[All quotes in this article, unless otherwise specifically noted, are from the book “The Sufi Orders in Islam” by J. Spencer Trimingham, published by Oxford University Press, © 1998. This book is a work of extensive scholarship that shines an eye-opening light on the origins and practices of many of todays most established and famous Sufi Orders. The author of this article in no way implies that the opinions and analyses expressed in J. Spencer Trimingham’s work “The Sufi Orders in Islam” are the same as those of the author of this article.]

Some of this author’s readers are members of an established Sufi Order. Some readers are considering joining one. Frequently, aspiring Sufis feel that their choices are limited in terms of how they should properly study Taṣawwuf. Most aspiring Sufis eventually end up belonging to one of the major Sufi Orders. There they are told that they belong to a tariqa with a silsila that has an unbroken lineage (‘golden chain’ as called by some) reaching back to Imam Ali (a.s.) or Caliph Abu Bakr (r.a.). In reality, no tariqa exists with an unbroken lineage that reaches back before the 13th century CE.

These days, a Sufi is told that if he or she does not have a Sheikh, he or she has Shaitan as a master. It is made very clear to the Sufi of today that this Sheikh must currently be living in the physical world. This flies directly in the face of the clear, historical record of the development of the dervish Orders. Thousands of times, Sheikhs have received their ijazet (authorization to teach) from a Sheikh, Saint, or Pir dwelling in the spiritual worlds. This connection is in essence unaffected by their passing from life on earth to life in barzakh. Does the reader think that a Sheikh ceases being a Sheikh when he or she leaves the cage of his or her physical body and soars to the Realm of Divine Beauty? Moreover, there is substantial evidence, which we shall produce in this paper that the tariqa that the reader belongs to is made up of many Sheikhs who did not have any direct, earth-plane, connection with the preceding Sheikh in the lineage.

If one simply takes a careful look at any silsila, and adds up the number of Sheikhs in the lineage, then divides the number of years your tariqa has been said to be in existence by the number of Sheikhs you have in your lineage, you will see an enormous number of individuals who have life spans that stretch way beyond the normal human lifespan. Why? Because certain members of your tariqa, throughout history, knew that there were huge gaps between certain Sheikhs, and therefore to make it seem that there was always a direct hand-to-hand transmission between Sheikhs, they deliberately fudged the dates of these Sheikhs lives. It is not a pleasant fact to learn; but there you have it. To be a Sufi, one needs to stop being false. Speaking the truth, done for the sake of Allah, is an act of worship. Hazreti Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) said, "Let not respect for people prevent a person from speaking the truth when he knows it." (Tirmidhi)

Many times in the history of the reader’s tariqa, the Pir or Grand Sheikh ceased his breathing practices without leaving a Khalifa. We will prove this in this article. Frequently, an individual in any part of the world would have a spiritual visitation from the Pir or Grand Sheikh of such-and-such a tariqa that lacks a living leader, and tell the individual that the mantle of the Order was being passed onto them. After that, the individual would let it be publicly known that he was the new Sheikh of the such-and-such Order.

Let us consider the ‘Golden Naqshbandi Chain.’ This is the chain of sheikhs through which the Naqshbandi secrets and tariqat have supposedly been handed down from one generation to the next. The chain is actually broken in at least two places. Jafar as-Sadiq is listed as the fifth sheikh in the chain. We are told that he lived between 83-148 A.H. and that he "passed on the Secret of the Golden Chain to his successor, Tayfur Abu Yazid al-Bistami. The naqshbandi.org site mentions that Abu Yazid al-Bistami was "over seventy years old" when he died in 261 A.H. (actually, from al-Bistami's statement at the end of his biography it is clear that he was 74 years of age when he died). This means that al-Bistami was not born until around 187 A.H., some 39 years after Jafar as-Sadiq had already passed away. The other break relates to al-Bistami's successor, Abul Hassan al-Kharqani. We are told that the "secret of the Golden Chain was passed from Bayazid al-Bistami to Abul Hassan al-Kharqani.” Al-Kharqani died in 425 A.H. and we have already seen that al-Bistami died in 261 A.H. Their dates of death are therefore separated by 164 years. It is impossible that al-Kharqani physically met al-Bistami unless al-Kharqani himself lived for over 164 years. We will again discuss the meeting of these two saints later in this paper. Kwaja Baha' al-Din Naqshbandi himself is recorded as having not only a living master, one Kwaja Kulal [d.1371], but also a dead Uwaisi elder, Kwaja Abd al-khaliq Ghujdawani [d.1179-80]. Before Naqshband there had been a line of 'Masters' (Kwajagan).

Another reason why so many contemporary Sufis feel that their choices are limited, or are being limited without their knowledge, is that most dervishes, even the truly dedicated ones, are often only aware of a handful of tariqas. They know of the Mevlevi, Naqshabandi, Rifa’i, Nimatullahi, Chisti, Bektashi, Ruhaniat, Qadiri, Jerrahi, and that is about the extent of their familiarization with Sufi tariqas. This narrowing of their knowledge of other tariqas, and the resultant focus on a few, make the few seem to have some kind of super-authority and premium on truth. The author believes that many new Sufis would be amazed if they knew that tens of thousands of tariqas have existed since the 12th century, and that even today many hundreds of tariqas exist throughout the world. An analogy might be in order here. The United Nations Security Council consists of only a few countries. Five powerful countries sit as ‘permanent members’ along with ten other member states, elected for two-year terms. Should one infer from this information that the countries that sit as ‘permanent members’ are the best countries? What if your nation is not a permanent member of the Security Council but instead is a member of the United Nations General Assembly? Many member nations of the General Assembly are great nations, peopled with heroic, bright and wise men and women, with more ancient and extraordinary civilizations than many nations in the Security Council. The well-known permanent members of the ‘United Nations Security Council’ are not inherently superior to other nations. Possibly what you need or what you are looking for, is to be found in a lesser-known tariqat, that is just as valid, and just as important as the well-known tariqas.

While oftentimes nations gain power and authority because of their military might, so too many Sufi tariqas gained legitimacy and authority because they became bedfellows with the mighty military powers of their times. In addition, these tariqas let it be known that they followed every dot and iota of the Shariat, in order to garner a legitimate status from the ruling Islamic authorities. Finally, these tariqas connected themselves with the Guilds of the middle ages, in order to find acceptance from the common people. However, not all tariqas were so willing to compromise their beliefs in return for being accepted by all strata of society. Antinomian tendencies were strong among vagrant dervishes (Malamatis and Qalandaris), found usually in Khorasan and central Asia, who were unattached to any recognized master or line. They still exist today, however by their very nature, they are quite unknown for the most part, and will make contact with the student when they perceive (through assistance from their Guides in the spirit realms) that the student is ready. Allahu ta’ala has a beautiful sense of humor, for it is ironic that those individuals who are dismissed as not being ‘Sufis’ are the very ‘cup bearers’ of authentic Sufism.

“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 Sheikh at-tariqa . . .” It really was only with the growth of the Ottoman Empire, especially in the 15th century, that the organizational aspect of the tariqas took shape. “To justify their teachings 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 15th 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.”

Here then is how the ‘self-appointed authorities of Sufism’ explain the universal occurrence of branching that has become known in Sufi history. More specifically, this is the way the authorities justify the fact that their Pir broke rank from his Order to found a new Order. As with the Shi’ite Imams, Sufi Sheikhs did not always have a single successor, one whose authority was recognized by all devotees of that order. The result was branching off of sub-lineages. Each branching off is the acknowledgment of multiple authorities within a Sufi order. Yet each individual representation of the order will consider itself and its silsila as a single uncontested chain of mastery.

While the genealogical tree (the silsila, also called the ‘chain’) is probably the most elemental representation of a Sufi order, it is subject to varied, and intriguing, elaboration. Some tree documents (chains) contain brief biographical notes, often showing circles of minor disciples emanating from the major masters. Not all are presented in book form. A simple document may be only one page long and easily presented by itself or as part of another document. There are shrines in India and Pakistan where the genealogical scrolls of Sufi tariqas extend to hundreds of feet. There exist more complicated diagrams requiring oral commentary to be understood. Eminent masters of other orders are juxtaposed alongside the chief representatives of the tariqa; the relationship of the branch to the trunk is suggestive but remains enigmatic. What is clear is that each document represents a principal line of transmission, one that eventually reaches the disciple whose name is inscribed at the bottom.

You, the reader, are welcome to benefit from all the treasures of the great Sufi Orders in existence today; but do not ever feel that you must be a member of a Sufi Order to receive transmission. While you are welcome to benefit from all the wisdom and baraka to be found in these Sufi Orders, remember that a great deal of what you are taught by the representatives of these Orders is affected by:

Ø     the culture in which the tariqa dwells geographically

Ø     submission to religious, political and legal authority

Ø     the historical time in which the tariqa developed

You do have choices. The whole concept of the well-organized tariqa is an invention of the Middle Ages, with their extensive hierarchies, secrets and pledges of allegiance. For many hundreds of years, after the transition of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), Sufism was more concerned with sharing methods and techniques which worked, and which brought the seeker to his or her destination: Union, or as some more correctly believe, Annihilation, in Allah. Only later, did there grow up an entire system of rules, elaborate costumes, and etiquette taken to extremes, Sheikh worship, and the teaching that ‘our’ tariqa is the best tariqa. As René Guénon wrote: “Beyond al-fanaa there is fanaa' al-fanaa' the extinction of the extinction, and, by this ‘extinction’ the ‘divine station’ is reached (al-maaqam al-ilaahii), which is the central point where all the distinctions inherent in the more outward points of view are surpassed and where all the oppositions have disappeared and are resolved in a perfect equilibrium.”

New students are always told the founder of their Order was a great saint. Most of the aulia whose names are connected with Orders, never actually founded anything. This is as true of the four Madhabs as it is of many Pirs. The four Madhabs never had any idea that their writings would be taken as the ‘final word’ in all things Islamic by succeeding generations. Something similar occurred with many Sufi saints. First, it must be understood that frequently these ‘saints’ were only known as Holy Men or Women, Teachers or Sheikhs during their lives, and only after they ceased their breathing practices, did others begin to regard them as saints. During their lives, they never stated that they intended to branch off from the Order to which they belonged. They never indicated that they wished to sever completely all ties with the Order to which they were a member and to begin a new tariqa. Oftentimes several generations passed after the saint’s completion of his work, before anyone started a tariqa in his name. It is clear, these aulia did not leave khalifas who they instructed to teach and transmit a new tariqa. An individual, usually a khalifa would decide on his own, first that their Sheikh was a Waliullah, and then from that decision, conclude, or become aware, that he (the khalifa) needed to branch off from the main line. The author is not implying that anything scandalous was going on . . . but he wishes to point out that Pirs were frequently very dedicated to their tariqa and expressed no wish to form a new branch, and that those truly great and brave individuals who realized that their teacher was a walyullah never had any ‘official papers’ or ‘official authorization’ from anyone to start a new tariqa. Quite the contrary, they were often branded schismatic.

All through the ages, there have been men and women Sufis who met a Saint, either in body or spirit, and then started a Sufi tariqa based on that saint’s name. Much later elaborate silsilas were composed that try their best to construct an unbroken succession of teachers from the present teacher all the way back to the ‘founding’ saint. However, the problem is that the saint never ‘founded’ anything. There is no unbroken succession in most Sufi Orders, and no founding of anything. Nevertheless, there most certainly are new and subtle spiritual transmissions that are vouchsafed to the right dervishes at the right time throughout history. It is understandable that holy men and women who connect with these new spiritual currents should want to start a formal method and center for this ‘current.’ Allah in His Munificence may open a channel to a particular Sheikh, and the waters of life can flow through this channel. However, the effulgent Majesty of Allah Almighty can never be confined to a particular tariqa, no matter how much that tariqa insists that it follows all the rules, and no matter how much that tariqa acts in seemingly ‘holy’ ways.

Abu’l Fad’l al-Allamani in “A’in Akbari” writes, “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 particular tradition of the past, receiving confirmation in a dream.” The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is recorded as saying, “The dreams of the believer are 1/46th a part of prophecy (nubuwah).” Spiritual investiture through vision was common. Because of the result of a progressive movement by tariqas toward courting respectability in all its forms: religious, political and the prevailing winds of public opinion, tariqas have unwittingly squeezed the very life out of themselves in order to fit into these ‘acceptable’ categories. Therefore, those who might dare say that their spiritual investiture was “through a vision” would be laughed out of most ‘reputable’ Sufi conferences and forums. This is why this author believes that the dervish of today is frequently given only limited choices by the major, accepted tariqas of today.

Professor Michael Sells writes: “Al-Nabulusi wrote out the chain of transmission (silsilah) of Muhammad al-Susi (d. 1682) of Damascus in the ‘Muhammadan Handclasp’ (musafahah muhammadiyah). The chain begins with al-Baghurawi, who saw the Prophet in a dream. ‘Clasp my hand,’ the Prophet said, ‘for anyone who has held my hand will enter Paradise.’ When he awoke, al-Baghurawi could feel the imprint of the Prophet’s fingers in his hand. The next person to receive the hand clasp from al-Baghurawi was Ibn ‘Arabi, who gave it to his stepson and disciple al-Qunawi.”

Yet, one must remember that the ‘founding saints’ of the various Orders, never personally founded any Orders. We consider the case of the great and famous Sufi waliullah Abd al-Qadir. He “left no system, let alone Path, to be introduced. Even the Bahja, as Margoliouth has pointed out, does not support the claim that his sons propagated his Way throughout the Muslim world.” Furthermore, “in the course of time a body of rules, teaching, and practice was formed, and some Sheikhs began to initiate their pupils into his name because his fame as an intercessor was spreading.”

Sheikhs today speak about the tradition of silsila in hushed tones, as if this is an undisputed fact about which the dervish must show complete faith. Yet, we have innumerable examples of how silsila was repeatedly interrupted and broken, and furthermore, sometimes there wasn’t even the remotest connection between one Sheikh and the next in a ‘chain’, for example, Abd al-Qadir and the Sheikhs who created out of thin air a body of rules, teaching, and practice, and even initiated dervishes in Abd al-Qadir’s name! This author is not implying that there is anything wrong with recognizing the value of a particular saint, making contact spiritually with the saint, and transmitting his baraka. Nor is there anything wrong with attempting to preserve a saint’s teachings through a formal system of initiating khalifas. However, this author is stating that it is appalling to lead innocent and naïve dervishes to believe in a fantasy of a pure and unblemished ‘unbroken line.’ Because this fantasy directly leads the new dervish to believe that transmission cannot happen, as Allahu ta’ala wills at times, through a purely spiritual connection.

Let us go back to the very beginnings of Sufism. “Two contrasting tendencies came to be distinguished as Junaidi and Bistami, or Iraqi and Khurasani (but most not be taken too seriously or called schools of thought) after the two men, Abu’l-Qasim al-Junaid (d. 910) and Abu Yazid Taifur al-Bistami (d. 874), who captured the imaginations more than any other of their contemporaries. These two are held to embody the contrasts between the way based on tawakkul (trust) and that on malama (blame), between intoxicated and sober, safe and suspect, 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-Sheikh.”

Here we see, that reaching back to the very origins of Sufism, equally competing with those who demand a chain of transmitters, was another form of Sufism that honored a form of guidance that emanates from the spirit worlds. However, over time, the Junaidi path gained precedence. “Because he won the approval of orthodoxy as relatively ‘safe’, al-Junaid comes to be regarded as the Sheikh of the Way’, the common ancestor of most subsequent mystical congregations, even though many followed heterodox teaching; his inclusion in their genealogies was a guarantee of orthodoxy, for a sound isnad can support a multitude of heresies.” Isnad means ‘chain.’ Here we perceive that ‘sober’ Sufism gained ascendancy primarily because Junaid (more properly his followers) won the approval of the Islamic orthodoxy. The stamp of authority was gradually given to those who would make the least waves, those who (at least outwardly) conformed to the prevailing interpretations of the meaning and purpose of the life of Muhammad (pbuh) and the Holy Qur’an.

Before this official imprimatur descends upon the Junaidi way, let us examine how the Sufis conducted themselves. “There were no self-continuative Orders, but groups of people possessing similar spiritual aspirations who had become disciples of an honored master with whom the bond of allegiance was purely personal.” It must be remembered, that the “institution is a means of control.” Those from the right and the left would agree to this and even the proponents of the institution believe that ‘control’ is a good thing. “The earlier groups had been linked by enthusiasm, common devotions, and methods of spiritual discipline, with the aim of stripping the soul and eliminating self to attain the vision of Reality. They were, therefore, integrated by spirit and aim rather than by any formal organization, and were, in fact, very loose organizations.” Authentic Sufism is not intellectual. You can read book after book, and attend conference after conference, but you know you have not really done your work. You need direct experience.

The exploratory Sufi spirit was viewed with suspicion. “The dissociation of Sufis from recognized religious leaders had always been suspected and resented by the ulama (doctors of Islamic law), and provided a reaction to which Shihab ad-din Yahya as-Suhrawardi fell victim. This Suhwardi is to be distinguished from the tariqa leader 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 theosophical works before he was tried and executed, martyr to the fanaticism of the orthodox ulama of Aleppo, by al-Malik az-Zahir at the Order of Saladin at the age of 38 in 587/1191. However, 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 provide 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-Qushairi, had been brought to a conclusion by al-Ghazali.” 

Consider Sheikh Ahmad al-Ghumari’s book al-Burhan al-Jali on the nisba (affiliation) of all Sufi Tariqas to Ali ibn Abi Talib and the Manaqib of Ali – RadiyAllahu`anh – in which al-Ghumari claimed that the Naqshbandi chain is broken because it contains three spiritual ‘Uwaysi’ links, and that it is impossible that al-Qasim ibn Muhammad, for example, can receive khilafa from Salman since the latter died when al-Qasim was only five years old. There is near consensus among the hadith Masters that al-Hasan al-Basri never heard any hadith directly from Imam Ali (r.a.), much less took the Sufi cloak (khirqa) from him. Yet the chain of all the major Sufi paths claim this link, such as the Shadhili, Rifa`i, Qadiri, and others. Al-Sakhawi said, "This chain is broken, but I narrate it for its baraka." His teacher Ibn Hajar, his colleague al-Suyuti, the latter’s student al-Haytami, were all Shadhilis. Al-Dhahabi was Suhrawardi. Ibn Taymiyya was Qadiri. They boasted of these affiliations although they knew that in external terms they were broken-chained.

The dissenting opinion is often the correct one. Societal evolution does not always produce the best effect, e.g., the masculine default (men, mankind, etc.). As someone who at one time was very involved with Freemasonry and attained the level of 3rd Degree Master Mason, this author can attest to the great similarities between the organizational aspects of the Masonic Lodge and the Sufi Lodge, as well as the heavy emphasis on hierarchy, secrets and etiquette that exist in both. Again, the Sufi who is new to Sufism and is being subjected to pressure from a Sheikh or Murids of a particular dergah or tekke, may now realize that it is Sufism which has borrowed from the Guilds (such as the Masonic Guild). Therefore, there must have existed at one time a Sufism that did not need, require or desire the pomp and circumstance of the Sufi Orders as we know them today. Do any pre-guild Sufi teachings exist today? Does anyone, or any Order, carry on this unadorned Sufism? What are their veiled secret methods? They are given quite explicitly in many places, but people rebel at the difficulty of some of the methods (note: we did not say “complexity”). Other people rebel because the methods appear too simple, and hence (as people expect the methods to be quite arcane and mysterious) they disregard and pass over the authentic revealed methods. The Light is Supremely Obvious, yet dervishes are constantly asking for flashlights while they stand bathed in direct sunlight. Do you expect to find genuine craftwork in any Major Department Store? Do you expect to find truly delicious food at any of the Major Restaurant Chains? Do you expect to find political wisdom in any of the Major Political Parties? Why this need of ‘caché’ when it comes to affiliation with a Sufi Order? Most people go to major department stores and major restaurant chains because they fear encountering the strange and the unexpected. People go places where they will be COMFORTABLE! That is why true Sufism has always been taught to each dervish in a unique way. Allah is not in any way like His creatures. The unique ones each travel a unique path to the Unique One. A Sufi was martyred for uttering, “There are as many ways to Allah, as there are people on earth.”

“From the beginning of the thirteenth century certain centers (if we think of the center as being a man, not a place) became the sees of tariqas, mystical schools or teaching centers.” Therefore, here then is the true beginning of the notion of tariqas, and not some uninterrupted chain of men stretching back to the time of the Prophet (pbuh). Five hundred years after the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) completed his mission as Rasulallah, do we first see the beginning of the process whereby the “creative freedom of the mystic was to be channeled into an institution.” Up until this time, pupils traced their madhhab (method) or tariqa (course) to their revered teacher, for “he was their guarantee of validity and training.”

In Order to lend credence to the tariqa of a Master (in other words, a revered teacher, a Sheikh, or Pir), the names of certain previous masters “were incorporated into the mystical isnads of the tariqas. The key figure in most tariqas is Abu’l Qasim al-Junaid (d. CE 910), yet Dhu’n-Nun al-Misri, though continually quoted in support of mystical thought, is missing from the isnads. Similarly, Husain ibn Mansur al-Halaj is not normally found in them (though a Way was later attributed to him), where al-Bistami is found in the chains of many Orders (for example, the Naqshabandiyya). Al-Wasiti, writing around CE 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 Bistami.” It was not unusual for completely artificial tariqas to be invented, like that attributed to al-Hallaj, complete with “specific esoteric doctrines, dhikrs, and rules . . .” Masters would initiate students into these completely artificial lineages. Nevertheless, were they “artificial” or, in actuality, the way most tariqas originated? “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.”

A great change came when a shift happened from the relationship of teacher-pupil, which had prevailed thus far, to the fuller one of director and disciple. In other words, when a great waliullah died, the students did not go looking for another teacher, but they began to venerate the memory of the dead master. Murshids appeared, guiding their own pupils along the way of the deceased master, along his Way, and in his name. “A new aura emanates from the master as a wali (protégé) of God, which eventually . . . was to become belief in his mediumship and intercessory status with God.” Now, Sufism was no longer focused on the immediate teacher-pupil relationship, but an added ‘super relationship’ was superimposed on this relationship, that of the overseeing, disincarnate, founding wali of the particular Way being taught. “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.”

The entire concept of isnad is not inherently a Sufi concept, nor does it inherently hold importance for Sufis. It is an Islamic ideal that was supposed to convey a sense of guarantee and authority. Sufis, through their close connection with Islam, noticed how Islam utilized this concept to demonstrate the authenticity of sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Sufis seized upon this idea and incorporated it, believing that isnad could also convey a sense of guarantee and authority for their individual tariqas. 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 Sheikh.

In his book "Sahar (Dawn)", Hazrat Moulana Shah Maghsoud describes how people, having destroyed the stone-carved idols of the previous generations, have continued to worship the idols they have created by their imagination. "It is true that people broke the existing idols in the temples, but they have practically replaced them with bigger idols in their mind and thought, and worshiped them in pagodas, synagogues, churches, and mosques."

Might we also add tekkes and dergahs to the list of pagodas, synagogues, churches, and mosques? What are the idols being worshipped within Sufi Orders today? This is a weighty question as it goes to the very heart of Islam. This author is certainly not on the side of those who deify the shariat and thus condemn Sufism. It is appropriate to follow the Way of the Prophet (pbuh); it is inappropriate and sinful to make the “Way of the Prophet” into a monolithic stone idol. Nevertheless, there are aspects of the way that Sufism is practiced in many places today that approach idol worship. One example is the icon of closed mindedness. A kind of badly informed Islam is practiced within some of these dergahs that completely ignores the role of the ‘People of the Book’ (The Jewish people and the Christians), and the honor and respect that Allah and His Messenger (pbuh) afforded them. These dergahs also sadly lack an informed awareness (substantiated by recent academic research) of the major teaching role that women Sheikhas have played in many saints lives.

Hazrat Moulana Shah Maghsoud is a 20th century Sufi and one of the members of the caravan of the Uwaysi Robe. Safa Ali Michael Newman, an American student of two students of Hazrat Maghsoud, and himself under the Robe of the Uwaysi, writes the following in his book "The Gift of the Robe": "For Sufis following the Uwaysi ‘mashrab’ (style or way of belief), no knowledge can be received except from the heart of their inner teacher, who is a mirror of the divine light, nor can knowledge be understood except in the realm of the heart. As Uways himself said, ‘Be with your heart.’ Indeed, if we carefully study the way of the Sufis and the principles of Sufism, we can see how the method of Uways, the receiving of knowledge in the heart as understanding, is the only way to be a Sufi. All Sufis, whether they call themselves Uwaysi or not, have become knowledgeable only by receiving the knowledge in their hearts by the Divine guidance of an unseen teacher. A Sufi receives this guidance even if he or she has a physical teacher."

Thus, even today, a major Sufi Order, the Uwaysi, still believes in the “unseen teacher.”

Ibn Khallikan writes, “Yunus ibn Yusuf ibn Musa’id ash-Shaibani, Sheikh of the fuqara known after him as the Yunusiyya, was a holy man. I asked a group of his followers who was his Sheikh and they replied, ‘He had no Sheikh, he was a majdhub.’ By this word they designate one who has no Sheikh but has been attracted to a life of piety and sanctity . . . He died in 619 (CE 1222-3) in his village of al-Qunayya in the province of Dara, where his tomb is well known and attracts pilgrims.”

For a certain period of time, the Sufi meeting house was not the home of a particular Sufi Order, but rather a temporary stopping place for traveling Sufis, and a gathering place (a ‘garden of delight’) for those following the Path. In one sense, Sufism was becoming a profession, in the sense that a profession is a calling that requires specialized knowledge and often long and intensive training and specialized study. “Sufism had now become a profession and the period is characterized by a great growth of unspecialized Sufi establishments. Saladin welcomed Asiatic Sufis to Egypt and he and his followers founded and endowed many khanaqahs, ribats, and zawiyas of which al-Maqrizi gives a long list. Mujir ad-din has accounts of these places in Jerusalem, Hebron, and Damascus. Saladin in 585/1189 endowed a Khanaqah Salahiyya in Jerusalem, diverting for this purpose the palace of the Latin patriarch.” Today, Sufism has become, in many quarters, again a profession (but now a profession in the sense of an ‘occupation’). Individuals enroll in Middle Eastern Studies or Islamic Studies programs in universities, acquiring advanced degrees. They then seem to feel qualified to lecture and write books about Sufism, as well as acquiring tenured positions in colleges in the United States and around the world in which they teach Sufism to naïve college students.

During these early years of Sufism, a bright light shown. Unfortunately, the male   domination culture has largely snuffed this light out. Mystics, who were also women, had the opportunity during this time to practice together. “Mysticism was the only religious sphere where women could find a place. There were many women Sufis, of whom Rabi’a al-‘Adawiyya (d. CE 801) is the best known. During this period, there are references to convents for women. Al-Irbilli 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 CE 1150 and 1250. In Cairo there was Ribat al-Baghdadiyya, built by a daughter of al-Malik az-Zahir Baibars in 684/1285 for a Sheikha called Zainab ibnat Abi’l-Barakat, known as Bint al-Baghdadiyya, and her followers, which still exists in ad-Darb al-Asfar.” Hints of these Sufi convents, and their Sheikhas, still exist today. However, traditional male Sufi Sheikhs still teach that a woman cannot give baiat. What about the teachers of the Greatest Sheikh, Ibn al’Arabi? Were they not women? Camille Adams Helminski writes, “Ibn Arabi, the great ‘Pole of Knowledge’ (1165-1240 CE), tells of time he spent with two elderly women mystics who had a profound influence on him: Shams of Marchena, one of the ‘sighing ones,’ and Fatimah of Cordova.” Helminski continues, “Someone once asked the great Egyptian Sufi master Dho'n-Nun Mesri, ‘Who, in your opinion, is the highest among the Sufis?’ He replied, ‘A lady in Mecca, called Fatimah Nishapuri, whose discourse displayed a profound apprehension of the inner meanings of the Qur’an.’ Further pressed to comment on Fatimah, he added, ‘She is of the saints of God, and my teacher.’” Perhaps this is why no one wanted to link their silsila to Dho’n-Nun Mesri (Dhu’l-Nun). Nevertheless, the more pertinent point: how many great Sufi Sheikhas might there be today if only the Sheikhs and Sheikhas living today would make more of their female disciples Khalifas? 

It does appear that a very small amount, maybe only one or two, tariqas did actually start with the founding saint. However, even in these cases, what later manifested as ‘The Order’ (as we know of it today) bears little resemblance to what the founding saint taught. Ibn Battuta writes in 1939 about the city of Konya, “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, 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 zawiya in which food is provided for all migrants.” These, therefore, were Sufi ta’ifas in the full sense. However, while the Mevlevi’s may have started with Mevlana, one may reasonably ask if the Mevlevi’s have actually continued to exist into the present era (as they are more of a tourist attraction than an actual tariqa). Here, with Rumi, some might vouch that his true tariqa is now being transmitted (sans lineage), but through such the assistance of Sheikhs from other Orders who have a direct spiritual linkage with Jalal ad-Din Rumi. This author has reliable information that this is, in fact, what has been occurring for at least the last thirty years.

While the Jalaliyya, or as we know them – the Mevlevis – may have had a direct descent from Mevlana, there is yet something astonishing to be revealed. Students in all Orders are routinely told never to enter into debate or dispute with their Sheikh. This is proper adab. However, many Sheikhs take this a step too far and imply that any thoughtful scrutiny on the part of the disciple is infidelity. Therefore, clear-headed reflection and investigation into the legitimacy of an Order and an Order’s practices are almost unheard of. In addition, trust is very important on the Sufi path, and again because of this, the atmosphere is not conducive to asking probing questions of the authorities of the Order. Truly, the situation for the novice Sufi-in-training, is a difficult one. He or she must develop trust in the Sheikh, yet at the same time, he or she must not betray his God-given intelligence. It does not occur to dervishes to ever question anything they have been told. As the student is indoctrinated into a point of view of complete submission to the Sheikh, gradually the student will not risk losing the love of his or her Sheikh by openly investigating and challenging what he or she has been told is the history of his or her Order. Trust must be earned, not given blindly just because a Sheikh sports a gleaming white turban, a long beard, and claims to have an unbroken silsila stretching back to Imam Ali (r.a.) himself. While, it is true, adab must be maintained between Sheikh and disciple, there should be nothing to prevent the disciple (or for that matter the teacher) from independent exploration (in a scholarly sense) of the earlier times of the Order. Only very recently have individuals been researching the development of Sufis Orders, in a dispassionate historical manner, rather than just accepting the fantastical fictitious accounts that so many dervishes have just accepted as ‘gospel.’

For example, only now is it becoming known that it was not until the 17th Century that the outer turning of the Mevlevis, known as the whirling of the dervishes, began to develop and take hold. Prior to this time, Rumi’s teachings evoked turning and whirling of an inward nature, a turning to the heart. Lesser students are often attracted by stories of miracles and great feats performed by their Pir and Sheikhs. However, most of these reports are pure fiction. Moreover, the person who manipulates and seeks to manipulate this ‘apparent’ world, has completely missed the point of Sufism, which is to “die before you die.”

Freemasonry enthralls its members with talk of its direct and continuous line that traces back to the time of Solomon’s Temple. Most Sufi Orders also enthrall its members by the same method of telling stories of how ancient the Order is. Nevertheless, the truth is gradually being revealed, due to thorough scholarly research, and because individuals no longer feel intimidated into believing without question the stories of their Sheikhs. One of these truths is that while there was a great Sufi renaissance in the 13th Century, many of the Orders that we know today, only took their present form around the 17th Century.   

The ‘tomb’ of the walyullah becomes extremely important at this point in time. The tomb now becomes part of the physical structure of the Sufi meetinghouse. “Iranian regions do not seem to have developed the officially sponsored khanaqah and the change of their Sufi hostels to representation of a holy line was not marked by any change of name but by the addition of an honored tomb, though more commonly the later khanaqahs were new foundations in association with a tomb. Later Turk and Mongol rulers rebuilt the tombs of famous saints and associated convents on more magnificent lines.” The presence of the tomb creates an intensifying of the baraka present in the Sufi meetinghouse. The tomb’s benefits are immense: it lends an ever-present awareness to the dervishes that their own deaths are right around the corner. Moreover, the symbolical ‘presence’ of the saint, helps the dervishes to be aware that Allah is always watching them.

Subtle branching from an Order occurred for several reasons in the Sufi world, none of the reasons being disreputable. “Sufis trained in these institutions founded daughter lodges in their own countries or in entirely new pasture grounds, especially in India. They rarely maintained direct contact with the mother institution and became independent schools with their own characteristics and tendencies.” Perfectly respectable Sufis were initiated and came out of these lodges as khalifas.

It seems that it is a particular characteristic of the latter part of the 20th Century and the first part of the 21st Century, to:

Ø     question a Sufi’s right to call him or herself a Sufi

Ø     question a Sheikh’s or Sheikha’s right to use that title

Ø     question the validity (or right to exist) of a Sufi Order

While, as we said before, we must use our intelligence for matters that our intelligence can help with, there seems to be an obsessive compulsion to tear down anything that does not have all the ‘official’ stamps. Dear reader, when has authentic Sufism ever had anything to do with ‘official stamps’? These are the concerns of the minor public official, not the friend of Allah. Officialism takes the place of annihilation. Control, regulation, manipulation, and official paper work are hallmarks of Sufi bureaucracy.

One of the truly remarkable and astonishing (at least to this author) facts concerning the evolution of Sufi Orders was the discovery that their organization is directly copied from the ancient system of medieval Guilds. “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 Shi’ism, the necessity for recognizing them was accepted by the Sunni doctors. 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 grandmaster (‘arif, amin, or Sheikh al-hirfa) and a hierarchy of apprentices, companions, and master-craftsman, 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 Sheikh at-tariqa when Shi’i practice was maintained.”

“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 protégés (awliya li’llah) are within the Orders. Not merely the great Sheikh but his successors who inherited his baraka (spiritual power) were mediums of his power. With this was associated ziyara (visitation) to saints’ tombs. 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. Nevertheless, 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 blending of the saint-cult with the Orders and a new reverence for the Prophet is one aspect of the changes that happened with Sufi Orders in the early 1200’s CE. “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.” In addition, at this time, something significant happened which many of our readers may be taking for granted: membership in Sufi Orders was extended to lay adherents. These ‘working people’ took the oath with the Sheikh or more usually his representative (khalifa). These lay members continued to follow their ordinary mode of life. Most members of Sufi Orders today, including the khalifas, hold regular jobs and are, in a sense, lay adherents. Only the Grand Sheikh in the larger Orders, is presently afforded the privilege, or right, of not living a lay existence, in other words, working a job in the mundane world, and so forth and so on. Significant, however, is the fact that in certain more undisclosed Orders, it is the Sheikh who serves the disciple and not the other way around.

This paper seeks to make the Sufi of today more conscious and aware of the way that Sufism has been practiced since the time of Muhammad (pbuh). Sometimes what the reader learns is inspirational, and sometimes what the reader learns is shocking. However, shock is often very helpful in spiritual development. Trimingham discusses the very prevalent study of the occult sciences amongst Sufis. “Along with the development of new forms of devotion and their acceptance parallel to ritual prayer went the process of accommodating 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 Sheikhs and brethren.”

While some Sufis may find this shocking, a perusal of many of the books written by famous Sheikhs about the 99 Names of Allah, will reveal that they are often filled with all sorts of mundane uses for which these names can be employed. Examples of these mundane uses are: protection from violence, free from need of others, honor, riches, making people obey you, protection of crops, protection from fire, finding lost objects, destroying one’s enemy, enlightenment, a long life, all the way to promising that any desire will be granted to the one who recites a particular divine name.

“The Orders stressed the power of the Word of God, and hundred 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-Shadhili’s Hizb al-Bahr or al-Jazuli’s Dala’il al-khairat, gives these magical properties.”

“All the same, the ideals of the Orders were maintained, however much they were compromised in practice.” Moreover, this seems to be an ever-present situation. Sufi Sheikhs will flatly state that Sufism has nothing whatsoever to do with magic. So too, devout Muslims will deny any involvement with magic. Yet many Muslims, with no affiliation with Sufism whatsoever, utilize the magic for personal gain. Islamic magic bowls appear suddenly in the 12th Century (metal, engraved with figures) which were inscribed with the names of diseases and afflictions for which they were said to be useful and from which the patient or the patient's proxy drank water. There are reports that when the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was asked about the use of incantations, he said that one should use the Qur'an, for otherwise it would be a dubious procedure.

In some countries, Europe and the United States included, Muslims walk around with numerous ‘magic squares’ on scrolls attached to their bodies. Magic squares play an important role in Islamic talismanic designs. The first appearance of such a square (called a wafq in Arabic) in Islamic literature occurred in the alchemical writings attributed to Jābir ibn Ḥayyān. This early magic square was recommended as a charm for easing childbirth. So, let not the traditional Muslim fault Sufis for what they themselves practice! Much of the ‘Islamic magic’ used in Muslim countries concerns the Jinn (protection spells against them, or spells to call them up). Magic in the form of Qur’anic numerology (in relation to letters), amulets, scrolls carried on the body, and the repetition of various Names of Allah a specific number of times, is still widely practiced by some Sheikhs and women Sufi healers throughout Eastern Europe, the Middle and Near East. A favorite contemporary Muslim amulet consists of a square-inch miniature of the Koran enclosed in metal and worn around the neck. Another great favorite amulet is the ‘Hand of Fatima’ which is also known as the ‘Hand of Miriam’ in the Jewish religion. Much of Islamic amulet lore is based on the need to use all possible means to protect oneself against the ‘evil eye.’ A popular internet Islamic jewelry store sells ‘silver effect’ cylindrical taweez lockets. Diameter 7 mm. You can purchase pure silver taweez lockets also.

Islam has had a notable tradition of alchemical writers. Renowned Islamic alchemists such as al-Iraqi, Rhazes, Maslamah al-Majriti, Bakr b. Bishrun, Ibn as-Samah, and Jabir Ibn Hayyan, have often performed alchemical transformations. However, the author would like to note that Islamic Alchemy used in its purest sense it practiced to expand the soul so that the consciousness of the Prophet Adam (‘Alaihi Assalam), the pure and harmonious interconnection of Humanity and Nature, is known. The author is not suggesting that one or the other form of practice is good or bad. However, the author would like to see the emphasis placed on annihilation rather than the acquiring of benefits in the ‘apparent’ world. “Earlier Sufis had been concerned with ascetic-mystical theory, or, if they were poets, with illuminating their search and the states they experienced.” What reason does the reader have for asking for anything, since the reader does not exist? 

At this time, greater systematization now was seen in the prayer and ritual manuals now being produced as guides for the director and his pupils. “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 common ritual and duties of Islam. It involves a novitiate, during which he receives guidance from a Sheikh, 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. This culminates in initiation, which includes investment with a khirqa, mantle, and headdress [turban].”

Now, this brings up some fascinating points. Some traditions have been kept within Sufi Orders, when it seems that these traditions have suited those in authority, and other traditions discarded, when it seems that the traditions threatened (in some way) those in authority. For example, while the khirqa, mantle, and headdress [turban], traditionally were granted after a period of study (usually three years), today, only very rarely is someone granted these symbols of recognition. Rather, Sheikhs will keep pupils, as pupils, for decades, or even for their entire lives, without ever granting them the khirqa. This has resulted in a dire lack of qualified Sufi teachers in the world today! Major cities, states, and even countries, do not have any properly recognized Sufi Sheikh or Khalifa. Because of this lack of khalifas, we now have been seeing for last twenty-five years the invasion of pseudo-Sufis, who have little or no training (formal or otherwise). They may have read a few books and have gone to a few ‘Rumi Whirling’ weekend workshops. They are purveyors of ‘Sufi Lite.’ These pseudo-Sufis, who put out a shingle billing himself or herself as a ‘Sufi Teacher’ or some such thing, attract the innocent, spiritually starved public who knows no better! These shysters often charge exorbitant amounts of money for lessons, or ‘conferences,’ in Sufism. Of course, they cannot teach Sufism as they try to pass off grape juice in place of wine. Sufi Masters never charge money for training a student.

However, who is ultimately to blame for this terrible state of affairs? Well, astagfirullah, power-hungry Sheikhs want to keep their disciples in a perpetual state of discipleship, and themselves in a perpetual state of authority and power. A terrible result of holding back competent dervishes from investiture as Sheikhs or khalifas is that the few authentic Sheikhs in the world begin to acquire thousands and hundreds of thousands of disciples. This is unfortunate, as the disciple of such a Sheikh may never get a private audience with his or her Sheikh in his or her entire life! The Sheikh is unable to provide individual guidance to each individual disciple; the disciple is deprived of private spiritual instruction. Of course, this can be transmitted spiritually, but how many dervishes-in-training can receive direct instruction via the spirit realms? A quick glance around the Sufi world today, reveals that there are several of these ‘mega’ Sheikhs. A kind of ‘Sufi Stardom’ is the result; and millions are the poorer for it (spiritually and financially).