3 Points about the Naqshbandi Thariqa'

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Here are three points about the Naqshbandi thariqa’.  It does not make the thariqa’ better or worse than any other since I do not subscribe to any sort of exceptionalism in thuruq.  But it does make it unique and gives it its own flavour.

The bay’ah in Naqshbandi is given to the Prophet (s.a.w.) through Abu Bakr asw-Swiddiq (r.a.).  This is unique amongst the 40 thuruq.  In all the other thariqa’, the silsilah of the bay’ah is through ‘Ali ibn Abi Thalib (k.w.).  The sirr that was passed through ‘Ali (k.w.) entered the Golden Chain through Imam Ja’far asw-Swadiq (q.s.), the fifth murshid of the Naqshbandi.

The first shaykh of Ghawts al-A’azham, Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (q.s.), was Shaykh Abu Ya’qub Yusuf al-Hamdani (q.s.) who was the quthb of his time.  When Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qadir (q.s.) was a teenager, he visited Shaykh al-Hamdani (q.s.) at Baghdad along with Shaykh ibn Saqqa’ (r.a.).  This is recorded by Imam ibn Hajr al-Haytsami (r.a.) in his al-Fatawa al-Haditsiyyah.  It is also recorded that the first time he met the Naqshbandi shaykh was in the company of Imam ‘Utsman ibn ‘Ali al-Hujwiri (q.s.).

Imam ‘Utsman ibn ‘Ali al-Hujwiri (q.s.) also recorded in his Kahshf al-Mahjub that Shaykh al-Hamdani (q.s.) was the one who made the du’a that the feet of Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (q.s.) would be on the necks of all awliya’, signifying his spiritual rank.

It is also significant to note that the shaykh of al-Hujjatullah, Imam Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali (r.a.) was the Naqshbandi shaykh, Shaykh Abu ‘Ali al-Farmadi (q.s.).  This is mentioned in the preface for Ihya’ ‘Ulum ad-Din.