Which Sufi Order is Right?
Faisal Ahmed from Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir says,
‘I was searching for information on the subtleties in 2018 when I came across ALRA TV.'
'Since then I have been listening to you almost every day and I have benefitted a lot.'
'My eyes have been opened, and I feel a spiritual connection with you.'
'My question is what is the reality behind the Naqshbandi, Qadri, Chishti and Soharwari Sufi Orders?'
'Are these denominations too? There is a lot of confusion about this’.
These are not denominations.
Qadri, Naqshbandi, Chishti, Soharwardi - these are Spiritual Orders.
They are not denominations.
They are similar to universities and colleges.
For instance, there are famous universities in the world like Oxford University, Cambridge University.
These are some of the most famous universities, known throughout the world.
And if you go to America, there is the Harvard University there, Oakfield University. Very famous.
You can get a degree from any university and it will be recognised everywhere in the world.
The purpose of going to a university is to obtain knowledge, it doesn’t matter which university you go to.
In a similar way, you can say that Naqshbandi, Qadri, Chishti, Soharqari are spiritual universities.
If there is a difference between them, it is just that your access to God varies from one Spiritual Order to another.
For example, the Chishti Sufi Order.
There have been many grand spiritual dignitaries in India who were from the Chishti Sufi Order.
Such as Usman Harwani
and then Usman Harwani’s disciple, Moinuddin Chishti,
and then there was Khwaja Bakhtiyar Kaki and his disciple Baba Farid,
then his disciple Nizamuddin Auliyah, then his disciple Ameer Khusro.
This is an entire chain of the Chishti Sufi Order.
The spiritual benevolence of the Chishti Order traces its roots back to Ali.
The spiritual benevolence of the Naqshbandi Order traces its roots back to Abu Bakr Siddiq.
Now, Abu Bakr Siddiq was of a quiet nature;
even while practising the commemoration of God’s name, he would do so very quietly - 'Allah Hu...'
This is why the Naqshbandi Order does not approve of Zikr e Jehr (Loud Chanting of God’s name).
This is because Abu Bakr Siddiq had a very soft temperament.
He was so soft spoken that one day Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) asked him to raise his voice a little.
So the Naqshbandi Order is also correct.
The only problem with the Naqshbandi Order is that they do not have the knowledge of the subtlety of Anna.
Now pay attention here and tell me that since there is no knowledge of the subtlety of Anna in the Naqshbandi Order,
doesn’t it mean that, the one who founded the Order didn’t have it to begin with?
Therefore, we come to know that all of the spiritual dignitaries that belonged to the Naqshbandi Order to date,
none of them had witnessed the divine splendour.
Since you do not know about the details, you don’t know about these things.
Just a handful of the Sufi Orders were known throughout India and Pakistan
however there have been many Sufi Orders.
If we go towards North Africa, Egypt, Middle East, Turkey and these areas, there have been Sufi Orders there too.
For example, the Rafai Order that comes from Shaikh Rafai; the Shazlia Order.
The Naqshbandi Order spread into Europe as well; in Dagestan, Macedonia, Albania
they combined with the Bektashi Sufi Order.
The Naqshbandi Sufi Order and the Bektashi Sufi Order were combined.
So in Turkey, Cyprus, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Albania, Macedonia,
the people of these regions mostly follow the Bektashi and Naqshbandi Sufi Orders.
And then Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani introduced a new Sufi Order.
Look out for Part 2 in the upcoming video:
Ghous Pak Ne Deen e Islam Kesay Zinda Kiya? (How did Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani Revive Islam?)