meet with the ruler of Herat, MuEizz al-D ̄ın H:usayn, to
whom he taught the Naqshband ̄ı principles. His tomb, sur-
rounded by a large shrine complex, is a place of pilgrimage.
From here the t:ar ̄ıqah spread geographically, coming to rival
the popularity and influence of the Qa ̄dir ̄ıyah. It was to have
an important role in Central Asia and India and also devel-
oped branches in Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey, China, Suma-
tra, the Riau archipelago, Java, and other Indonesian islands.
The order still has a strong following scattered over the
length and breadth of the Muslim world. In the late eigh-
teenth century Ma Ming-Hsin, who had become a
Naqshband ̄ı-Jahr ̄ı while on pilgrimage to Mecca, returned
to Kansu Province in China to found the politically impor-
tant “New Teaching” movement. In the first Indonesian
elections in 1955, a Sumatran Naqshband ̄ı was elected to the
national parliament as the sole representative of the T ̧ ar ̄ıqah
political party.
Baha ̄D al-D ̄ın-i Naqshband rapidly established connec-
tions between his t:ar ̄ıqah, the trade and craft guilds, and the
merchant houses, so that as his spiritual influence grew, so
did his wealth. The order soon gained a position of power
in the Timurid court and, assuming a custodial role over gov-
ernment, supervised the administration of religious law. In-
deed under the leadership of Khwa ̄jah Ah:ra ̄r of Herat (1404–
1490), the Naqshband ̄ıyah virtually dominated political life
in Central Asia. It was his conviction that “to serve the world,
it is necessary to exercise political power”; in other words, it
is necessary to maintain adequate control over rulers in order
to ensure that they implement the divine law in every area
of life.
Unlike the Chisht ̄ıyah and those who followed their ex-
ample, the Naqshband ̄ıyah recited their dhikr silently and
banned music and rhythmic movements. They believed that
through dhikr without words one could achieve a level of
contemplation in which subject and object became indistin-
guishable and the individual soul returned to God as it had
been before creation. Among their techniques of meditation
was concentration on their shaykh; another practice was regu-
lar visitation of saints’ tombs in the hope that, by concentrat-
ing on the spirit of the departed shaykh, they would increase
their spiritual strength.
The Naqshband ̄ıyah was a moderate order that did not
demand heroic austerities; like the Sha ̄dhil ̄ıyah, it regarded
spiritual purification and education of the heart as more pro-
ductive than harsh mortification designed to conquer the
lower soul. It taught a middle way, that the mean between
excessive hunger and excessive eating was the safest. The true
fast consists of keeping the mind free from the food of satanic
suggestions. Despite its essential sobriety, this method
proved congenial to the poets of the time, and by the begin-
ning of the eighteenth century all the leading poets in the
Indo-Persian style were either members of the Naqshband ̄ı
t:ar ̄ıqah or under its influence.
The order played an important role in the religious and
political history of Mughal India as leaders of a movement
of reaction against the syncretist D ̄ın-i ila ̄h ̄ı (Divine Reli-
gion) of the emperor Akbar. An important figure in this reac-
tion was Ah:mad Sirhind ̄ı (d. 1624), who was initiated into
the order by its shaykh, Khwa ̄jah Ba ̄q ̄ı Billa ̄h, in 1600. The
order remained involved in political developments, includ-
ing a strong reaction against Hindu practices, up to 1740.
The Naqshband ̄ı Sha ̄h Wal ̄ı Alla ̄h (1703–1762), enrolled
concurrently in the Qa ̄dir ̄ıyah, became the greatest reformer
of eighteenth-century Delhi and one of the leading figures
in the renewal of Islam; his influence contributed to reform
movements in the nineteenth century and beyond.
In Sulayma ̄n ̄ıyah in Iraqi Kurdistan, Mawla ̄na ̄ Kha ̄lid
Baghda ̄d ̄ı (d. 1827) established a subbranch of the
Naqshband ̄ı order, which developed an independent charac-
ter as the Kha ̄lid ̄ıyah. It absorbed most of the other
Naqshband ̄ı branches in the Middle East and displaced the
Qa ̄dir ̄ıyah t:ar ̄ıqah in Kurdistan. It cultivated relations with
the Ottoman elite and fought for the Turks in the Russo-
Turkish War. Later implicated with opposition to the Turk-
ish Republic, it was closed down with the rest of the S:u ̄f ̄ı or-
ders in Turkey in 1925. After the Iraqi revolution in 1958,
the Kha ̄lid ̄ıyah shifted its operations to Iranian Kurdistan
until the Iranian Revolution of 1979.
The literature of the Naqshband ̄ıyah t:ar ̄ıqah is written
in Persian, and one of the great Persian mystical poets, EAbd
al-Rah:ma ̄n Ja ̄m ̄ı (d. 1492), was integrally involved in the
order. Because of its Sunn ̄ı loyalties, however, the
Naqshband ̄ı inroads in Persia were uprooted in the sixteenth
century by the Sh ̄ıE ̄ı Safavid dynasty, paradoxically itself trac-
ing its lineage to a Sunn ̄ı S:u ̄f ̄ı teacher, S:af ̄ı al-D ̄ın of Ardab ̄ıl
(1252–1334). His descendants eventually converted the
order to Shiism, built it into a militant movement, and ulti-
mately conquered Iran in the late fifteenth century, establish-
ing a long-lived dynasty during which the country was con-
verted to Shiism.NiEmatulla ̄h ̄ıyah. Most of the S:u ̄f ̄ı fraternities dis-
cussed here were founded and developed in a Sunn ̄ı environ-
ment. Sha ̄h NiEmat Alla ̄h Wal ̄ı (d. 1430), the eponymous
founder of this t:ar ̄ıqah, was a Sunn ̄ı, though descended from
the Prophet through the Sh ̄ıE ̄ı lineage of Isma ̄E ̄ıl, son of JaEfar
al-S:a ̄diq. He studied in Shiraz and traveled widely among
S:u ̄f ̄ı circles in the Arabic-speaking Middle East before estab-
lishing several lodges of his own in Central Asia, where he
came into competition with the Naqshband ̄ıs. After T ̄ımu ̄r
grew suspicious of his aims and banished him from Transox-
ania, Sha ̄h NiEmat Alla ̄h moved to Herat and finally settled
in Ma ̄ha ̄n, from where he promoted the theosophy of Ibn
EArab ̄ı in his prolific and popular writings and poetry, win-
ning many followers in the area of Shiraz and Kirma ̄n. His
son, Khal ̄ıl Alla ̄h, was invited to South India by Ah:mad Sha ̄h
Bahma ̄n in 1436, establishing a further NiEmatulla ̄h ̄ı follow-
ing among the Deccani aristocracy. Exactly how the order
took on a Sh ̄ıE ̄ı character is obscure, but the Safavid ruler and
ardent Sh ̄ıE ̄ı Sha ̄h Isma ̄E ̄ıl appointed a NiEmatulla ̄h ̄ı shakyh,
M ̄ır Niz:a ̄m al-D ̄ın, as the chief religious official of the Sa-9010 T:AR ̄IQAH