Atlas
About this atlas
The atlas holds the chains of transmission from the Prophet as the standard references and the classical sources record them: the Sufi orders, the chains of Qurʾān recitation, the teachers of the schools of law and ḥadīth, and the lines of the Prophet's family, with the places they spread and the living houses and teachers who carry them today. Every link shows its sources; where they differ, both readings are shown, and we do not rule on any community's claims. Ibn ʿArabī's own life, teachers and readers are on their own page.
أبو بكر الصديق
Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq
Died 13/634 · Medina
First caliph; origin of the Bakrī/Ṣiddīqī chain
Sources for this person
TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (3 entries)
The chain up to the Prophet
Dates are given where the sources give them. Years are CE; the Hijri year is in each name's detail.
Route 1 of 1, the best-sourced: Naqshbandiyya. Tap a rule to read its basis, sources and checks.
- The Prophet Muhammadمحمد632
one sourcein Naqshbandiyyasources differ
initiation · The Prophet Muhammad to Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq · One source
TDV Sıddîkıyye: in the earliest attested Khwājagān chain (Maqāmāt-i Yūsuf-i Hamadānī, attributed to Ghujduwānī) Hamadānī says the dhikr instruction 'first came to Abū Bakr's heart'; TDV traces how later Naqshbandī works explained this.
TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, 'Sıddîkıyye'Checked against
- Arthur F. Buehler, Sufi Heirs of the Prophet (Univ. of South Carolina Press, 1998), ch. 4, pp. 88, 90, 92 · agreesBuehler: Sirhindī stressed the Abū Bakr line; Bahāʾ al-Dīn named both the imams' golden chain and Abū Bakr descent.
Where the sources differ, side by side. We do not rule between them.
- Naqshbandī tradition: Maslak al-ʿārifīn (early 8th/14th c.) cites a report attributed to the Prophet, 'whatever God poured into my heart I poured into Abū Bakr's heart'; al-Qazwīnī (978/1570) adds that the Prophet taught Abū Bakr the dhikr of the heart three times in the cave of Thawr (as reported by TDV).TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, 'Sıddîkıyye'
- TDV Sıddîkıyye: the Thawr-cave narration is not found in hadith and history works, the Sufi classics or the earliest Naqshbandī sources, though later Naqshbandī circles largely accepted it.TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, 'Sıddîkıyye'
- The Naqshbandī shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn al-Marjānī of Kazan said the chain said to come through Abū Bakr has no scholarly basis (as reported by TDV).TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, 'Sıddîkıyye'
- Buehler: three of the first six links of the Bakrī silsila are historically impossible (n. 14); Dina Le Gall, cited by him, finds 16th-17th c. Naqshbandī chains often give parallel Bakrī and ʿAlid derivations.Arthur F. Buehler, Sufi Heirs of the Prophet (Univ. of South Carolina Press, 1998), ch. 4, pp. 88, 90 n. 28
Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīqأبو بكر الصديق634
How to read the marks
- Two sources: a solid rule. Two independent references give the same link.
- One source: a lighter rule, so labelled.
- The community's own account: a dotted rule. The order tells it; we have not yet read it against a reference source.
- A gap in the rule: the sources omit names between the two. The label says which.
- The sources differ: tap the ≠ to read each reading with its source.
- A ring: a spiritual link, without a meeting (uwaysī).
Who received from Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq
2 recorded, each with the chain set it belongs to.
- Salmān al-Fārisīسلمان الفارسي656
one sourcein Naqshbandiyya
initiation · Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq to Salmān al-Fārisī · One source
In Hemedânî's earliest-attested chain (via Gucdüvânî's Maqāmāt) the line passes from Abū Bakr to Salmān al-Fārisī.
TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, 'Sıddîkıyye'the community's own account: naqshbandi.org, 'Origins' (Naqshbandi Haqqani Order's own golden chain)Checked against
- Arthur F. Buehler, Sufi Heirs of the Prophet (Univ. of South Carolina Press, 1998), ch. 4, p. 86 fig. 4 · agreesFigure 4 draws Abū Bakr then Salmān al-Fārisī among the Bakrī-line ancestors; text silent on the edge itself.
- Bahāʾ al-Dīn Walad (Sulṭān al-ʿUlamāʾ)بهاء الدين ولد1231
the community's own accountin Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)sources differ
family descent · Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq to Bahāʾ al-Dīn Walad (Sulṭān al-ʿUlamāʾ) · The community's own account
Sipahsālār: Bahāʾ Walad descends from Abū Bakr.
TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, MEVLÂNÂ CELÂLEDDİN-i RÛMÎTDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, BAHÂEDDİN VELEDNot yet checked against a further reference.
Where the sources differ, side by side. We do not rule between them.
- Sipahsālār: descent from Abū Bakr (TDV notes Bahāʾ Walad's descent through his mother).TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, MEVLÂNÂ CELÂLEDDİN-i RÛMÎTDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, BAHÂEDDİN VELED
- Aflākī: the lineage reaches ʿAlī through the mother; TDV reports that later scholars consider the claim of a Khwārazmshāh mother unsupported.TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, MEVLÂNÂ CELÂLEDDİN-i RÛMÎTDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, BAHÂEDDİN VELED
How to cite
Mashraba Reader, Atlas of transmission, “Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq”, https://www.mashraba.org/atlas/figure/abu-bakr (data of 31 October 2026).