The continuity of the ideas of the Naqshbandiyya tariqa and the early Sufi tradition: Based on the materials of the treatise of Jamal ad-Din from Kazi-Kumukh

Abstract

This article attempts to analyze the genetic connection between the ideas of the Naqshbandiyya tariqa, as recorded in the theological legacy of the prominent 19th century Dagestani sheikh Jamal ad-Din Kazikumukh, and the primary sources of the Sufi mystical-ascetic tradition. The author demonstrates that the Naqshbandiyya tariqa in the Caucasus was not an isolated movement for the elite, but a synthesis of classical Islamic metaphysics, which accumulated the centuries-long experience of renowned ustazes of the past. The focus is on the conceptual continuity of the Naqshbandiyya-Khalidiyya with the tradition of “sober” exegesis, pioneered by Junayd al-Baghdadi and Sari al-Saqati, and the paradoxical insights of Abu Bakr al-Shibli. Attention is also paid to how Jamal al-Din appeals to Hakim al-Tirmidhi’s concept of holiness (wilayah) and draws on Suhrawardi’s ethical architecture, applying them to the needs of his era. The author examines the influence of Ibn al-Arabi’s metaphysics on the formation of the analyzed Naqshbandi literary tradition in the Caucasus. The Naqshbandi tariqa emerges as a universal bridge connecting Baghdad classics of Sufism and Maghrebi mysticism with the spiritual realities of 19th century Dagestan and Chechnya. The study demonstrates that for the sheikhs of the tariqa in the Caucasus, fidelity to tradition was not a repetition of dogma, but a dynamic dialogue with the great Islamic thinkers of the past.