afghanistanself dies as it grasps that the Oneness of God alone subsists and that the
gnostic, while continuing to live in the material world, is at the same time
detached from it. During baqa’ wa fana’ the adept will also experience a
sense of Divine love and Sufi literature often compares the Sufi’s search to
that of a lover seeking the beloved. Another common metaphor for the
Sufi experience is intoxication. The concept of baqa’ wa fana’ has led to
some of the more extreme Sufis being accused of heresy and in the past
some were even put to death.
There are three major Sufi Orders, or tariqas, in Afghanistan.7 The
Naqshbandiyya, founded by Baha al-Din Naqshband (d. 1389), a native of
Bukhara, established its presence in what is now Afghanistan during the
fifteenth century when the Timurid rulers of Herat patronized the Khawajagan
branch of Naqshbandiyya. As a result, dozens of Sufi centres, known as
khanagahs, were set up in the Herat and Balkh regions, and the Central Asian
form of Naqshbandiyya is still the predominant branch of Sufism among
Uzbeks, Turkmans, Aimaqs and Heratis. The Naqshbandiyya zikr is unusual
in that it is a silent, mental one, though around Balkh and Mazar-i Sharif there
are some devotees who practise a verbalized, communal zikr.
Naqshbandiyya Sufis
in Bukhara. Until the
Soviet conquest of
Bukhara in 1868, zikr
was often performed
in public spaces.
In Afghanistan,
since the Islamic
revolution, such
public performances
by Sufis has been
actively discouraged.
However, Sufism
remains an important
part of many
Afghans’ spiritual life.
Illustration from
F. H. Skrine and
E. D. Ross, The Heart
of Asia (1899).