"Tariqat" in the Four Spiritual Stations: The Four Stations, sharia, tariqa, haqiqa.

The fourth
station, marifa, which is considered "unseen", is actually the center of the haqiqa region. It's the
essence of all four stations.
A tariqa (or tariqah; Arabic: tarqah,
plural turuq,
from " way, path"; Persian:

tariqat, Turkish: tarikat) is the term for a school or order of Sufism, or especially for the
mystical teaching and spiritual practices of such an order with the aim of seeking h aqqah
"ultimate truth".
A tariqa has a murshid (guide) who plays the role of leader or spiritual director. The members or
followers of a tariqa are known as murdn (singular murd), meaning "desirous", viz. "desiring
the knowledge of knowing God and loving God" (also called a faqr )
The metaphor of "way, path" is to be understood in connection of the term sharia which also has
the meaning of "path", more specifically "well-trodden path; path to the waterhole". The "path"
metaphor of tariqa is that of a further path, taken by the mystic, which continues from the "welltrodden path" or exoteric of sharia towards the esoteric haqiqa. A fourth "station" following the
succession of shariah, tariqa and haqiqa is called marifa. This is the "unseen center" of haqiqa,
and the ultimate aim of the mystic, corresponding to the unio mystica in Western mysticism.
Tasawwuf, arabic word that refers to mysticism and Islamic esotericism, is known in the West as
Sufism.[1]

Contents
[hide]

1 Orders of Sufism

2 History

3 See also

4 Notes

5 References

6 External links

Orders of Sufism[edit]

"Tariqat" in the Four Spiritual Stations: The Four Stations, sharia, tariqa, haqiqa. The fourth
station, marifa, which is considered "unseen", is actually the center of the haqiqa region. It's the
essence of all four stations.
Further information: Silsila
Further information: List of Sufi orders
The most popular tariqa in the West is the Mevlevi Order, named after Jall ad-Dn Muhammad
Rm. In the same time the Bektashi Order was also founded, named after the Alevi Muslim
saint Haji Bektash Veli. The four main tariqas in South Asia are: the Naqshbandi Order, named
after Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari; the Qadiri Order, named after `Abd al-Qdir al-Jln; the
Chishti Order, named after Khawaja Mawdood Chisti while Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti is the
most famous sheikh; the Suhrawardi Order, named after Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi. Others can
be offshoots of a tariqa. For example, the Qalandariyya has roots in Malamatiyya (with
Buddhism and Hinduism influence) and Wafa'i (a combination Yasawiyya-Sunni and BatiniyyaShi'a) of orders are offshoots of the Suhrawardi order.
Membership of a particular Sufi order is not exclusive and cannot be likened to the ideological
commitment to a political party. Unlike the Christian monastic orders which are demarcated by
firm lines of authority and sacrament, Sufis often are members of various Sufi orders. The nonexclusiveness of Sufi orders has consequences for the social extension of Sufism. They cannot be
regarded as indulging in a zero sum competition which a purely political analysis might have
suggested. Rather their joint effect is to impart to Sufism a cumulant body of tradition, rather
than individual and isolated experiences.[2]
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In most cases the sheikh nominates his khalfa or "successor" during his lifetime, who will take
over the order. In rare cases, if the sheikh dies without naming a khalfa, the students of the
t arqa elect another spiritual leader by vote. In some orders it is recommended to take akhalf
from the same order as the murshid. In some groups it is customary for the khalfa to be the son
of the sheikh, although in other groups the khalfa and the sheikh are not normally relatives. In
yet other orders a successor may be identified through the spiritual dreams of its members.
Tarqas have silsilas (Arabic: " )chain, lineage of sheikhs". Almost all orders except the
Naqshbandi order claim a silsila that leads back to Muhammad through Al. (The Naqshbandi
Silsila goes back to Abu Bakr the first Caliph of Sunni Islam and then Muhammad ibn Abi
Bakr.) Historians however have traced this chain back to Al as Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr was
brought up by Al from the age of three. Many other silsilas contain the names of Shah Imams.

Every murid, on entering the t arqa, gets his'awrd, or daily recitations, authorized by his
murshid (usually to be recited before or after the pre-dawn prayer, after the afternoon prayer and
after the evening prayer). Usually these recitations are extensive and time-consuming (for
example the awrd may consist of reciting a certain formula 99, 500 or even 1000 times). One
must also be in a state of ritual purity (as one is for the obligatory prayers to perform them while
facing Mecca). The recitations change as a student (murid) moves from a mere initiate to other
Sufi degrees (usually requiring additional initiations). The Initiation ceremony is routine and
consists of reading chapter 1 of the Quran followed by a single phrase prayer. Criteria has to be
met to be promoted in rank: the common way is to repeat a single phrase prayer 82,000 times or
more as in the case of Burhaniyya, a number that grows with each achieved rank. Murids who
experience unusual interaction during meditation: hear voices like "would you like to see a
prophet?" or see visions who might even communicate with the Murid are held dear in the
"Had ra" (Arabic: ) , the weekly group-chanting of prayers in attempt of reaching spirits as
they are likely to experience something unusual and pass it on. This Murid is promoted faster
than others. The least common way is to cause a miracle to happen with criteria similar to that of
Catholic Sainthood.
Being mostly followers of the spiritual traditions of Islam loosely referred to as Sufism, these
groups were sometimes distinct from the ulema or officially mandated scholars, and often acted
as informal missionaries of Islam. They provided accepted avenues for emotional expressions of
faith, and the Tarqas spread to all corners of the Muslim world, and often exercised a degree of
political influence inordinate to their size (take for example the influence that the sheikhs of the
Safavid had over the armies of Tamerlane, or the missionary work of Ali-Shir Nava'i in Turkistan
among the Mongol and Tatar people).

History[edit]
The tariqas were particularly influential in the spread of Islam in the sub-Sahara during the 9th to
14th centuries, where they spread south along trade routes between North Africa and the subSaharan kingdoms of Ghana and Mali. On the West African coast they set up Zwiyas on the
shores of the river Niger and even established independent kingdoms such as al-Murbitn
or
Almoravids.The Al Hakika Mizaan Mizaani Sufi Order deals with heavy internalization and
meditations, their spiritual practice is called Al Qudra Mizaan[(United States)] The Sanusi order
were also highly involved in missionary work in Africa during the 19th century, spreading both
Islam and a high level of literacy into Africa as far south as Lake Chad and beyond by setting up
a network of zawiyas where Islam was taught. Much of central Asia and southern Russia was
won over to Islam through the missionary work of the t arqahs, and the majority ofIndonesia's
population, where a Muslim army never set foot, was converted to Islam by the perseverance of
both Muslim traders and Sufi missionaries.
Tariqas were brought to China in the 17th century by Ma Laichi and other Chinese Sufis who
had studied in Mecca and Yemen, and had also been influenced by spiritual descendants of the
Kashgarian Sufi master Afaq Khoja. On the Chinese soil the institutions became known as
menhuan, and are typically headquartered near the tombs (gongbei) of their founders.[3]

Certain scholars, e.g., G. H. Jansen,[citation needed] credit the original tariqas with several specific
accomplishments:

Preventing Islam from becoming a cold and formal doctrine by constantly infusing it with
local and emotionally popular input, including stories and plays and rituals not part of
Islam proper. (A parallel would be the role of Aesop relative to the Greek mythos.)

Leading Islam's military and political battles against the Christian West, as far back as the
Qadiri order of the 12th century.

See also[edit]

Dargah

Dervish

Khanqah

Salik

Zawiya (institution)

Notes[edit]
1.

Jump up ^ SILVA FILHO, Mrio Alves da. A Mstica Islmica em Terr Brasilis: o
Sufismo e as Ordens Sufis em So Paulo. Dissertao (Mestrado em Cincias da Religio). So
Paulo: PUC/SP, 2012.

2.

Jump up ^ Sufi martyrs of love By Carl W. Ernst, Bruce B. Lawrence. Pg 28

3.

Jump up ^ Michael Dillon (1999). China's Muslim Hui community: migration,

settlement and sects. Routledge. pp. 113114. ISBN 0-7007-1026-4. One of Dillon's main sources
is: ( Ma Tong) (1983). (Zhongguo Yisilan jiaopai yu
menhuan zhidu shilue) (A sketch of the history of Chinese Islamic sects and the menhuan system).
Yinchuan: (Ningxia Renmin Chubanshe).

References[edit]

J. M. Abun-Nasr, "The Tijaniyya", London 1965

M. Berger, "Islam in Egypt today - social and political aspects of popular religion",
London, 1970

J. K. Birge, "The Bektashi Order of Dervishes", London and Hartford, 1937

Clayer, Nathalie, Muslim Brotherhood Networks, EGO - European History Online,

Mainz: Institute of European History, 2011, retrieved: May 23, 2011.

O. Depont and X. Coppolani, "Les confreries religieuses musulmans" (the Muslim

brotherhoods as they existed then), Algiers, 1897

E. E. Evans-Pritchard, "The Sanusi of Cyrenaica", Oxford, 1949

M. D. Gilsenen, "Saint and Sufi in Modern Egypt", Oxford, 1978

G. H. Jansen, "Militant Islam", Pan, London 1979

F. de Jong, "Turuq and Turuq-Linked Institutions in Nineteenth-Century Egypt", Brill,

Leiden,1978

J. W. McPherson, "The Moulids of Egypt", Cairo, 1941

External links[edit]

PHILTAR (Philosophy of Theology and Religion at the Division of Religion and

Philosophy of St Martin's College) has a very useful Graphical illustration of the Sufi
schools.

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