in
Punjab, India, a prominent guide of the Naqshbandi Sufi order venerated as Imam Rabbani and
Mujaddid Alf-Thani Naqshbandi in
Lahore, Pakistan ,
Kashmir and grandfather of
Mohammad Hatta h (prayer house) of Naqshbandi in
Saqqez's bazaar in Iran , is the earliest and most important Naqshbandi monument in China The order is also known as the "convergence of the two oceans" due to the presence of
Abu Bakr and Jafar al-Sadiq in the
silsila and the "Sufi Order of Jafar al-Sadiq". The Naqshbandi order owes many insights to
Yusuf Hamadani and
Abdul Khaliq Ghijduwani in the 12th century, the latter of whom is regarded as the organizer of the practices and is responsible for placing stress upon the purely silent
remembrance of Allah. It was later associated with
Baha al-Din Shah Naqshband in the 14th century, hence the name of the order.
South Asia The Naqshbandiyya order became an influential factor in
Indian Muslim life, and for two centuries it was the most common Sufi order in the
Indian subcontinent.
Khwaja Baqi Billah, who was born in Kabul and brought up and educated in Kabul and
Samarkand, is credited for bringing the order to India during the end of the 16th century. He tried to spread his knowledge about the order but died three years later. His disciple
Ahmad Sirhindi took over after his death, and it was through him that the order gained popularity within a short period of time.
Shah Waliullah Dehlawi was an 18th-century member of the order.
Uzbekistan Iraq Türkiye The Naqshbandi order entered Anatolia during the Ottoman Empire, especially in the 15th and 16th centuries. It became particularly influential in the 18th and 19th centuries, often seen as a more orthodox alternative to the Mevlevi (Rumi followers) or Bektashi orders. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, during Atatürk’s secular reforms, Sufi lodges (tekkes) were banned in 1925. Despite this, the Naqshbandi order continued underground and remained influential.
Syria The Naqshbandiyya order was introduced into Syria at the end of the 17th century by Murad Ali al-Bukhari, who established himself in Damascus and traveled throughout Arabia. His branch became known as the Muradiyya and was led by his descendants. In 1820, Khalid Shahrazuri rose as a prominent Naqshbandi leader in the Ottoman world and his order became known as the
Khalidiyya which spread for at least two decades. In Syria and Lebanon, the leaders of every active Naqshbandiyya group acknowledged its
spiritual lineage. Later, a strife between Khalid's khalifas led to disruption of the order and it divide. The Farmadiyya branch, which practices silent and vocal
invocation, is still present in Lebanon and is named after Ali-Farmadi. The pre-Mujaddidi line of the Naqshbandiyya in Greater Syria came to an end when political leader Musa Bukhar died in 1973. The only branch to have survived till recently is the one based in the
Khanqah al-Uzbakiyya in Jerusalem.
Southeast Asia The first known Naqshbandi murshid in
Malay Archipelago was
Yusuf al-Makassari, a 17th century Islamic scholar who also introduced
Khalwatiyya to the region. However, the order quickly disappeared before being introduced again in the 19th century. There are two well known branches of Naqshbandiyya in Southeast Asia. The first one is Khalidiyya, introduced by
Ismail al-Minankabawi, a disciple of Abdullah al-Arzinjani in Mecca, and spread across
Sumatra,
Java, and
Malay Peninsula.
PERTI, an
Indonesian Islamic organization from
Minangkabau Highlands, was founded by
Sulaiman ar-Rasuli and other Khalidi clerics. The other branch is Mazhariyya, named after Shamsuddin Mazhar, a Naqshbandi branch through Abu Said al-Ahmadi, one of Abdullah Dehlawi's khalifas. Mazhariyya is the main Naqshbandi branch in
Madura, brought by Abdul Azim al-Maduri after studying in Mecca. Another related order is
Qadiriyya wa Naqshbandiyya, a fusion of
Qadiriyya and Naqshbandiyya, whose sheikhs in
Banten and
Lombok led rebellions against the
Dutch East Indies at the end of the 19th century.
China Ma Laichi brought the Naqshbandi () order to China, creating the
Khufiyya () Hua Si Sufi ; ("
Multicolored Mosque")
menhuan.
Ma Mingxin, also brought the Naqshbandi order, creating the
Jahriyya () menhuan. These two menhuan were rivals, and fought against each other which led to the
Jahriyya Rebellion,
Dungan revolt, and
Dungan Revolt (1895). == Teachings and practices ==