God) was added the component of initiation into a source
of spiritual insight and power that extended over generations.
Most S:u ̄f ̄ı orders insisted on the necessity of a living
guide to follow the t:ar ̄ıqah, but there were exceptions. Some
S:u ̄f ̄ıs, calling themselves Uways ̄ıs after the example of Uways
al-Qaran ̄ı (a contemporary of the Prophet who only met him
in a dream), claimed to have been initiated or illuminated
through a dream or vision of a past master rather than
through the guidance and presence of a living master.
Qalandar ̄ı dervishes underwent an initiation ritual that in-
cluded shaving the face (including eyebrows) and head but
normally practiced their wandering, mendicant, and antino-
mian lifestyle without direction from a shaykh.
THE T:AR ̄IQAH AS AN ESTABLISHED INSTITUTION. The ma-
drasah system of education, by licensing professors, formaliz-
ing the curriculum, and subsidizing students, succeeded in
professionalizing the legal discipline in the eleventh and
twelfth centuries CE. In the thirteenth century the Abbasid
caliph al-Na ̄s:ir encouraged the spread of young men’s chival-
ric societies (the futu ̄wwa orders), establishing an interest in
and conveying legitimacy on the idea of urban fraternal orga-
nizations. These institutional models must also have suggest-
ed themselves to the S:u ̄f ̄ı communities. If the community
of disciples of a particular S:u ̄f ̄ı master survived and replicat-
ed itself for a generation or more after the death of the found-
er, it would often become known as the “method,” or
t:ar ̄ıqah, of its eponymous founder, as, for example, “the
method of Najm al-D ̄ın Kubra ̄,” or T:ar ̄ıqat al-Kubra ̄w ̄ıyah.
It has been supposed that the development of the t:ar ̄ıqah or-
ders into formal religious institutions centered around a
lodge or shrine, following a fixed rule, and projected to con-
tinue functioning indefinitely began in the twelfth century
(as some of the orders’ Silsilahs claim). Commonly, however
it was the children or grandchildren of the founding Shaykhs,
rather than the Shaykhs themselves, who organized the disci-
ple communities into institutional orders, a process that can
be clearly documented for the late thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries. Later in the Ottoman period the t:ar ̄ıqah institu-
tions become corporate entities with subbranches that were
sometimes described by a different generic term, t:a ̄Difah (plu-
ral, t:awa ̄Dif) as “societies.”
Despite the esoteric character of the theosophy they
promulgated, the ideas and rituals of the t:ar ̄ıqahs attracted
the masses with the hope of obtaining spiritual and temporal
benefits from the sanctity and spiritual power of the great fig-
ures in the orders, from the tombs in which they were buried,
and from the places and relics with which they were associat-
ed. Thus the t:ar ̄ıqahs became great communities, compris-
ing all strata of society, offering something to the educated
and uneducated alike, fostering devotional poetry and music,
tolerating a wide range of folk practices, yet preserving and
extending a great tradition of spirituality. They likewise
played a major social role. Their hospices (kha ̄naqa ̄hs) of-
fered lodging to travelers, medical treatment for the sick, and
help for the poor. They also became centers for popular de-
votion. They extended their membership by granting asso-
ciate tertiary status to individuals who, while living outside
the community, practiced their normal trades, performed the
daily prayers in the t:ar ̄ıqah environment under the direction
of the shaykh and took part in dhikr exercises, litanies, or
sama ̄E sessions.
INITIATION RITUALS. Most of the t:ar ̄ıqahs have similar ritu-
als of admission, although degrees of fervor, sincerity, and
integrity have varied over time and place. An initiation, a
great event in the life of both the initiate and the community,
is marked by a day of festival. A model initiation ceremony
described in one of the manuals for the Qa ̄dir ̄ıyah t:ar ̄ıqah
is described as follows. The candidate first performs ritual ab-
lutions; he then prays two rakEahs and sits facing the shaykh
with his knees pressed together. Clasping his shaykh’s right
hand, he recites the opening su ̄rah of the QurDa ̄n followed
by a series of formulas invoking blessings upon the Prophet,
and the various silsilas, especially those of the Qa ̄dir ̄ıyah line,
by which his shaykh establishes his authority. Afterward the
shaykh has him repeat, phrase by phrase, a formula contain-
ing various components: a prayer asking God’s forgiveness;
a testimony that the vow he is taking is that of God and his
apostle; recognition that the hand of the shaykh is that of
EAbd al-Qa ̄dir, founder of the order; and a promise that he
will recite the dhikr as the shaykh requires him to do. The
shaykh then utters a prayer and recites the QurDanic verse of
allegiance: “Those who vow their allegiance to you, vow their
allegiance to God; the hand of God is upon their hands.
Thus whoever violates it, violates himself, but whoever ful-
fills what he has promised God he will undertake, God will
give him a mighty reward” (48:10). Alternately verse 16:91
is used: “Fulfill the pact of God once you have made a pact
with him.”
SOCIAL ETHICS AND ETIQUETTE. The number of manuals
filled with stories illustrating and enjoining delicate, tactful,
and respectful behavior on the t:ar ̄ıqah initiates demonstrates
a remarkable sensitivity to etiquette and propriety. One of
the earliest treatises on the norms of proper behavior among
members of a t:ar ̄ıqah, Abu ̄ al-Naj ̄ıb al-Suhraward ̄ı’s A ̄da ̄b
al-mur ̄ıd ̄ın (The manners of the disciples) dates from the
twelfth century CE. It is representative of practices in a num-
ber of orders and elaborates an etiquette of great sensitivity.
Apart from its intrinsic interest, it demonstrates the primacy
of human values and courtesy over rigorous ascetic practices
and complex theosophical ideas in the brotherhoods. It also
shows clearly that the t:ar ̄ıqahs did not see themselves as sub-
sects outside the regular religious disciplines.The work classifies religious scholars into three groups
(in practice these were not fixed identities but points on a
continuum of religious orientation with considerable over-
lap): traditionalists, jurists, and (S:u ̄f ̄ı) Dulama ̄E. The tradi-
tionalists are the watchmen of religion, who deal with the ex-
ternal meaning of h:ad ̄ıth. The jurists are the arbiters of
religion, whose specialty is their ability to make legal infer-
ences. The S:u ̄f ̄ıs in turn base their lives and conduct on both9006 T:AR ̄IQAH