Sufism, also known as Tasawwuf, is a mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic purification, spirituality, ritualism, asceticism, and esotericism. It has been variously defined as "Islamic mysticism", "the mystical expression of Islamic faith", "the inward dimension of Islam", "the phenomenon of mysticism within Islam", the "main manifestation and the most important and central crystallization" of mystical practice in Islam, and "the interiorization and intensification of Islamic faith and practice".
The Chishtī Order is a tariqa, an order or school within the mystic Sufi tradition of Sunni Islam. The Chishti Order is known for its emphasis on love, tolerance, and openness. It began with Abu Ishaq Shami in Chisht, circa 930 AD in a small town near Herat, a strategic city in then Eastern Persia, which later became independent and then part of Afghanistan.
The Naqshbandi is a major Tariqa of Sunni Islam. Its name is derived from the Sayyid Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari. Naqshbandi masters trace their lineage to the Islamic prophet Muhammad through Abu Bakr, the first Caliph of Sunni Islam and Ali, the fourth Caliph of Sunni Islam. It is because of this dual lineage through Ali and Abu Bakr through the 6th Imam Jafar al Sadiq that the order is also known as the "convergence of the two oceans" or "Sufi Order of Jafar al Sadiq".
The Qadiriyya are members of the Sunni Qadiri tariqa. The tariqa got its name from Abdul Qadir Gilani, who was a Hanbali scholar from Gilan, Iran. The order relies strongly upon adherence to the fundamentals of Sunni Islamic law.
Ahmad Yasawi was a Turkic poet and Sufi, an early mystic who exerted a powerful influence on the development of Sufi orders throughout the Turkic-speaking world. Yasawi is the earliest known Turkic poet who composed poetry in Middle Turkic. He was a pioneer of popular mysticism, founded the first Turkic Sufi order, the Yasawiyya or Yeseviye, which very quickly spread over Turkic-speaking areas. He was a Hanafi scholar like his murshid, Yusuf Hamadani.
Abū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf al-Hamadānī, best simply known as Yusuf Hamadani, was a Persian Sufi of the Middle Ages. He was the first of the group of Central Asian Sufi teachers known simply as Khwajagan of the Naqshbandi order. His shrine is at Merv, Turkmenistan.
Baha' al-Din Naqshband was the eponymous founder of what would become one of the largest Sufi Sunni orders, the Naqshbandi.
The Uwaisī silsila or tariqa (pathway) is a form of spiritual transmission in the vocabulary of Sufism, named after Owais al-Qarani. It refers to the transmission of spiritual knowledge between two individuals without the need for direct interaction between them.
Khwājagān is a Persian title for "the Masters". Khwajagan, as the plural for "Khwāja", is often used to refer to a network of Sufis in Central Asia from the 10th to the 16th century who are often incorporated into later Naqshbandi hierarchies, as well as other Sufi groups, such as the Yasaviyya. In Firdowsi's Shahnama the word is used many times for some rulers and heroes of ancient Iran as well. The special zikr of the Khwajagan is called 'Khatm Khajagan'.
The Eleven Naqshbandi principles or the "rules or secrets of the Naqshbandi", known in Persian as the kalimat-i qudsiya, are a system of principles and guidelines used as spiritual exercises, or to encourage certain preferred states of being, in the Naqshbandi Sufi order of Islamic mysticism.
Khwaja Haji Dost Muhammad Qandhari was an Afghan Sufi master in the Naqshbandi tradition in the 19th century (1801–1868).
Shah Abdullah alias Shah Ghulam Ali Dehlavi was a Sufi Shaykh in Delhi during the early 19th century. He was a master of the Naqshbandi tradition and in other Sufi orders such as Chishti.
The Golden Chain of Naqshbandi Haqqani Sufi Order is a lineage of Sufi masters of the Naqshbandi 'Aliyyah branch.
Lataif-e-sitta are special organs of perception in Sufi spiritual psychology, subtle human capacities for experience and action. Depending on context, the lataif are also understood to be the corresponding qualities of that experience or action.
Sayyid Mir Jan Shah Saheb ibn Hasan Naqshbandi was a Sunni saint from Kabul.
Nāṣir ad-Dīn ʿUbaydullāh ibn Maḥmūd ibn Shihāb ad-Dīn more popularly known as Khwaja Ahrar was a Hanafi Maturidi member of the Golden Chain of the Naqshbandi Sufi spiritual order of Central Asia. He was born in Samarkand, city in Central Asia, to a Muslim family. He was born to Khwaja Mehmood Shashi bin Khwaja Shihabuddin. His forefathers had migrated from Baghdad, and his lineage was connected to Abu Bakr Siddique from his paternal side and Umar Farooq from the maternal side. Khwaja Ahrar was deeply involved in the social, political and economics activities of Transoxania. He was born into a relatively poor yet highly spiritual family and, at the age of maturity, he was probably the richest person in the kingdom. He was a close associate of all the leading dervishes of the time. Maulana Abdur Rahman Jami was a disciple of his. He learned and practiced the secrets of spirituality under his father and later under Khwaja Yaqub Charkhi.
Fazal bin Muhammad bin Ali commonly known as "Abu Ali Farmadi" or just "Abu Ali" was a saint of the Naqshbandi Golden Chain, and a prominent Sufi master and preacher from Ṭūs, Khorasan Iran. He is well known for being a teacher of Al-Ghazali during his youth.
Khwaja Mahmood al-Anjir al-Faghnawi was the 13th sheikh in the chain of the masters of the Naqshbandi Order, one of the largest Sufi Muslim orders.
