Five pillars of Islam) with a sense of iman and
taqwa, since without these spiritual and psycho-
logical characteristics, the performance of these
duties are meaningless.
Jon ArmajaniFurther reading: Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Joseph
Ward Goering, and Barry Walfish, eds., With Reverence
for the Word: Medieval Scriptural Exegesis in Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2003); Fazlur Rahman, Major Themes of the
Quran (Minneapolis: Bibliotheca Islamica, 1994); Yas-
sin Roushdy, Allah: The Divine Nature (London: Dar
al-Taqwa, 1999); Mohamed Taher, ed., Encyclopedic
Survey of Islamic Culture. Vol. 11, Islamic Thought:
Growth and Development (New Delhi: Anmol Publica-
tions, 1998).
tarawih See ramadan.
tariqa (Arabic: path, way)
The term tariqa carries several meanings within
Sufi rhetoric. One use is as a metaphor for the
individual’s inner journey to God, which was
outwardly reflected in the Sufi practice of travel-
ling to other lands to seek mystical knowledge.
sUFism itself was seen as a tariqa, or path through
one’s soul toward the Divine. On this path, the
wayfarer passes through various stations, or
maqamat, such as repentance and trust in God.
The tariqa is also described as constituting the
second part in the three essential parts of Islamic
religious life, the first being sharia (the outer
laws of Islam), and the third being either marifa
(mystical gnosis) or haqiqa (truth).
The term tariqa has also come to mean a
course or method of religious study, which was
institutionalized in a Sufi establishment called
a tariqa, or Sufi order. Various types of these
orders existed and still exist in most areas of the
Middle East, and, depending on the region, they
were also known as tekkes, zawiyas, and dar-
gahs. J. Spencer Trimingham has categorized the
stages of Sufism’s development, and he describes
the second stage, from the 13th century to the
15th century, as the Tariqa phase. This phase
is characterized by the organization of Sufism
into hierarchical structures, with an emphasis
on the relationship between Sufi masters and
their disciples. The Sufi master of each tariqa
traced his spiritual lineage through a silsila, or
chain of transmission, and thus the source of
his mystical knowledge through chains of past
Sufi masters. Key figures often found in these
silsilas include abU al-qasim al-JUnayd (d. 910)
and abU yazid al-bistami (d. ca. 875), all lineages
ultimately begin with the prophet mUhammad.
Through these genealogical trees, masters and
ultimately their murids, or disciples, would derive
recognized legitimacy. Prominent tariqas, named
after their respective founders, included the
Suhrawardi, qadiri, riF ai, chishti, naqshbandi,
mevlevi, and bektashi. Sufi orders or lodges first
appeared between the 11th and 13th centuries,
somewhat before Trimingham’s tariqa phase, and
many are still active today.
Other scholars have noted the social, economic,
and political functions of tariqas. These mysti-
cal brotherhoods created new ways in which to
form communal identity other than on the basis
of ethnicity and tribal kinship. The sometimes
diverse background of the tariqa members allowed
for some orders to play community peacekeeping
roles. The tariqa sites served as community burial
grounds, schools, and places in which ritual danc-
ing, chanting, vigils, and processions took place.
The surrounding land possessed by certain tariqas
was sometimes used for agricultural purposes, thus
helping to financially provide for its members. At
times, local rulers would try to get support, military
or otherwise, from a given tariqa, and some tariqas
found it beneficial indeed to lend their backing in
this way, thus wielding political influence them-
selves and sometimes receiving gifts such as land
endowments. These Sufi orders are commonly asso-
ciated with conversions of non-Muslims to Islam,tariqa 663 J