Naqshbandiyya

Naqshbandiyya is a living tradition within Sufism. Also written Naqshbandi order.

Origin

Founder named in the sources: Baha' al-Din Naqshband (d. 1389). No founding year is given below, because the sources read do not agree on one and a date has not been chosen for them. The death year 1389 is CORROBORATED by a fetched source - Maysam J. Al Faruqi, Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa, gives 'the powerful and orthodox Naqshbandiyya (Muhammad Baha' al-Din al Naqshabandi, d. 1389), which was popular with the elite in India and Central Asia'. The Iranica citation is marked unread (403). The Trimingham 'twelve major tariqas' clause is marked unverified and paired with Ernst's criticism of Trimingham's periodisation (see Sufism). ADDED, on Carl W. Ernst: the order's distinguishing structural feature, verbatim - 'Nearly all of these chains reach Muhammad via his son-in-law and cousin \'Ali. A notable exception is the Naqshbandi order, which reaches the Prophet via Abu Bakr instead (although the Naqshbandi lineage includes other early Shi\'ite imams).' Ernst also records the order's characteristic practice by contrast: 'the loud dhikr recitation of the Rifa'iyya, in contrast to the silent dhikr favored by the Naqshbandiyya'. NO FOUNDING YEAR.