The Naqshbandiyya order has attracted increasing scholarly attention over the last two decades, yet so far there has been no attempt to present a comprehensive picture of the evolution of the rich organization and ideational Naqshbandiyyah tradition This book is therefore by now a highly desirable contribution that will fill this gap in the literature of this important Sufi order Spanning almost a millennium in time and most of the Muslim world in space, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the important Naqshbandiyyah Sufi order

The Naqshbandiyya order has attracted increasing scholarly attention over the last two decades, yet so far there has been no attempt to present a comprehensive picture of the evolution of the rich organization and ideational Naqshbandiyyah tradition This book is therefore by now a highly desirable contribution that will fill this gap in the literature of this important Sufi order Spanning almost a millennium in time and most of the Muslim world in space, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the important Naqshbandiyyah Sufi order

The Naqshbandi Sufi Tradition is one of the most distinguished and respected schools of Islamic spirituality. Its long and glorious history stretches back to the earliest days of Islam and it has always played a central, pivotal role in the life of the Muslim world. Led by the shaykhs of the Golden Chaininheritors of the secret knowledge of the prophets and saintsthe Naqshbandi Order survived the turmoil and tribulations of the past century and remains one of the few authentic mystical traditions that still maintains a living link with its ancient past. Now, for the first time,the history and teachings of the Naqshbandi Way are being made available to the public.Classical Islam and the Naqshbandi Sufi Tradition is the most detailed and authentic book ever written about a Sufi order in English. Providing a comprehensive history of the Naqshbandi Tradition, the author Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, one of the most respected teachers of Islamic spirituality in the world today, traces the lives of its foremost teachers from Prophet Muhammad, upon whom be peace, to the present. Their life stories are intimately woven with landmark events of history, from the time of the Companions to the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the reemergence of Islam in the former Soviet Union. However, this book also contains much more. It details the fundamental principles of the Sufi path and the primary teachings of the Naqshbandi Order, exploring the doctrines and philosophy behind this important current in spiritual thinking.

Sufi Heirs of the Prophet explores the multifaceted development of personal authority in Islamic societies by tracing the transformation of one representative mystical sufi lineage in colonial India, the Naqshbandiyya. Arthur F. Buehler isolates four sources of personal authority evident in the practices of the Naqshbandiyya - lineage, spiritual traveling, status as a Prophetic exemplar, and the transmission of religious knowledge - to demonstrate how Muslim sufis have exercised charismatic leadership through their connection to the most compelling of personal Islamic symbols, the Prophet Muhammad.

A Culture of Sufism opens a window to a new understanding of one of the most prolific and enduring of all the Sufi brotherhoods, the Naqshbandiyya, as it spread from its birthplace in central Asia to Iran, Anatolia, Arabia, and the Balkans between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. Drawing on original sources and carefully aware of the power of modern paradigms to obscure, Le Gall portrays a Naqshbandiyya that was devotionally sober yet not demysticized and rigorously orthodox without being politically activist. She argues that the establishment of this brotherhood in Ottoman society was not the product of political instrumentality. Instead the Naqshbandī dissemination is best explained in reference to a series of little-appreciated organizational and cultural modes such as proclivity to long-distance travel, independence from specialized Sufi institutions, linguistic adaptability, commitment to writing and copying, and the practice of bequeathing spiritual authority to non-kin.

First Published in 2001. This volume contains the proceedings of the international colloquium held by the IAS Project in October 1999. These papers deal with the modem and contemporary history of Central Eurasia, for a comprehensive reflection on various phenomena that led to a political valuation of Islam under non-Muslim domination, whether Russian or Chinese, since the beginning of the 18th century. A comparative approach to the current situations in the Russian Federation and the newly independent states of Central Asia has allowed us to study the various modes of the political instrumentalization of Islam, by both political power and opposition, in such various areas as the Ferghana Valley in Uzbekistan and the Volga-Urals region of Russia.