He was the author of numerous works,3 and followed an
1 Tcfrikh-i Rashidi, tr. E. Denison Ross, London, 1895, pp. 432-3 ■
* To be distinguished from the Ighit-bashiyya, a KhalwatI order in Anatolia.
3 For his works in Arabic see G.A.L. ii. 263 ; G.A.L.S. ii. 281. On as-Simnani
see F. Meier's art. in E. J.2, i. 346-7, and for his ideas, with references to unpub-
lished MS. material, see A. A. Rizvi, Muslim Revivalist Movements in Northern
58
THE CHIEF TARlQA LINES
orthodox line, advocating a literal interpretation of the Qur'an,
and strict adherence to the sharVa as the essential foundation for
progress along the Path. He deprecated current corruptions (btda*)
in Sufi thought, though not in practice. He condemned ideas
concerning wilaya and saints' miracles. He disputed the theo-
sophical theories of Ibn al-'Arabl, teaching that the world is a
reflection, not an emanation, of Reality. Later, his approach,
taken up by the Indian Naqshabandi, Ahmad as-Sirhindl, came to
be known as wahdat ash-shuhud (Unity of the witness or pheno-
mena) in contradistinction to the wahdat al-wujud (Unity of the
Being) of Ibn al-eArabI.
Although such an orthodox Sufi in the intellectual sphere, he
was a thorough-going ecstatic and adopted and popularized dhikr
practices derived from the methods of the Yogis, in addition to
a particular form of head-jerks developed by his initiator al-
Kasirqi. He also taught that form of 'confrontation' (tawajjuh)
which aimed at contact, through concentration, with the spirits of
dead Sufis; and in particular made a unique contribution to Najm
ad-din's vision-pattern and colour-scheme associated with the Sufi
stages of progressive enlightenment.
(b) Yasaviyya
Ahmad ibn Ibrahim ibn 'AH of Yasi(a town later called Turkes-
tan) we have said was formed in the tradition of Yusuf al-Hamadam
but returned to his homeland in Turkestan and died there in
562/1166. Although little is known about his life, Ahmad's signifi-
cance in the formation of a Turkish Islamic tradition is undisputed.1
The Yasavl tradition has many ramifications, religious, social, and
cultural; it played a role in the Islamization of Turkish tribes,
in the adaptation of Islam to a Turkish nomadic milieu,2 and
India in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Agra, 1965, pp. 36-42. There
is also a valuable study by M. Mole, 'Les Kubrawiya entre Sunnisme et Shiisme
aux huitieme et neuvieme siecles de l'hegire', R.E.I, xxix (1961), 61-142.
1 See Koprtiluzade Mehmed Fuad, Turk edebiyatenda ilk mutesavviflar
['The First Mystics in Turkish Literature'], Pt. 1, Istanbul, 191 9; summarized
by L. Bouvat in R.M.M. xliii (1921), 236-82.
2 Turkish customs incorporated into ritual and practice gave an ethnical
colouring to the tariqa — types of dress, the saw-dhikr, women's participation
in seances, and methods of cattle sacrifices which survived among derivatives
like the Bektashiyya. Turkish was used in worship outside ritual prayer. Ibn
Baftuta says (iii. 36) that 'Ala' ad-din Tarmashirin, sultan of Transoxiana
(a.d. 1326-34), whose winter camp he visited, recited his dhikr after morning
prayer until sunrise in Turkish.
THE CHIEF fARlQA LINES 59
in linguistic reconciliation through the poems of Ahmad and his
successor dervishes like Yunus Emre (d. c. 740/1339).
The following gives some names in direct succession, famous in
central Asian Turkish folklore:
Ahmad al-Yasavi
Sulaiman
Baqirgani
Hakim Ata
d. 1 1 86 in
Khwarizm
Mansur ibn
Arslan Baba
d. 1 197
I
cAbd al-Malik
Taj Khoja
d. iai8
Luqman
Perende
Ishaq Baba
d. 1239
Zengi ibn
'Abd al-Malik
shepherd shaikh
d. near Tashkand
Sa'id al-
Khwarizmi
Khalil Ata
d. 1347
[Baha* ad-din
Naqshabandi]
Sadr
Badr
Ahmad Uzun
Sayyid I^asan
Hajjl Bektash
1335
(Bektashiyya)
Kamal
Ikani
(Ikaniyya)
The Yasaviyya was a fariqa of wanderers; there were few
distinctive branches or permanent settlements, except those
associated with the tombs of these shaikhs to which pilgrimage
became a permanent feature of central Asian Islam. The Yasavl
Way was a Way of holiness and a method of religious practice
which displaced the ancient religion of the Turks, rather than
a mystical Way. These wanderers spread the tradition throughout
Turkestan and among the Kirghiz, from eastern Turkestan north-
wards into Transoxiana (and the region of the Volga), southwards
into Khurasan, and westwards into Azerbaijan and then Anatolia,
where they contributed in the persons of men like Yunus Emre
to the formation of the popular side of the new Islamic Turkish
civilization, but where the Yasavl as a distinctive tradition did
not establish itself. The strength of the cult of Hadrat-i Turkestan,
as Ahmad was called, in the eighth century a.h. is shown by
Timur's readiness to erect an edifice (completed in 801/1398)
60 THE CHIEF TARlQA LINES
on the Sir-Darya consisting of a two-domed structure, one over
Ahmad's grave and the other over the mosque.
The order stressed the retreat (khalzoa), and the Khalwatiyya
which developed in the Azerbaijan region and spread into Anatolia
may be regarded as its western Turkish extension. It also claimed
Baha' ad-din an-Naqshabandl as a descendant through the der-
vish-sultan Khalil.1 A definite order- descendant was the Ikaniyya,
deriving from Kamal Ikani, fifth in spiritual descent from Zengi
Ata. Yasavi shaikhs are still mentioned in the sixteenth century
in central Asia and even in Kashmir.2
(c) Mawlawiyya
This order falls into a special category, since it derives from
a Persian immigrant into Anatolia who belonged to the Khurasa-
nian rather than to the Baghdadian tradition. It is also a localized
order, its influence being restricted to Asia Minor and the Ottoman
European provinces; such tekkes as were founded elsewhere, as in
Damascus, Jerusalem, and Cairo, being chiefly for Turks.
Jalal ad-din3 was born in Balkh in a.d. 1207 to a father, Baha*
ad-din Walad (1148-1231), steeped in the Khwarizrnian mystical
tradition. Local difficulties and the Mongol advance set the family
upon wanderings (1217) which eventually brought them into the
region governed by the Seljuqs of Rum (hence Jalal ad-din's
nisba RumI) in 1225. They stayed for a time at a place called
Laranda (now Qaraman) until invited by Kaiqubad I to his capital
of Qonya, where Jalal ad-din was to spend the rest of his life. His
Sufi training, begun under his father, proceeded along stereotyped
lines under another Balkhi refugee called Burhan ad-din Muhaqqiq
at-Tirmidhi (d. a.d. 1244). But his life was then transported into
a new dimension which turned him from a sober follower of tried
paths into an ecstatic whose visions he transmuted into inspired
Persian poetry. This came about in 1244, through his fifteen
1 See below, p. 63.
2 See Ta'rikh-i Rashidi, pp. 369, 371.
3 The book about Jalal ad-din and his more immediate successors written
under the title alManaqib aWArifin by Shams ad-din Ahmad al-Aflakl, begun
in a.d. 1318, forty-five years after Jalal ad-din's death, and finished in 1353,
is not a biography but a hagiography. Part of the Manaqib was translated by
J. W. Redhouse in the introduction to his translation of Book I of the Masnawi
(London, 1881), and there is a complete translation by C. Huart, Les saints des
derviches tourneurs, Paris, 1918-32. The best edition is that by T. Yaziji,
Ankara, 1959-61.
THE CHIEF TARIQA LINES 61
months' association with a wandering dervish called Shams ad-
din of Tabriz. So obsessed with Shams ad-dm did Jalal ad-din
become and his life so disrupted that his murids plotted against
the dervish. To Jalal ad-din's dismay he disappeared as mysteri-
ously as he had appeared. In fact, he had been murdered by the
murtds with the connivance of one of Jalal ad-din's sons.1
This experience released Jalal ad-din's creative powers and
set him upon a new Way which derives its name from the title
mawlana (our master), given to its founder. Ibn Battuta, whose
visit to Qonya in 1332 we have mentioned earlier, refers to the
Way as the Jalaliyya.* The Way developed as a self-perpetuating
organization immediately after Jalal ad-din's death in 1273.
This order is so well known owing to the publicity given to its
mystical exercises and the fame of the master's mystical poem,
the Mathnawt, that we need only refer to its place in the general
context of the tartqas. The famous Mathnawi is a somewhat
incoherent accumulation of Jalal ad-dm's outbursts, anecdotal
ruminations, and above all parables, expressed in poetical form.
Mawlawis regard it as a revelation of the inner meaning of the
Qur'an, and it was in fact called by Jam! 'the Qur'an in Persian*
(hast Qur'an dar zahan-i Pahlavi).
From the close association of the founder with the Seljuq
ruling authority the order developed aristocratic tendencies and
became a wealthy corporation. It played a considerable cultural
role in Turkey and helped in the reconciliation of certain types of
Christians to Islam, Almost from the beginning it was an heredi-
tary order. Jalal ad-din was succeeded by his vicar, Ilasan IJusam
ad-din, the inspiring genius of the Mathnawi* but after his death
(683/1284) the succession passed to Jalal ad-dm's son, Baha* ad-
dln Sultan Walad, and thereafter rarely was the dynastic succes-
sion broken. The development of the principles and organization
of the order around the name of Mawlana took place under
Sultan Walad. His works gave solidarity to the aesthetic and
emotional mysticism of the master, and when he died at an
advanced age (712/1312) the order had spread widely throughout
Anatolia and a number of daughter centres had been founded.
1 See the article by H. Hitter in E.I.* ii. 393~6.
2 Travels, tr. H. A. R. Gibb, ii. 431.
3 See Anaki, quoted in J. W. Redhouse's translation of the first book of the
Mathnaw, p. 113.
6z THE CHIEF TARtQA LINES
His successor Jalal ad-din Amir 'Arif (d. A.D. 1320) travelled
widely, consolidating these centres, and in his time the principles,
ritual, and organization solidified, though its creative inspiration
survived into the age of Sellm III when the order produced its
last great poet in Ghalib Dede (Mehmed Es'ad: a.d. 1758-99).
The order remained centralized and was not subject to the splitting
process which so typified the Khalwatiyya, but this also meant
that its influence was restricted to Turkey.1
The members of this order became famous for their devotion
to music and the nature of their dhikr exercises, whence they were
known to Europe as the 'whirling dervishes'. The dance, which
is symbolic of the universal life of the spheres, infinitely complex
in form yet essentially a unity, is frequently referred to in Jalal
ad-din's lyrical poems known under the title of the Diwan of
Shams ad-din Tabriz!.2
(d) Khawajagan-Naqshabandiyya
Naqshabandi tradition does not regard Baha° ad-din an-Naq-
shabandi as the founder of the tariqa which bears his name and
the lines of ascription (silsilat at-tarbiya) do not begin with him.
Fakhr ad-din 'AH b. rlusain, who wrote a history of the tariqa
called Rashahat { Ain al-Hayat, begins it with Abu Ya'qub Yusuf
al-Hamadam (d. a.d. 1140),3 whilst his khalifa (by spiritual
appointment), 'Abd al-Khaliq al-Ghujdawani (d. a.d. 1220), may
be regarded as the organizer of its special tendencies.4 He is
responsible for the stress placed upon the purely mental dhikr,
and he also formulated the eight rules5 which governed Tariqat
al-Khawajagan, the name by which the silsila was known. fAbd
al-Khaliq was taught the tariqds special form of habs-i dam,
1 Outside Turkey the Mawlawis had tekkes only in Damascus, Aleppo,
Nicosia, Cairo, and a few other towns where there was a Turkish population;
see Muradi, Silk ad-durar, Cairo, 1874-83, i. 339, iii. 116; and for Jerusalem
Mujir ad-din, al-Uns aUjalil, tr. H. Sauvaire, 1876, p. 181.
a R. A. Nicholson, Selected Odes from the Diwan-i-Shams-i- Tabriz, Cam-
bridge, 1898, and his edition of the Mathnam, iv. 734.
3 The main account of Yusuf al-Hamadani is found in the Rashahat. Short
notices are given by Ibn Khallikan (Wafdydt, vi. 76-8), Sha'rani (fabaqdt, L
1 16-17), and Jam! (Nafahdt al-tins, Tehran edn., pp. 375-7).
4 The reference in al-Wasitl's Tiryaq (p. 47) records it as a distinctive line
whose founder was al-Ghujdawani. A reference to an-Naqshabandi may have
been added by a later hand.
5 These rules, which Baha' ad-din expanded to eleven, are given below,
pp. 203-4.
THE CHIEF TARlQA LINES 63
or 'restraint of the breath', by al-Khadir, the spirit of Islamic
gnosis. The succession from him is as follows:1
'Arif Riwgan, d. 657/1259
Mahmud Anjir Faghnawi, d. 643/1245 (or 670/1272)
'Azizan 'All ar-Ramitam, d. 705/1306 (or 721/1321)
Muhammad Baba as-SammasI, d. 740/1340 (or 755/1354)
Amir Sayyid Kulali al-Bukhan, d. 772/1371
Muhammad ibn M. Baha' ad-din an-NaqshabandT, 717/13 18-
791/1389.
Baha' ad-din, who was a Tajik, served his apprenticeship under
both as-Sammasi and Kulali ('the Potter'). But he also had Turkish
links and there is a romantic story of his encounter with a
Turkish dervish called Khalil whom he had first seen in a dream,
and his subsequent association with him until this dervish even-
tually (a.d. 1340) became Sultan Khalil of Transoxiana.2 Baha'
ad-dm served him for six years, but after Khalil's fall (747/1347)
Baha' experienced a revulsion against worldly success, returned
to his Bukharan village of Rewartun, and resumed his interrupted
spiritual career. Like most of the men after whom tarlqas have
been named, Baha' ad-din did not found an organization (whilst
his tartqa he had inherited), but gathered around himself like-
minded devotees prepared to strive towards a quality of mystical
life along Malamati lines without show or distracting rites, for,
as he said, 'the exterior is for the world, the interior for God'
(az-zahir li 'l-khalq al-batin li H-Haqq). Though modified through
the corruptions of time this Way never lost the stamp of fAbd
al-Khaliq's genius in the quality of its leadership and teaching
and the purity of its ritual. From the Islamic point of view it
was especially important in ensuring the attachment of Turkish
peoples to the Sunni tradition. Baha' ad-din's mausoleum and
the attached convent (a magnificent structure was erected in a.d.
1544 by Amir 'Abd al-'AzIz Khan) became one of the most
1 Most of these come from the neighbourhood of Bukhara as is evident from
their nisbas. Riwgar, Faghna, and Ramitan are, like Ghujdawan, villages near
that city. Apart from the Naqshabandl books the silsila is given in al-Wasitl,
Tiryaq, p. 47.
2 Ibn Batfufa describes the rise to power of Khalil (-Allah Qazan), French
edn., 1877, iii. 48-51. He knows nothing of any dervish upbringings and says
that he was the son of the Chagatai prince Yasavur.
64 THE CHIEF TARlQA LINES
important places of pilgrimage in central Asia. The great Persian
mystical poet Jam! derives from Baha* ad-dm through an inter-
mediary. Outside central Asia, the order spread into Anatolia and
the Caucasus, among mountain peoples in Kurdistan (where it
became a factor in Kurdish nationalism), and southwards into
India, but never became popular in the Arab world.
(e) Chishtiyya
From the sixth (thirteenth) century central Asian Sufis had been
migrating southwards into India as well as westwards into Anatolia.
The formation of various kinds of khanaqahs and small associations
coincided with the foundation of the Sultanate of Delhi. Apart
from the Baghdadian Suhrawardiyya, the only other order to be-
come defined and influential in India during this formative age
was the Chishtiyya. Orders which were introduced later, like the
Shattariyya('Abdallahash-Shattar, d. a.d. 1428), Naqshabandiyya
(with BaqI Bi'llah d. a.d. 1563), and Qadiriyya (by M. Ghawth
of Uchch, d. A.D. 1 5 17), never attained the range of allegiance and
influence of these two lines.
The Chishtiyya1 is one of the 'primitive5 lines. Mu'in ad-din
tlasan Chishti, born in Sijistan about 537/1142, was attracted
early to the errant Sufi life and served his master, 'Uthman
Harvani, during some twenty years of wanderings, and then con-
tinued them on his own. Nothing reliable is known about his life.
His biographers (late and untrustworthy) claim that he met and
was given initiatory authority by most of the celebrated Sufis of
this formative age, including not only 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilam but
others who were dead before he was born.2 The tariqa is not
regarded as linked with the Suhrawardi line though 'Awarif al-
ma* drif was adopted as the basic textbook of the order. He came
across Qutb ad-dm Bakhtiyar Kaki (d. 633/1236), who was later
to become his khalifa in Delhi.* Mu'in ad-din went to Delhi in
1 On the order and its founder see the articles 'Cishtf and 'Cishtiyya' in
E.I.2 ii. 49-56, by K. A. Nizami.
2 Until one gets as far back as Ibrahim ibn Adham no well-known names
appear in his silsila (see Sanflsi, Salsabil, pp. 15 1-2) which was invented later,
for it would never have occurred to a rootless wandering dervish like Mu'in
ad-din that such a thing was of any importance, as it did to a lineage-conscious
Arab like Ibn ar-Rifa'I.
3 Qutb ad-din Kaki's Hisht Bahisht or 'Eight Paradises', a collection of the
sayings of eight of his Chishti predecessors, was most important in giving a dis-
tinctive line to the doctrinal outlook of the order.
THE CHIEF TAR1QA LINES 6S
589/1193, then to Ajmer, seat of an important Hindu state, where
he finally settled and died (633/1236), and where his tomb became
a famous centre for pilgrimage.
One of Qutb ad- din Bakhtiyar's initiates called Farid ad-din
Mas*ud, known as Ganj-i Shakar (1 175-1265), is regarded as
being the person most responsible for the definition and wider
diffusion of this line, since he initiated many hJialifas who moved
to different parts of India, and after his death maintained their
khanaqahs as independent institutions in which the succession
became hereditary. Important figures in the Chishtl silsila are
Nizam ad-din Awliya' (d. 725/1325) and his successor, Nasir ad-
din Chiragh-i Dihli (d. 757/1356), who opposed the religious policy
of Muhammad ibn Tughluq. From the Nizamiyya many branches
diverged. A separate line was the Sabiriyya derived from *Ala°
ad-din 'All b. Ahmad as-Sabir (d. 691/1291).
(/) Indian Suhrawardiyya
In the Arab and Persian spheres few shaikhs attributed them-
selves directly to as-Suhrawardl, as, for example, adherents of the
hundreds of ta'ifas in the Shadhili tradition claim that they are
Shadhili. But the Suhrawardi silsila spread in India as a distinctive
school of mystical ascription to become one of the major tariqas.1
Outstanding figures were Nur ad-din Mubarak Ghaznawi, a dis-
ciple of Shihab ad-din, whose tomb at Delhi is famous, and Hamid
ad-din of Najore (d. 673/1274), Shihab ad-din's chief Indian
khalifa until he transferred his allegiance to the Chishtl, Qu£b
ad-din Bakhtiyar Kakl.2 The chief propagandist in Sind and
Punjab was another disciple, Baha* ad-din Zakariya (a.d. 1182-
1268), of Khurasanian origin, who worked in Multan and was
succeeded by his eldest son, Sadr ad-din M. 'Arif (d. a.d. 1285),
the succession continuing in the same family. But also from him
diverged a large number of independent lines, some becoming
known in India as Bi-Shar' (illegitimate orders). One ortho-
dox line, the khanaqah of Jalal ad-din Surkhposh al-Bukhari (a.d.
1192-1291) at Uchch, became an important diffusion centre.
Contrary to the Chishti shaikhs of the only other order active in
India, Baha' ad-din pursued a worldly policy, associating freely
1 See Appendix C for the various branches,
2 See Ibn Baftuta, iii. 156.
66
THE CHIEF fARlQA LINES
with princes, accepting honours and wealth, and building up a
large fortune. He and his associates also followed a rigid orthodox
line, pandering to the 'ulama and rejecting soma* (public recital)
in the form which prevailed among Chishtls.
Ill
The Formation of Taifas
Whilst tariqa is the method, icTifa is the organization, and
though the khdnaqahs were correctly described as tawa'if
(plural of taHfd), since they were organizations of separate
groups,1 they were still not the orders as we know them. The com-
pletion of their development as td'ifas or orders in this specialized
sense during the fifteenth century coincided with the growth of
the Ottoman Empire. In the Maghrib this stage coincided with
the appearance of Sharifism and what the French call maraboutisme.
There are, in fact, four areas of significant change: Persia and
central Asia, Anatolia (Rum), India, and the Maghrib.
The fullest development of the variegated robe of Sufism had
taken place in Iranian regions. In the same regions its linkage
with the lives of ordinary people had come about through the
wandering dervishes, Iranian and Turkish. Then had come the
Mongol conquests. From around A.D. 121 9, when the first Mongol
movements into Khurasan began, to A.D. 1295 Muslim Asia was
subjected to the domination of non-Muslim rulers and Islam was
displaced from its position as the state religion. With the accession
of Ghazan Khan (a.d. 1 295-1 304) Islam once again became the
imperial religion in western Asia. But there was this difference
from its position under previous regimes in that Sufis replaced
the 'ulama class as the commenders of Islam to Mongols and
as the significant representatives of the religion. During this
period the Sufis became for the people the representatives of
religion in a new way and after their death they continued to
exercise their influence. The shrine, not the mosque, became
the symbol of Islam. The shrine, the dervish-house, and the circle
of dhikr-tecitets became the outer forms of living religion for
Iranians, Turks, and Tatars alike. And this continues. Timur,
who swept away the remnant and successor states which had
1 There are many early references to these organizations as fd'tfas. Ibn
Khallikan, we have shown, refers to the Kizaniyya ta'ifa (ii. 391). But for our
purpose it is simply a convenient term for the completed organization.
68 THE FORMATION OF T A* IF AS
formed after the decline of Mongol power, was a Sunni, but
showed a strong veneration for saints and their shrines, many of
which he built or restored.
Anatolia, where Islam's spread followed the westward movement
of the Turks from the thirteenth century until the Ottomans be-
came a world power and regulated the religious life of the regions
they controlled, was the scene of religious interaction and con-
fusion, and it is not easy to tell what was happening there. The
Ghazi states of Anatolia in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries,
in order to supply the religious cement, linked themselves with
the only Islamic organization available in the marches which
possessed any dynamic element — the wandering Turkish dardwish,
the babas from central Asia who accompanied, followed, and forti-
fied the warriors. The orders, with their borrowed symbolism
and formulae for initiation, provided the means of consecrating
the ghazi as a dedicated warrior in the cause of Islam. Paul
Wittek writes:
We find in the biographies of the MevlevI shaikhs, by Eflakl, written
about the middle of the fourteenth century, clear traces of a ceremony
of granting the title of Ghazi, comparable to that of investiture with
knighthood in the West. We are told how one of the emirs of the house
of Aydin was designated as 'Sultan of the Ghazis' by the shaikh of the
MevlevI darvish order. From the hands of the shaikh he received the
latter's war-club, which he laid on his own head and said: 'With this
club will I first subdue all my passions and then kill all enemies of the
faith.' This ceremony means that the emir accepted the shaikh as his
'senior' [seigneur], and his words show that the quality of Ghazi also
involved ethical obligations.1
During the Seljuq and early Ottoman periods heterodoxy was
the evident characteristic of many representatives of Islam,
especially in eastern and southern Anatolia. Many of the wander-
ing babas were Shi 'I qiztl-bash and IJurufis, others were qalandaris
and abdal, both cover-terms. The Yasaviyya, dispersing from
Turkestan, was a fariqa of wanderers, whose link with Ahmad
al-YasavI gave them a distinctively Turkish spiritual ancestry.
Out of the diverse heritages of heterodox Islamic tendencies and
Christian Anatolian and Turkish superstitions came the BektashI
r P. Wittek, The Rise of the Ottoman Empire, 1938; reprint, 1958, p. 39;
and see the account in Aflaki, tr. C. Huart, ii. 391-3; ed, T. Yaziji, Ankara,
1959-61, ii. 947-8.
THE FORMATION OF TA'IFAS 69
order: very nebulous at first, it became highly organized and
centralized, yet parochial, providing a village religion, a system
of lodges, and a link with a futuwwa military order. Another
Turkish tendency arising out of the haze from the Tabriz region,
displaying strong malamati inspiration, became distinguished as
the Khalwatiyya and Bairamiyya. These remained decentralized
and fissiparous, spawning many distinctively Turkish orders, but
also spreading widely through the Arab world in localized orders.
We have said that this final stage of organization coincided with
the foundation of the Ottoman Empire (by a.d. 1400 the Ottomans
were masters of Anatolia and they triumphed over the Syrian and
Egyptian Mamltiks in 1516-17). In Turkey under the Ottomans
relative harmony was achieved through toleration of three parallel
religious strands : official Sunni legalism, the Sufi tekke cult, and
the Folk cult. Shi'ism, which was not tolerated, was forced to
seek asylum within Sufi groups, among whom the Bektashiyya
gave it its fullest expression. The Ottomans in their task of build-
ing up a stable administrative system came to rely upon the
regularly constituted 'ulama* body as the backbone of the whole
order. The foundation of madrasas became a feature of this
allegiance. They were set up in Bursa and Nicaea, for example,
immediately after their conquest in a.d. 1326 and 133 1.1 But
the orders also had their place, and tekkes and zdwiyas became
more ubiquitous than madrasas. The essential difference was that
whereas the madrasas were alike except in size and reputation
and catered for the formal requirements of Islam, the convents
were of all kinds, catering for every religious need. In Arab lands
there was a clear distinction between khanaqahs and other Sufi
institutions. Khanaqahs, which from the beginning had been
defined and regulated by the state— the price they paid for
official recognition and patronage — were weakening and dying out
wherever they had failed to become integrated with a saint-cult.
Consequently, Sufi organizations tended to absorb popular move-
ments since this was the only way whereby the ideals for which
such movements of the spirit stood could survive. Throughout the
history of this empire, whose power embraced almost the whole
Arab world (for Tunis and Algiers were vassal states, only Morocco
remaining outside its organization), the orders played an important
1 See P. Wittek, op. cit., p. 42.
70 THE FORMATION OF TA'IFAS
role in religious, social, and even political life, and when it fell they
also were destroyed.
At the same time as the Ottoman state was becoming a world
power a Sufi order was providing Persia for the first time since its
conquest by the Arabs with a dynasty whose state religion was
Shfite. It is interesting that the region where the movement
arose, Azerbaijan and Gilan, was the nurturing place for the move-
ment of Turkish babas professing every known type of Islam which
flooded Anatolia (this was quite distinct from the Persian Sufi
current, out of which came the Mawlawiyya affecting the Iranized
class), and which also provided the impulse and manpower
supporting the great Shi'ite movement of the Safawids. The
Safawid order continued to be a largely Turkish order for long
after it became a military movement, and it had a strong following
in the Turkish provinces of Asia Minor. Even the Baghdadian
tradition affected the babas, but through an alternative stream
deriving from the Kurdish saint Abu '1-Wafa' Taj al-'Arifm1
through Baba Ilyas Khurasam.
This development into orders, and the integral association of
the saint cult with them, contributed to the decline of Sufism as
a mystical Way. Spiritual insight atrophied and the Way became
paved and milestoned. From this period, except in Persia. Sufi
writings cease to show real originality. They become limited to
compilations, revisions and simplifications, endless repetition and
embroidery on old themes, based upon the writings of earlier
mystics. They produced variations on their poems in the form of
takhmtSy mawlids or nativities in rhymed prose, invocation series
like Jazull's DalaHl al-khairat, and manuals dealing with tech-
nical aspects of the orders, details concerning the relationship
between shaikh and disciple, rules for the disciplinary life and for
the recitations of litanies and liturgies. Numerous biographical
collections of saints (tabaqat al-awliya?) or pure hagiographies
(manaqib al-arifin) were produced, together with malfuzdt or
majalis, collections of their table-talk, and maktubat (correspon-
dence). Among the few original writers within the Arab sphere
we may mention 'Abd al-Gham an-Nabulsi (d, 1 143/173 1).
Initiated into many lines,2 his primary Way was the Naqsha-
bandiyya and he was strong on the catholistic side of Sufism.
1 On Abu 'l-Wafa' (died 501/1107) see above, pp. 49-50.
2 See al-Mur5di, Silk ad-durar (Cairo, 1874-83), iii. 30-8.
THE FORMATION OF fA'IFAS 71
Whilst it may be true, as theologians assert, that spiritual expres-
sion is closely linked with the development and vigour of dogmatic
values and that the hardening of fiqh and kalam in the ninth-
tenth centuries a.h. led or at least contributed to the decline of
tasawzouf, yet both are probably symptoms rather than causes of
a deeper spiritual malaise.
The tariqas, we have shown, were essentially source-schools.
During this third stage men who linked themselves with these
older traditions developed new orders, with isnads stretching
both ways from themselves as the central point. As Abu 'l-Fadl
al-fAUami put it: 'Any chosen soul who, in the mortification of
the deceitful spirit and in the worship of God, introduced some
new motive of conduct, and whose spiritual sons in succession
continued to keep alight the lamp of doctrine, was acknowledged
as the founder of a new line.'1
At no particular point can it be stated that here the Way
deriving from Shaikh Fulan hardens into a 0ifa any more than
we can state that 'here the Way of ash-Shadhili begins', except in
so far as it begins with ash-Shadhili. But we know when most
of the fifteenth-century td'ifas began. Many branched out into
hundreds of derivative taHjas. The Rifa'iyya zawiya visited by
Ibn Battuta was already a fully developed taifa. One aspect of
the change, even if not an integral one, was the tendency for the
headship of many orders to become hereditary. Formerly, the
superior designated a disciple to succeed him, or failing this, he
might be elected by the initiates, but now his successor was in-
creasingly designated or elected from within his own family.
The orders became hierarchical institutions and their officials
approached nearer to a clergy class than any other in Islam,
whilst the zawiya was the equivalent of the local church. The
1 Abu 'l~Fadl al-'Allaml, A'in-i Akbari, tr. H. S. Jarrett, 1894, iii. 357;
second edn,, Calcutta, 1948, iii, 397.
There are references to ta'ifas bearing the names of famous early Sufis.
These may sometimes have arisen through a teacher bearing the same nisba,
or more commonly through the desire of a master to relate himself with a par-
ticular tradition of the past, receiving confirmation in a dream. Zawiyas of
BistamI dervishes were found in Jerusalem and Hebron in the 8/i4th century
derived from 'All as-§afi al-Bistami (d. 7°I/I359); see Mujlr ad-din, tr. Sau-
vaire, pp. 118, 166, 223. This order claimed the Taifuri BistamI as its original
shaikh, by spiritual investiture through a vision; see the account of two deriva-
tive zawiyas in Aleppo founded by Muhammad b. Ahmad al-At'anl (d. 807/
1405) in M. Raghib at-Tabbakh, J'tam an-nubaldy fi ta'rikh Halab, Aleppo,
1923-6, v. 144-7.
8265247 F
7» THE FORMATION OF f A* IF AS
shaikh ceased to teach directly but delegated authority both to
teach and initiate to representatives (khulafa", sing, khalifa). A
special cult surrounded the shaikh's person, associated with the
power emanating from the founder-saint of the td'ifa; he becomes
an intermediary between God and man. If we characterize the
first stage, as affecting the individual, as surrender to God, and
the second as surrender to a rule, then this stage may be described
as surrender to a person possessing baraka, though of course em-
bracing the other stages.
The difficulties of reconciling these ideas with the dogma and
law of Islam had long been evident; the orders had been bitterly
attacked by zealots like Ibn Taimiya, but now a parallel developed
in practice. The founder and his spiritual heirs affirmed their
loyalty to the sunna of the Prophet as a necessary first stage in
their code of discipline. But this is regarded as only the minimum
stage for the vulgar. The orders linked their daily 'tasks' (dhikr
al-awqat) with ritual prayer by requiring their recitation immedi-
ately following the completion of the ritual, though in fact regular
ritual prescriptions had less power and binding force than those
of the orders. To justify their teaching and practices, the leaders
derived it from the Prophet himself or his immediate companions
to whom their chains are traced back. In addition, the founders
of all orders from the fifteenth century, when they acquired their
definitive form, claim to have been commanded by the Prophet
in a dream to found a new Way, an actual tariqa. Such a tariqa
acknowledges its dependence upon the parent silstla and is dis-
tinguished from it in only minor aspects, a different way of carry-
ing out the dhikr, and, more important, a new wird delivered to
the founder by the Prophet. Beginning as a single organized group,
a fa'ifa, it might or might not expand into a wider system of
dependent centres. The Prophet himself being their supernatural
authority, the historical revelation is in practice relegated to a
secondary place, however much they use it in their ahzab. The
shaikhs of each fa'ifa claim to be depositaries of divine power
(baraka) which enables them to discern truth supernaturally, as
well as work miracles — the function which is most prominent, but
not necessarily the most important.
Whilst inheritance of the baraka of the founder by son, brother,
or nephew began with some groups even as early as the fourteenth
century it did not become widespread until the sixteenth, and has
THE FORMATION OF fA*IFAS
73
never become universal. In the Maghrib it became associated
with a peculiar reverence for hereditary holiness, so that groups
acquire a new genealogical point of departure from a saint or
sayyid eponym. The Maghribis in a sense reorientated their
past, a transformation in many instances also associated with
Arabization.
Succession in the Mawlawiyya has normally been hereditary.
The Yunusiyya became an hereditary taHfa in Damascus from
about 1250. 1 Another hereditary Damascene td'ifa is the Sa'diyya
or Jibawiyya2 which still exists. The Qadiriyya began as a localized
t&Hfa in Baghdad with family branches in Damascus and Hama.
In Hadramawt leadership of the f Alawiyya and of its family off-
shoots was hereditary in the Ba 'Alawl family from its founda-
tion by Muhammad ibn fAH ibn Muhammad (d. a.d. 1255); sucn
a group can only be regarded as an expanded family fariqa.
Another derivative of the 'Alawl line is the 'Aidarusiyya fd'tfa
of Tarim, founded by Abu Bakr ibn 'Abdallah al-'Aidarus (d. in
Aden 914/1509), who acquired a Kubrawl silsila, and whose order
spread through the movement of members of the family into
India, Indonesia, and the east African coast, but always remained
a restricted lineal tariqa with little influence.3 Throughout the
sphere of the Ottoman Empire hereditary succession was becoming
widespread in the eighteenth century, but it was still not a universal
practice.
1 See above, p. 15.
3 The Sa'diyya is a family fd'ifa claiming Sa'd ad-din al-Jibawi ibn Yfinus
ash-Shaibanl (d. near Jiba a few miles north of Damascus in 736/1335) as its
founder, who took the pariqa from the Yunisi and Rifa'i lines. It is mentioned
around a.d. 1330 as the Khirqa Sa'diyya by al-Wasitl (Tiryaq, p. 49). It
came into prominence with Muhiamrnad ibn Sa'd ad-din (d. 1020/1611) who,
after being miraculously converted at Mecca, returned to Damascus to exploit
his baraka so successfully that he became very rich. He became shaikh in
986/1578 (Al-MuhibbI, Khulasat al-Athar, iv. 160-1). He was succeeded by
his son Sa'd ad-din (d. 1036/1626), during whose tenure of the sajjdda Syria
was convulsed by a notorious scandal concerning the arrest in a brothel of his
khalifa? in Aleppo, Abu '1-Wafa' ibn M. (A. le Chatelier, Confreries, pp. 213-1 5 ;
ai-Muhibbl, i. 152-4, 298-9). Although the order did not spread widely it was
active in Turkey and was introduced into Egypt by Yunus ibn Sa'd ad-din (not
to be confused with the Egyptian, Yunus ash-Shaibani) where it acquired
notoriety through the celebrated biannual dawsa (ddsa) ceremony in Cairo,
when the shaikh rode on horseback over the prostrate dervishes (frequently
described, see E. W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, chap, x), suppressed in 1881 in
the time of Khedive Tawfiq.
3 For an account of the leaders see O. LSfgren, art. "Aydarus", in EJ,Z i.
780-2.
74 THE FORMATION OF TA*IFAS
In Turkey proper the most important orders were the Khal-
watiyya, Bektashiyya, Mawlawiyya, and the Naqshabandiyya,
though, since '"the ways to God are as manifold as the souls",
there are many thousand ways and religious orders'.1 The Maw-
lawiyya was an aristocratic, intellectual, and cultural fraternity,
finding its following and patronage in the classes correspond-
ing to these terms. We have said earlier that it was a centralized
order and did not spread outside Asia Minor. The Qaraman-oglu
dynasty which succeeded that of the Seljuqs (c. 1300) tended to
favour the babas, but with the success of the Ottomans the Maw-
lawiyya came into its own.
The Khalwatiyya was a popular order, based on reverence for
the leader with power, a reputation for strictness in training its
dervishes, and at the same time its encouragement of individual-
ism. Consequently, it was characterized by a continual process of
splitting and re-splitting. It is regarded as one of the original
silsilaS) or source-schools. Its origins are obscure, for it had no
original teaching personality behind it like the other Ways, but
rather an ascetic association in the MalamatI tradition. It traces
its origin to semi-mythical Persian, Kurdish, or Turkish ascetics,
in succession Ibrahim az-Zahid (al-Gilani), Muhammad Nur
al-Khalwati,2 and (Zahir ad-din) 'Umar al-Khalwatl.3 If the first
was the pir of Safiyyaddm (d. 1334), founder of the Safawiyya,
the history of the order4 provides a little information. His real
name was Ibrahim ibn Rushan as-Sanjani and he died between
a.h. 690 and 700 (a.d. 1291 and 1300). He was a wandering dervish
connected with the Suhrawardi silsila and it took Safiyyaddm,
who had been directed to seek his guidance, four years before he
finally tracked him down among the hills of Gilan. However, the
last named, 'Umar (said to have died about 800/1397 at Caesarea
in Syria), is regarded as the founder, in the sense of one who for-
mulated rules for Sufis who carried this designation.5 There is
also reference to one Yahya-i Shirwam (d. c. 1460, author of the
1 Evliya Chelebi, Narrative, tr. von Hammer, 1846-50, I. ii. 29.
2 Karim ad-din M. al-Khwarizml, known as Akhi Mehmed ibn Nur al-
Halveti.
3 See the silsila of al-Bakrl as-Siddlql given by al-Jabarti, 'Ajd'ib, Cairo
edn., 1959, ii. 371.
4 Hagiography of §afiyyaddm called $afzvat as-safd* by Ibn Bazzaz (d. 773/
1 37i); see E. G. Browne, Lit. Hist. Persia, iv. 33 ff. The tradition of the Baira-
miyya also connects with Ibrahim Zahid Gilani through §afiyyaddln.
5 D'Ohsson, Tableau, IV. ii. 624.
THE FORMATION OF TA'IFAS 75
Khalwati Wircl as-Sattar and master of 'Umar Rushani) being the
pir-i thani (the second master), that is, the founder of the Khalwati
order.
This tariqa, therefore, never had a founder or single head or
centre, but certain Sufis or lodges in the Ardabll region noted for
their ascetic discipline became associated with this name. In this
way there came into existence a mystical school which placed its
main emphasis on individual asceticism {zuhd) and retreat (khalzva).
As a distinctive Way it spread first in Shirwan and among the
Black Sheep Turkmens in Azerbaijan, then expanded into numer-
ous /^'z/a-convents in Anatolia, then into Syria, Egypt, Hijaz, and
Yemen, following the triumphs of the Ottomans.
One early introduction of the Khalwati line into Anatolia was by
Muhammad Shams ad-din, known as 'Amir Sultan' (d. a.d. 1439),
who had migrated from Bukhara to Bursa, and was the initiator
of Sulaiman Chelebi (ibn Ahmad b. Mahmud, d. a.d. 1421),
author of a famous Turkish metrical mawlid. The chief pro-
pagators in Turkey, from whom stemmed distinctive derivatives,
were Hajjl Bairam (d. 1429) manifesting a strong MalamatI
tradition, and Dede 'Umar Rushani of Tabriz (d. 1487). The
Khalwati tradition initially had strong links with the cult of 'All1—
the Ithna'ashari or Twelver form, as is shown by the legend that
'Umar al-Khalwatl instituted the twelve-day fast in honour of the
twelve Imams — but finding their strongest support in Anatolia
the leaders had to reconcile themselves to a Sunni dynasty and
their cAlid teaching was modified or relegated to their body of
secret teaching. The following were the principal Anatolian Khal-
wati fa* if as:
Ahmadiyya: Ahmad Shams ad-dm of Manissa (Marmara village),
d. 910/1504.
Siinbuliyya: Siinbul Sinan Yusuf (d. 936/1529), head of the
tekke of Qoja Mustafa Pasha in Istanbul. He was succeeded
by Muslih ad-dm Merkez MQsa (d. 959/1552), whose tomb-
mosque (near Yeni-Kapu), with its miraculous well, became
famous.
Sinaniyya: Ibrahim Umra-i Sinan, d. 958/1551 or 985/1577,
Ighit-Bashiyya: Shams ad-din Ighit-Bashi, d. 951/1544.
1 See ibid. iv. ii. 659-60.
76 THE FORMATION OF T^'IFAS
Sha'baniyya: Sha'ban Wall, d. 977/1569 at Qastamuni.
Shamsiyya: Shams ad-dm Ahmad Siwasi, d. 1010/1601 (other
sources: d. 926/1520). Also called Nuriyya-Slwasiyya after
fAbd al-Ahad Nun Siwasi, d. 1061/1650 in Istanbul.
Misriyya or Niyaziyya: Muhammad NiyazI al-Misri of Bursa, d.
in exile on Isle of Lemnos in 1 105/1694. Tekkes in Greece and
Cairo as well as Turkey.
Jarrahiyya: Nur ad-dm M. al-Jarrah, d. 1 146/1733 (or 1 133/1720)
in Istanbul. Also called Nuraddmis.
Jamaliyya: Muhammad Jamali b. Jamal ad-dm Aqsara'I Edirnewi.
b. in Amasya, d. 1164/1750 in Istanbul.1
The first Khalwati zawiya in Egypt was founded by Ibrahim
Giilsheni. Of Turkish origin (from Amid, Diyarbakr) he was
a disciple of 'Umar RushenI of Aydin (d. 892/1487), an exponent
of Ibn al-'Arabi's theosophy, against whom condemnatory fatwas
were promulgated, Ibrahim succeeded to his chair2 and also to
the opprobrium under which his master had laboured; then after
the Safawid occupation of Tabriz he became a refugee and even-
tually (a.d. 1507) settled in Egypt, where he was well received by
Qansawh al-Ghawrl. After the Ottoman occupation he became
a popular figure among the Turkish soldiers.^ His enemies in-
trigued against him in Istanbul and he was summoned to the
capital to clear himself of charges of heresy. Not only did he do
this successfully but left behind him three tekkes in Turkey. He
died in Cairo in 940/1534 in his zawiya outside Bab Zuwaila.4
Another disciple of rUmar RushenI who founded a zawiya at
'Abbasiyya on the outskirts of Cairo was Shams ad-din Muham-
mad Demerdash (d. c. 932/i526),s A famous ascetic, a converted
Circassian Mamluk, initiated by 'Umar RushenI in Tabriz who
1 D'Ohsson, Tableau iv. ii. 626.
2 According to some sources Ibrahim's successor at Baku was Yahya-i
Shirwani, but Evliya Chelebi writes (i. ii. 29) that 'Umar RushenI and Giilsheni
were successors of Yahya.
3 Sha'rani, Tabaqdt, ii. 133.
4 An account of his ^as^a-tomb is found in 'All Mubarak, Khitap Jadida,
Bulaq, a.h. 1306, iv. 54.
5 Brief mention in Sha'rani, Tabaqdt, ii. 133; also 'Abd al-Ghani an-
Nabulsl, Rifrla, p. 139, 'All Mubarak, Kkifat, iv. 1 12-13.
THE FORMATION OF fA'IFAS
77
lived in the Muqattam hills for forty-seven years, was Shahln ibn
'Abdallah al-Jarkasi (d. 9S4/1547).1
Khalwati adherents in Egypt had so far come mainly from
Turkish milieux, but during the twelfth/eighteenth century a
Khalwati revival spread the order among Egyptians and ex-
tended into Hijaz and the Maghrib. A Syrian Khalwati who was
a frequent visitor to Egypt, named Mustafa ibn Kamal ad-dln al-
Bakri,2 sought a more closely linked grouping by binding various
groups together in his own Bakriyya. However, the bond was
personal and his chief disciples set up their own orders after his
death. These were Muhammad ibn Salim al-Hafnlsi or Hafnawi
(d. u8i/i767),3 'Abdailah ash-Sharqawi, and Muhammad ibn
rAbd al-Karim as-Sammanl (a.d. 1718-75), whose orders were
known respectively as the fjafnawiyya (or Ilafniyya), Sharqawiyya,4
and Sammaniyya. From these came other branches :
Rahmaniyya (Algeria and Tunisia). Founded by Abu 'Abdallah
M. b. fAbd ar-Rahman al-Gushtuli al-Jurjuri (a.d. 1715/28-
1793), disciple of al-Hafnisi.5 Its distinctive development took
place under his successor, 'All ibn 'Isa (d. 1837), but afterwards
the various zawiyas became independent.
Dardlriyya: Ahmad ibn M. al-'Adawi ad-Dardir, 1127/1715-
1201/1786.6 Author of a prose mawlid. The fa* if a is also called
Siba'iyya after his successor, Ahmad as-Sibari al-'Ayyan. Both
are buried in the same mosque-mausoleum.7
Sawiyya: Ahmad ibn M. as-Sawi (d. in Madina 1241/1825), pupil
of ad-Dardir and of Ahmad ibn Idris.8 Localized in the
Hijaz.
1 Sha'ram, Tabaqdt, ii. 166; Ibn al-'Imad, Shadhardt, viii. 302; Karl
Baedeker, Egypt and the Sudan, eighth edn., 1929, p. 126.
2 His dates are 1099/1688-1162/1749, see Muradi, Silk ad-durar, iv. 190-200.
He is to be distinguished from another Mustafa al-Bakrl (d. 1709), also a
Khalwati, who founded the Bait §iddlql or Bait Bakri, whose head functioned
as Shaikh Masha'ikh a?-Siifiyya until 1926 when someone outside the family
was elected.
3 Muradi, Silk ad-durar, iv. 50; al-Jabarti, 'Ajd'ib, Cairo, ii(i959). 357-8
4 To be distinguished from the Sharqawa, a Moroccan branch of the Jazu-
liyya at Bujad, deriving from Muhammad ash-Sharqi, d. 1601.
3 L. Rinn, Marabouts et Khouan, Algiers, 1884, pp. 452-80.
6 Al-Jabarti, ii. 157-8; works given in G.A.L. ii. 353. G.A.L.S. ii. 479.
? 'AH Mubarak, Khitat Jadida, vi. 27.
8 Shams ad-din b. 'Abd al-Muta'51, Kanss as-Sa'ddati wa 'r-rashdd, Khar-
toum, 1939, pp. 12-13.
78
THE FORMATION OF TA'IFAS
Tayyibiyya: Sammam offshoot in Nilotic Sudan. Founder
Ahmad at-Tayyib b. al-Bashir (d. 1 239/1 824), pupil of as-
Sammanl. From this order carne the Mahdi of the Sudan.
Other small Egyptian branches included the Daifiyya, Masal-
lamiyya, and Maghaziyya.
The Bairamiyya, though nurtured within the same tradition
as the Khalwatiyya, is a separate tariqa, since Hajji Bairam al-
Ansari1 derives from the line of Safiyyaddin Ardabili. His spiritual
descendants included:
Shamsiyya: Aq Shams ad-dm M. ibn Hamza, khalifa of Hajji
Bairam, 792/1390-863/1459. His long search for a charismatic
leader led him eventually to Bairam Wall, who gave him the
power, and he became a famous worker of miracles. He had
a Suhrawardi silsila from Zain ad-dm al-Khwafi (d. 838/1435),
initiator of a Turkish Suhrawardi line, the Zainiyya. One of
Shams ad-din's sons was the poet Ffamdi (Hamdallah Chelebi,
A.D. 1448-1509) who, besides a Nativity (mevlidi), wrote a math-
nawi, Yiisuf u Zelikha, a common Sufi theme, which became
very popular.
Eshrefiyya: 'Abdallah ibn Eshref ibn Mehmed (d. 874/1470 or
899/1493 at Chin Iznik). He was a famous poet and is generally
known as Eshref Oghlu Rumi.
'Ushshaqiyya: Hasan Husam ad-dm 'UshshaqI, d. Istanbul 1001/
1592.
Malamiyya-Bairamiyya: Dede 'Umar Sikkm! of Bursa, d. a.d.
1553?
Bairamiyya-Shattariyya: History of the branch has been written
by La'lizade 'Abd al-Baql, d. 1 159/1746.
Jilwatiyya: fAziz Mahmud Huda*i (950/1 543-1 03 8/1 628) was
the organizer of this order, which is attributed to Muham-
mad Jilwati Tir Uftade' (d. Bursa 988/1 580) and consequently
is frequently called the Huda*iyya. Other derivatives from
1 The date 833/1430 seems to be the most reliable for his death. According
to D'Ohsson (Tableau, IV. ii. 624) it took place in 876/1471, which is unlikely
in view of the known dates of his spiritual descendants. One of his teachers,
fjamid Wall, died in 815/1412. IJajji Bairam's tomb stands beside the ruined
temple of Roma and Augustus in Ankara.
THE FORMATION OF T A* I FAS 79
Muhammad Jilwati were the Hashimiyya (Hashim Baba, d.
1773) and the Fana'iyya (?).
The Bairamiyya was carried to Egypt by Ibrahim ibn Taimur
Khan ibn Hamza, nicknamed al-Qazzaz, d. 1 026/1 617. Origin-
ally from Bosnia he travelled extensively and eventually settled
in Cairo as a tomb-haunting ascetic. He took the tariqa from
Muhammad ar-Ruml, from Sayyid Ja'far, from 'Umar Sikkini
(d. 1553), from Sultan Bairam, so there are two names missing
between the last two.1
Leaders ascribing themselves to other tariqa lines branched out
into their own faHfas. When Ahmad al-Badawi died in a.d. 1276
he was succeeded by his khalifa, Salih 'Abd al-'Al (d. 1332), who
was responsible for building the tomb-mosque in ^anta and
fostering the already existing cult which quickly attracted to
itself Egyptian customs. Various groups ascribing themselves to
the Badawiyya came into existence, though they were each in-
dependent and generally localized.2 As a tariqa the Badawiyya
lacked any distinctive characteristic such as that shown by the
Shadhiliyya. It produced no teaching personalities or writers,
but was rather a people's cult, whose manifestations at Tanta have
at all times been subject to the censure of the 'ulama\ though
with little effect until the modern age.3 The most distinctive
among the later Egyptian succession lines in importance and
width of spread was the Bayyumiyya.4
Born in the village of Bayyum in lower Egypt in 1108/1696-7,
'All ibn Hijazi ibn Muhammad went to live in the KhalwatI
zazoiya of Sidi Demerdash in Cairo, but at about the age of thirty
he became affiliated to the ftalabiyya branch of the Badawiyya,
then under the grandson of 'All al-Halabl (d. io44/i634-5).s He
became famous as an illuminate, leading the noisy Badawi
hadra which took place on Wednesdays in the mosque of Sidna
1 See his biography as given in al-Muhibbl, Khuldsat al-Athar, i. 16-17.
2 See Appendix E.
3 The 'nlama' were quite ineffective unless they could enlist the support of
the political authority, and that they could very rarely do since the rulers relied
on the saints and their representatives to provide them with spiritual support.
See, for example, the references to Badawi shaikhs in Ibn Iyas, The Ottoman
Conquest of Egypt, tr. W. N. Salmon, 1921, pp. 7, 41, 84.
4 The best account of the origins of the Bayyumiyya is A. le Chatelier, Les
Confreries Musulmanes du Hedjaz, 1887, pp. i8a ff.
s 'Ali al-I^alabi was the author of one of the few Badawi writings, an-
Nasihat al-' Alawiyya fi baydn fyusn Tariqat as-sdda al-Ahmadiyya.
80 THE FORMATION OF f^'IFAS
al-IJusain in Cairo, and consequently incurring the enmity of the
'ulama\ who tried to stop him using the mosque.1 He was able
to hold his own and later the Shaikh al-Islam even offered him
a chair at the Azhar.
'All's aim was the reform of the Badawi order by return to its
supposed original purity, but the ritualistic changes he made2
and his personal ascendancy was such that his followers regarded
him as the initiator of a new Way, and he himself decided that
this was more likely to succeed than attempting to reform an
old fissiparous order. At the same time he retained the red
khtrqa (= bonnet) of the Badawiyya with its silsila and other
characteristics to show his filiation.
During his frequent journeys to Mecca he preached his tariqa
and won a following among both citizens and badawin in Hijaz.
After his death (i 183/1769) the order spread into Yemen, Had-
ramawt, Persian Gulf, lower Euphrates, and the Indus valley.
The death of the third shaikh as-sajjdda, Muhammad Nan' (time
of Muhammad 'AH), caused a split in the order and its weakening.
Whilst the Khalwatiyya was characterized by fissiparous
tendencies, the headship of each fa9 if a becoming hereditary,
the Bektashiyya maintained a strong central organization, with
affiliated village groups, and was limited to Anatolia and its
European provinces. The Bektashiyya claimed to be a Sunn! order,
though in fact very unorthodox and having so strong a reverence
for the House of 'All that it might well be called a Shi'I order.
The practical recognition of the order as Sunn! seems to be due
to the fact that when, after the early association of Turkish Sufis
with the ghazi and akhi movements which assisted the Ottoman
surge to conquest, when the Ottoman authority came more and
more under the influence of orthodox Hanafis, the early ghazi
association was not repudiated but found new vigour and a
powerful organization in the Bektashiyya.
1 See al-Jabarti, 'Aja'ib, i. 339; account also in 'All Mubarak, Khitat
Jadida, a.h. 1305, x. 26.
2 'All al-Bayyurnl elaborated the simple handclasp of the Badawiyya to one
of interlaced fingers (talqin mushabhaka) and hung the tasbiha around the neck
of the murid. He also changed the movements of the fiadra. Whereas the Badawfs
confined themselves to bending the body to the waist whilst keeping the arms
stretched out, the Bayyumls cross them on the breast at each inclination of
the head, and then in straightening swing them up to clap them above the head ;
see Le Chatelier, op cit., p. 184; E. W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, Everyman edn.,
pp. 461-2.
THE FORMATION OF TA'IFAS Si
This organization was associated with the name of a semi-
legendary Turkish Sufi called Hajji Bektash of Khurasan, who
emigrated to Anatolia1 after the Mongols had destroyed the Seljuq
state and the remains of the Caliphate. He probably died about
73^/i337> for TaqI ad-dm al-Wasiti (1275-1343) mentions the
Khirqa Bektash (deriving from Ahmad al-Yasavi, al-Ghujdawanl,
etc.) without adding radi Allah 'anhu after his name, so he was still
alive about 1320 and known in Iraq.2 However, the organization
of the Bektashiyya did not develop until the fifteenth century and
the Janissary corps, instituted by Murad I, was associated with
it from the end of the sixteenth century. One consequence of this
association with the Janissaries and so with Ottoman authority
was that the Bektashis were rarely attacked on grounds of doc-
trine or innovations. Ottoman authorities sometimes took severe
measures against leaders, but that was through their involvement
in the numerous Janissary revolts, not on account of their beliefs
and practices. But immediately the Janissary corps was abolished
in 1826 the Bektashis fell with them. The orthodox 'ulama'
then castigated them as heretics.3 Some were killed, their tekkes
destroyed, and their properties handed over to Naqshabandis.
However, because they were not a military order but had deep
roots in the life of the people, they survived underground, some
groups within other orders, and when circumstances became more
propitious they began once more to expand.
The heretical and Shrt doctrines and ritual of the Bektashiyya
do not derive from Hajjl Baktash, though there is no need to
assume that he was any more orthodox than other babas. His
name is simply a term to provide a point of identity. The order
grew out of saint-veneration and the system of convents into a
1 For legends of his investiture by T " v ' ' * v " ■ -1
his migration see Evliya Chelebi [a. d, . ■ 1 '
in Anatolia after Jalal-ad-dln Rumi was well established (d. a.d. 1273) and was
recognized by a group there who called him the khalifa of one Baba Rasul
Allah. This it seems was the Ishaq Baba who led his dervishes against the
Seljuq sultan, Ghiyath ad-din Kay-Khusrau II in 1240 (see J. K. Birge, The
Bektashi Order of Dervishes, 1937, pp. 32, 43-4). He does not need to be a
direct khalifa. Aflaki says of Bektashi that he was (un mystique au coeur eclaire,
mais il ne s'astreignait pas k suivre la loi apportee par le prophete' (tr. C. Huart,
Les Saints des derviches toumeurs, i. 296).
2 Al-Wasitr(d. 1343), Tirydq al-muhihbin, p. 47.
3 See Assad-fifendi Mohammed, Precis historique de la destruction du corps
des Janissaires par le Sultan Mahmoud, en 1826, tr. A. P. Caussin de Perceval,
Paris, 1833, pp. 298-329.
82 THE FORMATION OF TA'IFAS
syncretistic unity, combining elements from many sources, vulgar,
heterodox, and esoteric; ranging from the popular cults of central
Asia and Anatolia, both Turkish and Christian RumI, to the
doctrines of the Hurufis. When the inspirer of the Hurufi move-
ment, Fadl Allah ibn 'AH of Astarabad, was executed by Miran
Shah in 796/1394 (or 804/1401) his khalifas dispersed widely. One
of these, the great Turkish poet Nesimi, went from Tabriz to
Aleppo, where he made numerous converts, but the tulama>
denounced him to the Mamluk sultan, Mu'ayyad, who had him
executed in 820/141 7. 1 It has been suggested that another khalifa,
al-'Ali al-A'la (executed in Anatolia 822/1419), went to Anatolia
and there fostered certain Hurufi doctrines upon a local saint
buried in central Anatolia called Iiajji Bektash.3 But he was only
one among many, for the propaganda of the Iiurufis spread
widely, even though they were persecuted, especially under
Bayazld II. Bektashis themselves do not refer Hurufi ideas back
to Bektash, but this organization, tolerated by the authorities,
became their depository and assured their perpetuation. The actual
role of the Ahl-i Haqq during the Bektashi formative period is
unknown. At any rate, during this fifteenth century when the
Bektashiyya was developing into a comprehensive organization,
it incorporated other beliefs besides Hurufi from the new en-
vironment and beyond some were Christian in origin and others
came from such sources as the qizilbash (red-heads)3 of eastern
1 On Nesimi, whose full name is Neslm ad-din Tabriz!, see E. J. W. Gibb,
History of Ottoman Poetry, L 343 ff,
3 An important, though hostile, account is Ishaq Efendi's Kdshif al-Asrdr,
published in 1291/1874-5. This relates how, after the execution of Fadl Allah,
'his Khalifas (vicars or lieutenants) agreed to disperse themselves through the
lands of the Muslims, and devoted themselves to corrupting and misleading the
people of Islam. He of those Khalifas who bore the title of al-'AH al-A'la
('the High, the Supreme') came to the monastery of Hajji Bektash in Anatolia
and there lived in seclusion, secretly teaching the Jdvnddn to the inmates of the
monastery, with the assurance that it represented the doctrine of Hajji Bektash
the saint (wait). The inmates of the monastery, being ignorant and foolish, ac-
cepted the Jdwiddn, . . . named it "the secret" ; and enjoined the utmost reticence
concerning it, to such a degree that if anyone enters their order and afterwards
reveals "the secret", they consider his life as forfeit' (tr. E. G. Browne, Literary
History of Persia, iii. 371-2; cf. 449~S2). The Jdwiddn-ndma mentioned was
written by Fadl Allah after his revelation of 788/1386.
3 The Turks applied the term qizilbash to fuqara*, chiefly Turkish at first,
who wore red turbans. Later, after Shaikh Haidar of the Safawiyya was divinely
instructed in a dream to adopt a scarlet cap distinguished by twelve gores,
the term especially designated his followers.
THE FORMATION OF TA'IFAS 83
Asia Minor and Kurdistan. Many of these were the later affiliated
nomadic and village groups (alevis, takhtajis, etc.) initiated into
allegiance to Hajji Bektash as the spiritual factor in communal
life.1 The Bektashis proper are those who were fully initiated into
a lodge. Probably the first leader of any true Bektash! organiza-
tion was Balim Sultan (d. 922/1516), whose title of Fir Sdni, the
Second Patron Saint, implies that he is the founder.2 According
to tradition he was appointed to the headship of the Plr Evi, the
mother tekke at Hajji Bektash Koy (near Qirshehir) in 907/1501.
A rival head was the chelebi, whose authority was recognized by
many of the village groups. Claiming descent from ]3ajji Bektash,
he is first heard of in connection with a rising of Kalenderoglu,
supported by various dervishes and Turkmans, which began in
a.d. 1526.3 This office became hereditary (at least from 1750),
whereas the Dede, the head deriving from Balim Sultan, was an
apostolic head chosen by a special council.
This confusion of origins and complexity of groupings supports
the supposition that various groups which would have been
regarded as schismatic and liable to be persecuted in the type of
Sunn! state towards which that of the Ottomans was moving,4
gained the right of asylum under the all-embracing and tolerant
umbrella of the Bektashi organization. From Balim Sultan derives
the organized Bektash! initiatory system, with initiates living in
tekh.es situated near, but not within, towns, and to be distinguished
from the village groups. Yet the whole organization composed of
such diverse elements blended in time to express loyalty to a
common ideal and purpose. Similarly, the unification of the
basic ritual and symbolism, together with the custom of celibacy
practised by a class of their dervishes, are ascribed to Balim
Sultan.
North Africa also experienced new developments. The mystical
movement, which passed through its classical period in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, had flagged. This movement of
1 The tekke of Hajji Bektash was at one time supported by the revenues of
363 villages whose inhabitants were affiliated to the order; see F. W. Hasluck,
Christianity and Islam under the Sultatis, 1929, ii. 503.
2 See J. K. Birge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes ; 1937, pp- 56-8.
3 J. von Hammer, Histoire de V Empire Ottoman, ed. J. J. Hellert, 1844, i.
489.
4 The decisive date after which these organizations in the Ottoman dominions
had to profess a surface Sunn! allegiance was Sultan Salxm's victory at Caldiran
over Shah Isma'Il in a.d. 1514.
84
THE FORMATION OF TA'IFAS
the spirit had appealed only to a religious elite, but from the middle
of the fourteenth century the Way had lost even this appeal and
a mystic such as Ibn 'Abbad stands out simply because of the
spiritual aridity of the age. At the same time, a popular form of
devotion based on the dhikr had spread, though as yet practised
only by urban and zawiya groups.
Shaikh Abu Ishaq ash-Shatibi [d. 790/1388] was asked about the
position (legitimacy) of a taifa ascribing itself to Sufism and self-
discipline whose members would get together on many a night at the
house of one of them. They would open the proceedings with some
ejaculating in unison. Then go on to engage themselves in singing,
hand-clapping, and making ecstatic utterances, carrying on until the
night was over. During the course of the evening they would partake
of food prepared by the owner of the house.1
But something more was needed, and this came with the general-
ized baraka movement which, beginning in the west in the early
fifteenth century, spread throughout the Maghrib in such a way
that it was able to permeate and transform the very consciousness
of ordinary people, not merely in the urban slums but in the
countryside of plain, mountain, and desert. This process of social
change, also associated with a strong surge to Arabization, except
in Morocco, changed the attitude of the Berbers towards Islam.
The influence of the shaikhs was such that whole tribes came to
regard themselves as their descendants. All holy men had now to
call themselves sharifs, and baraka became, not just a gift, but
something that could be passed down and inherited. The popular
fame of Abu Madyan, for example, derives, not from his main-
tained Sufi tradition, but through the fostering of tomb-veneration
by the Marinid sultans. Many other establishments grew up around
tombs of early shaikhs, like that associated with Abu Muhammad
Salih, buried in the ribat of Asfi (Safi) on the Atlantic coast.
Abu 'Abdallah Muhammad ibn Sulaiman al-Jazuli, author of
the famous 'Proofs of the Blessings' (Dald'tl al-khairdt), is more
than anyone else linked with this new aspect which so changed
Islamic life in the Maghrib. Initiated into the Shadhiliyya at
Tit in southern Morocco by Abu 'Abdallah M. b. Amghar as-
Saghir, he manifested the gift of miracle, was recognized as a
wait, and affiliated followers indiscriminately, without novitiate,
1 Aljmad ibn Yaljya al-Wansharlsi, Al-Mi'yar, lith. Fez, a.h. 13 14, xi. 31.
THE FORMATION OF TA'IFAS
85
into his Way. The Sufi Path was henceforth eclipsed by this easy
way of attachment to the power of those honoured by God. Such
was the success of al-Jazuli that the governor of Asfi, which he
had made his centre, had him expelled, and he died, poisoned
according to report, in either 869/1465 or 875/1470.
Ai-Jazuli formed neither tariqa (his Way was Shadhili) nor
ta'ifa, but from him came something much more universal,
a devotional school with new aims and drive, based on intense
concentration upon the Prophet and the acquisition of power
through recitation of DalaHl al-khairat. From him, however,
derive many tawaHf founded by his disciples and their disciples,
and the allegiance diffused so rapidly that many older orders
(really zatoiya-centxes) were absorbed or eclipsed.1 The subse-
quent Islamic revival derived force from other causes. It was
directed against both the Portuguese occupation of coastal places
(between 141 5 and 15 14) and the imperialism of the Makhzan,
whose energies were for long to be directed towards containing
the new iciifas by winning the allegiance of the great shaikhs and
balancing one against the other.2 At the same time, this shows
how much temporal power had to depend upon the new religious
movement.3 No section of Maghribi life escaped their influence,
though it was only too often to be at the expense of their spirituality.
The idea of sanctity lost its integrity and became a mechanical
attribute. In the very broadest terms, we may say that, whilst in
the East Sufism remained basically an individual pursuit, in the
West it only became popular when it became collectivized.
1 See Mumattf al-asmd fi dhikr al-Jazuli zva >t-Tabbd\ tr. in Arch. Maroc,
xix. 378. A ta'ifa did in fact stem from his successor, 'the inheritor of his
baraka', Abu Faris 'Abd al-'AzIz at-Tabba', known as al-rjarrar (d. 914/1508),
in the Jama 'at at-Tabba 'iyya in Fez.
3 Two prominent Jazuli derivatives in the Jebala region were that of 'Alia!
al-hajj al-Baqqal at HarS'iq, and that of Muhammad ibn 'AH Ber-Raisul at
Tazerut. These drew some of their influence and prestige from the struggle
against the Portuguese.
Towards the end of the seventeenth century the Filala dynasty encouraged
the development of the zdwiya of Wazzan. By astute policy the makhzan
ensured that no zawiya in north-west Morocco was capable of stimulating any
effective movement; see E. Michaux-Bellaire, 'Les Derqaoua de Tanger',
R.MM. xxxix (1920), 98-100.
3 The Sa'di dynasty in Morocco came to power (930/1523) through reliance
upon the followers of al- Jazuli, and one of the first acts of Ahmad al-A'raj
was to have his father buried beside the tomb of al-Jazuli. Later, in 1529, he
had both bodies transferred to Marrakush to consecrate the new dynastic
connection with that city; see Mumattt al-asmd, in Arch. Maroc. xix. 288.
86 THE FORMATION OF TA'IFAS
The Maghrib was a tariqa zone to itself and the orders deriva-
tive from al-Jazuli1 did not spread outside that zone, but in the
Maghrib itself they, together with a parallel line, express the
religious history to the present day. An important derivative was
the 'Isawiyya. Its founder, Muhammad ibn fIsa(A.D. 1465-15 24),
received his authority from Ahmad al-Harithi (d. between 1495
and 1504), a disciple of al-Jazuli, whom he succeeded as head of
the zawiya of Miknasa az-Zaitun. He adopted ecstatic practices,
whereby the dervishes became immune to sword and fire, from
the Rifa'iyya or an offshoot, either when on pilgrimage or from his
Syrian companion, Beghan al-Mahjub al-Halabi, who shares the
same tomb. After his first successor the succession has continued in
the founder's family,3 but the centre moved to Ouzera near Medea
where the founder's grandson established what has remained the
chief zawiya to this day.
The way the religious revolution revived old baraka lines may
be illustrated by the Hansaliyya. This derived from a thirteenth-
century Abu Sa'id al-Hansali, disciple of Abu Muhammad
Salih (d. a.d. 1234), patron saint of Safi, which was revived as a
distinct fd'tfa by Abu Ayman Sa'id ibn Yusuf al-Hansali. He
served many shaikhs but his inspiration-shaikh was an Egyptian
Shadhili, 'Isa al-Junaidl ad-Dimyati, who gave him the poem
called ad-Dimyatiyya on the ninety-nine names of God, composed
by Abu 'Abdallah Shams ad-din Ahmad b. M. ad-Dlrut! ad-
Dimyati(d. 921/15 15), 3 which became the wird of the Hansaliyya.
One day when he was praying beside the tomb of Abu 'l-f Abbas
al-Mursi in Alexandria he received the call which determined his
apostolic vocation, but the ijaza to propagate and initiate into the
Shadhili Way came from 'All ibn 'Abd ar-Rahman at-Tazemutl,
muqaddam in the distinctive Jazuli tradition. He constructed his
zawiya at Ait Metrif and died there in 1114/1702.4 Under his
son and successor, Abu Tmran Yusuf, the order expanded con-
siderably among the Berbers of the Atlas ranges, but weakened
after Yusuf was killed by Malay Isma'il (a.d. 1727).
The linkage of the movement of change with al-Jazuli may well
have been exaggerated, for in addition to the Hansaliyya many
1 Appendix F gives a list of the principal orders.
2 On the Isawiyya see R. Brunnel, Essai sur la confririe religieuse des 'A'issaoua
an Marocy Paris, 1926.
3 See ash-Sha'rani, fabaqat, ii. 164-5.
4 On Sa'id ibn Yusuf see especially Rinn, Marabouts, pp. 385-98.
THE FORMATION OF TA'IFAS 87
independent orders were reconstituted from older maraboutic
families. Tomb-cults of early Sufis, such as 'Abd as-Salam ibn
Mashish, which become single zawiya orders, also begin at this
time. But the most important sphere of ascription derives from
Abu '1- 'Abbas al-MursI and the Egyptian Wafa'iyya.1 The
following are the main orders :
WafaHyya. Founder: Muhammad b. M. b. Ahmad Wafa* (d.
a. d. 1358), deriving from Ibn 'Ata' Allah al-Iskandari (d. 709/
1309). This order is mentioned to show the continuance of the
strong Egypto-Syrian tradition, older than and quite distinct
from the Maghrib!.2
'Arusiyya. Founded circa A.D. 1450/60 by Abu '1- 'Abbas Ahmad
ibn 'Ams (d. 1463 at Tunis), who claimed also a Qadiri chain.
Libyan branch (Salamiyya) founded (c. 1795) by 'Abd as-Salam
ibn Salim al-Asmar al-Fituri of Zliten.
Zarruqiyya. Moroccan order founded by Abu '1- 'Abbas Ahmad
b. 'Isa al-BurnusT, known as az-Zarruq. Born in Morocco 845/
1441 and died at Mezrata in Tripolitania in 899/1494 (or between
921/1515 and 930/1524).3 He studied for a time in the zawiya
of Abu 'l-'Abbas Ahmad b. al-'Uqba al-Hadrami on the Nile.
His numerous teachers included Ahmad ibn 'Ams.*
Rashidiyya or Yusufiyya. Founded by a disciple of Ahmad az-
Zarruq called Ahmad ibn Yusuf al-Milyani ar-Rashidl, d. 931/
1524-5, tomb at Milyana.
Among the numerous derivatives we may mention:
(a) Ghaziyya. Abu '1-Hasan b. Qasim al-Ghazi (commonly known
as Ghazi Bel Gasim), d. a.d. 1526, pupil of Ahmad ar-Rashldl.
(b) Suhailiyya. M. b. 'Abd ar-Rahman as-Suhaili, originally from
Yanbu' on the Red Sea, also a pupil of Ahmad ar-Rashldi,
Among his order-founding pupils were:
(i) 'Abd al-Qadir ibn Muhammad (d. 1023/1614), founder of
the Shaikhiyya or Awlad Sid! Shaikh of Orania. About a.d.
1780 it split into two groups: Sheraga and Geraba.
1 See MaghribI genealogical table.
z See Appendix G for list of Syrian and Egyptian Shadhill orders.
3 According to Ibn 'Askar, Dawhat an-Ndshir, Arch. Maroc. xix. 93.
4 For his many writings see G.A.L. ii. 353, G.A.L.S, ii. 360-3.
8265247 G
88 THE FORMATION OF TA'IFAS
(ii) Ahmad ibn Musa al-Karzazi (d. 1016/1607), founder of the
Karzaziyya.
(c) Napriyya. Founder: Muhammad ibn Nasir ad-Dar'i, d. 1085/
1674. Centred at Tamghut in WadI Dar'a. From it derives the
Ziyaniyya of M. b. 'Abd ar-Rahman b. Abi Ziyan (d. 1145/
1733), commonly known as Mulay Bu-Ziyan, who founded the
zawiya of Qenadha.
Once the new conceptions had taken root in the Maghrib the
Berbers inhabiting Mauritania and the Sudan-belt Sahil came
within their influence. 'Umar ash-Shaikh (d. a.d. 1553) of the
Arab Kunta tribe who is regarded as the initial propagator, how-
ever, was initiated into the Qadirl,1 not the Shadhili-Jazuli tradi-
tion, and this accounts for the almost exclusive prevalence of the
Qadiriyya in west Africa until the nineteenth-century Tijaniyya
was introduced.
The complete integration of saint-veneration with the orders
characterizes this stage. The fa'ifa exists to transmit the holy
emanation, the baraka of its founder; the mystical tradition is
secondary. Though Muhammad ibn flsa, for example, is in the
Shadhili-Jazuli line, his power, a contagion transmissible through
his posterity, is essentially his own. But it is by no means ex-
clusively a saint-cult, for the link with Sufism remains important
and is shown in the teaching and throughout the ritual, personal
and communal, as in the ahzab and adkkar of the ritual hadra
sessions. Another aspect of this stage is that it provided a means
of embracing within Islam all the extra-mural aspects of popular
religion— belief in baraka, materialized in the form of touch,
amulets, charms, and other mechanical means of protection and
insurance.
In the Maghrib the new tendency coincides with the develop-
ment of the characteristic 'maraboutism', which is wider than the
ta'ifas. Sharifism took its special form2 after the discovery in
1 The Qadirl line was introduced into Fez about a.d. 1466 by refugees
from Spain after the reconquest.
3 We first hear of the baraka of royalty in the late thirteenth century in
relation to the amir 'Abd al-Haqq. 'His baraka was famous and his requests' to
God always granted. His skull-cap and trousers were greatly venerated by
the Zanata who took them to women in travail and their labours were alleviated' :
Ibn Abi Zar' (726/1326), Rawd al-Qirfas, tr. A. Baumier, Paris, i860, p. 406;
Ibn al-Ahmar, Rawdat an-Ntsrin, ed. and tr. Gh. Bouali and G. Marcais,
Paris, 1917, tr. p. 56.
THE FORMATION OF T A' IF AS 89
A.D. 1437 of the tomb of Mulay Idris II at Fez in the reign of the
last Marinid, 'Abd al-IIaqq ibn 'All Sa'id (d. a.d. 146s), and even-
tually brought the Sa*dian dynasty to power. Henceforth, in this
region no one could hope to fill any role, religious or otherwise,
unless recognized as a descendant of the Prophet. The Sharlfian
dynasty of Banu Sa'd, founded by Muhammad ash-Shaikh al-
Mahdl (d. 1557), whose bid for power began in 1524, succeeded
with the help of these religious leaders.
The Maghribi revival had little effect in Egypt and the Arab
lands, where the trend was towards greater and greater conformity
towards legalistic tradition, at least in the recognized orders subject
to governmental supervision and approval. What really happened
is that the clamp placed on the exercise of the mind was effective
in suppressing speculative Sufism, so that little genuine insight
is to be expected from Sufi writings, but official condemnations
had no effect upon popular practices of the orders and especially
the cult of saints. There was certainly no blank uniformity; we
have men like Shafrin, the hermit on Jabal al-Muqattam, on the
one hand, and ash-Sha'ram,1 on the other, and the most extrava-
gant forms of dhikr and mawlid celebrations.
Although the Shadhili order had come into existence in Alexan-
dria, it did not take root in Syria until the beginning of the sixteenth
century. The man most responsible for its definitive planting was
a Moroccan Sufi called 'All ibn Maimun ibn Abi Bakr (854/1450-
917/15 1 1).3 After a varied career, which included a period engaged
in fighting the Portuguese, he experienced a conversion and was
initiated into the Madyani line in Tunisia. In 901/1495 he travelled
east, to Cairo, Mecca, Syria, Brusa, back to Hamat, and then
Damascus. Essentially of a Malamati type, he refused to keep
khalzoa or wear or confer the khirqa. He forbad his followers to
take part in normal social life, especially to seek favours from the
great of this world. He did not achieve celebrity in the Syrian
world until after his return from Rum (= Brusa) to Ilamat in
911/1505. He went to Damascus; there his fame as a guide and
revivalist attracted vast numbers, until one day 'He was overcome
by a ' 'contraction"3 whilst in the Salihiyya [khanaqah] in Damascus
1 A notice on ash-Sha'ranl is given in chapter viii, pp. 220-5.
2 An account of his life is given by Ibn al-'Imad, Shadhardt adh-dhahab,
viii. 81-4.
3 Qabtf in Sufi, especially Shadhili, terminology refers to the spiritual state
go THE FORMATION OF T A* IF AS
which persisted in sticking to him until he abandoned the lecture-
hall and began inquiring about places situated in the depths of
valleys and on the tops of mountains, until, at the suggestion of
Muhammad ibn 'Arraq he went to Majdal Ma'ush' [Lebanon],1
where after a few months he died.
'All's companion during his time of trial, Muhammad ibn
'Arraq,2 is mainly responsible for the spread of the Madyaniyya
in Syria, where the new approach brought a breath of new life to
its decadent Sufism. Ibn 'Arraq had been a Circassian officer of
some wealth who, under the influence of 'All ibn Maimfin, left
all to follow his Way. After the death of his master he developed
the organization which came to be known as the Khawatiriyya or
'Arraqiyya.3
In central Asia the two-century period separating the Mongol
invasion from the foundation of the Safawid regime in Persia was
a time of ferment, crucial for the future of Islam in the region. The
immediate consequences of the Mongol conquests had been the
displacement of Islam as the state religion throughout the region.
Islam had now to prove itself and accommodate itself to non-
Muslim rulers, Shamanist, Buddhist, or crypto- Christian. It was
a time pregnant with possibilities, and the outcome was the
triumph of Islam as the dominant religion of central Asia.
Sufism's role was of considerable significance, not as a Way, but
associated with the alternation bastjqabd, 'dilation/contraction'; see A. b.
'Abbad, al-Mafdkhir al-'aliyya, Cairo, a.H. 1327, pp. 58-60. Here it is probably
used in a more general sense as a state of spiritual dereliction, and a reaction
against popularity.
1 Ibn al-Tmad, op. cit. viii. 83.
2 His full name was Shams ad-din Abu 'All Muhammad b. 'All, known as
Ibn 'Arraq; 878/1473-933/1536. An account of his life is given by Ibn al-
Tmad, op. cit. viii. 196-g.
3 Ibn 'Arraq wrote a book on his Way deriving from 'All ibn Maimun called
as-Safinat al- 'Arrdqiyya fi libds khirqat a$-Siifiyya, and a qa$ida Ldmiyya on
the Beautiful Names which was sung at all their fyadras, As-Sanusi gives the
dhikr and sanad in Salsabil, pp. 144-5. The line is carried back to Abu Ya'qiib
Yfisuf al-Kurm al-Qaisi (d. a.d. 1180), the initiator of Ibn al-'Arabl. It is, there-
r " ' " ' , « 'Arraq's
" .2 limited
propagation of the order in Hijaz.
Others in Syria who took the tariqa from 'All ibn Maimun were 'Alawan
'All ibn 'Atiyya (d. a.h. 936: Ibn al-Tmad, Shadhardt, viii. 317-18), Zain ad-
din Abu Hafs 'Umar b. Afrmad (d. a.h. 936: ibid., pp. 218-19), and Abu '1-
Hasan 'All b. Ahmad al-Kizawani (d. a.h. 955: ibid., p. 307; Sha'rSnl, Tabaqdt,
ii. 163). Both 'Alawan and al-Kizawani trained under 'All ibn Maimun in
Brusa.
THE FORMATION OF TA'IFAS
91
through its men of power, manifested also after their death from
their tombs, many of whose structures were raised by Mongol
rulers. It is significant that two of the first Mongol princes to adopt
Islam, Berke of the Golden Horde and Ghazan of Tabriz, sought
out a Sufi rather than a Sunni *alim before whom to make their
public declaration of adhesion to Islam. Berke (reg. a.d. 1257-67),
Khan of the Golden Horde, went specially to Bukhara to acknow-
ledge Islam at the hands of the Kubrawl, Saif ad-din Sa'id al-
Bakharzi (d. 658/1260) ;* whilst Ghazan Khan son of Arghun sent
for the Shfi Sufi, Sadr ad-din Ibrahim, from his khanaqah at
Bahrabad2 in Khorasan to act as officiant at the ceremony on the
pasture grounds in the Alburz mountains in 694/1295 at which the
Khan acknowledged before the Mongol, rather than the Muslim,
world his adoption of Islam as the western Mongol cult,3 symbol of
his independence of the confederacy of the Gur Khan of Peking.
Central Asia, therefore, was an area of mission, and here the
wandering dervishes were all-important.4 At the same time,
Muslim sentiment acquired everywhere fixed centres of devotion
in the tombs. These had their guardian dervishes and became the
centre of a shaikh and his circle of devotees. Ibn Battuta is a
valuable witness to their widespread diffusion, for these places
1 See the discussion by Jean Richard, 'La conversion de Berke et les debuts
de l'lslamisation de la horde d'or\ R.E.I, xxxv (1967), 173-84.
2 Sadr ad-din was the son of Sa'd ad-din al-Hamuya, on whom see pp. 99, 261 .
3 Dawlatshah, Tadhkirat ash-Shu ara\ ed. E. G. Browne, 1901, p. 213;
Rashid ad-din, Geschichte Gdzan Khans, ed. K. Jahn, Leiden, 1940, p. 79.
4 It is surprising that the western Turkish KhalwatI tradition made so little
impact upon the eastern Turks. The order spread into eastern Iran from the
Tabriz region with the wandering dervishes. Rude and unlettered, they were
despised by the Naqshabandis and Kubrawis and were probably absorbed by
the Yasavis, for, though a few as individual thaumaturgists gained fame, the
KhalwatI lines eventually died out. The following are a few names associated
with a semi-legendary:
Muhammad al-Khalwati
al-Khwarizmi
d. 7Si/i3SO?
Nizam ad-din Saif ad-din
d. 'Ishqabad (Jam) d. Herat 783/1381
775/1374 1
I i I
Nur ad-din £ahir ad-din Aba Sa'id
Ahmad al-Khwarizmi d. 800/1398 al-irlabashi
d. 820/1418
9z THE FORMATION OF TA'IFAS
with their open hospitality were the stopping-places for parties
of travellers. In Bistam, for example, he stayed in the khanaqah
attached to the tomb of Abu Yazid al-Bistami, where he also
visited that of Abu 'l-Hasan al-Kharaqam.1 Many of the tombs to
which khanaqahs became attached were not those of Sufis, since
the possession of baraka has nothing to do with Sufism. Ibn
Battuta wrote:
Outside Samarqand is the domed tomb of Qutham ibn al- 'Abbas ibn
'Abd al-Muttalib who was martyred during the conquest of that city.
The people of Samarqand go on visitation to his tomb on the nights of
Monday and Friday. The Tatars do the same, making vows to him on
a large scale, bringing cattle and sheep as well as money, offering them
for the support of travellers, the inmates of the khanaqah, and the
blessed tomb.2
Other non-Sufi tombs he visited include those of cAli ar-Rida
(d, a.d. 818 near Tus) situated inside a khanaqah,3 and 'Akasha
ibn Mihsan al-Asadl, a companion of the Prophet, outside Balkh,4
whose shaikh took Ibn Battuta on a tour of the many tombs of
that city, which included that of the Prophet Ezekiel and the house
of the Sufi, Ibrahim ibn Adham, then used as a storehouse for
grain. His narrative shows that the nomad Turks and Mongols
shared with Muslims the belief in the baraka of the saints.
The Islamic movement took varied forms within the two tradi-
tions of Sunnl and Sht'I. The Ilkhanid states were officially Sunni,
but Shi 'I ideas and loyalties were very much alive as historical
sources show, by demonstrating the relative ease with which the
Safawid revolution was accomplished. In the Sunni tradition the
Naqshabandiyya played a distinctive role. We have shown5 how
Baha' ad-dm an-Naqshabandi, who gave Silsilat al-Khawajagan
its name and form, simply carried on one of the most strongly
established Sufi traditions. Although so clearly Iranian and urban,
it was adopted by many Tatar tribes as a kind of tribal religious
linkage, and had its place in their triumphs following the death of
Shah Rukh (850/1447). During this century the rapid progress of
the order, from central Asia westwards into Anatolia and south-
wards into the Indian subcontinent, led to its division into three
main branches :
1 Ibn Battuta, Paris edn., iii. 82.
3 Ibid. iii. 77-9. 4 ibid. iii. 62.
3 Ibid. iii. 52-3.
s See above, p. 62.
THE FORMATION OF Tl'IFAS
93
Baha' ad-din an-Naqshabandl
d. a.d. 1389
'Ala* ad-din
al- 'Attar
d. 802/1400
'AH b. Mhd Ya 'qub
al-Jurjani Jarkhl/Charkht
d. 816/1413 d. 851/1447
Sultan ad-din
Sa*d (Sa'id) ad-din M.
al-Kashgari
d. A.D. 1455
'Abd ar-Rahman
Jam!
A.D. 1414-92
Nasir ad-din 'Ubaidallah
al-Ahrar
ibn MahmQd ash-Shashi1
'Hadrat Ishan'
A.d. 1404-1490
CENTRAL
ASIAN
'Arif bi'llah 'Abdallah
Alahi of Simaw
d. a.d. 1490
Sa'id Ahmad al-
Bukharl TakiyasI
(d. Istanbul)
I
WESTERN
(Turkey)
Muhammad az-Zahid
I
Darwish Muhammad
I
Ahmad al-Amkangl
M. Baqi bi'llah
a.d. 1563-1603
I
INDIAN
Husam ad-din
b. Baqi bi'llah
d. A.D. 1633
Taj ad-din
ibn Zakariya2
d. Mecca 1050/1640
T
1
Alahdad Ahmad Faruql
d. a.d. 1640 Sirhindl
d. A.D. 1625
I
Muhammad Sa'id
I
Mujaddidiyya
Zubairiyya
Mazhariyya
Ahsaniyya,
'Alamiyya ,
1
Murad b. 'All
A.D. 1 640-1 720
Muradiyya
(Syria)
1 Tashkand was then called Shash,
2 Taj ad-din had an interesting career and eventually found a niche in
Mecca away from the rivalries which ensued after the death of Muhammad
Baqi bi'llah. From this vantage point he had much to do with commending the
Naqshabandi Way to Arabs. He translated books like Jami's Nafahiat and
94 THE FORMATION OF T A1 IF AS
Jam! has been included in this tree, not for any significance
in the stlsila, but for his influence upon Persian, Turkish, and
Indian Sufism, as well as for his biographies of Sufis, Nafahat al-
unSy finished in 881/1476. Though not an initiating shaikh, Jam!
is said to have given the Naqshabandi tariqa to Mir 'AH Shir
Nawa'i (a.d. 1441-1501) when this minister to the Timurid
sultan, Abu '1-Ghazi Husain, undertook a period of retreat in
881/1476. fAli Shir was famous as a patron of the arts and as
a writer of distinction in prose and poetry, especially as a pioneer
poet in Chagatay Turki. He founded and endowed a Khanaqah
Ikhlasiyya in Herat (as Shah Rukh had also done) as well as some
90 ribats, this term here meaning 'resthouses'.1
The most influential figure after Baha' ad-dm was Khwaja
Ahrar, popularly known as Hadrat Ishan, from whom all the three
regional lines derive — central Asian, western Turkish, and Indian.
Members of the order were largely responsible for the spread of
Islam among the Ozbegs, among whom Khwaja Ahrar wielded
great spiritual power, and among whom he consequently played
a political role.2 The heads of all the independent states which
succeeded the Mongols (except in , Persia) favoured this great
SunnI order, honouring its leaders during their lifetimes and
building mausoleums over their graves and khanaqahs to house
their dervishes. Although it weakened in time, it remained the
dominant regional order, with great centres at Samarqand, Merv,
Khiva, Tashkand, Herat, as well as Bukhara. There were also
significant groups in Chinese Turkestan and Khokand, Afghanis-
tan, Persia, Baluchistan, and India.
The order was first introduced into India during the time of
Babur (d. a.d. 1530), but its real propagator was M. Baqi bi'llah
Berang (a.d. 1 563-1 603) who finally settled in Delhi, His spiritual
'All al-Kashifi's Rashahdt KAin al-Haydt into Arabic, and we have referred to
a risdla of his on Naqshabandi practices. Al-Muhibbi devotes a long article to
him in his Khuldsat al-Athar (i. 464-70) and also to his other master Alah-
Bakhsh (i. 433-4), khalifa of Sayyid 'All ibn Qiwam of Jaunpur. Tawflq al-
Bakri has a note on the Tajiyya as he calls the order; Bait as-$iddiqt p. 384.
1 See the study of 'All Shir by M. Belin \nj. AsiaU v. xvii-xviii(i86i), 19a.
a For example, during the attack of the Timurid Abu 'l-Qasim Babur (d.
a.d. 1457), grandson of Shah Rukh, on Samarqand, al-Ahrar's exhortations
were effective in strengthening the resistance of another Timurid, Abu Sa'Id
Mirza (reg. a.d. 1451-68), of Ma' Wara 'n-Nahr. When Mlrza Babur offered
a truce (1454) it was to al-Ahrar that his emissaries addressed themselves;
see Rashahdt 'Ain al-Haydt, which is especially concerned with al-Ahrar.
THE FORMATION OF TA'IFAS 95
descent from al-Ahrar was Muhammad az-Zahid, a darwlsh
Muhammad, then Ahmad al-Amkangl who sent him to India.
Another propagator who settled in Lahore was Khwand Mahmud
(d. 1052/1642), whose son spread his allegiance. Of the various
lines diverging from Baqi bi'llah two, which contrasted greatly
in outlook, were that through his son, Husam ad-din Ahmad
(a.d. 1574-1633), following a pantheistic line, and a somewhat
bigoted Sunnl movement inspired by Baqi's pupil, Ahmad
Faruqi Sirhindi (a.d. 15 63-1 624), nicknamed Mujaddid-i Alf-i
Thdni (Reformer of the Second Millennium), who, within his
sphere of influence, attacked the link of Sufism with antinomian
mysticism and advocated what came to be known as the
Shuhudiyya doctrine derived from as-Simnani. His reaction
against Akbar's tentatives towards religious syncretism earned
him the Emperor's disfavour, but his reformist outlook won the
support of subsequent Mogul emperors.
In the Ottoman empire the Naqshabandl silsila was of signi-
ficance only in Syria and Anatolia. Introduced into Syria in the
seventeenth century it did not begin to expand until propagated
by Murad ibn fAli al-Bukhari.1 Born in fact in Samarqand in
A.D. 1640 he went to India, where he was initiated by Muhammad
Ma 'sum, son of Ahmad Sirhindi. He eventually made Damascus
his centre, but continued to travel extensively in Arab lands and
Anatolia, training and initiating khalifas indiscriminately, and died
in Istanbul in 1 132/1720. From Murad stemmed a number of
minor branches, fAbd al-Gham an-Nabuls! (a.d. 1641-1731), one
of the few Arab Sufis of the age who possessed any insight,
belonged to the Naqshabandiyya. The order was introduced into
Egypt by Ahmad al-Bana' ibn M. ad-Dimyati (d. 1127/1715) who
was initiated and given the khilafa in Yemen by Ahmad ibn 'Ujail
and 'Abd al-Baql al-MizjajL2
In Turkey the Naqshabandiyya was strong in towns; there
being fifty- two tekkts in Istanbul in the 1880s. Evliya Chelebi
1 D'Ohsson refers to him (Tableau, iv. ii. 626) as Murad Shami, founder of
the Muradiyya. Muhammad Khalil al-Muradi, a descendant, gives many
biographies of Murad ibn 'All and members of the family in his Silk ad-durar,
2 Al-Jabarti, 'Ajd'ib, Cairo, 1958, i. 226-9. Ahmad Abu '1-Wafa* ibn 'Ujail
(d. 1664) took the fariqa from Taj ad-din b. Zakariya in Zabld and Mecca and
became the regional Naqshabandl khalifa in Yemen; on him see al-Muhibbi,
Khuldfat al-Athar, i. 346-7, 464. He was succeeded by his son Abu 'z-Zain
Musa. 'Abd al-Baql was also a local Yemeni khalifa (d. 1663: Muhibbi, ii. 283).
i
96
THE FORMATION OF T A* IF AS
wrote: 'Well informed men know that the great shaikhs may be
classed in two principal orders — that of Khalveti and that of
Nakshbendi.'1 Like the eastern, the western branch was divided
into many separate and frequently isolated groups, each distin-
guished by its own jaHfa name.2
The only tariqa of the Kubrawi silsila to achieve any wide-
spread fame was the Hamadaniyya. 'All al-Hamadanl had con-
ducted large movements of his followers into Kashmir where they
formed a number of branches, one of the best-known being the
Ashrafiyya, deriving from Ashraf Jahangir Simnani (d. 1405) who
settled at Kichhauchha in Oudh. The order continued to exist
among Iranians, and towards the end of the fifteenth century made
its appearance in Syria. One Sharaf ad-din Yunus b. Idris al-
Halabl (d. 923/1517) is reported to have taken it from 'Ubaid
Allah at-Tustari al-Hamadani. Tie acquired many followers
who practised the authentic awrad in al-Madrasat ar-Rawahiyya
in Aleppo. Then he moved to Damascus setting himself up in
Dar al-Hadith near the citadel.'3 And there were other visitors.
cAbd al-Latif b. fAbd al-Mu'min al-Khurasam al-Jami, on his
way to carry out the pilgrimage with a large following of murids,
stayed in Istanbul for some time, eulogized Sultan Sulaiman and
gave him the dhikr of the order (the talqin), then went on to
Aleppo where he taught al-awrad al-fathiyya^ and after carrying
out the hajj returned to his own country, dying in Bukhara in
956/1549 (or 963/1555-6).*
In India a characteristic of this period is the widening of
allegiance to the established SuhrawardI and Chishti lines and the
more restricted spread of the Naqshabandi, Qadiri, and Shattarl
orders — each expressed in hundreds of local establishments sur-
rounding a living or dead holy man. The success of the orders was
based on this mystique of saint-intercessors and adaptation to
deep-rooted Indian religious instincts. The SuhrawardI and
Chishti tariqas were fortunate in having inspired leaders, but
1 Evliya Chelebi, tr. von Hammer, 1. ii. 29.
2 The names of some of the western offshoots are given by A. le Chatelier,
Les Confr&ries musulmanes du Hedjaz, 1887, p. 155 n.
3 Ibn al-'Imad, Shadharat, viii. ia8.
4 The cycle of prayers called al-awrad al-fathiyya were given to cAli al-
Hamadani by the Prophet. They are the pivot of the order and specially intended
for recitation at the group fyalqa', see As-SanusI, Salsabil, p. 107.
» Ibn al-'Imad, op. cit. viii, 282-3.
THE FORMATION OF TA^FAS
97
the Qadiri had so far lacked both leaders and any clear attractive
Sufi doctrine.
Muhammad Ghawth, claiming to be tenth in succession from
'Abd al-Qadir, is responsible for the definitive introduction of
his order into India. Born in Aleppo, he settled (a.d. 1482) in
Uchch in Sind, long conditioned as a strong Suhrawardi centre,
gained the patronage of the Sultan of Delhi, Sikandar Lodi, and
died in 15 17, to be succeeded by his son, *Abd al-Qadir (d. 1533).
The Baghdad centre of the order gained the favour of the Ottoman
dynasty because of its orthodoxy.1 Other members of the family
moved also to India, and finding it to be fruitful were followed
by more members, who formed independent branches. In the
seventeenth century it took on a new lease of life and a surprising
change took place in its teaching (so far zahiri and non-mystical)
and practices. It expanded under various leaders, including Shah
Abu 'l-Ma'all (d. 1615), Miyan Mir (d. 1635), and Mulla Shah
Badakhshi (d. 1661). The last two were teachers of Dara Shikoh,
during his earlier and more orthodox period.2 The Indian Qadiri
shaikhs now extend very far the process of compromise with
Hindu thought and custom.
Naturally in as diversified a region as India regional orders
were formed.3 The most important was the Shattariyya. Its origins
are obscure. It claims to be in the Taifuri tradition, but is attributed
to a descendant of Shihab ad-dm as-Suhrawardl called 'Abdallah
1 When Shah Isma'Il the Safawid took Baghdad in a.d. 1508 his troops
destroyed tombs, including that of 'Abd al-Qadir (rebuilt after Hulagu's des-
truction of 1258), and expelled the family, some of whom took refuge in India.
Sulaiman the Great, after conquering the former 'Abbasid capital, made dona-
tions towards its restoration in 941/1534, and (after Shah 'AbbaVs destruction
in 1623) Murad IV did the same in 1 048/1638. Increasing prosperity enabled
the family to build the present mosque.
2 On this remarkable son of Shah Jahan see B. J. Hasrat, Dara Shikuh: His
Life and Works, Visvabharati, Santiniketan, 1953.
The names of a few of the more important Qadiri td'ifas in India are given
in Appendix D.
3 A distinctive order founded in India a little earlier, but with a narrow out-
reach, was the Madariyya. Nothing certain is known about its founder, Badi*
ad-dm Shah Madarl, an immigrant (Syrian?) who settled in Jaunpur where he
died circa 1440, his tomb at Makanpur (near Cawnpore) becoming the focus
of a remarkable festival and fair. This occasion also acquired notoriety through
the rite of fire-walking performed by the Madarl faqirs (see J. A. Subhan,
Sufism, 1938, pp. 305-6; 'A'in-i Akbari, 1948 edn., iii. 412). This group is
regarded as a bi-shar' order, but it is more of a syncretistic sect than an order.
As-Sanusi includes it among his forty farigas and describes its aims and prac-
tices (Salsabil, pp. 152-4), but he knew nothing about it at first hand.
98 THE FORMATION OF T A' IF AS
ash-Shattar. His pir) Muhammad 'Arif (attribution unknown?),
sent him to India. He was at first at Jawnpur, capital of Ibrahim
Shah Sharqi (reg. a.d. 1402-40); then difficulties caused him to
go on to Mandu, capital of the small Muslim state of Malwa
(Multan), where he died in 1428/9. His Way was spread by his
pupils, especially the Bengali, Muhammad 'Ala', known as
Qazan Shattari, but owes its full development as a distinctive
order to Shah Muhammad Ghawth of Gwalior (d. 1562/3),1
fourth in succession from the founder, and to be distinguished
from the Muhammad Ghawth of Uchch (d. 15 17), propagator
of the Qadiriyya in India. His successor Shah Wajlh ad-din (d.
1018/1609), should be mentioned, since he was the author of
many books, founded a long-lived madrasa, and was honoured
as a great saint in Gujerat. Since the Shattariyya does not regard
itself as an offshoot of any order (though its chain links with the
Suhrawardiyya), it may be regarded as a distinct tariqa with its
own characteristics in beliefs and practices.2 It was known as the
'Ishqiyya in Iran and Turan, and as the Bistamiyya in Ottoman
Turkey, the name in both instances deriving from the name of
a propagator called Abu Yazld al-'IshqU
None of the orders in India could escape being influenced by
their religious environment. Many branches became very syn-
cretistic, adopting varieties of pantheistic thought and antinomian
tendencies. Many practices were taken over from the Yogis —
extreme ascetic disciplines, celibacy, and vegetarianism. Wanderers
of the qalandari type abounded. Local customs were adopted;
for example, in the thirteenth century the Chishtls paid respect
to their leaders by complete prostration with forehead on the
ground.4
1 Muhammad Ghawth was the author of a mi'rdj in which he describes his
progress along the path of spiritual ascension. The pantheistic expressions
he used caused the 'ulamd' of Gujerat to call for his condemnation for heresy,
from which he was vindicated by 'Shah' Wajlh ad-din who became his disciple
and then successor. Other books he wrote include Jawdhir-i Khamsa and
Awrdd-i Ghawthiyya. As-Sanusi describes the dhikrs of the order, including
the Jujiyya = Yoga; Salsahil, pp. 136-35.
2 Besides the works of Muhammad Ghawth and his successor, an account of
its doctrines is given in Irshaddt al-'Arifin by Muhammad Ibrahim Gazur-i
Ilahl, a contemporary of Awrangzaib (1659-1707),
3 The 'Ishqiyya is one of the orders given by as-SanusI (he calls it 'a fd'ifa
of the Shattariyya'), but he has 'Ishqi's sanad muddled up; see Salsabil, pp.
135-6.
4 The custom is referred to frequently in Amir IJasan 'Ala Sijzl's Fawd'id
THE FORMATION OF TA'IFAS 99
ShVite Orders. The orders were closely involved with the in-
increasing Shl'i movement in Iranian regions. This is seen in the
leaders deriving from the Kubrawiyya movement of Sufi thought;1
and even the Naqshabandi order, so definitely Sunni, made great
concessions to the cult of 'All without in any way becoming
Imami Shi'Ite. Of course, most orders trace their origin to 'All
and accord him a special position as the medium through which
their esoteric teaching had been transmitted, but in any case
remaining Sunni.
A continuous 'Alid Sufi chain had been maintained for a long
while, certainly since the prohibition on the open profession of
Isma'ili Shf ism in Egypt (a.d. 1171), Syria (Masyaf a.d. 1260,
triumph of Baibars a.d. 1272), and the fall of Alamut (a.d. 1256),
when many Shfis found a home within Sufi orders. One of the
earliest surviving chains2 which shows the double gnostic pro-
cession from 'All (both hereditary and initiatory) is that of
Sadr ad-din M. ibn flamuya (d. 617/1220), belonging to a family
of Persian origin, whose most famous Sufi member was the
Shi'i, Sa'd ad-din ibn Hamuya.
Shi'ism under a Sufi cloak formed a powerful undercurrent
within the Kubrawi, Khalwati, Bektashi, and Bairami orders. In
the Ottoman Empire it had to remain under cover, but in Persia
there were various Shi'i Sufi movements, though with the forma-
tion of Shi*i states Sufi orders and their shaikhs did not in fact
fare very well. Sunni orders were naturally resented by the Shi'I
mujtahids as having abandoned the Imam for the murshidjqutb^
but ShI'i Sufis also suffered. Shf 1 thought flourished during the
Safawid period in a renaissance heralded by men like the Sufi
Mir M. Baqir Damad (d. 1631), Qadi Sa'id Qummi (d. 1691),
and Mulla Sadra Sfurazi (d. 1642).
The most interesting Shifi-Sufi movement from the historical
point of view was the Safawiyya, which began as a Sunni order.
The founder, Safiyyaddin (647/1249-735/1334),3 who claimed
al-fudd} a record of the conversations of Shaikh Nizam ad-din Awliya', see
K. A. Nizami, Religion and Politics in India during the Thirteenth Century,
1961, p. 94-
1 For example, as-Simnani; see M. Mole, 'Les Kubrawiyya entre Sunnisme
et Shiisme aux huitteme et neuvieme si&cles de l'h<%ire', R.EJ. xxix (1961),
61-142.
2 See Appendix A.
3 On Shaikh Safi see the account in E. G. Browne, Persian Literature in
Modern Times, 1924, pp. 3-44, which utilizes the gafzvat as-safd\ written by
IOO
THE FORMATION OF T A' IF AS
descent from the seventh Imam, Musa Kazim, was born in
Ardabil in eastern Azerbaijan. He experienced difficulty in rinding
a director, but eventually discovered a Shaikh Zahid1 with whom
he remained for twenty-five years until his death (694/1294), when
he succeeded him. From Safiyyaddln the succession was here-
ditary: (2) Sadr ad-din, d. 1393, (3) Khwaja 'All, d. 1429, (4)
Ibrahim Shah, d. 1447/8, (5) Junaid, killed in battle in 1460, (6)
Ilaidar, also killed in battle in 1488, and (7) Shah Isma'il (d. 1524),
founder of the Safawi dynasty.
It is not clear when the order became Shri. Khwaja 'Ali
showed Shi'I tendencies and when Shaikh Junaid, with whom its
militant role began, fled to TJzun Hasan, chief of the White Sheep
dynasty, with his ten thousand Sufi warriors (ghuzat-i Sufiyya)
'who deemed the risking of their lives in the path of their perfect
Director the least of the degrees of devotion',3 he visited the shrine
of Sadr ad-din al-Qonawi,3 whose incumbent, Shaikh 'Abd al-
Latlf, denounced him as a heretic. Shaikh tlaidar was responsible,
in answer to divine revelation, for instructing his followers to
adopt the scarlet cap of twelve gores4 signifying the twelve Imams,
which led to their being known by the Turkish term qizil-bash
(Redheads). Shah Isma'iPs battle-cry was 'Allah! Allah! wa
'Ali waliyyu 'Hah!',5 and he made Twelve-imam Shi'i belief the
state religion, in fact the only tolerated religion in his dominions.
The Safawids eventually gained the adherence of groups like the
descendants of Nurbakhsh and the Musha'sha*.
The Safawiyya, as a strongly Turkish order, had considerable
repercussions upon Anatolia both religiously and politically.
Tawakkul ibn al-Bazzaz around 760/1359, but subsequently revised and aug-
mented. The book has been analysed by B. Nikitine in J. Asiat. 1957, 385-94-
1 His proper name was Taj ad-din Ibrahim ibn Rushan of Hilyakiran in the
Khanbali district of GllSn. His link, and so that of Safi, was with the SuhrawardI
sihila, but it is better attached to the Khurasanian rather than the Baghdadian
tradition. It is interesting that Shah 'Abbas (1588-1639) appointed Shaikh
Abdal, a descendant of Shaikh Zahid, custodian of his shrine at Shaikhanbar
in Ardabil in 1600. So the shrine reverted to the original line (cf. E. G. Browne,
J.R.A.S. 1921, 395 f.).
2 E. G. Browne, Lit. Hist. Persia, iv. 47.
3 Sadr ad-din al-Qonawi (d. a.H. 1273), a famous commentator on the thought
of Ibn al-'Arabi, whose lectures on the Fusus inspired the Persian poet 'Iraqi to
compose his Latna'dt.
* Tdj-i duwdsda tark, later called tdj-i Iiaidart.
5 'God! God! and 'AH is the friend of God.' On the Shi'i sense of wali see
below, pp. 133-5,
THE FORMATION OF TA'IFAS 101
Several Turkish KhalwatI orders (Bairamiyya and Jilwatiyya),
claiming to be Sunni, were linked with the same tradition,
whilst among the many political aspects we may mention the
rising in a.d. 141 6 of Mustafa Biirkliija supported by Shaikh
Badr ad-din, son of the qadi of Simaw.1 Shah Isma'il in his bid
for power found strong support in such parts as had been in-
fluenced, especially among the population of the Gulf of Adalia,
Sanjaq Teke, whose Takhtaji population is said to be descended
from immigrant Iranian qizil-bash,2 and the Ottoman sultan
Bayazid II had difficulty in suppressing the rebellion of Baba
Shah Kull in support of Shah Isma'il. The Sufi organization
upon which the dynasty had come to power continued to exist as
the servant of the state, with a khalifat al-kfadafa* at the head,3
but steadily declined, until in time Sufis became targets for the
enmity and persecution of the Shi'i mujtahids.
The Ni'matullahl order was founded by Nur ad-dm M.
Ni'matullah b. 'Abdallah, who claimed descent from the fifth
Shfi Imam, Muhammad Baqir. Born in Aleppo in 730/1330 in
a family of Iranian origin, he went to Mecca at the age of 24,
where he became pupil, then khalifa, of 'Abdallah al-Yafici
(1298-1367), who traced his mystical ancestry to Abu Madyan
(Egyptian branch). After 'Abdallah's death, he found his way to
central Asia, travelling from khanaqah to khanaqah, Samarqand,
Herat, and Yazd; expelled from Transoxiana by Timur he
settled eventually at Mahan near Kirman, until his death at an
advanced age in 834/1431. 4
Ni'matullah was prolific writer of Sufi ephemeras, both prose
and poetry. He enjoyed the favour of kings and this partiality for
the great of the world was continued by his descendants. W. Ivanow
writes that this fariqa 'was always selective in its membership, and
occupied the position of an "aristocratic" organization. Later on it
became a fashion in the higher strata of the feudal society to be
a member of this affiliation ... A few decades ago almost the
1 See E. I.3 i. 869. On this aspect of the Qizil-bash and their connections with
Anatolian dervish orders see F. Babinger, SchejchBedr ed-din, Leipzig and Berlin,
1921, pp. 78 ff., D. Xsl. xi (1931), 1-106; H, J. Kissling, 'Zur Geschichte des
Derwischordens der Bajramijja>, Siidostforschungen, xv (1956), 237ff.
2 Cf. BJS iv. 627.
3 See R. M. Savory, 'The Office of Khalifat al-khulaf a under the §afawids',
jf.Amer. Or. Soc. hoexv (1965), 497-502.
4 On Ni'matullah see E. O, Browne, Lit. Hist. Persia, iii. 4°3-73» where
examples of his apocalyptic and pantheistic poetry are given and translated.
102
THE FORMATION OF TA'IFAS
whole of the class of the junior government clerks, petty trades-
men, and other similar working people in Persia belonged to
the "Mulla-Sultani" or "Gunabad!" order, an offshoot of the
Ni'matu'l-lahis (with headquarters in Baydukht, Gunabad), with-
out in any way forfeiting their Shi'ite orthodoxy in the eyes of the
people.'1
Mahan has remained the centre of the order but it put out
other shoots besides the Gunabad!2 — Dhu 'r-Riyasatain and
Safl-'Ali-Sham". In the founder's lifetime it spread into India,
where the Bahmanid ruler of Deccan, Ahmad Shah Wall (d.
1436), fostered it in his dominions. Persecuted for a period in
Iran, it gained ground after the rise of the Qajar dynasty (a.d.
1779), and is the most active order in Iran at the present time.
The Nurbakhshiyya3 may be classed among Shl'i orders.
Nurbakhsh's doctrines were Shl'i in tendency though he himself
claimed the Imamate by divine election, not by descent, and in
consequence he had an adventurous and hazardous career. The
members of the group in Kashmir when under persecution
claimed to be SunnI, no doubt exercising the expedient of taqiyya
(precautionary dissembling).4
An Assessment. The difficulty experienced in treating the history
of the orders derives from the need for expressing in a reasonably
coherent fashion the development and organization of a movement
of the spirit which was not orderly ; thus one gives the impression of
a precision which did not exist. When, therefore, I trace their
development through three stages it must be realized that this is
no more than a generalization of trends, and that in the final stage
the three continued to exist contemporaneously. I have earlier
characterized the stages (as affecting the individual) as surrender
to God (khdnaqah stage), surrender to a rule (tariqa stage), and
surrender to a person {faHfa stage), but this simply means a narrow-
ing of the means of seeking the primary aim of the Sufi. With
1 W. Ivanow, Isniaili Literature: a Bibliographical Survey, Tehran, 1963,
P- 184.
a The split came after Rahmat 'All Shah, then— Ta'us al-'Urafa' Isfahan!—
flajji Mulla Sultan of Gunabad (= 'Sultan 'All Shah', a pupil of the famous
philosopher of Sabzawar, IJajji Mulla Had!, 1798-1878) — Niir 'AH Shah
(d. 1 9 17)— Salih 'Ali Shah.
3 See above, p. 57.
4 See Muhammad Haidar, Ta*rikh-i Rashidt, tr. E. D. Ross, London, 1895,
PP. 434-5.
THE FORMATION OF TA'IFAS 103
this qualification, that any schema implies a distinction more hard
and fast than is justified by the facts, the trends may be sum-
marized:
First (khanaqdh) Stage. The golden age of mysticism. Master and
his circle of pupils, frequently itinerant, having minimum
regulations for living a common life, leading in the tenth
century to the formation of undifferentiated, unspecialized
lodges and convents. Guidance under a master becomes an
accepted principle. Intellectually and emotionally an aristo-
cratic movement. Individualistic and communal methods of
contemplation and exercises for the inducement of ecstasy.
Second (tariqa) Stage. Thirteenth century, Seljuq period. For-
mative period = a.d. 1 100-1400. The transmission of a doc-
trine, a rule and method. Development of continuative teaching
schools of mysticism: sihila-iariqas, deriving from an illumi-
nate. Bourgeois movement. Conforming and making docile the
mystical spirit within organized Sufism to the standards of
tradition and legalism. Development of new types of collec-
tivistic methods for inducing ecstasy.
Third (td'tfa) Stage. Fifteenth century, period of founding of
the Ottoman Empire. The transmission of an allegiance along-
side the doctrine and rule. Sufism becomes a popular movement.
New foundations formed in tariqa lines, branching into numer-
ous 'corporations' or 'orders', fully incorporated with the saint-
cult.
The organization of what cannot properly be organized, personal
mystical life, arose naturally through the need for guidance and
association with kindred aspirants. But organization carried within
itself the seeds of decay. Through the cult-mysticism of the orders
the individual creative freedom of the mystic was fettered and
subjected to conformity and collective experience. Guidance
under the earlier masters had not compromised the spiritual
liberty of the seeker, but the final phase involving subjection to the
arbitrary will of the shaikh turned him into a spiritual slave, and
not to God, but to a human being, even though one of God's elect.
In addition, the mystical content of the orders had been
weakened. In the Arab world especially, the conflict between the
exoteric and esoteric doctrines of Islam had been won by the
legalists. Islam sought to subject the mystical element to its own
8265247 H
io4 THE FORMATION OF TA'IFAS
standards, to make mysticism innocuous by tolerating much of
its outer aspects and forms in return for submission. Order
shaikhs vied with one another in demonstrating their loyalty and
subservience to the SharVa, and in the process many orders
were emptied of their essential elements and left with the empty
husks of mystical terminology, disciplines, and exercises.
The orders had now attained their final forms of organization
and spiritual exercises. Innovations had become fully integrated
and their spirit and aims were stereotyped. No further develop-
ment was possible and no further work of mystical insight which
could mark a new point of departure in either doctrine or practice
was to make its appearance. The following are the chief features :
(a) Authoritarian principle. Veneration for the shaikh of the
ta'ifa, inheritor of the baraka of wilaya, and utter subjection
to his authority.
(b) Developed organization embodying a hierarchical principle,
with a general range of uniformity, variations being expressed
in secondary aspects.
(c) Two main classes of adherents: adepts and lay affiliates.
(d) Initiatory principle: esoteric and power isnad. For adepts an
elaborate initiation ceremony and common dress; a simpler
ceremony, but including the oath of allegiance, for affiliates.
(e) Disciplinary principles: solitude, dfcifer-tasks, vigils, fasting,
and other austerities for adepts.
(/) The collective dhikr, with co-ordination of musical rhythm,
breath-control, and physical exercises to excite ecstasy, as
pivot of the assembly.
(g) A cult related to the tombs of holy men. Association of waits,
dead or alive, with the qualities and properties embraced by
the terms baraka and karama. Stress on baraka leading to
perpetual hiving off into new orders.
IV
Nineteenth- Century Revival Movements
I. THE DIRECTIONS OF REVIVAL
Before the nineteenth century the world of Islam had
suffered no major reverses from the expansion of the West.
The Maghrib had been menaced, but a state of power
equilibrium had been maintained in the Mediterranean. The
Portuguese had blocked Sultan Selim's ambitions to dominate
the Indian Ocean, but this was offset by Ottoman Turkey's
expansion at the expense of Christian Europe. Europe's earlier
expansion by-passed the Ottoman Empire, which embraced the
heartlands of Islam. Napoleon's conquest of Egypt in 1798 is
generally taken as a convenient point from which to date the first
realization of the threat presented by European expansion.
Two developments now led to an intensified Islam — the
Wahhabi movement and revival in the orders. Neither was in
response to the Western menace, for they had their roots in the
eighteenth century; rather, they anticipated the need for reform
and for countering the lethargy which had overtaken the Arab
world under Ottoman rule. The first of these movements rejected
the validity of the solidified system validated by ijma and especially
such practices as compromised the unity and transcendence of
God. It stressed a return to the simplicity of a mythical, unadul-
terated Islam, and interpreted the jihad against unbelievers as
war against those who, like baraka- exploiters, had compromised
its purity. The Wahhabi rejects any idea of intermediaries between
himself and God since with his view of transcendence no relation-
ship is possible. A ruling tenet was systematic opposition to all
innovations, and the Wahhabis shocked the world of Islam when,
in the territories they conquered, they destroyed the tombs of
saints, including that of Imam Husain ibn 'AH at Kerbala in 1802.
The political action of the movement was restricted, but its
stimulative effect was widespread, and its attack on the orders
emphasized the need for reform.
106 NINETEENTH- CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS
All religious organizations flag in their interior life, and the
orders were, as we have seen, very decadent. Within them the
true Way of Sufi experience had weakened, though individuals
and little circles continued to follow the Sufi Path. The revival
that took place in an attempt to meet the situation stems from the
work of three men, all born in the Maghrib.
The revival took two lines, traditional and reformist. That along
traditional lines derives from the inspiration of an illuminate
called ad-Darqawi, who enlivened emotional fervour and stimu-
lated the urge towards the contemplative life among adherents
within the Shadhill tradition. This resulted in a proliferation of
branch orders, mainly in North Africa, with offshoots in Syria
and Hijaz. The reformist movement derives from Ahmad at-
Tijani and Ahmad ibn Idris. The action of the first was centred
in the Maghrib, and retained this orientation, though it spread
into west, central, and eastern Sudan. It maintained its unity, its
khalifas being immunized against the virus of prophetical inspira-
tion to proclaim their own separate Ways. The movement inspired
by Ahmad ibn Idris had its centre in Mecca and after Ibn Idrls's
death his chief disciples claimed equally both to perpetuate his Way
and to have received heavenly directives to found their own dis-
tinctive Ways. Ahmad ibn Idris in particular, responding to the
challenge presented by the Wahhabi movement, sought to pre-
serve the inner (bdtini) aspect of Islam, rejected completely by
the Wahhabis, along with full acceptance of the zahiri aspect, and
vigorously condemned the accretions which had debased the
orders. These aims alienated both the 'ulatna? and the order-
shaikhs in the Hijaz. He also had a pan-Islamic vision. He sought
to bind believers together through full adherence to the Law along
with an emotionalized Islam based on devotion to the Prophet and
a personal embodiment of divine power at work in the world.
All these new orders were moved by missionary fervour to augment
their membership.
The two Ahmads both stressed that the purpose of dhikr was
union with the spirit of the Prophet, rather than union with God —
a change which affected the basis of the mystical life. Conse-
quently, they called their Way At- Tariqat al-Mtihammadiyya or
Af-Tanqat aLAhmadiyya, the latter term referring, not to their
personal names but to that of the Prophet. They laid less stress
on the silsila of authority — the Tijaniyya rejected it altogether — ■
NINETEENTH -CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS 107
because they emphasized the fact that the Prophet himself had
given them direct permission to initiate a Way. The new tariqas
were also marked by their revulsion against asceticism and by
their stress on practical activities. Their Ways maintained estab-
lished liturgical and ethical Sufism, having little in their method
and training that the old Sufis would have regarded as mystical.
This is shown by their practice, lack of guidance of neophytes, and
rejection of esoteric teaching, and by such aspects as the kind of
material drawn from classical Sufism, especially the prophetic
tradition, which they incorporated into their manuals to justify
every statement. They did not believe in personal guidance and
progress along the Path, and in this contrasted with the con-
tinuing tradition of guidance maintained by Khalwati and
Shadhili shaikhs. Few devotees of the dervish type were found in
their zawiyas, though swM-practitioners were still prominent in
the traditional orders and especially the new Darqawiyya.
2. THE MAGHRIB
(a) Tijdniyya
The new outlook in the Maghrib is associated with the Tijaniyya.
Abu '1- 'Abbas Ahmad b. Muhammad b, al-Mukhtar at-Tijanl
was born in 11 50/1737 at 'Ain Mad! in the south of Algeria.
He became affiliated to many orders and a muqaddam of the
Khalwatiyya. The following account, said to be derived directly
from Ahmad, shows how he received the call at Tilimsan in
1 196/1782 to found his own independent order: 'The Prophet gave
him permission to initiate during a period when he had fled from
contact with people in order to devote himself to his personal
development, not yet daring to claim shaikhship until given
permission, when in a waking and not sleeping state, to train men
in general and unrestrictedly, and had had assigned to him the
wird which he was to transmit,'1
1 Jawdhir al-ma'dni wa bulugh al-amdni fi faid ash-Shaikh at-Tijdni, Cairo,
1348/1929, i. 43. This book, together with the Rimdh on the margin by al-I^ajj
'Umar, the Tokolor jihddi of western Sudan, contains the main body of TijanI
doctrine and principles as well as the life of the founder. Popularly known as
al-Kunndsh, or 'The Pandects', the Jawdhir was compiled by Abu 'l-Pjlasan
'All al-rjaraziml, Ahmad's chief disciple in Fez, in 1798-1800 with the authori-
zation of Ahmad himself. On the soundness of this book and other sources for
Ahmad's life see Jamil Abun-Nasr, The Tijaniyya, London, 1965, pp. 24-6-
io8 NINETEENTH -CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS
After this event he went into the desert; the exact circumstances
are obscure but he seems to have got into trouble with the Turkish
authorities, and eventually settled in the oasis of Abi Samghun.
It was there in 1 200/1 786 that he received his final revelation
(fath).1 In 121 3/1798 he left his desert retreat, again it seems under
pressure, and moved to Morocco to begin his wider mission from
the city of Fez, where he was well received by Miilay Sulaiman
and remained until his death in 181 5.
Ahmad developed his rule on strict lines. At first he had adopted
the Khalwati line for his chain of succession, though his teaching
owes much to the Shadhiliyya; the distinction between guidance
and instruction (tarbiya and to* Urn) is evident in his teaching, but
did not find its way into the subsequent rules of the order.
Obligations, as was to be expected in an order designed to expand,
were simple. He imposed no penances or retreats and the ritual
was not complicated. He emphasized above all the need for an
intercessor between God and man, the intercessor of the age
being himself and his successors. His followers were strictly for-
bidden, not merely to pay the Kahd of allegiance to any other
shaikh, but to make invocations to any wall other than himself
and those of his order: 'When the Prophet had given him per-
mission to found his apostolic Way and he had received divine
power through his mediumship the Prophet told him, "You owe
no favour to any of the shaikhs of the Path, for I am your medium
and provider in very truth. Abandon all that you have taken in
anything concerning the Path".'2 Tijanis consequently have only
one silsila going back to the founder. He stressed the quiet
dhikr even in congregation, and condemned the visitations and
holy fairs (ziyaras and mawsims) so popular in the Maghrib, for
they were all associated with the old bar aka-possessors. He did
not, therefore, at first gain a popular following, but he appointed
as local organizers (muqaddams) anyone who would profess
allegiance, without requiring any training other than in the rules
and ritual regulations, the main stress being laid on the abandon-
ment of all ties to shaikhs except himself. Thus at his death agents
were already widely dispersed and a contribution-system in full
force.
1 Jawdhir, i. 44. There seems to have been yet another stage with his assump-
tion of the rank of Qufb al-Aqfab in 1314/1799.
2 Jawahir, i. 43.
NINETEENTH -CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS 109
Before Ahmad's death the Wahhabi movement began to in-
fluence north Africa directly.1 In 1226/1811 Sa'ud ibn 'Abd
al-'Aziz, the Wahhabi leader then master of the Hijaz, sent
a message to Mulay Sulaiman of Morocco inviting its people to
follow the path of reform, Mulay Sulaiman put his son, Abu
Ishaq Ibrahim, in charge of the annual pilgrimage caravan which
was accompanied by 'ulama9 who, on their return, had a lot to say
about Wahhabi condemnation of the cult of saints.2 They saw
affirmation of Wahhabi principles as a means of weakening the
influence of the marabouts. Mulay Sulaiman drew up a long
statement, in which he dealt with these questions of infringement
of the Sunna. Ahmad supported all this, although he was disliked
by the *ulama\ in accordance with the policy of subservience to
established authority which was to characterize his order. The
khutba which was read in all mosques was regarded by the mara-
boutic element as a declaration of war and set off an insurrection
(1818-22) in which the Amhawsh, the head of the Wazzaniyya,
and the recent illuminate, ad-Darqawi, were involved.
Ahmad at-Tijanl
c. 1815
(2) 'Ali ibn. 'Isa
Tamalhat zdwiya
d. 1844
(4) Muhammad al-'Id
b. 'All b. 'Isa
d. 1876
I
(5) Muhammad as-Saghir
d. 1892
Muhammad al-Kablr (3) Muhammad as-Saghir
b. Ahmad at-Tijanl b. Ahmad at-Tijanl
d. 1837 'Ain Madi zdwiya
d. 1853
— 1 — 1
(5) Aljmad
d. 1897
I
(7) *Ali
(6) Al-Bashir
d. 1911
Although Ahmad was buried in Fez, where his tomb became
an object of visitation, the direction of the order moved to two
centres in Algeria. Ahmad had nominated the muqaddam of the
zdwiya at Tamehalt near Tamasin, fAli ibn fIsa (d. 1844), as his
successor and directed that the succession should alternate
between his own family and that of Ali ibn *lsa. 'All persuaded
Ahmad's sons to make fAin Mad! their home, and when he died
1 See G. Drague, Esquisse d'histoire religieuse du Maroc, Paris, 1952, pp. 88-92.
2 Ahmad an-Na?iri, Kitdb al-Istiqsa, 13 16/1898, viii. 145 ff- See also al-
Jabartl, iv. 151.
no NINETEENTH- CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS
the succession went to Ahmad's son, Muhammad as-Saghir, and
then back to the other line.
No serious split in the order occurred until the death of Muham-
mad al-'Id in 1876, when the two groups separated following
a dispute over the succession. The result is that these two places
came to have only a localized direct authority, and groups have
made themselves independent all over Africa. But the order's
expansion was not thereby weakened, nor did the local leaders
claim to found new lines; and by the beginning of the twentieth
century it had become one of the most important in Morocco
and Algeria.
The order spread south of the Sahara into west Sudan, then
Nilotic, and finally central Sudan. It made its first appearance in
west Sudan when it was adopted by maraboutic {zwaya) groups of
the Moorish tribe of Ida-w 'All. But it remained a tribal charac-
teristic and would not have spread among Negroes had it not
been taken up by a Tokolor from Futa Toro called al-Hajj 'Umar,
who made use of the oath of allegiance to bind followers to himself
and propagated the Tijani Way by force. Since his death in 1864
the order has continued to expand, especially among Fulbe and
Tokolor, who regard it as an aristocratic order compared to the more
humble Qadiriyya, the only other order that exists in west Africa.
Many Tijani Maghribls travelling on pilgrimage settled in
Egypt and Nilotic Sudan and introduced their order.1 We have
mentioned how anyone prepared to propagate was made a muqad-
dam. In Nilotic Sudan its followers tend to be mainly the descen-
dants of west Sudan Fulbe and Tokolor who have settled. In
central Sudan it spread only this century as a Fulbe characteristic.
Outside Africa Tijani allegiance was negligible. Although it ac-
quired a zawiya in Mecca it was adopted only by some west
Sudanese settled there and by migrants.
(b) Traditionalist Revival: The Dargawiyya and Its Offshoots
Before turning to Ahmad ibn Idrls and the movements he in-
spired which affected eastern Africa and Arabia, we may consider
1 There were two currents of propagation in Nilotic Sudan during the
Egyptian period, one Maghribl, whose chief agent was M. b. al-Mukhtar ash-
Shinqiti, known as Wad al-'Aliya (d. iBSz), and the other through movements
of western Sudanese, both on pilgrimage and migration. An account of the
various agents who worked in Egypt and Nilotic Sudan is given in Jama' at
al-wahdat al-Islamiyya at-Tijaniyya: ar-Risdlat as-Sa~disas Cairo, 1355/1936.
NINETEENTH -CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS in
another Maghrib! movement which paralleled that of the Tijanls
and in fact was far more of a popular revival and became the most
widespread, numerous, and influential tariqa in North Africa.
This awakening was set in motion by an ecstatic leader in the
Shadhili-Zarruqi succession called Abu Hamid (Ahmad) al-
'Arabl ad-Darqawi (i 760-1 823) who followed traditional lines.
Although ad-Darqawi was contemporary with at-Tijani, the two
movements do not coincide. Only after ad-Darqawi's death did
his movement become a distinctive Way. Unlike at-Tijani he
received no summons from the Prophet to found a tariqa, he
wrote little, and he says specifically that his dhikr derives from his
own teacher, fAli al-'Amran fal-Jamal' (d. 1779). 1 Throughout
his life he seems to have been the victim of circumstances over
which he had no control.
Ad-Darqawi himself stressed non-involvement in the affairs
of this world, he was zealous in preaching against the baraka
exploitation of the established orders, yet his own order became
notable, even notorious, as a politico-religious movement. He
himself became involved. Mulay Sulaiman (reg. a.d. 1 793-1 822)
at first sought to make use of the potential power rising from this
illuminate to consolidate his position against the Turks in Oran
and Tilimsan, but later, as we have seen, condemned the practices
of the orders. Ad-Darqawi had reacted against one of his muqad-
dams, *Abd al-Qadir ibn Sharif, for attacking the Turks in Oran
(1805-8), yet later he supported the leaders of revolts against the
rule of Mulay Sulaiman. He was no leading spirit in this mili-
tant movement, but was used by others. The Sultan became
hostile, and ad-Darqawi was imprisoned. The next sultan, *Abd
ar- Rahman (1822-59), released him, and then, as his order diversi-
fied, its power weakened and its political activities in Morocco
declined.
After ad-Darqawi's death in his zawiya at Bu-Berlh, just north
of Fez, among his own tribe, the Banu Zarwal, there developed
around his name what can be regarded as a new tariqa in that it is
a definite line of ascription. His initiates had already spread
widely, forming their own sawiyas, but retaining the ascription.
It became the most important order in Morocco, but also spread
throughout the Maghrib and even had a few muqaddams in Egypt
1 See Rinn, op. cit., p. 252. His full name was Abu '1-Hasan 'AH ibn *Abd
ar-Rahman al-Jamal al-FasI.
ii2 NINETEENTH -CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS
and Hijaz. Some long-established zawiya groups attached them-
selves to the new line; these included the Amhawsh and the
rlansaliyya, who deserted their Nasiriyya attachment and joined
the Darqawiyya for political rather than religious reasons. The
following are the more important branches :
1. Foundation zawiya at Bu Berih, where ad-Darqawi and most
of his successors are buried. Offshoot zdwiyas and agents at
Tetwan, Tangier, Ghumara, etc. The headquarters moved to
the nearby zawiya of Amajjut (Amjot) after 1863.
2. Badawiyya. This is the south Moroccan Tafilalt branch, some-
times referred to as the Shurafa' of Madagra. The founder,
Ahmad al-Badawi, disciple of ad-Darqawi, is buried in Fez,
but the branch was organized (zawiya of Gauz) by his successor,
Ahmad al-Hashimi ibn al-'Arbi, after whose death (1892)
troubles over the succession led to the foundation of rival
zdwiyas.
3. Bu-Zidiyya. Founder: Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Buzidi (d,
1814), pupil of ad-Darqawi. His pupil, Ibn Ajlba (Abu '1-
'Abbas Ahmad, d. 1809), is distinguished for his large literary
output.1
4. Ghummariyya. Founder: Ahmad ibn 'Abd al-Mu'min, tomb
at Tushgan.
5. Harraqiyya. North Morocco. Founder was Abu 'Abdallah M.
b. M. al-flarraq, d. 1845.
6. Kattaniyya. Zawiya in Fez founded (c. 1850) by Muhammad
ibn fAbd al-Wahhab al-Kattani. His grandson bearing the same
name developed it from 1890. Imprisoned by the wazir Ahmad,
al-Kattani was freed on his death and his order grew. Consider-
able expansion took place during the reign of Mulay *Abd al-
'Aziz, but Mulay Rafld treated him so harshly that he died.
All the zawiyas were closed and the order almost disappeared
but was reorganized (c. 191 8) under the direction of 'Abd al-
Hayy.
7. Bu 'Azzawiyya or Habriyya. Founded in north-eastern Morocco
(zawiya of Driwa) by Muhammad (al-Habrl) ibn Ahmad at-
Tayyib al-Bu-fAzzawi, d. Marrakish 1914.
1 See J. L, Michon, art, Ibn 'Adjiba in E.L* iii. 696-7.
NINETEENTH- CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS 113
8. Algerian branches:
(a) Mehajiyya or Qadduriyya. Founder: Sidi Bu-'Azza al-
Mehaji of Mostaganam, who was succeeded by his pupil,
Muhammad b. Sulaiman b. al~'Awda al-Qaddtir of Nedroma.
(b) 'Alawiyya. Founded by Ahmad al-'Alawi, who, after serving
his apprenticeship in the 'Isawiyya, became a pupil of M. al-
Buzidi (d. 1909), then declared his independence in 1914. He
died in 1934 and is buried in the zawiya of Tigzit, Mostaganam.
(c) In addition there are zawiyas connected with: Muhammad
al-Misun b. M. (Sid al-Misun), chief of the Algerian branch,
d. 1300/1883; 'Adda ibn Ghulam Allah, d. i860, tomb and
zdwiya near Tiaret; Al-fArbi Ibn 'Atiyya 'Abdallah Abu
Tawil al-Wansharishi.
9. Madaniyya: (a) Tripolitanian and Hijazian branch formed
after ad-Darqawi's death by Muhammad Plasan ibn Hamza
al-Madanl. Born in Medina, disciple of Darqawl in Bu-Berlh,
he returned to Medina, where he initiated many khalifas.
After ad-Darqawi's death he settled in Tripoli, where he
formed his own tariqa, and died in Misurata in 1 363/1846.
Under al-Madani's son and successor, Muhammad Zafir, it
became a new and distinctive order rather than a branch, and
muqaddams were widely dispersed in Tunisia, Algeria, Libya,
Fezzan, Hijaz, and Turkey where it played a Pan-Islamic role.1
From it branched :
(b) Rahmaniyya.2 A Hijazi branch founded by M. ibn M. ibn
Mas'ud b. rAbd ar-Rahman al-Fasi, who went to Mecca in
1850 where he built a zdwiya, and died in 1878.
(c) Yashrutiyya, founded by eAli Nur ad-din al-Yashrutl, born
in Bizerta 1793, died in Acre 1891.
The order drew its membership from a wide range of social
groups. Townspeople recited their dhikrs, attended local hadras,
and occasionally went on visitations, but lived their normal life.
Among mountain tribesmen and villagers attachment through the
local muqaddam was felt as a renewed link with spiritual power and
evoked an enthusiasm that often came into conflict with the older
1 See below, p. 126.
2 To be distinguished from the KhalwatI-rJafnawI"-Rahmiiniyya founded by
Muhammad ibn 'Abd ar-Rahman al-GeshtulT al-Jurjuri, d, 1208/1793.
ii4 NINETEENTH- CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS
orders and resented the political control of a foreign power.1
Apart from the parasites who attach themselves to zaioiyas, this
order had quite an unusal number of adherents who lived re-
cognizably as dervishes, bearing a staff, wearing the ragged,
patched muraqqa'a, and with a rosary of large wooden beads
around the necks (forbidden to Sanusls), wandering from place
to place, reciting litanies and chanting the Qur'an. This wandering-
dervish aspect goes back to ad-Darqawi himself. It was also
an order which gave scope to women and in 1942 it is reported
that there were eight women circle-leaders (muqaddamat) in
Morocco.2
3. MOVEMENTS DERIVING FROM AHMAD IBN IDRIS
(a) Ahmad ibn Idris.
The other great reformer was Ahmad ibn Idris b. IVL b. *AlI.3
Born at Maisur near Fez in 1 173/1760 into a pious family, he
passed through the usual stages of induction into the religious
disciplines, and one of his teachers, Abu l-Mawahib 'Abd al-
Wahhab at-Tazi, initiated him into his own order.4 Another
teacher in the Sufi Way was Abu 1-Qasim al-Wazir. Brought up
in the formal Sufi tradition grafted on to the legal tradition, Ahmad
reacted against the saint-veneration of the Maghrib which went
1 About 1836 the muqaddam Abd ar- Rahman Tuti became involved in
resistance to the French occupation of Algeria and the resistance of the Dar-
qawiyya continued in some form or another until 1907.
2 G. Drague, Esquisse d'histoire religmm du Maroc, Paris, 1951, p. 366 n.
3 Short biographies have been appended to editions of Aljrnad's Kanz
as-sa'ddati wa W-rashdd, Khartoum, 1939, pp. g-18 (by Shams ad-din b. Abd
al-Muta'al b. Ahmad b. Idris), the collection MajmiVat ahzdb wa azvrdd wa
rasd% Cairo, 1359/1940, pp. 301-5, by 'Abd ar-Rahman b. Sulaiman al-
Ahdal, Mufti of Zabld, pupil of Ahmad; and a collection of Ahmad's risdlas
entitled Majmua Sharif a, Cairo, n.d., pp. 119-78, mainly concerned with
his ahzdb, pupils, eulogizing qasidas, and the like.
4 This wasthe Khadiriyya, the line initiated by 'Abd al-'AzIz ibn Mas'ud
ad-Dabbagh in 1135/1713 on direct inspiration from that light of saintship,
al-Khadir. He was originally Nasiriyya and his shaikh was M. b. Zayyan al-
Qandusl. On Ibn ad-Dabbagh see Adh-Dhahab al-ibriz ft mandqib 'Abd al~
'Aziz, by Ahmad ibn Mubarak al-Lamtf, his successor and organizer of the
order, and M. al-Kattani, Salwat al-anfds, lith. Fez, ii. 197-203. From this
Ahmad ibn Mubarak the direction of the Khadiriyya, as the order came to be
called from the name of the supernatural initiator, went to 'Abd al-Wahhab
at-TSzi. Ahmad ibn Idris did not succeed at-Tazi, nor claim to carry on the
Khadiriyya, as is often stated.
I
NINETEENTH- CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS 115
under the guise of tasazowuf1. His biographer says that he based
his Sufi practice solidly on the Qur'an and Sunna, accepting only
these as usiil (foundations) and rejecting ijtna* (consensus), except
that of the Companions upon which the Prophet's Sunna is based.2
Clearly this came later in his life, after he had come under Wahhabi
influence, 'His concern was not confined to teaching awrad and
adhkar, to urging people to go into retreat and insulate themselves
from mankind. Such practices might be of advantage for the per-
sonal development of the individual disciple, but they were not
suitable for the higher purpose at which he was aiming, that is, the
unity of the endeavour of Muslims united in the bond of Islam.'s
Ahmad soon abandoned the Maghrib, never to return. After
accomplishing the pilgrimage in 1799 he settled in Cairo for
further studies, and then lived obscurely in the village of Zainiyya
in Qina Province. He returned to Mecca a second time in 18 18
and settled there. As a reformist cleric, claiming to restore the
pure faith as it was before it had been corrupted by the 'idama\
an upstart moreover, not a recognized member of the religious
hierarchy of a place which had just experienced the rigours of
Wahhabi domination, he was naturally not welcome. The 'ulamd*
'whose hearts were eaten up with hatred and envy, disputed with
him, but his divinely inspired floods of eloquence gushed forth
and it was demonstrated that he stood squarely in the orthodox
path'.4 He became one of the most eminent teachers in the holy
city and grouped around himself a great number of pupils, and of
the many who took the tariqa from him simply 'to partake of his
power'(/z 't-tabarruk) was Muhammad Hasan Zafir al-Madam.s
The enmity of the 'ulama* was never assuaged and a charge of
heresy was brought against him. His life was so much endangered
that he had to flee in 1827 t0 Zabid and then to the town of
1 It is related that 'once the famous saint of the Maghrib, al-'Arabl ad-
Darqawi, stood naked while he was teaching. He was subject to trances (fdifiib
al-hal) and said, pointing to the Sayyid (Ahmad ibn Idrls), "Behold a saint
unlike other saints, a ghazoth unlike other aghwdtk, a qtifb unlike other aqtdb."
The Sayyid averted his eyes, stripped off his gown and threw it over him. Since
then that man was never seen naked* (Tarjama appended to Ahmad' s Kanz as-
Sa'ddati wa 'r-rashdd, Khartoum, 1939, pp. 14-15)- Obviously an attempt to
exalt Ahmad at the expense of ad-Darqawi. Censorious writers at all times have
condemned tamziq, this spontaneous 'rending' and stripping of garments by an
ecstatic overcome by a hdl. These various Arabic terms are explained in sub-
sequent chapters or the glossary may be consulted.
2 Shams ad-din b. 'Abd al-Muta'al, op. cit., pp. 13-14-
3 Ibid., p. 16. 4 Ibid., p. 12. 5 See below, p. 126.
n6 NINETEENTH- CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS
Sabya in 'Aslr, which at that time still paid allegiance to the
Wahhabis, who left him in peace since he was sympathetic towards
their reformist tenets; and he died there in 1837.
Whereas the Tijaniyya remained unified, even later internal
troubles not leading to the formation of new lines, the Idrisiyya
split up immediately the master died, and his more influential
pupils embarked upon independent courses. The most important
of these were Muhammad ibn 'All as-Sanusi, founder of the
Sanusiyya, and Muhammad 'Uthman al-Mirgham, founder of
the Mirghaniyya. These and a number of other offshoots were
independent tariqas, making only cursory acknowledgement of
their debt to Ahmad ibn Idrls, and consequently followed different
lines in their teaching and exercises. The Sanusi was the only
order which retained Ahmad' s quietist mode of dhikr and which
banned music, dancing, and extravagant movements. Attainment
of ecstasy in the normal crude sense was not the aim of the Sanusi
dhikr. The ikhwan were expected to work for their living and
were withdrawn from the world into self-sufficient zazviya-centves
in oases in the Saharan wastes. What was stressed was the dhikr
of meditation. Through contemplation of the Prophet's essence
the murtd sought to attain identification with him.1 The Mirgha-
niyya, inheriting a particular hereditary Asiatic Sufi tradition,
took almost the opposite course. They stressed the value of music
and physical exercises in their devotions, though excesses were
not allowed. They had no zawyas, no fuqard' dedicated to a life
of service and devotion. They placed no stress upon the way of
striving and contemplation, emphasizing rather the holiness of
the Mirgham family, through whom the ordinary man could
attain salvation.
These two orders, important in their influence upon history, the
Mirgham in the world from the beginning, an Asiatic order which
tempered its modes of expression to Kushitic African life, and the
Sanusi, striving at first successfully to fulfil its destiny within the
Saharan wastes only to suffer spiritual eclipse as a post- Second
World War kingdom, merit a fuller description.
(b) Mirghaniyya or Khatmiyya.
Towards the end of the eighteenth century the Mirgham
1 See the special invocation series of blessings upon the Prophet in as-
Santisi's AsSahabil al-mu'in, pp. 14 ff.
NINETEENTH- CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS 117
family, after long residence in central Asia, made their way
to Mecca, whose shurafa? recognized their claim to descent from
the Prophet. Muhammad 'Uthman's grandfather, 'Abdallah al-
Mahjub (d. 1307/1792), was a well-known Sufi1 and Muhammad
'Uthrnan followed in his footsteps. Like as-Sanusi he sought
initiation into as many orders as possible, but his real shaikh was
Ahmad ibn Idiis. Ahmad sent him as a propagandist of reform to
Egypt and the Nilotic Sudan (18 17) just before Muhammad 'All's
conquest. He was not outstandingly successful, but he took a
Sudanese wife, and their son, al-Hasan, was eventually to establish
the tariqa as the most important in eastern Sudan. Muhammad
'Uthrnan returned to Mecca and then accompanied Ahmad to
Sabya, but after his master's death he returned to Mecca, where
he pursued a course of rivalry with Ahmad's other pupils,
Muhammad ibn 'All as-Sanusi and Ibrahim ar-Rashid. Each of
these claimed to be Ahmad's successor and founded his own
independent tariqa. In Mecca Muhammad f Uthrnan was at first
more successful than the others, since his family was known there.
He showed himself to be no reformist shaikh like Ahmad and
won the support of some Meccan shurafa\ He makes little acknow-
ledgement in his writings of his debt to Ahmad, and like the SanusI,
claims that his tariqa is comprehensive, embracing the essentials
of the Naqshabandiyya, Shadhiliyya, Qadiriyya, Junaidiyya, and
the Mirghaniyya of his grandfather; 'therefore anyone who takes
the tariqa from him and follows his Path will link himself on to
the chains (asanid) of these tariqas\z
He sent his sons into different countries : south Arabia, Egypt,
Nilotic Sudan, and even India. In each of these countries a nucleus
of followers had been formed before his death in 1268/185 1 at
Ta'if, to which he had withdrawn in consequence of the increasing
hostility of the \ilama . The propaganda was most successful in
the Egyptian Sudan, where his son, al-Hasan (d. 1869), had settled
at Kasala and founded the township of Khatmiyya. When
Muhammad Ahmad proclaimed himself the Mahdi in the Sudan
in 1 88 1 the Mirghant family, which like all other established
orders had vested interests in the Turco-Egyptian regime, opposed
1 His works are given, in G.A.L. ii. 386; G.A.L.S. ii. 523. Popular etymo-
logy gives the origin of the family name as a compound of mir (for amir) and
ghani (a rich man), but the word is more likely to be a corruption of a place-ms&a
like Marghinan, since the first vowel is short.
z Ahmad ar-Ru^bl, Minfrat al-a$fydb, pp. 88-9.
u8 NINETEENTH -CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS
his claims, and during the Mahdiyya the family went into exile.
But with the re-occupation in 1898 Mirgham authority once again
reconstituted itself. The Mirghams strongly opposed the breaking
away of khalifas to found their own branches, but there was
one exception whose independence was admitted by Muhammad
'Uthman. This was the Isma'iliyya founded in 1846 by Isma'il
ibn 'Abdallah (1793-1863) at El-Obeyd in Kordofan Province of
eastern Sudan.1
The Islam of eastern Sudan, soundly based on Arabic, had
tempered legalism with mysticism. The religious leaders had
combined the roles of faqih (jurisconsult), faqir (Sufi), and
mu*allim (Qur'an teacher) under the one comprehensive term of
feki, and their establishment which combined all these functions
was known as a khalwa (retreat). The new emphases brought
a different type of religious rivalry and order loyalty; no stress
was placed upon ascetic and mystical practice and teaching, but
complete reliance upon the Mirghams, loyalty to whom earned
assurance of paradise. The old family and tribal orders continued
to survive and maintained the old spirit, as against the legalistic
fanaticism soon to burst out in the Mahdi's repudiation of his
Sufi heritage.
(c) Sanwiyya?1
Muhammad ibn eAlI as-Sanusi (1787-1859) had been involved
in the disputes over the succession to Ahmad ibn Idris. He founded
(1838) his first zawiya at Abu Qubais, a hill overlooking the Ka'ba,
but though he won a following he could not maintain himself
against both the 'ulama and the Mirgham family strongly en-
trenched in Mecca. He was forced to leave Mecca (1840) and settled
eventually (1843) in the hills known as Jabal Akhdar in the interior
of Cyrenaica, where he founded Az-Zawiyat al-Baida\ This
relatively fertile region in the midst of the bleak desert was cen-
trally situated both for influencing nomadic tribes and for contact
with the caravan traffic coming from central Sudan. Though he
1 See Isma'Il's own account in Al-'UhUd al-zoafiya ft kaifiyyat sifat at-
Tariqat al-Ismd'iliyya, Cairo [1937 ?], pp. 3-12; and for a general account
see J. S. Trimingham, Islam in the Sudan, 1949, pp. 335-6.
2 Two studies of the order in English may be mentioned: the first, by E. E.
Evans-Pritchard, The Sanusi of Cyrenaica (Oxford, 1949), is in its main stress
that of a social anthropologist, whilst Nicola Ziadeh's Saniisiyah (Leiden,
1958) studies it as a revivalist movement within Islam.
NINETEENTH-CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS 119
won over many nomadic tribes in Cyrenaica, he awakened little
response among cultivators and urban people attached to the old
orders, and his missionary outlook caused him to look southwards
to the semi-pagan, mutually hostile, tribes of the Sahara, and
beyond them to the black peoples of central Sudan. In 1856
he moved his headquarters from al-Baida' to Jaghbub deep in
the Libyan desert, both to avoid Turkish interference and to
strengthen his influence in central Sahara. There he founded a
multi-function zawiyay which resembled the ancient ribdf in its
frontier-like character but was far more comprehensive in its
Islamic and social characteristics.
More closely than any other of Ahmad's successors Muhammad
ibn 'All followed his aims in urging the elimination of the causes
of disunity among Muslims. Like Ahmad he advocated a return
to the primitive sources of Qur'an and Sunna. Since this implied
the rejection of ijma' and qiyds and consequently the whole
edifice of legalistic Islam, a result probably never envisaged by
either Ahmad or Muhammad ibn 'All, the enmity of the Hdama*
was assured.1 Muhammad ibn 'All claimed that all the silsilas of
existing orders had been brought together and unified in himself,
and in his book As-Sahabil al-ma'tn fi 't-taraHq al-arba'in he
describes their dhikr requirements to show how his Way fulfils
them all.2 His writings cannot be called mystical in any strict
sense of the term; his Al-Masail al-'ashar, for example, deals
with 'The Ten Problems' encountered when carrying out ritual
salat. He carried on Ahmad's aim in seeking to purify practical
Sufism from extravagant and irregular features. He laid stress on
the devotional aspects of dhikr recital, censuring the noisy and
frenzied exhibitions with which dhikr had become associated. At
the same time, since he was also a practical missionary, he did not
forget the needs of the ordinary people and allowed practices
connected with the honouring of saints.
The Sanusi sought to achieve a simple Islamic theocratic
1 See Abu 'Abdallah M. b. A. 'Ullaish (d. 1299/1881), al-Fath al-'ali, and
extract translated in Depont and Coppolani, Les Confines religieuses musul-
manes, Algiers, 1897, pp. 546-51.
2 The Salsabil (written in 1360/1843) is not original but is based, as M. b.
'AH acknowledges (Cairo edn., a.H. 1353, p. 4), upon the Risala of ftusain b.
'AH al-'Ujaimi (d. 1113/1702), which gives the dhikrs of the 40 tariqas which
maintain the spiritual equilibrium of Islam. Al-Murtada az-Zabidl (d. 1205/
1791) also imitated 'Ujaiml's work in his *Iqd al-jumdn.
8265247 I
izo NINETEENTH- CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS
organization of society by peaceful means. Hence he centred his
movement in inaccessible regions of the Sahara, remote from
centres of privilege like Mecca, for only in a country without a
history was such an aim capable of achievement, though history
was in fact to catch up with and overrun this order. His ideal of the
unity of thought, worship, and action led to the most compre-
hensive zawiya organization. Each local zawiya^ a cell of Islamic
culture set in a nomadic or animistic environment, was the means
by which adherents were organized and through which expansion
was effected. Each formed a complex of buildings constructed
around an inner courtyard with a well. These embraced the
residence of the muqaddam, representative of the Sanusi, his
family, slaves, and pupils, a mosque, school, rooms for students,
cells for keeping vigils, and a guest block for the use of passing
travellers and caravans. The whole interrelated construction was
surrounded by a wall and could be defended if need arose.
Around it were lands cultivated by the ikhwan. The zawiya was
no alien settlement but regarded as belonging to the tribe in whose
region it was situated, from whose members many of the ikhwan
were drawn. Thus it was a centre of tribal unity and this gave it
strength to survive. E. E. Evans-Pritchard writes: 'Unlike the
Heads of most Islamic Orders, which have rapidly disintegrated
into autonomous segments without contact and common direction,
they have been able to maintain this organization intact and keep
control of it. This they were able to do by co-ordinating the lodges
of the Order to the tribal structure.'1
(d) Other Idrisi Derivations
Ahmad ibn Idrls's own sons did not immediately claim the
succession. His son Muhammad recognized Ibrahim ar-Rashid as
his father's successor and the followers in Sabya paid allegiance
to him. Another son, rAbd al-Muta'al, rallied at first to the
Sanusi, spending some time with him at Jaghbub, then went to
Dongola on the Nubian Nile and constituted himself head of the
order. In Arabian fAsir, Muhammad and his descendants main-
tained their line in unison with the Nilotic one, and it was in f AsTr
that Muhammad ibn 'All (1876-1923), great-grandson of Ahmad,
became a temporal ruler when he founded the Idrisid dynasty of
'Asir in 1905.
1 E. E. Evans-Pritchard, op. cit, p. 11.
NINETEENTH -CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS 121
Ibrahim ar-Rashid (d. at Mecca in 1874),1 a Sha'iqi of the
Egyptian Sudan, carried on the propagandist traditions of Ah-
mad, whose authentic successor he claimed to be. He established
zdwiyas at Luxor and Dongola as well as Mecca, where he won
a popular following, especially after successfully vindicating him-
self from charges of heresy raised by the 'ulamd9.2 A nephew and
pupil of his, called Muhammad ibn Salih, branched out in 1887
into a derivative, the Salihiyya,3 with its seat at Mecca, which
became influential in Somalia through the preaching of a Somali,
Muhammad Guled (d. 19 18) and the formation of collective
settlements. The movement of Muhammad ibn 'Abdallah al-
Hasan ({the Mad Mullah5) had its origin among the Salihiyya.
Muhammad al-Majdhub as-Sughayyar (1796-183 2), great-
grandson of IJamad ibn Muhammad (1693-1776),4 founder of
the Majdhubiyya, a Shadhili derivative, in Damar district in
Nilotic Sudan, after studying under Ahmad ibn Idris in Mecca,
returned to the Sudan, revivified his hereditary tariqa and pro-
pagated it among Ja'liyym and Beja tribes.
4. THE ORDERS IN ASIA
The revival which has just been described hardly extended to
Asia, yet Mecca in the nineteenth century was the most important
order-centre in the Muslim world, almost every order being
represented there.* The Wahhabis had abolished the orders along
with the saint-cult in those parts of Arabia which they controlled,
but after Muhammad 'All's campaigns their political authority
became confined to the Najd and the orders flourished in the
Hijaz.6 In *Asir, as we have seen, Ahmad ibn Idris actually
1 To be distinguished from the Moroccan Rashidiyya (also known as Yusu-
fiyya), an order in the Shadhili tradition (but independent of the Jazuli succes-
sion) founded by Ahmad ibn Yusuf ar-Rashidl, d. 931/1524-5.
2 See A. le Chatelier, Les Confriries musuhnanes du Hedjaz, Paris, 1887,
PP. 94-7-
3 See J. S. Trimingham, Islam in Ethiopia, 1952, pp. 243-4.
4 See Tabaqdt of Wad E>aif Allah, ed. Mandil, 1930, pp. 70-1.
5 C. Snouck Hurgronje has given us a picture of the life of Mecca at the time
of his stay there in 1884-5 ; English translation Mecca in the Latter Half of the
igth Century, 1931, especially pp. 201-9 on the orders in Mecca. The funda-
mental study of the orders in the Hijaz is A. le Chatelier, op. cit.
6 Hadramawt remained a closed area to tariqas other than the 'Alawl (and
its branches) which for centuries had maintained the region as a family preserve,
though they had certainly helped in tempering the uncompromising legalism of
the Tarlm-trained shaikhs.
iza NINETEENTH- CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS
found sanctuary under the Wahhabls from the persecution of
the Meccan tulama\ His pupils found greater responsiveness in
Africa than in Arabia, yet all orders derivative from him were
represented by zdwiyas in Mecca and most of the founders lived
there. Although the Sanusi like Ahmad himself found Mecca an
impossible place in which to pursue his aim of instituting a re-
formed tariqa his zdwiya on Abu Qubais continued to flourish;
zdzoiyas were founded in other towns of the Hijaz; and the order
even gained the allegiance of some of the bedouin.1
In Mecca the orders were in an equivocal position. They
exercised so great an influence among pilgrims that Mecca became
a great diffusion centre, for many were initiated into one or more
lines, while others returned as khalifas, sporting a tubular case
around their necks containing their ijaza (licence to teach or
propagate). For example, the first Indonesian Minangkabau shaikh
of the Naqshabandiyya received his initiation in Mecca around
1840; though it also worked the other way, for it was primarily
from Mecca that the Indian Naqshabandiyya found varying
degrees of foothold in Arab towns. Returned pilgrims (except in
Negro Africa) frequently wielded an influence in their homelands
which far outweighed that of the official representatives of Islam.2
At the same time, the 'ulama and shurafa\ the Meccan ruling
class in all religious and civil matters under the protection of the
Khedival or Ottoman regimes, resented the influence of the
order-leaders,3 since not only was reverence diverted from their
presences, but also money from their purses. Persecutions of order-
leaders were common. We have seen how an independent like
Ahmad ibn Idris was forced to leave the Hijaz. An especially
revolting case was the persecution of the Shadhili, 'All ibn Ya'qub
al-Murshidi as-Sa'idi, vpho was condemned for heresy by the
Majlis of the 'ulama? in 1886 and handed over to the secular
authority, which tortured him to death.* At the same time,
measures taken by the secular authority weakened the influence
of the leaders of the orders.
1 See C. Snouck Hurgronje, op. cit., pp. 55-6.
2 On the influence of such returned pilgrims in Indonesia in the nineteenth
century see C. Snouck Hurgronje, op. cit., Book IV: The Jawah.
3 On the hostility to the order-shaikhs of 'Awn ar-Rafiq, the Grand Sharif
(1882-1905) or political head of Mecca, see C. Snouck Hurgronje, 'Les con-
freries religieuses, la Mecque et le Panislamisme', in his Verspreide Geschriften,
1933, iii. 199. 4 See A. le Chatelier, op. cit, pp. 97-9.
NINETEENTH -CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS 123
When Muhammad 'All conquered the Hijaz in 181 3 he insti-
tuted the system which had long been in force in many parts of
the Ottoman Empire,1 by placing the orders from the administra-
tive point of view under a shaikh at-furuq, one being appointed
for each town. A. le Chatelier wrote :
The role of this agent was apparently limited in that his function was
to act as intermediary between the local authorities and the orders in
his district in regard to such temporal matters as participation in
public ceremonies, the practice of their ritual in mosques, the admini-
stration of awqdf, and the recognition of their dignitaries. These func-
tions do not at first sight seem to be of such a nature as to give him a
general authority over the orders . . . but the practice of always choosing
as shaikh at-turuq a popularly venerated person or the head of a family
enjoying great religious influence, produced a situation whereby in fact
his authority came to be substituted for that of the chiefs of the orders.
Becoming accustomed to address themselves to him in material matters
the muqaddams came to recognize him as their spiritual master. Charged
only with sanctioning their nominations he came to designate them
himself and they came to accept him as their hierarchical superior.
His taqrir or administrative licence became the equivalent of an ijaza
or canonical licence.
The first transformation led to a second — the grouping by town of
the representatives of each order under the direction of one of them,
who, originally personal agent of the shaikh at-turuq, came to impose
himself as disposer of religious power and to replace, under the title
of shaikh as-sajjdda, the provincial nd'ib.2
New movements of the spirit in the Arab Near East found
other forms of expression than through mystical orders, few new
orders being founded.3 The family orders were well established
1 Each city had its shaikh ash-shuyukh. In Damascus the head of the
Sumaisatiyya Khdnaqdh held this post automatically; see al-Qalqashandl, $ubh,
iv. 193, aai, etc., xii. 412. The actual authority of the shaikh varied according
to local circumstances. Egypt differed in that the authority of the shaikh af-
turuq extended over all the orders in the country. At the beginning of the
twentieth century thirty-two orders are listed as coming under al-Mashyakhat
al-Bakriyya; see M. Tawflq al-Bakrl, Bait as-$iddiq, Cairo, 1323/1905, p. 381.
Only the main orders it seems were officially recognized for there were many
others not given in this list.
2 A. le Chatelier, op. cit., pp. 4-5. C Snouck Hurgronje says (op. cit., p. 177)
that 'when two important sheikhs of one tariqah, or more rarely when two
tariqahs, get into conflict with each other, the authority of such a Sheikh at-
Turuq is of no value*.
3 The main activity in this respect took place in the Khalwatiyya; but is
i24 NINETEENTH- CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS
and family tradition and communal allegiance assured their con-
tinuity.1
After the Wahhabl incursion into Syria in 1810 when Damascus
was threatened, the head of the Naqshabandiyya there, Diva'
ad-din Khalid (1192/1778-1242/1826), following a visit to India,
was moved to undertake reforms.2 He succeeded in uniting into
a more unified fariqa-dxisttr various branches in Syria, Iraq,
and eastern Turkey. His attempt did not succeed, in that after
his death his khalifas regarded their groups in Aleppo, Istanbul,
and other towns as fully independent organizations.
Shaikh Khalid's propaganda was successful in causing members
of important Qadiri families in Kurdistan to change over to the
Naqshabandiyya, with considerable effect upon the subsequent
history of Kurdish nationalism. 'Abdallah, son of a prominent
Molla Salih, having become Naqshabandi, made Nehn his centre
and the family came to wield temporal power, especially under
'Ubaidallah (1870-83), who imposed his authority over a wide
area. He was at enmity with another family, the Barzani. One of
Khalid's khalifas called Taj ad-din had established himself at
Barzan, a Kurdish area in northern Iraq, and his line became an
important factor in Kurdish nationalism. Taj ad-dm's son, 'Abd
as-Salam, and grandson, Muhammad, gained spiritual ascen-
dancy among villagers in the mountains north of the Zab river,
who abandoned their Qadiri allegiance and came to form a new
tribal grouping, the Barzani, virtually independent of Ottoman
authority. In 1927 the order acquired special notoriety when a
disciple of the fifth head, Ahmad, proclaimed his master an
not to be taken as a symptom of new life since fission was an ever-recurring
process in this order. New groups included:
Sawiyya: Ahmad b. M. as-§awl, d. 1241/1825 in Madina. Pupil of Ahmad
ad-Dardir.
Ibrahimiyya: Qushdali Ibrahim, d. 1283/1866 in Skutari.
Khaliliyya: I^ajjl Khalil Geredeli, d. 1299/1881 in Gerede.
Faidiyya: Faid ad-din ftusain, d. 1309/1891 in Istanbul,
ftalatiyya: rlasan IJalatI 'Ali A'la, d. 1329/1911 in Edirne.
1 A notable figure of the 'Aidarusiyya of the previous century was 'Abd ar-
Rahman ibn Mustafa, whose travels took him outside the narrow confines of
I^adraml Islam into India (where the family order had long been established,
yet without becoming more than a small holy-lineage tariqa), Hijaz, Syria, and
Egypt, where he died in 1778. Many people took the tariqa from him without
this leading to any extension of the order, which remained a family affair.
a His first master is said to have been M. b. Ahmad al-Ahsa'I, of a well-
known Arab Shi'I family, d. Baghdad, 1208/1793-4, but he later visited India,
where he made contact with 'Abd al-'Aziz, son of Wall Allah.
NINETEENTH-CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS 125
incarnation of God and himself as his prophet.1 The prophet
survived a few months only and the new religion died with him.2
The subsequent history of the Barzams has no place in a history
of the religious orders.3
Although there was no revival in the Near Eastern world the
reformist tendencies of the age affected the orders. They came
under bitter attack from those influenced by Wahhabl rigorism,
from 'ulamd* resentful of their influence, and from the reformers
and new men. They were subjected to pressures of various kinds,
often through government agency, as, for example, in the suppres-
sion of extravagances such as the dosa ceremony in Cairo. Yet no
genuine reform movements took place. This is especially true of
Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. The Bektashis suffered a severe setback
when the Janissary corps was abolished in 1826,4 yet under the
relatively tolerant regime of rAbd al-Majid (1839-61) the order
re-established itself and regained widespread influence. This
shows that the Janissary link was by no means integral to the
vitality of the order. The main spread of the order into Albania
took place during this century after the suppression of the Janis-
saries ; whole communities reacting against the Sunn! Islam of the
Turkish conquerors attached themselves to the order. Its main
centres were in Tirana and Aqce Hisar.
At the same time, during this century throughout the whole
Islamic world, the orders still fulfilled their role of catering for
the religious needs and aspirations of vast numbers of ordinary
people, and attacks on them had relatively little effect. The
1 It is not clear whether the idea came from Ahmad himself, at any rate he
did not repudiate it, see Report by H.B.M.'s Government to the Council of the
League of Nations on the Administration of Iraq, 1927, p. 23.
2 Ahmad's aberrations (he became a Christian at one time) are to be under-
stood as those which to his confused mind he thought a malamati ought to
take.
3 On the history of the leaders in modern times see C. J. Edmonds, 'The
Kurds and the Revolution in Iraq', M.E.J, xiii (1959), i"10-
4 See the contemporary, though hostile, account of the meetings of 'ulama'
with the heads of the leading orders, and the imperial decrees and fattvds
issued in Mohammed Assad-Efendi, PrScis historique de la destruction du corps
des Janissaires par le Sultan Mahmoud, en 1826, ed. and tr. A. P. Caussin de
Perceval, Paris, 1833, pp. 298-329. The three leading Bektashi chiefs were
executed, all lodges in Constantinople and its environs were destroyed and
those in the provinces were handed over to other orders, their superiors
and many dervishes were exiled, their awqdf, lands, and villages confiscated,
and the wearing of their special dress and other distinctions prohibited.
ia6 NINETEENTH -CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS
causes which led to their virtual eclipse during the twentieth
century will be discussed in the last chapter.
The orders transcend all boundaries of political loyalties within
Islam. Sultan 'Abd al-Hamid's attention was drawn to this aspect,
and its possible value in his pan-Islamic vision, through a work
written by the son of the founder of the Madaniyya (-Darqawiyya)
order, Shaikh Muhammad ibn IJamza Zafir al-Madani of Misurata
in Libya. This work, An-Nur as-Sat? (The Brilliant Light),1 is
primarily an account of the teaching of the order following
stereotyped lines, but it has a section dealing with the principles
underlying the pan- Islamic movement. These, we have seen,
were found earlier in the work of Ahmad ibn Idris, though all his
pupils rejected this aspect of his teaching, even the Sanusi choosing
a passivist role in the Sahara. Shaikh Zafir contributed to the
propaganda of the movement. The sultan allotted him a house
near the palace of Yildiz Kiosk and three Madam tekkes were
established in Istanbul. From these went out propaganda seeking
to influence shaikhs of various orders. Emissaries, protected
through the imperial power, won recruits among Algerians em-
ployed by the French (there were two zawiyas in Algiers), but
in Morocco its relationship with the Turkish government dis-
credited it. In Barka it became linked with the Sanusiyya, which
won over many MadanI members. Muqaddams were also found in
Egypt and the Hijaz.
In Syria the Madam tariqa was represented by a distinctive
td'ifa, the Yashrutiyya. Founded by a Tunisian, Nur ad-dm 'All
al-Yashruti (born in Bizerta in 1208/1793), who moved to Acre in
Palestine in 1 266/1 850, where he died in 1310/1892.2 He initiated
lavishly, and zawiyas were founded in Tarshiha (a.h, 1279), Jeru-
salem, Haifa, Damascus, Beirut, and Rhodes.*
*Abd al-Hamld gathered around himself other order-leaders,
1 Published in Istanbul in 1301/1884. M. ?afir's association with A.bd
al-rjlamid began before the latter succeeded to the sultanate; see A. le Chatelier,
op. cit., pp. 114-15; Wall ad-din Yakan, al-Ma'lum wa 'l-majhul (Cairo,
1337/1909), i. 169-77, and also, for Abu 'l-Huda as-Sayyadl, i. 100.
_ 2 An account of the life, letters, and Sufi principles of Nur ad-dm 'AH is
given in Rifylat ild 'l-Haqq (privately printed, Beirut, n.d. but completed in
1954) by his daughter Fatima al-Yashrutiyya, who had to remove the head-
quarters of the order to Beirut after the Palestine tragedy of 1948.
3 The propagator of the Shadhiliyya in the Comoro Islands in the Indian
Ocean, where it has become the major tariqa, Sa'Id ibn Muhammad al-Ma'ruf
(d. Moroni 1904), was initiated in Acre.
NINETEENTH- CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS 127
the most notorious being, Abu '1-Huda M. as-Sayyadi (1850-
1909) of the Sayyadiyya branch of the Rifa'iyya, a long-established
family order near Aleppo. Abu 'l-Huda began his career as a simple
faqir, chanting Sufi songs in the streets of Aleppo where he dis-
covered that he possessed unusual powers. He next appears in
Istanbul, where his singing and extraordinary powers in the
Rifa'T tradition attracted the attention of the youth who was to
become Sultan 'Abd al-Hamid II (1 876-1909). In a remarkable
way he was able, through his astrological and divinatory powers,
to maintain an influence over the sultan which lasted throughout
all changes until his final overthrow. He influenced the sultan's
religious policy. He was a fanatical believer in the divine right of
the Rifa'i tariqa, its saints, and of the Arab role in Sufism.1 All
reformers of the second half of the nineteenth century, such as
Jamal ad-dm al-Afghani, al-Kawakibi, and Muhammad 'Abduh,
disliked his influence upon the sultan and his views about lineal
and traditional Islam, regarding him as an example of all that they
were countering.
In central Asia there is little of significance to record for this
century. In Turkistan and in the Caucasus there was a revival of
the Naqshabandiyya in the 1850s.2 This order had penetrated into
Daghistan at the end of the eighteenth century and a leader called
Shaikh Mansiir (captured 1791) sought to unite the various
Caucasian tribes to oppose the Russians. He won over the princes
and nobles of Ubichistan and Daghistan, as well as many Circas-
sians who, after the suppression of the Murid movement and the
imposition of Russian rule (1859), preferred exile to submission.
The order is credited with the definitive winning over of these
Caucasian groups to Islam, even if only as a factor uniting the
various clans.
The Sufi intellectual gnostic tradition, crushed in the Arab
1 See Abu 'l-Huda's Tanzvir al-Absdr ft fabaqdt as-Sddat ar-Rifd'iyya,
Cairo, 1 306/1 888.
2 'The brotherhood of the Vaisis, an offshoot of the great Sufi fraternity of
Naqshbandiyya, was founded at Kazan' in 1862 by Bahauddin Vaisov. Its mem-
bership consisted mainly of small artisans, and its doctrine was a very curious
mixture of Sufi mysticism, puritanism and Russian socialism — somewhat
resembling that of the Populists. The Vaisis were considered by other Muslims
as heretics. In 1917, the son and successor of the sect's founder, Inan Vaisov,
received some arms from the Bolshevik organization of Kazan*. He was killed
while fighting for the Reds in Trans-Bulak in February 1918' (A. Bennigsen
and C. Lernercier-Quelquejay, Islam in the Soviet Union, London, 1967, p. 243).
ia8 NINETEENTH-CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS
world and the Maghrib through the Sufis' subjection to legalism
and conformity, survived in Shi'I Iran, where what has been
called the Isfahan school of theosophy shone in the prevailing
gloom with such lights as Mulla Sadra and Mulla Had! Sabziwari
(1798-1878). In India in the eighteenth century a Naqshabandi
called Qutb ad-din Ahmad, more generally known as Shah Wall
Allah of Delhi (1703-62), brought a new intellectual impulse to
religious thought within the context of the orders,1 whilst a some-
what earlier contemporary Chishtl, Shah Kallm Allah Jahana-
badl (1650-1729), infused vigour into the sphere of Sufi practice
and devotion. Wall Allah sought to introduce a new spirit into
Islamic thought and to reconcile the dichotomy between shar'
and tasawwuf:
He laid the foundation of a new school of scholastic theology; bridged
the gulf between the jurists and the mystics ; softened the controversy
between the exponents and the critics of the doctrine of wahdat al-
wudjud and awakened a new spirit of religious enquiry. He addressed
all sections of Muslim society — rulers, nobles, tulama\ mystics, soldiers,
traders, etc. — and tried to infuse a new spirit of dedication in them.
His seminary, Madrasa-i Rahimiyya, became the nucleus of a revo-
lutionary movement for the reconstruction of religious thought in Islam
and scholars flocked to it from every corner of the country. . . .
Shah Kalim Allah's work was in a different direction. He revived and
revitalized the Cishti order on the lines of the saints of its first cycle,
checked the growth of esoteric tendencies, and sent his disciples near
and far to propagate the Cishtl mystic ideals. The rise of a number of
Cishtl khdnkdhs in the Pandjab, the Deccan, the North West Frontier,
and Uttar Pradesh was due to the efforts of his spiritual descendants.2
The remarkable thing is that the Naqshabandi revival in India
influenced the Arab Near East and few major Arab towns were
without a circle of devotees. On the other hand, the Chishtl line
did not spread westwards, A Chishtl (Sabiri) called Imdad Allah
settled in Mecca in about the middle of the century and gained
great influence among Indian pilgrims, but did not confer the
fariqa on non-Indians. We may, therefore, say that, though there
took place this extension and foundation of new khdnaqahs in
India, the work of these men had no such outcome as that which
resulted from the inspiration of Ahmad ibn Idrls.
1 For a study of his doctrine see A. Bausani, 'Note su Shah Wallullah di
Delhi', Annaliy n.s. x(iq6o), 93-147.
1 K. A. Nizami in E.I.% in. 432-3.
NINETEENTH -CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS 139
Now come the first warnings of a different sort of change
which was completely to bypass the orders. So far most significant
movements of thought in Muslim India had taken place through
and within the orders, but after Shah Wall Allah the inspiration
for change came from outside them. It is significant that Wall
Allah's son, cAbd al-'Aziz (1746-1824), and grandson, Isma'Il
(1781-1831), were important figures in the new outlook which
was opening up.
Parallel with the Muhammad-emphasis of the two Maghribi
Ahmads was that of a third, Ahmad Barelvl (d. 1831), a disciple of
Wall Allah's son, 'Abd al-'Aziz, who followed fundamentalist and
even political lines while maintaining his Sufi heritage. Aziz Ahmad
writes :
Sayyid Ahmad BareM continued the Wali-Ullahi tradition of synthesiz-
ing the disciplines of the three major Sufi orders in India, the Qadin,
the Chishtl, and the Naqshbandi, and uniting them with a fourth
element of religious experience, the exoteric discipline which he called
Tariqa-i Muhammadiyah (the way of Muhammad). His explanation was
that the three Sufi orders were linked with the Prophet esoterically,
whereas the fourth one being exoteric emphasized strict conformity to
religious law. ... He thus harnessed whatever was left of the inward
Sufi experience in the decadent early nineteenth-century Muslim India
to the dynamism of a reformist orthodox revival.1
Subsequent change in the religious climate of India lies largely
outside the scope of this study. Within the orders there was little
significant movement, simply sporadic activities such as that of
Mawlana Ashraf fAli of Thana Bhawan (d. 1943). At the same
time, the Sufi intellectual background continued to manifest itself
in many aspects of Indian life and influenced reformers like
Muhammad Iqbal.
Discussion of the orders in regions where Islam penetrated
after it had attained its definitive form has been excluded from this
study, but a brief reference to the orders in south-east Asia in the
nineteenth century is necessary in view of the fact that here too
their decline in the twentieth century is as marked, so I am told,
as in the heartlands of Islam.
The spread of the orders in the Malay peninsula, mainly in
the nineteenth century, came about through the medium of the
1 Aziz Ahmad, Studies in Islamic Culture in the Indian Environment, Oxford,
1964, pp. 210-11.
i3o NINETEENTH- CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS
pilgrimage. The main orders which spread were the Qadiriyya,
Naqshabandiyya, and the Sammaniyya. The Ahmadiyya-Idnsiyya
was introduced in 1895 and thrived for a time, though with a
restricted range.
Into Indonesia, too, the pilgrimage was the means through
which the Sufi Way penetrated. The first documentary evidence
appears in the sixteenth century in the form of mystical poetry
and other writings. In Sumatra early mystics were Ilamza Fansurl
(d. c. 1 610) and his disciple, Shams ad-din as-Samatrani (Pasai,
d. 1630). These men were gnostic-type mystics and consequently
left no enduring organization behind them. One 'Abd ar-Ra'uf
ibn 'AH of Singkcl introduced the Shattariyya into Acheh in 1090/
1679, not from India as might have been expected, but from
Mecca where he was initiated by Ahmad Qushashl, and he came
to be honoured as the regional saint. Later, contact with Hadra-
mawt which became such a feature of Indonesian life, led to the
settlement of Arabs in certain parts who introduced their own
orders.
The Islamization of Java is associated with the legend of 'the
nine saints', active on the north-east coast in the early sixteenth
century, who taught the mystical Way and inaugurated a new era
in Indonesian life. The strongest local emphasis seems to have
been the quest for Him : that is, initiation into esoteric knowledge
became the aim of devotees of the religious life. The Shattariyya,
the earliest known order, was introduced from the Hijaz towards
the end of the seventeenth century.
The Naqshabandiyya, too, was introduced from Mecca (and
behind that from Turkey) into Minangkabau (Sumatra) about
1845. Disputes arose between its adherents and the established
Shattarl devotees, but largely on legalistic and secondary issues
rather than mysticism. The Sammaniyya entered Sumatra through
fAbd as-Samad ibn 'Abdallah (d. c. 1800), a Sumatran pupil of
as-Sammanl who lived in Mecca and initiated pilgrims from his
own country.
The orders spread into all these parts after they had acquired
their definitive form. Desire to maintain the organization and
liturgical forms of the parent orders, together with the diffusion
of their books in Arabic, ensured an over-all uniformity of practice,
and the differences are found in omission and response, in minor
aspects such as the form festivals take, and in their social and
NINETEENTH- CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS 131
political repercussions. No creative adaptation is apparent. The
acquired forms and beliefs were blended into the new human
environment, but by juxtaposition rather than fusion, the old and
new existing parallel to each other.
In this aspect the similarity with and difference from west
African Islam is apparent. The difference between African and
Indonesian Muslims in religion derive both from the different
pre-existing cultural background and the nature of the early
Islamic missionaries. Snouck Hurgronje showed that the Indian
merchants who settled in Malaysian and Indonesian ports laid more
stress on thinking than upon acting, and this opened the way for
the reception of forms of heterodox mysticism. In Africa, on the
contrary, the whole stress was laid upon acting, and, in fact, in
Negro Africa proper, not only did heterodoxy have no opening,
but the mystical Way proper did not gain Africans.1 There does
not seem to be any genuine affinity between Africans' belief in
the unity of life and the Sufi doctrine of al-wahdat al-wujiidiyya.
Indonesians achieved a far greater degree of genuine religious
syncretism than did Africans.
While speculative mysticism, unknown in Negro Islam, was
enjoyed by some Indonesians, the orders did not play a greater
role among them than in western Sudan Islam. G. H. Bousquet,
assessing the studies of Dutch students of Islam in Indonesia,
writes :
On trouve, chez les auteurs, extremement peu de choses sur les con-
freres mystiques, les tariqas, leur organisation, leurs dhikrs, leurs
exercices spirituels. Ce silence s'explique au moins en tres grande
partie par leur peu d'importance en Indonesie. II n'existe rien rappelant
les zaouias.2
Whereas Islamic law as affecting social life was largely ignored,
the liturgies and practices of the orders were accepted without
difficulty. Shaikhs produced some textbooks and large numbers
of little pamphlets in Arabic and local languages, but they were
devoid of originality. We can sum up by saying that although
mysticism as an individual way was enthusiastically followed by
1 The contrast between African Negroes and Hamites in their response to
both the saint-cult and the dhikr is brought out in my The Influence of Islam
upon Africa, London and Beirut, 1968.
2 G. H. Bousquet, 'Introduction a Tetude de l'lslam indonesien\ R.E.I,
1938, aoi.
133 NINETEENTH- CENTURY REVIVAL MOVEMENTS
the few, the collective aspects of the orders, hadras, and pilgrimages
to shrines, assumed a relatively minor importance in Indonesian
Muslim life.
The element which stands out from what we have written in
this chapter is that nineteenth- century revivalism in the orders
was primarily directed towards and effective in missionary activities
on fringe areas of the Muslim world. In many parts of Africa,
Nilotic Sudan, and Somalia, the association was direct, in west
Africa it was more indirect.
The Mysticism and Theosophy
of the Orders
ith Muhammad, Khatim al-anbiyCC (Seal of the Pro-
phets), the cycle of prophecy (daHrat an-nubuwwa) was
T V closed, but God did not thenceforth leave His people
without guidance on the way to Himself. For the majority, the
guide was the revealed Law (Shar() which is for the whole com-
munity, and the tulama> were the inheritors of the prophets as
the guardians and interpreters of the Law.
For others, the exoteric Law, though accepted, was not enough.
Religion is not only revelation, it is also mystery. For those who
became known as Shi 'a (men of the Party of 'All, Shi 'at 'AH), the
guide through this world of divine wisdom {hikma ildhiyya) was
the infallible Imam. The Imam was also wall Allah and the closing
of the prophetical cycle heralded the opening of another — dairat
al-walaya.1 A ShTi Sufi, 'Aziz ad-din an-Nasafi, explains the
Shi'i sense of wait:
Des milliers de prophetes, antdrieurement venus, ont successivement
contribue a 1'instauration de la forme theophanique qui est la pro-
ph&ie, et Mohammed Fa achevee. Maintenant c'est au tour de la
waldyat (l'lnitiation s
The Sufi Orders in Islam - J.Spencer Trimingham
Anónimo