Tariqa

Tariqa: طريقه (pl.: turuq: طرق ) means "way" or "path" and, in the Sufi tradition of Islam is conceptually related to Haqiqa , or Truth, the ineffable ideal that is the pursuit of the tradition. Thus one starts at the Sharia , the exoteric or mundane practice of Islam and adopts a tarika towards the Haqiqa . A Tarika is a Sufi (i.e. mystical), sometimes semi-secret, order of Muslims (followers of Islam ).¹ A tarika has a Murshid , or Guide, who plays the role of leader or spiritual director of the organization.² A Sufi tarika is a group of Murid , pl.: Murideen, Arabic for desireous, desiring the knowledge of knowing God and loving God (a Murid is also called a 'Faqir' or 'Fakir' another Arabic word that means poor or needy). Every tarika is named after its founder, usually adding yah to the end of the founder's last name. Often tarikas are offshoots of other tarikas for example the Jelveti order founded by Aziz Mahmud Hudayi who are an offshoot of the Bayrami order founded by Hajji Bayram in Ankara who are an offshoot of the zahidiyye founded by Pir Zahid al-Gaylani in Iran. The Khalwati order are a particually splintered order with numerous offshoots such as the Jerrahi , Sunbuli , Nasuhi, Karabashiyye and others, the West African Tijaniyye order also has its roots in this Tariqa. In most cases, the Shaikh nominates his 'Khalifa' or successor during his lifetime, who will take over the order. In rare cases, where the shaikh dies without naming a khalifa, the Murids of the tarika elect another spiritual leader through a vote. In some orders, it is recommended to take a khalifa from the same order as their Murshid. Rarely does the order pass from father to son and this is usually more common in smaller Tarikas that may not have a following that extends further than that particular Zawiya or Tekke . Tarikas have a( Silsilah :سلسله) meaning chain or idiomatically a lineage of various Sheikhs that eventually leads back to the Prophet Muhammad . Almost all order except the Naqshbandi order has a Silsilah that leads back to the Prophet Muhammad through Ali (The Naqshbandi Silsilah goes back to Abu Bakr the first Caliph of Sunni islam and then the Prophet Muhammad ) This has led some Western writers on Islam to wrongly assume that many of the Tariqas have a Shi'ite influence within them, although this idea falls short when it is remembered that all of the founders of the main Sufi orders have been Sunni Muslims some such as Abdul Qadir Jilani founder of the Qadiri order being a Hanbali a school of Islamic law that is known for it's strong adherence to Sunni Islam and almost all of the famous Sheikhs of the Shadhili order have been staunch Sunni Muslims . Indeed, during Ottoman times the Sunni Turkish Sultans would use the reverence that they and other Sunni Muslims had for the Shi'ite Imams to appease the Shi'ite minoities that lived within their empire and many towards the end of the 19th century believed that a Sunni - Shi'ite unity was impending. Every Murid on entering the Tariqa gets his awrad , 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 excessive and time-consuming (for example the Murids awrad may consist of reciting a certain formular 99, 500 or even 1000 times) One must also be in a state of ritual purity (as one is for the obligitory prayers to perform them and facing Mecca). The recitations change as a student (murid) moves from a mere initiate to other Sufi degrees (usually requireing additional initiations). 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 Tariqas 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 Safaviyye order had over the armies of Tamerlane or the missionary work of Ali Shair Navai in Turkistan amongst the Mongol and Tatar people). The Tariqas were paticually influential in the spread of Islam in the Sub-Sahara during the 9th to 14th centuries where taking advantage of trade routes between North Africa and the Sub-Saharan kingdoms of Ghana and Mali they spread south. On the West African coast they set up Zawiyas on the shores of the river Niger and even established indepenent kingdoms (such as the Murabitun) The Sanusi order were also highly involved in missionary work in Africa during the 19th century spreading both Islam and a high leavel 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 Tariqa's. and Indonesia were a Muslim army never set foot was converted to Islam by the perseverance of both Muslim traders and Sufi missionaries. A case is sometimes made that groups as the Muslim Brotherhoods (in many countries) and specifically the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt (the first, or first known), are modern inheritors of the tradition of lay tarika in Islam. This is highly debatable since the Turuq were Sufi orders while the Muslim Brotherhood in a modern, rationalist tradition. Although the Muslim Brotherhoods founder Hasan al-Bana did have a traditional Islamic education (his family were Hanbali scholars) and it is likely that he was initiated into a Tariqa at an early age. Jansen , credit the original tarika 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 .) spreading the faith in east Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, where orthodox Islamic leaders and scholars had little or no direct influence on people. leading Islam's military and political battles against the enroaching power of Christian West , as far back as the Qadiri order of the twelfth century. The last of these accomplishments suggests that the analogy with the modern Muslim Brotherhoods is probably accurate, but incomplete.³