Atlas

These links are told by an order or a secondary source and still have to be read against a primary or reference source.

• Salmān al-Fārisī → Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (Naqshbandiyya) In the earliest attested chain (Hamadānī's words in the Maqāmāt, per TDV Sıddîkıyye) the line passes from Salmān directly to Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq.
• Abū ʿAlī al-Fārmadhī → Yūsuf al-Hamadānī (Naqshbandiyya) Yūsuf al-Hamadānī says the line reached him from Fārmadhī.
• Muḥammad Sayf al-Dīn al-Fārūqī al-Mujaddidī → Nūr Muḥammad Badāʾūnī (Naqshbandiyya) Order's own chain.
• Nūr Muḥammad Badāʾūnī → Mazhar Jān-i Jānān (Naqshbandiyya) Bedāʾūnī was Mazhar's principal master; Mazhar stayed six years at his tomb and took further initiations elsewhere.
• Mazhar Jān-i Jānān → ʿAbdullāh al-Dihlawī (Shāh Ghulām ʿAlī) (Naqshbandiyya) Dihlawī served Mazhar for 22 years and received ijāza; he succeeded him.
• Mawlānā Khālid al-Baghdādī → Ismāʿīl Sirāj al-Dīn Shirwānī (Kurdamīrī) (Naqshbandiyya) Named a leading khalifa who spread the order in the Northern Caucasus.
• Ismāʿīl Sirāj al-Dīn Shirwānī (Kurdamīrī) → Khāṣṣ Muḥammad Shirwānī (Naqshbandiyya) Appointed khalifa for the Northern Caucasus.
• Khāṣṣ Muḥammad Shirwānī → Muḥammad Effendi al-Yaraghi (Naqshbandiyya) Order's own chain (Daghestani line).
• Muḥammad Effendi al-Yaraghi → Jamāl al-Dīn al-Ghumuqī al-Ḥusaynī (Naqshbandiyya) Order's own chain (Daghestani line).
• Mawlānā Khālid al-Baghdādī → ʿAbdullāh al-Makkī (Erzincānī) (Naqshbandiyya) Khālid appointed him khalifa in Mecca; his disciples spread the order to Southeast Asia.
• Mawlānā Khālid al-Baghdādī → Aḥmad al-Arwādī (Naqshbandiyya) One of Khālid's khalifas, in Tripoli (Lebanon).
• Aḥmad al-Arwādī → Aḥmad Ziyāʾ al-Dīn Gümüşhânevî (Naqshbandiyya) Gümüşhânevî is described as Ervâdî's khalifa.
• Mawlānā Khālid al-Baghdādī → ʿUthmān Sirāj al-Dīn al-Ṭawīlī (Naqshbandiyya) A leading khalifa and founder of Kurdish-Khalidi shaykhly families.
• ʿAbd al-Khāliq al-Mizjājī → Ma Mingxin (Naqshbandiyya) Ma Mingxin studied in Mecca and Yemen under the Naqshbandi teacher ʿAbd al-Khāliq (Wikipedia; TDV names him al-Mizjājī).
• Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ al-Zawāwī → ʿAbd al-ʿAẓīm of Madura (Naqshbandiyya) TDV names Madura's ʿAbd al-ʿAẓīm among Zawāwī's khalifas who worked in Java, Kalimantan and Sulawesi.

• The Prophet Muhammad → Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (Naqshbandiyya)
  • 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 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.
  • 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).
  • 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.
• Salmān al-Fārisī → Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (Naqshbandiyya)
  • Muḥammad Pārsā (Risāla-yi Qudsiyya) inserted Qāsim b. Muḥammad b. Abī Bakr between Salmān and Jaʿfar.
  • The order's own chain (Haqqani) lists Salmān, Qāsim, Jaʿfar in sequence.
  • TDV Sıddîkıyye: from the 6th/12th century, amid Sunni–Shiʿi debate, some orders declared chains reaching ʿAlī, and in the 16th century some Kubrawīs in Samarqand implicitly objected to the Abū Bakr chain by saying the well-known orders came through ʿAlī. Naqshbandī chains through ʿAlī are not detailed in the sources read.
  • Algar (Iranica 'Jaʿfar al-Ṣādeq iii'): from the 8th/14th century the main Naqshbandī initiatic line places Jaʿfar al-Ṣādeq between Qāsim b. Muḥammad b. Abī Bakr and Bāyazid.
• Salmān al-Fārisī → Qāsim b. Muḥammad b. Abī Bakr (Naqshbandiyya)
  • Buehler: biographical sources say Qāsim could not have met Salmān; Shāh Walī Allāh's reply is 'God knows best' (as reported by Buehler).
• Qāsim b. Muḥammad b. Abī Bakr → Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (Naqshbandiyya)
  • Algar (Iranica): the attribution to Qāsim of a preceptorial function toward Jaʿfar al-Ṣādeq 'seems therefore fanciful'; the imam did transmit hadith from him.
• Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq → Abū Yazīd al-Bisṭāmī (Naqshbandiyya)
  • Uwaysī (spiritual) transmission, no meeting (Pārsā, as reported by TDV).
  • Order's own chain lists Bisṭāmī directly after Jaʿfar, without comment.
  • Algar (Iranica): the link between Jaʿfar al-Ṣādeq and Bisṭāmī is 'the most widespread but also least plausible tradition' (chronology); Naqshbandīs explained it as inward training.
  • Buehler, citing Shāh Walī Allāh (Intibāh, pp. 38-39): the Bisṭāmī-Jaʿfar link is not ṣaḥīḥ, and any Bakrī affiliation for Naqshbandīs depends on it.
• Abū Yazīd al-Bisṭāmī → Abū l-Ḥasan al-Kharaqānī (Naqshbandiyya)
  • Uwaysī transmission (Pārsā, as reported by TDV).
  • Order's own chain lists Kharaqānī directly after Bisṭāmī.
• Abū l-Ḥasan al-Kharaqānī → Abū ʿAlī al-Fārmadhī (Naqshbandiyya)
  • Yaʿqūb-i Charkhī (Risāla-yi Unsiyya) inserted Abū l-Qāsim Gurgānī/Kurragānī (d. 450/1058) between Kharaqānī and Fārmadhī.
• Abū ʿAlī al-Fārmadhī → Yūsuf al-Hamadānī (Naqshbandiyya)
  • Buehler's Figure 4 (OCR) lists Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (d. 505/1111) in the tier between Fārmadhī and Hamadānī; whether a link is drawn is not confirmed.
• Yūsuf al-Hamadānī → ʿAbd al-Khāliq al-Ghujduwānī (Naqshbandiyya)
  • The order's own chain interposes al-Khiḍr (Abū l-ʿAbbās) between Hamadānī and Ghujduwānī.
  • Buehler: later sources say Khiḍr taught Ghujduwānī dhikr khafī and nafy wa-ithbāt, making Khiḍr Bahāʾ al-Dīn's 'grandfather pir'; Khiḍr is first of four sources of the Khwājagān nisba and is later dropped from formal genealogies.
• ʿĀrif al-Rīwgarī → Maḥmūd Anjīr Faghnawī (Naqshbandiyya)
  • Trimingham gives Maḥmūd Anjīr Faghnawī's death as 643/1245 or 670/1272, not 685/1286.
• Amīr Kulāl → Bahāʾ al-Dīn Naqshband (Naqshbandiyya)
  • Jāmī: Muḥammad Bābā al-Sammāsī accepted Naqshband as a son and Amīr Kulāl taught him the outward manners (Nafaḥāt p. 437 ff.).
• ʿAbd al-Khāliq al-Ghujduwānī → Bahāʾ al-Dīn Naqshband (Naqshbandiyya)
  • TDV 'Nakşibendiyye' says Ghujduwānī lived about two centuries before Naqshband; TDV 'Bahâeddin Nakşibend' (Hamid Algar) says he died about a century before Naqshband's birth and dates that death 617/1220, whereas TDV 'Sıddîkıyye' gives his death as 575/1179.
  • Buehler: Bahāʾ al-Dīn also said he had extended contact with the spiritual presence of al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī, after Uways's companionship ended (Pārsā, Qudsiyya).
• Bāqī-Billāh → Aḥmad Sirhindī (Imām-i Rabbānī) (Naqshbandiyya)
  • Buehler: Sirhindī denied Uways ṣuḥba with the Prophet (Maktūbāt 1.58.35) yet identifies himself as an Uwaysī (Maktūbāt 3.87).
• Nūr Muḥammad Badāʾūnī → Mazhar Jān-i Jānān (Naqshbandiyya)
  • Mazhar also took initiation from Shāh Muḥammad Zubayr, Shāh Ḥāfiẓ Saʿdullāh and Muḥammad ʿĀbid Sunnāmī, the last also linking him to Qādirī, Suhrawardī and Chishtī lines.
• Shaykh Nāẓim ʿĀdil al-Ḥaqqānī → Shaykh Muḥammad ʿĀdil (Mehmet Âdil) al-Ḥaqqānī (Naqshbandiyya)
  • Branch of Mehmet Âdil (Ḥaqqānī line from Nāẓim's family): Nāẓim declared Âdil his khalīfa in 2011; on Nāẓim's death (7 May 2014) Âdil became head and is counted the 41st shaykh of the golden chain. (Account via Wikipedia's Mehmet Adil article, citing Son Dakika, Daily Sabah, Cyprus Mail and order-affiliated sources; The Muslim 500 calls him 'successor and global leader'.)
  • Branch of Hishām Kabbānī: his own site presents him as leader of the Naqshbandī-Ḥaqqānī (Nazimiyya) Sufi Order, 'given authority and permission to guide his followers'; it does not name Âdil. Kabbānī, Nāẓim's son-in-law and representative in the USA from 1991, died in December 2024 (The Muslim News; Antara). Whether his branch has named a successor was not found.
• Shaykh Nāẓim ʿĀdil al-Ḥaqqānī → Shaykh Muḥammad Hishām Kabbānī (Naqshbandiyya)
  • Branch of Mehmet Âdil (Ḥaqqānī line from Nāẓim's family): Nāẓim declared Âdil his khalīfa in 2011; on Nāẓim's death (7 May 2014) Âdil became head and is counted the 41st shaykh of the golden chain. (Account via Wikipedia's Mehmet Adil article, citing Son Dakika, Daily Sabah, Cyprus Mail and order-affiliated sources; The Muslim 500 calls him 'successor and global leader'.)
  • Branch of Hishām Kabbānī: his own site presents him as leader of the Naqshbandī-Ḥaqqānī (Nazimiyya) Sufi Order, 'given authority and permission to guide his followers'; it does not name Âdil. Kabbānī, Nāẓim's son-in-law and representative in the USA from 1991, died in December 2024 (The Muslim News; Antara). Whether his branch has named a successor was not found.
• Hasan Kılıç (Hasan Efendi) → Ahmet Fikri Doğan (Naqshbandiyya)
  • Reported by Gazete Vatan and by Medyascope (24 Apr 2024, announcement at Kılıç's funeral): Ahmet Fikri Doğan is the new shaykh.
  • Reported by Medyascope from a statement on Cübbeli Ahmet Hoca's channel: İbrahim Uslu was declared the new shaykh.
  • Medyascope commentary (25 Apr 2024) describes İsmailağa as divided after the two announcements.
• Hasan Kılıç (Hasan Efendi) → İbrahim Uslu (Naqshbandiyya)
  • Gazete Vatan reports Ahmet Fikri Doğan as the new shaykh instead.
• Abdulbaki Erol (Seyyid Abdulbaki el-Hüseynî) → Saki Erol (Naqshbandiyya)
  • Sözcü (15 Jul 2023): all three sons hold the title of khalīfa; a three-shaykh arrangement was proposed and rejected by the Semerkand group, after which the community divided among the three.
  • Medyascope (Jul 2023 to Nov 2024) reports the division continuing, with statements issued by each side.
• Abdulbaki Erol (Seyyid Abdulbaki el-Hüseynî) → Fettah Erol (Naqshbandiyya)
  • Sözcü (15 Jul 2023): all three sons hold the title of khalīfa; a three-shaykh arrangement was proposed and rejected by the Semerkand group, after which the community divided among the three.
  • Medyascope (Jul 2023 to Nov 2024) reports the division continuing, with statements issued by each side.
• Abdulbaki Erol (Seyyid Abdulbaki el-Hüseynî) → Mübarek Erol (Naqshbandiyya)
  • Sözcü (15 Jul 2023): all three sons hold the title of khalīfa; a three-shaykh arrangement was proposed and rejected by the Semerkand group, after which the community divided among the three.
  • Medyascope (Jul 2023 to Nov 2024) reports the division continuing, with statements issued by each side.
• Muḥammad Amīn Kuftārū → Aḥmad Kuftārū (Naqshbandiyya)
  • Amīn Kuftārū died in 1938 (most sources seen).
  • One infobox gives 1983.