Atlas

Chains of transmission from the Prophet, read as the sources give them.

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.

Chain setShow the communities' own accounts (161)

Scroll the frame in both directions, or see the whole tree at once.

A short bar above a name (⊤) marks where the record begins (70 in this view): no source read links that person to anyone earlier. With the communities' own accounts shown, many of these chains continue to the Prophet.

Solid line: two independent sources record it.
Thin solid line: one source records it.
≠ The sources differ; tap to read both.
○ A spiritual link without a meeting (uwaysī).
// A gap in the line: the sources show people between these two; tap to see who.
Dotted line: the community's own account (shown only when you ask).
Living (as of Oct 2026): a person living at that date, by public role only. “Death not confirmed” marks a person whose death the sources read do not settle.

Kind of chain, marked at the lower end of each line:Sufi ordersQurʾān recitationLaw and ḥadīthThe Prophet's family

Where the chains meet

People who stand in the chains of more than one kind: a teacher of readers who is also a teacher of law, a Companion in several lines. The number is how many links of that kind name them.

Figure	Stands in	Links
	Sufi orders · Qurʾān recitation · Law and ḥadīth · The Prophet's family	Sufi orders 13, Qurʾān recitation 3, Law and ḥadīth 2, The Prophet's family 3
	Sufi orders · Qurʾān recitation · Law and ḥadīth · The Prophet's family	Sufi orders 7, Qurʾān recitation 8, Law and ḥadīth 4, The Prophet's family 1
	Sufi orders · Qurʾān recitation · Law and ḥadīth · The Prophet's family	Sufi orders 5, Qurʾān recitation 2, Law and ḥadīth 2, The Prophet's family 7
	Sufi orders · Qurʾān recitation · Law and ḥadīth · The Prophet's family	Sufi orders 3, Qurʾān recitation 3, Law and ḥadīth 5, The Prophet's family 4
	Sufi orders · Qurʾān recitation · Law and ḥadīth · The Prophet's family	Sufi orders 2, Qurʾān recitation 2, Law and ḥadīth 3, The Prophet's family 6
	Sufi orders · Qurʾān recitation · Law and ḥadīth · The Prophet's family	Sufi orders 2, Qurʾān recitation 2, Law and ḥadīth 2, The Prophet's family 5
	Sufi orders · Qurʾān recitation	Sufi orders 8, Qurʾān recitation 2
	Sufi orders · The Prophet's family	Sufi orders 2, The Prophet's family 6
	Qurʾān recitation · Law and ḥadīth	Qurʾān recitation 5, Law and ḥadīth 2
	Qurʾān recitation · Law and ḥadīth	Qurʾān recitation 5, Law and ḥadīth 2
	Sufi orders · The Prophet's family	Sufi orders 3, The Prophet's family 3
	Sufi orders · The Prophet's family	Sufi orders 4, The Prophet's family 2
	Sufi orders · The Prophet's family	Sufi orders 4, The Prophet's family 1
	Law and ḥadīth · The Prophet's family	Law and ḥadīth 2, The Prophet's family 3
	Qurʾān recitation · Law and ḥadīth	Qurʾān recitation 3, Law and ḥadīth 2
	Qurʾān recitation · Law and ḥadīth	Qurʾān recitation 2, Law and ḥadīth 2
	Sufi orders · The Prophet's family	Sufi orders 1, The Prophet's family 2

Where the record begins

The walk up from each chain set, using only links that two independent sources record, with no gap and no spiritual link. “Recorded” means recorded in the references and classical sources read for this atlas, not a verdict of history.

Chain set	Starts from	The record read reaches back to	Reaches the Prophet through	Above that
Sufi orders
	Starts from:	The record read reaches back to: ,	Reaches the Prophet through: , , , (50 or more routes)	Above this, the chain is the community's own account.
	Starts from:	The record read reaches back to:	Reaches the Prophet through: , , (50 or more routes)	Above this, the chain is the community's own account. A link above this is recorded but the sources differ.
	Starts from:	The record read reaches back to:	Reaches the Prophet through: , (19 routes)	Above this, the chain is the community's own account. Above this, a link rests on one source. A link above this is recorded but the sources differ.
	Starts from:	The record read reaches back to:	Reaches the Prophet through: , (31 routes)	Above this, a link rests on one source.
	Starts from:	The record read reaches back to: , ,	Reaches the Prophet through: , , , (50 or more routes)	Above this, the chain is the community's own account. A link above this is recorded but the sources differ.
	Starts from:	The record read reaches back to:	Reaches the Prophet through: , , , (50 or more routes)	Above this, the chain is the community's own account.
	Starts from:	The record read reaches back to: , ,	Reaches the Prophet through: , , , (50 or more routes)	Above this, the chain is the community's own account. Above this, a link omits people the sources name.
	Starts from:	The record read reaches back to: ,	Reaches the Prophet through: , , , (50 or more routes)	Above this, the chain is the community's own account. A link above this is recorded but the sources differ.
	Starts from:	The record read reaches back to:	Reaches the Prophet through: not yet	The references read give no link above this.
	Starts from:	The record read reaches back to:	Reaches the Prophet through: (1 routes)	The references read give no link above this.
	Starts from:	The record read reaches back to:	Reaches the Prophet through: , , (50 or more routes)	Above this, the chain is the community's own account. Above this, a link omits people the sources name. A link above this is recorded but the sources differ.
	Starts from:	The record read reaches back to:	Reaches the Prophet through: , , (50 or more routes)	Above this, a link rests on one source. Above this, a link omits people the sources name. A link above this is recorded but the sources differ.
	Starts from:	The record read reaches back to:	Reaches the Prophet through: not yet	Above this, a link rests on one source. Above this, a link omits people the sources name. A link above this is recorded but the sources differ.
	Starts from:	The record read reaches back to:	Reaches the Prophet through: (1 routes)	Above this, a link rests on one source. Above this there is a spiritual link without a meeting (uwaysī). A link above this is recorded but the sources differ.
	Starts from:	The record read reaches back to:	Reaches the Prophet through: not yet	Above this, the chain is the community's own account. Above this, a link rests on one source. Above this, a link omits people the sources name.
	Starts from:	The record read reaches back to:	Reaches the Prophet through: , (50 or more routes)	Above this, a link rests on one source. Above this, a link omits people the sources name.
Qurʾān recitation
	Starts from: the 17 people at the far end of its lines	The record read reaches back to: , , , , , , , ,	Reaches the Prophet through: 14 of 17 ends reach the Prophet	Above this, a link rests on one source. Above this, a link omits people the sources name. A link above this is recorded but the sources differ.
Law and ḥadīth
	Starts from: the 12 people at the far end of its lines	The record read reaches back to: , , , , , , , , , , ,	Reaches the Prophet through: 6 of 12 ends reach the Prophet	Above this, a link rests on one source.
The Prophet's family
	Starts from: the 10 people at the far end of its lines	The record read reaches back to: , , , , , , , , ,	Reaches the Prophet through: 1 of 10 ends reach the Prophet	Above this, the chain is the community's own account. Above this, a link rests on one source. Above this, a link omits people the sources name. A link above this is recorded but the sources differ.

As tables: chain sets, branches, figures, houses

Order: all (use the chips above)Region Period


Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)	date not recorded	890/1485	Shaykh of Karahisar lodge; father of Divane Mehmed	–
Bektāshiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Dedebaba 1945-1947 (Wikipedia)	–
Naqshbandiyya	1949-05-02	2023-07-12	Led Menzil 1993–2023	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	1972	Founder of the Menzil lodge (Adıyaman)	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Link in the Naqshbandī-Ḥaqqānī golden chain between al-Ghumuqī and ʿAbd Allāh al-Fāʾiz	–
Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî), Suhrawardiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Chain link (as in TDV)	–
Naqshbandiyya, Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî), Schools of law and ḥadīth	date not recorded	13/634	First caliph; origin of the Bakrī/Ṣiddīqī chain	–
Bā ʿAlawiyya (Ṭarīqa ʿAlawiyya of Ḥaḍramawt)	851/1447	914/1508	founder of the Ayderûsiyye; spent last 25 years in Aden; Aden's greatest walī	–
Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Shams's shaykh per TDV	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	202/817	date not recorded	Compiler of the Sunan	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	80/699	150/767	Eponym of the Ḥanafī school	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	58/678	Companion of the Prophet, named in Ibn al-Jazarī's isnād to the Prophet	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	c. 940	Original founder of the order; settled at Chisht near Herat	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	130 AH	Canonical reader (one of the ten); also teacher of Nāfiʿ and Abū ʿAmr	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	date not recorded	Teacher of Yaʿqūb	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	date not recorded	Companion of the Prophet, named in Ibn al-Jazarī's isnād to the Prophet	–
Rifāʿiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Aḥmad's first shaykh; gave ijāza and khirqa	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Link in chain	–
Rifāʿiyya	date not recorded	632/1234-35	Caliph sent to Alexandria; credited with organising the order in Egypt	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	240 AH	Rāwī of al-Kisāʾī	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Link in chain	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	425/1033	Uwaysī link	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	656/1258	Founder of the order; began teaching in Tunis, came to Alexandria 642/1244	Jāmī
Rifāʿiyya	date not recorded	620/1223	Founder of the Ḥarīriyya and first Rifāʿī shaykh in Syria, grandson through a daughter, d. 620/1223 (all TDV, citing Ḥarīrīzāde, Tibyān). Ibn Khallikan says Aḥmad left no issue (see link). Not the same man as Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī al-Ḥarīrī of Busra, d. 645/1247-48.	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	date not recorded	Teacher of al-Qawwās	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	525/1131	Spiritual guide of al-Jīlānī and his father-in-law (per TDV)	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Shādhilī shaykh of ʿAlī al-Jamal (TDV Derkāviyye)	–
Suhrawardiyya	c. 490/1097	563/1168	Teacher in Baghdad; some sources name him as the order's founder	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Link in the Shādhilī chain as listed by the order (via Wikipedia's relay of shazuli.com)	–
Suhrawardiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Link per Hulvī (TDV, Ebü'n-Necîb)	–
Rifāʿiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	In the Baṭāʾiḥī chain	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	685/1287	Khalīfa and successor of al-Shādhilī	Jāmī
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	90/709	Teacher of Abū ʿAmr and al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī	–
Shādhiliyya, Bā ʿAlawiyya (Ṭarīqa ʿAlawiyya of Ḥaḍramawt)	date not recorded	590/1194	Maghribī master; Ibn Mashīsh is listed as his disciple in secondary sources	Jāmī
Rifāʿiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	In the Baṭāʾiḥī chain	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Link in the Shādhilī chain as listed by the order (via Wikipedia's relay of shazuli.com)	–
Rifāʿiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	In the Baṭāʾiḥī chain	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Link in the Shādhilī chain as listed by the order (via Wikipedia's relay of shazuli.com)	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	620/1223	Founder of the Asadiyya	–
Rifāʿiyya	date not recorded	645/1247-48	Disciple of Abū l-Ḥasan al-Ḥarīrī; died at Busra in the Ḥawrān. Trimingham makes him the man through whom the Rifāʿiyya spread into Syria, with no kinship to Aḥmad stated. TDV says authors conflated him with Abū l-Ḥasan because of the name.	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	42/662-63	Companion of the Prophet, named in Ibn al-Jazarī's isnād to the Prophet	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	date not recorded	Read to Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī; teacher of Abū l-Ashhab	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	513/1119	Ḥanbalī jurist; al-Jīlānī's fiqh teacher; gave him the khirqa after his seclusion	–
Rifāʿiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	In the Baṭāʾiḥī chain	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	234/848	Uwaysī link	Jāmī
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	date not recorded	Teacher of Khalaf; pupil of al-Mufaḍḍal al-Ḍabbī and Abān al-ʿAṭṭār	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	73/692	Teacher of ʿĀṣim; head of recitation teaching in Kufa before him	Jāmī
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	617/1221	Founder of the Ḥakamiyya	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Shaykh of the Banī Amghār zāwiya (ʿAyn al-Fiṭr/Azemmūr); al-Jazūlī's Shādhilī master	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	1236	Fez master of al-Shādhilī; pupil of Abū Madyan (per Wikipedia, tertiary)	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	477/1084	Link in the chain	–
Rifāʿiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	In the Baṭāʾiḥī chain	–
Suhrawardiyya, Rifāʿiyya	date not recorded	322/934	Link per Hulvī (TDV, Ebü'n-Necîb)	–
Suhrawardiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Link per Hulvī (TDV, Ebü'n-Necîb)	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	68 AH (other reports 70)	154 AH	Canonical reader (one of the ten)	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	date not recorded	Teacher of ʿĀṣim	–
Suhrawardiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Link per Hulvī (TDV, Ebü'n-Necîb)	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	date not recorded	50th hereditary Imam of the Shia Ismaili (Nizārī) Muslims in the community's own account; named after the unsealing of his father's will, installed at the Takht Nashini ceremony of 11 Feb 2025 at the Henrique de Mendonça Palace, Lisbon (Dawn); the Ismaili Imamat's own statement was not read	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	1858	Khalifa in Tripoli, Lebanon	–
Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî), Suhrawardiyya	date not recorded	520/1126	Sufi of Qazvin; cited in the Mevlevi chain via Bahāʾ Walad	Jāmī
Rifāʿiyya	512/1118	578/1182	Founder; shaykh of the Baṭāʾiḥ lodges; buried near Wāsiṭ	–
Tijāniyya	1150/1737	1230/1815	Founder of the Tijāniyya	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	164/780	241/855	Eponym of the Ḥanbalī school	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	1934	Founder of the ʿAlawiyya (Fas-Algeria branch of the Derkāviyye per TDV); Mostaganem	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	215/830	date not recorded	Compiler of the Sunan	–
Bā ʿAlawiyya (Ṭarīqa ʿAlawiyya of Ḥaḍramawt), The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	date not recorded	ancestor of the Bā ʿAlawī sayyids; migrated to Ḥaḍramawt	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	2004-09-01	Naqshbandī shaykh, Grand Mufti of Syria 1964–2004; founder of the Abū l-Nūr complex's modern institutions	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Teacher at the Belqāʾidiyya zawiya; editor of its journal al-Anwār al-Muḥammadiyya (zawiya's own credit lines)	–
Naqshbandiyya, Suhrawardiyya	971/1564	1034/1624	Founder of the Mujaddidiyya	–
Bektāshiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Eponym of the Yasawiyya; named in the Bektāshī tradition as Ḥājjī Bektāsh's spiritual forebear (see the link's readings)	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	899/1493-4	Name-giver of the Zarrūqiyya	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	1893	Major Ottoman Khalidi leader	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	838/1434	Ṣābirī; founded a khanqah at Rudauli	–
Qādiriyya, Murīdiyya (Mouride)	1850	1927	Founder of the Murīdiyya	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Named in Gazete Vatan and Medyascope (April 2024) as İsmailağa's new shaykh after Hasan Kılıç, announced at Kılıç's funeral; a second claim is recorded on the parallel link	–
Bektāshiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Dedebaba 1947-1958 (Wikipedia)	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Postnişin of the Nureddin Cerrahi lodge, Karagümrük, since 2022; announced by journalist Mustafa Özel on social media (press); no order statement read	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	812/1409	Khalwatī shaykh	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	780/1378-79	Uncle and master of ʿUmar al-Khalwatī	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	170 AH	250 AH	Rāwī of Ibn Kathīr; muezzin and head of recitation teaching in Mecca	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	246 AH	Rāwī of Abū ʿAmr and of al-Kisāʾī	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	187/803	Link of the chain	Jāmī
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	298/911	Founded the Zaydī state in Yemen (280/893)	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Shaykh of the ʿAlawiyya; father and trainer of Khaled Bentounès	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Qādirī guide in Saint-Louis who initiated Ahmadu Bamba (per TDV)	–
Tijāniyya	date not recorded	1922	Founded Tivaouane zawiya 1902 (Wikipedia, tertiary)	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Father of Muḥammad al-Hibrī in one silsila posted on a forum (El-Hayat dates him to 1898, ambiguous)	–
Tijāniyya	date not recorded	1864	Appointed khalīfa for the Western Sudan c. 1829; led the jihad founding the Tokolor state (TDV, Wikipedia)	–
Qādiriyya, Chishtiyya (Chishti order), Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî), Suhrawardiyya, Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	21/642	110/728	Link in the second chain (silsile-i müzehheb)	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	260/874	Eleventh Imam (Twelver); buried at Samarra	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	706 or 707/1306-07	Ancestor of the Filālī (ʿAlawī) sharīfs; moved from Yanbuʿ to Sijilmāsa	–
Shādhiliyya, The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	49/669	Named by the order as the first qutb and the link through whom the Shādhilī chain runs	–
Qādiriyya, Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings, Schools of law and ḥadīth, The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	61/680	Imam in chain via Ahl al-bayt	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Shaykh of the Ḥāmidiyya Shādhiliyya; member of the Supreme Council of Sufi Orders	–
Qādiriyya, Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî), Suhrawardiyya	date not recorded	297/909	Link in chain	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	date not recorded	Teacher of Ibn ʿĀmir; read to ʿUthmān	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	469/1076 (Ibn Khallikān)	495/1101	Younger son installed as Fatimid caliph; the Mustaʿlī line is traced to him	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	169/785	246/860	Systematiser of Zaydī doctrine	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	date not recorded	Teacher of both al-Bazzī and Qunbul	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	334/946	Link in chain	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	261 AH	Rāwī of Abū ʿAmr	–
Bektāshiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Dedebaba 1942-1944 (Wikipedia)	–
Niʿmatullāhiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Named successor to Tabandeh in Wikipedia's Tabandeh article; the order's own announcement was not read	–
Niʿmatullāhiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Pole of the Niʿmatullāhī Sufi Order (Nurbakhsh line) since 10 Oct 2008, by the order's account; by Wikipedia sole spiritual and material heir	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Link of the chain	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	772/1370	Naqshband's murshid	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	198 AH	Teacher of Hishām and Ibn Dhakwān	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	921/1515	Founder of the Junaydiyya in India	–
Naqshbandiyya	718/1318	791/1389	Eponym of the order	–
Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)	546/1151	628/1231	Rūmī's father; preacher of Balkh, settled in Konya	–
Suhrawardiyya	565, 566 or 578 (1169-1183)	661/1262 or 666/1267	Spread the order in India; khānqāh in Multan	–
Bektāshiyya	date not recorded	1516	Second pir (pīr-i thānī); head of the Hacı Bektaş lodge c. 1501; organiser of the order (TDV, Trimingham)	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	1012/1603	Spread the order in India	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	741/1340	Brought the order to the Deccan (TDV: Dacca region, as printed)	–
Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)	1926	1996	Makam Çelebisi (hereditary head of the Mevlevīs) before his son; founded the International Mevlana Foundation (14 Mar 1996)	–
Rifāʿiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Teacher of Mesnevî, Fuṣūṣ and Qur'an; president of the Kerim Foundation. Wikipedia calls her a leader of the Rifāʿī order; her order affiliation is uncertain and no head of the Kenan line is publicly declared in the sources found	–
Tijāniyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Presented by The Muslim 500 (profile undated) as leader of the Ḥamawiyya (Hamallist) branch of the Tijāniyya at Nioro du Sahel, Mali, and heir to the spiritual legacy of his father Shaykh Ḥamāh Allāh; current (2026) status not re-confirmed	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	In the order's own chain	–
Qādiriyya, Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)	date not recorded	165/781	Link in second chain; teacher of Maʿrūf per Sufi accounts	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	date not recorded	Dāʿī whom the Dāwūdī Bohras follow after the 1592 split with the Sulaymānīs	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	200/815	date not recorded	Eponym of the Ẓāhirī school	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Ramaḍāniyya chain	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	892/1487	Founder of the Rūshaniyya	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	date not recorded	Teacher of Ibn Kathīr	–
Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)	15th c., 2nd half	after 951/1544	Spread the order after Ulu ʿĀrif per TDV	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	618/1221	Son; ancestor of Syrian Qādirī sharifs	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	1275/1858	Founder of the Khālisiyya	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Scholar of Ibn ʿArabī and the Emir; member of the Belqāʾidiyya's scientific council (zawiya's own introductions)	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Scholar of Sufism, University of Strasbourg	–
Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Vice-president of the International Mevlana Foundation; sister of the Makam Çelebisi (family site)	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	874/1469-70	Founder of the Eşrefiyye; first Qādirī lodge in Ottoman lands	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Link in the Shādhilī chain as listed by the order (via Wikipedia's relay of shazuli.com)	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	664/1265	Great shaykh of the order	–
Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Makam Çelebisi, called 'hereditary leader of all Mevlevis' by the order's own account; president of the International Mevlana Foundation (Istanbul, Konya) (as of Oct 2026)	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	11/632	Daughter of the Prophet; wife of ʿAlī; mother of al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Son of Abdulbaki Erol; one of three sons who, Turkish press reports, received the title of khalīfa in their father's lifetime; after his death (12 Jul 2023) the press reports the Menzil community divided among the three	–
Rifāʿiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	In the Wāsiṭī chain	–
Bā ʿAlawiyya (Ṭarīqa ʿAlawiyya of Ḥaḍramawt)	1325/1907 (Wikipedia)	14 Rajab 1416	Bā ʿAlawī teacher and preacher from Qaydūn (Wādī Dawʿan); taught in Mombasa, Kampala and Jeddah; opening received from Aḥmad b. Muḥsin al-Ḥaddār (muwasala.org)	–
Qādiriyya, Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)	date not recorded	130/747-48	Link in second chain	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Khalīfa of Yaḥyā Shirvānī	–
Bā ʿAlawiyya (Ṭarīqa ʿAlawiyya of Ḥaḍramawt)	date not recorded	1431/2010	teacher of Ḥabīb ʿUmar and al-Jifrī	–
Bā ʿAlawiyya (Ṭarīqa ʿAlawiyya of Ḥaḍramawt)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Bā ʿAlawī preacher	–
Bā ʿAlawiyya (Ṭarīqa ʿAlawiyya of Ḥaḍramawt)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Director (dean) of Dār al-Muṣṭafā, Tarīm, which he founded in 1993 after the unification of Yemen (The Muslim 500); Dār al-Zahrāʾ, its sister institution for women, opened in 2001	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	90 AH	180 AH	Rāwī of ʿĀṣim; his riwāya is the reading most recited today	–
Bektāshiyya	date not recorded	c. 1271	Eponym; Turkmen shaykh of Sulucakarahöyük; TDV: probably died 1271, historically a khalīfa of Baba İlyas	–
Niʿmatullāhiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Pupil of Ḥājjī Mullā Hādī Sabzawārī (1798-1878), per Trimingham; founder of the Gunābādī line	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	828/1425	Khalwatī shaykh	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	date not recorded	120/738	Kufan jurist; Abū Ḥanīfa's main teacher	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	80 AH	156 AH	Canonical reader (one of the ten)	–
Kattāniyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Kattānī shaykh giving hadith and ṭarīq lessons (as listed in the atlas); no source read ranks him as head of the order	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	2024-04-22	Named by Ustaosmanoğlu's son at the funeral (June 2022) as successor at İsmailağa	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	date not recorded	Emirs of Mecca descended from al-Ḥasan; the Hashemite royal houses of Ḥijāz, Syria, Iraq, Jordan descend from them as TDV states it	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	date not recorded	Dāʿī al-Muṭlaq of the ʿAlavī Bohras at Vadodara (Wikipedia, single source)	–
Bektāshiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	World Bektashi Grandfather (Dedebaba), elected 11 June 2011, by the order's account by its High Judicial Council with the Clerical Council; from Brataj, Vlorë; Wikipedia counts him the 8th Dedebaba	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	1882	1927	Founder of the Sufi Order in the West (now the Inayati Order); the order's own account places him in the Chishtī-Niẓāmī line	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	153 AH	245 AH	Rāwī of Ibn ʿĀmir; scholar, preacher, reciter and muftī of Damascus	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	date not recorded	Teacher of al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	date not recorded	Teacher of Ḥamza	–
Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)	622/1225	683/1284	Rūmī's khalīfa; inspirer and scribe of the Mathnawī	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Descendant of al-Jīlānī; gave Eşrefoğlu his Qādirī khilāfa	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	date not recorded	date not recorded	Traditionist of Wāsiṭ and Baghdad	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	10 Muḥarram 173 AH (Ghāyat al-nihāya)	Shawwāl 242 AH	Rāwī of Ibn ʿĀmir	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	shortly after 170 AH	Rāwī of Abū Jaʿfar	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	45 AH	120 AH	Canonical reader (one of the ten)	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	209/824	date not recorded	Compiler of the Sunan	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	1085/1674	Name-giver of the Nāṣiriyya	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	date not recorded	date not recorded	Medinan traditionist	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	c. 160 AH	Rāwī of Abū Jaʿfar	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Third murshid after al-Mursī	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Link in the Shādhilī chain as listed by the order (via Wikipedia's relay of shazuli.com)	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	date not recorded	date not recorded	Faqīh of Iraq	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	161/778	Link of the chain	Jāmī
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	940/1534	Founder of the Gülshaniyya; lodge at Bāb Zuwayla, Cairo	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	2003	Led the Burhāniyya after his father (1983 to 2003)	–
Tijāniyya	1900	1975	Founder of the Ibrāhīmiyya (Fayḍa) branch, Medina Baye, Kaolack	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Reported by Medyascope (April 2024) as declared İsmailağa shaykh in a statement on Cübbeli Ahmet Hoca's channel; a second claim is recorded on the parallel link	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Earliest named master in TDV's Khalwatī chain; his Zāhidiyya line never became an institutional order	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	292 AH	Rāwī of Khalaf	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	date not recorded	Founder of the Idrīsid dynasty, acknowledged 172/789	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	date not recorded	Made Fez the capital	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Moroccan by origin, born at Mecca, per Wikipedia; not further identified in the sources read	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	date not recorded	Rāwī of Khalaf (own choice, ikhtiyār)	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	date not recorded	238/853	Khurasanian traditionist; teacher of Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī, al-Nasāʾī	–
Kubrawiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Sufi master who initiated Kubrā (Dizful)	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	133/750	Son of al-Ṣādiq; the Ismāʿīlī line is traced to him	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	date not recorded	Reciter in Mecca; read to Maʿrūf b. Mushkān and Shibl b. ʿAbbād	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	1041/1631	Founder of the Rūmiyya; 'pīr-i sānī'; Kādirîhâne, Tophane	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Khalidi khalifa in the North Caucasus	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	date not recorded	date not recorded	Basran jurist; 'intellectual father' of the Ibāḍiyya (TDV)	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Link in the Shādhilī chain as listed by the order (via Wikipedia's relay of shazuli.com)	–
Suhrawardiyya	date not recorded	691/1292	Founder of the Bukhārī line; lodge in Uch	–
Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)	604/1207	672/1273	Poet-teacher; pīr of the order	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	In the order's Daghestani chain	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	899/1494	Founder of the Jamāliyya; shaykh at Koca Mustafa Paşa lodge, Istanbul	–
Niʿmatullāhiyya	1926-10-12	2008-10-10	Pole of the Niʿmatullāhī-Khāniqāhī order 1953-2008; moved leadership abroad after 1979, to England 1983	–
Qādiriyya, Naqshbandiyya, Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings, Schools of law and ḥadīth, The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	80/699 or 83/702	148/765	Imam in chain via Ahl al-bayt	–
Bektāshiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Dedebaba 1944-1945 (Wikipedia)	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	February 2025	49th Imam in the Nizārī Ismāʿīlī account (TDV Nizâriyye, 2007); imam from 1957; died 4 February 2025	–
Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)	date not recorded	691/1292	Leader after Ḥusām al-Dīn per TDV Sultan Veled	–
Rifāʿiyya	1867	1950	Rifâî shaykh, Mesnevi commentator; Ümmü Kenan Dergâhı, Istanbul	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	150 AH	229 AH	Rāwī of Ḥamza (through Sulaym) and himself the tenth canonical reader (his own choice, ikhtiyār)	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	220 AH	Rāwī of Ḥamza (through Sulaym)	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Khalifa for the North Caucasus	–
Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Chain link between Ghazālī and Shams al-Aʾimma	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Master under whom Shaʿbān completed sulūk, at Bolu	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	2015-03-15	Sajjāda-nishīn of the Nizām al-Dīn Awliyāʾ dargāh, Delhi	–
Kubrawiyya	date not recorded	827/1424	Khalīfa and son-in-law of Hamadānī	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Chief sajjāda-nishīn of the Niẓām al-Dīn dargāh from 2015 (Wikipedia)	–
Kubrawiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Companion of ʿAlī; named in the Qaṣrī chain	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Aḥmediyya chain	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	1995	Founder of the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Order in New York; died 1995	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Associated by TDV with the silent-dhikr Khufiyya of Gansu	–
Naqshbandiyya	1719	1781	Founder of the Jahriyya (vocal dhikr), China	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	date not recorded	Teacher of Yaʿqūb	–
Tijāniyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Khalwatī shaykh in Cairo; gave al-Tijānī Khalwatī ijāza and khilafa (TDV)	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	685/1286	Khwājagān master	–
Naqshbandiyya	1938-04-14	2001-02-04	Succeeded Zahid Kotku as leader of the İskenderpaşa community; died in a road accident near Dubbo, Australia	–
Naqshbandiyya	1929	2022-06-23	Shaykh of the İsmailağa community, Istanbul (Çarşamba)	–
Kubrawiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Khalīfa of Simnānī; first master of Hamadānī	–
Kubrawiyya	date not recorded	616/1219	Leading disciple; died before Kubrā so absent from the order's silsila	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	General deputy (wakīl ʿāmm) of the Ṣiddīqiyya Shādhiliyya, designated by ʿAlī Jumʿa to lead the order after him (Sept 2025)	–
Suhrawardiyya	date not recorded	785/1384	Grandson of Jalāl al-Dīn; revived the Bukhārī line	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	date not recorded	date not recorded	Teacher of al-Bukhārī	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	93/712 (TDV range 90-98)	179/795	Eponym of the Mālikī school; author of the Muwaṭṭaʾ	–
Rifāʿiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Maternal uncle of Aḥmad; gave him the caliphate and the title shaykh al-shuyūkh	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	1872	Moroccan Shādhilī shaykh in Mecca; the Emir's shaykh from 1863	–
Naqshbandiyya	1193/1779	1242/1827	Founder of the Khālidiyya	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	1082/1672	First ʿAlawī ruler of Morocco (1664 per TDV)	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	1239/1823	Most famous khalīfa of ʿAlī al-Jamal; first tekke at Bū Barīḥ; order named for him	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Shaykh of the Shādhilī-Darqāwī-Ḥabībī-Hāshimī tarīqa, which takes its name from him; managed the affairs of the Ḥabībiyya zawiya in Meknès; compiler of the Wadhīfa Hāshimiyya (the community's account)	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	1139/1727	ʿAlawī sultan 1672-1727	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Reported (le360, 13 Aug 2025) as named spiritual heir by his father Jamāl al-Dīn at the eighth commemoration of Hamza's death; announced the same month that he was handing leadership to his brother Muʿād	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Named by the community as the present shaykh of the Shādhilī-Darqāwī-Ḥabībī-Hāshimī tarīqa, resident in Fès; the community's Singapore representative is named as its delegate	–
Tijāniyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Disciple of al-Ḥāfiẓ; initiated ʿUmar Tal per Wikipedia (tertiary)	–
Naqshbandiyya	1110/1699	1195/1781	Eponym of the Mazhariyya, Delhi	–
Qādiriyya, Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî), Suhrawardiyya	date not recorded	200/815-16	Meeting point of both chains; buried in Baghdad	Jāmī
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Head of the İskenderpaşa community before Esad Coşan	–
Rifāʿiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Student of Kenan Rifâî from childhood; mother of Cemalnur Sargut	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Ramaḍāniyya chain	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Ramaḍāniyya chain	–
Kubrawiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Son of ʿAlī Hamadānī; continued Islamisation of Kashmir	–
Kubrawiyya	12 Rajab 714/22 Oct 1314	6 Dhū l-Ḥijja 786/19 Jan 1385 Kabrusvar	Founder of the Hamadāniyya; Kashmir visits 774/1372 and c. 1379, 785/1383	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	date not recorded	King of Morocco; in the dynasty's own account the 23rd sovereign of the ʿAlawī dynasty, which traces descent from the Prophet; holds the title Amīr al-Muʾminīn; enthroned 30 July 1999 (official biography)	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Son of Abdulbaki Erol; one of three sons who, Turkish press reports, received the title of khalīfa in their father's lifetime; after his death (12 Jul 2023) the press reports the Menzil community divided among the three	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	1996	Last Zaydī imam of Yemen; proclaimed Sept 1962, overthrown in the revolution of 26 Sept 1962	–
Qādiriyya, Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings, Schools of law and ḥadīth, The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	114/733	Imam in chain via Ahl al-bayt	–
Tijāniyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Tijānī shaykh in Mecca who trained al-Ḥājj ʿUmar (TDV)	–
Tijāniyya	date not recorded	1830	Became Tijānī in Fez; brought the order to the ʿIdaw ʿAlī of Mauritania (TDV)	–
Shādhiliyya	1881	1961	Shādhilī-Darqāwī shaykh settled in Damascus; deputy of Aḥmad al-ʿAlawī for the Middle East	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Shaykh of the Hibriyya; master of Muḥammad Belqāʾid	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	220/835	Ninth Imam (Twelver)	–
Tijāniyya	date not recorded	1827	Eldest son; led the ʿAyn Māḍī branch; executed by Ottoman authorities 1827 (TDV)	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	15 Shaʿbān 255/869	date not recorded	Twelfth Imam in the Twelver account; in occultation	–
Shādhiliyya	1900	1972	Disciple of al-Hāshimī (Aleppo)	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	145/762	Ḥasanī; ancestor of the Moroccan Ḥasanī families as TDV gives it	–
Tijāniyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Younger son; led ʿAyn Māḍī after 1827 (TDV)	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	In the order's own chain	–
Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Chain link (as in TDV)	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	1357/1938	Head of the Kuftārū line in Damascus; designated his son Aḥmad before his death	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	1229/1814	Founder of the Būzīdiyya branch per TDV Derkāviyye	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	1909	Darqāwī shaykh of Aḥmad al-ʿAlawī per secondary sources; may or may not be the same person as the TDV Būzīdī; not reconciled	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	date not recorded	189/805	Pupil of Abū Ḥanīfa and Abū Yūsuf; heard Mālik; teacher of al-Shāfiʿī	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	150/767	204/820	Eponym of the Shāfiʿī school	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	194/810	date not recorded	Compiler of al-Jāmiʿ al-ṣaḥīḥ	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	179/795	Seventh Imam in the Ismāʿīlī account	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Darqāwī shaykh at Jabal Kirkar; trainer of al-Hibrī and al-Būzīdī	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Founder of the Ḥifniyya	–
Shādhiliyya	Simlāl, Jazūla (Sūs)	870/1465	Author of Dalāʾil al-khayrāt; founder of Jazūliyya; entered the Shādhiliyya through Muḥammad al-Sharīf of Banī Amghār	–
Shādhiliyya	1880	1927	Darqāwī shaykh of Tlemcen, trained by al-Hibrī and al-Būzīdī; shaykh of al-Hāshimī	–
Kattāniyya	1873	1909-05-04	Shaykh of the Kattāniyya; arrest ordered by Sultan Mulay ʿAbd al-Ḥafīẓ 1909, executed in Fez (Eickelman); other accounts say flogged to death	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye), Tijāniyya	date not recorded	1189/1776	Founder of the Sammāniyya (Khalwatiyya-Bakriyya)	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Named between al-Darqāwī and al-Wakīlī in one silsila posted on a forum	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	1208/1794	Founder of the Raḥmāniyya; Azhar-trained Kabyle	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	date not recorded	Teacher of al-Kisāʾī and Ḥamza	–
Bā ʿAlawiyya (Ṭarīqa ʿAlawiyya of Ḥaḍramawt), The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	574/1178	653/1255	al-Ustādh al-Aʿẓam; order ascribed to him	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	930/1524	Name-giver of the ʿĪsāwiyya (TDV Şâzeliyye)	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	c. 210/825	date not recorded	Compiler of the Jāmiʿ	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	734/1333-34	Adopted Naqshband as an infant	–
Shādhiliyya	1958	2019	Professor of Sufism, University of Algiers; teacher at the Belqāʾidiyya Durūs Muḥammadiyya	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	In the order's Daghestani chain	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	1263/1847	Founder of the Madaniyya; Shaykh Zâfir in Istanbul	–
Shādhiliyya	1876	1972	Darqāwī shaykh in Morocco, buried at his zawiya in Meknès (Wikipedia; dates and details partly tagged citation needed)	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Shaykh of the Burhāniyya since 2003 (the order's site); grandson of the founder	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	In the order's own chain	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	1079/1668	Son and successor of Sirhindī	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Shaykh of the Belqāʾidiyya-Hibriyya; the order's followers pledged allegiance to him after the death of ʿAbd al-Laṭīf (Radio Algérie, 26 Feb 2025)	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	822/1420	Khalifa of Naqshband; author of Risāla-yi Qudsiyya	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Hijaz teacher of many Malays	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	In the order's own chain	–
Shādhiliyya	1890	1972	Disciple of al-Hāshimī	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Link in the Shādhilī chain as listed by the order (via Wikipedia's relay of shazuli.com)	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	765/1364	Name-giver of the Wafāʾiyya	–
Shādhiliyya	1902	5 Apr 1983	Founder or renewer of the Burhāniyya in Sudan	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	1993-10-22	Led Menzil after his father; died 22 Oct 1993	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Aḥmediyya chain	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	date not recorded	Teacher of Ibn Kathīr	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Shaykh of Abū Isḥāq Shāmī, who sent him to Chisht	–
Niʿmatullāhiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Founder of the Munawwar ʿAlī-Shāhī line	–
Niʿmatullāhiyya	1922	1953	Pole until 1953; predecessor of Javad Nurbakhsh (order's own page). Dates 1922-1953 from Universal Compendium excerpt	–
Suhrawardiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Brother of Shah Mahmood Qureshi; announced that he had removed Shah Mahmood from the gaddi (Dunya News, undated); oversaw the 2023 ʿurs arrangements and 'has differences with Shah Mahmood over the matters of the shrine' (Dawn, Aug 2023) (as of Oct 2026)	–
Qādiriyya, The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	183/799	Imam in chain via Ahl al-bayt	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	204/820 (reported)	date not recorded	Compiler of Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	date not recorded	date not recorded	Muftī of Mecca; al-Shāfiʿī's first teacher	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	1985	Grand Sheikh of the Halveti-Cerrahi 1966-1985, 'nineteenth' in the Wikipedia count; sent khalifas to the West	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	633/1236	Established and systematised the order at Ajmer in the late 12th century	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings, Schools of law and ḥadīth	c. 70 AH	169 AH	Canonical reader (one of the ten)	–
Suhrawardiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Disciple of Shihāb al-Dīn; founder of the Buzghushiyya (Najībiyya)	–
Kubrawiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Khalīfa of Bākharzī; founder of the Firdawsiyya	–
Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî), Suhrawardiyya, Kubrawiyya	c. 540/1145 (TDV: uncertain)	618/1221	Named by Sipahsālār as Bahāʾ Walad's master	Jāmī
Kubrawiyya	date not recorded	654/1256	Disciple; began the Baḥr al-ḥaqāʾiq commentary	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	757/1356	Last of the 'great shaykhs' of Delhi; teacher of Gīsūdarāz	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	725/1325	Great shaykh; sent about 700 khalifas across India	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	488/1095	Elder son of al-Mustanṣir; the Nizārī line is traced to him	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Link in the Shādhilī chain as listed by the order (via Wikipedia's relay of shazuli.com)	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	1133/1721	Founder of the Jarrāḥiyya; lodge at Karagümrük, Istanbul, from 1115/1703	–
Suhrawardiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Later figure in the Buzghushī line	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Master of Mazhar	–
Niʿmatullāhiyya	1927-10-13	2019-12-24	Gunābādī pole 1992/1997-2019; buried at Bidokht (Wikipedia)	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	2022-09-04	Postnişin 1999-2022; died 4 Sep 2022 and is buried at the lodge	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	120 AH	220 AH	Rāwī of Nāfiʿ	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Second pīr of the Shaʿbāniyya; Üsküdar, exiled to Limni 1679	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	107/725	Placed between Salmān and Jaʿfar by Pārsā	–
Kubrawiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Son of Nūrbakhsh; led the order at Rey	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	195 AH	291 AH	Rāwī of Ibn Kathīr	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	date not recorded	date not recorded	Traditionist; teacher of al-Tirmidhī and al-Nasāʾī	–
Suhrawardiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Chief successor of Abū l-Najīb (Ebheriyye)	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	1173 (WP)	1228	Successor of Muʿīn al-Dīn in the traditional chain	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	1162/1749	Founder of the Bakriyya (Shaʿbāniyya-Qarabashiyya)	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	date not recorded	date not recorded	Medinan jurist; teacher of Mālik	–
Kubrawiyya	c. 555/1160 Ghazna	642/1244 Gurpan	Disciple of Kubrā	–
Niʿmatullāhiyya	date not recorded	1861	Pole after whom Trimingham dates the split of the order; date from Iranica summary	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	1025/1616	Founder of the Ramaḍāniyya	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	234 or 235 AH	Rāwī of Yaʿqūb	–
Bektāshiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Dedebaba 1993-2011 (Wikipedia); the order credits him with reviving the faith after 1990	–
Suhrawardiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Grandson of Bahāʾ al-Dīn Zakariyyā	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	238 AH	Rāwī of Yaʿqūb	–
Kubrawiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Master of Kubrā in Cairo	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Disciple of Ibrāhīm b. Adham in the chain	–
Suhrawardiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Son and chief successor of Bahāʾ al-Dīn Zakariyyā	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	860/1455	Khalwatī shaykh; his khalīfa Pīr Ilyās of Amasya brought the order to Anatolia	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	1999	Postnişin of the Nureddin Cerrahi lodge 1985-1999	–
Niʿmatullāhiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Founder of the Ṣafī ʿAlī-Shāhī line; Iranica summary says it became a separate order	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Son of Abdulbaki Erol; one of three sons who, Turkish press reports, received the title of khalīfa in their father's lifetime; after his death (12 Jul 2023) the press reports the Menzil community divided among the three	–
Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)	582/1186	657/1258	Goldsmith; Rūmī's first khalīfa	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	date not recorded	Teacher of Yaʿqūb; read to ʿĀṣim and Abū ʿAmr	–
Bektāshiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Dedebaba of the Albanian headquarters 1930-1941 (Wikipedia); a Salih Niyazi Baba is also recorded as postnişin deputy at Hacıbektaş in 1921-25 (excerpt, not reconciled)	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	36/656	Companion in the chain	–
Rifāʿiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Writer; disciple of Kenan Rifâî (TDV); encouraged Cemalnur Sargut's Qur'an and Mesnevî study	–
Qādiriyya, Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî), Suhrawardiyya	date not recorded	253/867	Most prominent disciple of Maʿrūf; teacher of Junayd	Jāmī
Kubrawiyya	586/1190	date not recorded	Disciple; c. 40 years at Bukhara, khanqah at Fatḥābād; family there to late 19th c.	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	593/1196	Son; succeeded his father in teaching	–
Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)	date not recorded	c. 639/1241	Rūmī's guide after Bahāʾ Walad's death; died in Kayseri	–
Rifāʿiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Descendant of Aḥmad al-Rifāʿī in Medina; gave Kenan Rifâî ijāza and caliphate	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Named as chief mutawallī (custodian) of the shrine of ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī and a descendant, in a Dhaka Tribune report of a 2025 event. His relation to the title naqīb al-ashrāf was not established	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	923/1517	Founder of the Ghawthiyya (TDV Qādiriyya); first Qādirī dargah at Uch	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	825/1422	Founded a Chishti centre at Gulbarga	–
Kubrawiyya	795/1393 Kāʾin	869/1464 Sūlikān near Rey	Disciple of Khuttalānī; eponym of the Nūrbakhshiyya; claimed to be the Mahdī (TDV)	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	868/1463-64	Second pīr, 'in a sense' the real founder (TDV); died Baku	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	In the Burhāniyya's own chain	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	676/1277	Placed after al-Shādhilī in the Burhāniyya's own chain	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	In the Burhāniyya's own chain	–
Kubrawiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Disciple; khanqah at Baḥrābād; son Ṣadr al-Dīn Ibrāhīm succeeded	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Link in the Shādhilī chain as listed by the order (via Wikipedia's relay of shazuli.com)	–
Murīdiyya (Mouride)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Khalīfa-général 1968-1989 (Wikipedia)	–
Murīdiyya (Mouride)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Khalīfa-général; Wikipedia's text says 1989-1990, its own reference list 1988-1989	–
Tijāniyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Khalife général des Tidianes at Tivaouane (the Sy house), as the Senegalese press names him in August 2026; date of accession not stated in the article read	–
Murīdiyya (Mouride)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Khalīfa-général 1945-1968 (Wikipedia)	–
Murīdiyya (Mouride)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Khalīfa-général 2007-2010 (Wikipedia)	–
Murīdiyya (Mouride)	date not recorded	date not recorded	First khalīfa-général of the Murīdiyya (1927-1945), per Wikipedia	–
Qādiriyya, Murīdiyya (Mouride)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Eighth khalife général of the Murīdiyya since 10 Jan 2018; resident at Touba	–
Murīdiyya (Mouride)	date not recorded	2007-12-28	Khalīfa-général 1990 until death on 28 Dec 2007 (Wikipedia)	–
Murīdiyya (Mouride)	date not recorded	2018-01-09	Khalīfa-général 1 Jul 2010 until death on 9 Jan 2018 (Wikipedia)	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	2018-01	Seventh khalife général of the Murīdiyya; died January 2018	–
Layène	date not recorded	date not recorded	Khalif 2001-2021	–
Layène	date not recorded	date not recorded	Khalif 1971-1987	–
Layène	date not recorded	date not recorded	First khalif 1909-1949; the founder's son, whom the founder is said to have declared Jesus returned (community belief as reported by Wikipedia)	–
Layène	1844	1909	Founder; born Limamou Thiaw (another source: Libasse Thiaw). In the community's own account, as reported by Wikipedia, he declared himself the Mahdi and the return of the Prophet Muhammad; no scholarly assessment was read	–
Layène	date not recorded	date not recorded	Khalif 1987-2001	–
Layène	date not recorded	date not recorded	Khalif 1949-1971	–
Layène	date not recorded	date not recorded	Khalife général des Layènes since April 2025; formerly spokesman of the late khalif (Dakaractu)	–
Layène	date not recorded	date not recorded	Khalif 2021 until his death on 9 Apr 2025	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Postnishin of the Qādirī central lodge in Baghdad (per TDV)	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Sajjāda-nishīn of the Sabiri dargāh of ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Ṣābir at Kaliyar Sharif, as named at the 755th ʿUrs (2023); later holder not confirmed (as of Oct 2026)	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	1199/1784	Son of Kalīmullāh; founded a tekke at Delhi; eponym of the Fakhrī revival	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	1142/1729	Revived the Niẓāmī line with a new central organisation	–
Suhrawardiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Described as sajjāda-nishīn of the Multan shrines of Bahāʾ al-Dīn Zakariyyā and Rukn-i ʿĀlam (Wikipedia) and as 'the shrine caretaker' (Dawn, Aug 2023); contested by his brother (as of Oct 2026)	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	1250/1834	Khalifa of Fakhr al-Dīn	–
Niʿmatullāhiyya	730/1330	834/1431	Founder; born Aleppo, pupil then khalīfa of al-Yāfiʿī in Mecca, settled at Mahan (Trimingham); order's own page: 1330-1431, seven years' service to al-Yāfiʿī	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	1205/1790	Khalifa of Fakhr al-Dīn; spread the order in Punjab and frontier	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	992/1584	Founder of the Qumaysiyya (Bengal, Punjab, Bihar)	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	1267/1850	Sulaymānī line; his sayings compiled as Nāfiʿ al-sālikīn (TDV); founder of the line per WP only	–
Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Chain link before Bahāʾ Walad	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Link in the Shādhilī chain as listed by the order (via Wikipedia's relay of shazuli.com)	–
Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)	c. 582/1186 (Ahmed Dede: 590/1194)	disappeared 645/1247	Rūmī's companion from 642/1244	Jāmī
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	573/1177	Son; ancestor of Egyptian Qādirī sharifs	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Teacher and spiritual guide of the Qadriyya Association for the Revival of the Sunnah of The Gambia (founded 2 July 2008), and its president	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	date not recorded	Teacher of Nāfiʿ	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Said by the present sheikh to have brought the order from Medina to Sudan over 250 years ago; shrine and mosque north of Omdurman	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Named in a University of Exeter doctoral thesis abstract as master of the Shādhiliyya-Yashruṭiyya, now based in Amman; office date not given, relation to ʿAlī Nūr al-Dīn not stated	–
Tijāniyya	date not recorded	2 Aug 2020	4th khalife of Ibrāhīm Niasse at Médina Baye (numbering as press reports it); died the day before his brother Mahi was named	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Shaykh of the Sammāniyya in Omdurman (interview of 2 Feb 2026)	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Grandfather of the present sheikh; began serving Muslims in Omdurman	–
Tijāniyya	date not recorded	1943	Founder of the Ḥamāliyya, centred at Nioro (TDV, Wikipedia)	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	2017-01-18	Shaykh of the Qādiriyya Būdshīshiyya, Madagh, until his death; recognised his son Jamāl al-Dīn as successor (Wikipedia, citing the zāwiya)	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	2025-08-08	Shaykh of the Būdshīshiyya 2017-2025	–
Shādhiliyya	1949	date not recorded	Spiritual guide of the ʿAlawiyya (Mostaganem); President of the AISA	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Elected head of the Rābiṭat al-zawāyā al-ʿilmiyya in 1989 and remained head of the Qāsimiyya mashyakha (university thesis); Friday lessons are listed in the atlas's archive	–
Tijāniyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Khalife général of Médina Baye and of the Fayḍa Tijāniyya in Senegal; named 5th khalife of Ibrāhīm Niasse in August 2020; director of the El Hadj Abdoulaye Niasse Islamic Institute (press); received at Aïn Madhi in May 2026 as general khalifa of the Fayḍa	–
Tijāniyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Named 'calife général' of the Tijāniyya at Aïn Madhi (Laghouat) by Algerian state press in August 2020; not re-confirmed for 2026	–
Naqshbandiyya	1945-01-28	2024-12	Nāẓim's representative in the USA from 1991; his branch's own site presents him as leader of the Naqshbandī-Nazimiyya / Ḥaqqānī Sufi Order	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Shaykh of the Qāsimiyya zāwiya of El Hamel and president of the Rahmāniyya league until appointed dean of Djamaa el Djazair (Echorouk, Mar 2022); who now heads the zāwiya was not found	–
Qādiriyya	1938-04-15	2020-07-04	Shaykh of the Kasnazāniyya; led the order about 42 years (Wikipedia, citing Arab-culture and Kurdistan24)	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Declared by the Ḥaqqānī line centred on Nāẓim's family as his khalīfa (2011) and head of the order; based in Istanbul. Kabbānī's branch presented Kabbānī as leader; both accounts are recorded on the links	–
Rifāʿiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Hacı Mûsâ Tekkesi at Yakova (Gjakova); spread the order in the Balkans in the late 19th c.	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Head of the Būdshīshiyya: a council meeting at Madagh adopted a declaration recognising his legitimacy to lead the order spiritually (h24info, 2 Feb 2026)	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Spiritual leader of the Kasnazānī Qādirī order; succeeded his father (Wikipedia). Named 'Spiritual leader of the Kasnazani Qadiri Order' by Shafaq News, undated meeting with Barzani	–
Naqshbandiyya	1922	2014-05-07	Grand shaykh of the Naqshbandī-Ḥaqqānī line; buried at Lefke	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Link in the Naqshbandī-Ḥaqqānī golden chain between al-Ghumuqī and ʿAbd Allāh al-Fāʾiz	–
Qādiriyya, Murīdiyya (Mouride)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Qādirī shaykh of the Sidiyya line, Mauritania; named as Bamba's initiator (Creevey calls him 'Shaykh Sidia')	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Second name in the Kasnazānī lineage list reproduced by Wikipedia (from the order's own chain page)	–
Rifāʿiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Presented in Egyptian press (al-Dustūr, coverage of the Mawlid of al-Rifāʿī, undated) as shaykh of the Rifāʿiyya in Egypt; a University of Religions page names 'Tariq Yassin al-Refaie' as current sheikh of the Rifaiyah. Both sources undated; not tied to the Sayyādī line	–
Qādiriyya	1847	1909	Qādirī leader in southern Somalia; branch named Uwaysiyya	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Appointed by Nāẓim al-Ḥaqqānī as khalīfa for Southern Africa, renewed under Mehmet Âdil; former associate professor at the University of the Western Cape; led township outreach of the order in South Africa	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Third name in the Kasnazānī lineage list; relation to the earlier ʿAbd al-Karīm Shāh and to Muḥammad is not stated in the source	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Naqshbandī-Ḥaqqānī shaykh before Nāẓim, as the order's chain lists him	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Reputed first of the family to settle in Barzinja (per Wikipedia summary)	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	976/1569	Founder of the Shaʿbāniyya; head of the central lodge at Kastamonu	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Co-successor of Lex Hixon in 1995 (Wikipedia mirror); based in Mexico. Current role not confirmed	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Described by Wikipedia (mirror dated Oct 2023) as sheikha of the Nur Ashki Jerrahi order in New York; took over with Amina Teslima after 1995. Not re-confirmed	–
Suhrawardiyya	1 Shaʿbān 539/27 Jan 1145	1 Muḥarram 632/26 Sep 1234	Author of ʿAwārif al-maʿārif; the order is named for him	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	193 AH	Rāwī of ʿĀṣim	–
Qādiriyya	1142/1729	1226/1811	Founder of the Muḥtāriyya/Kuntiyya; zāwiya at Būlanwār	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Son; took over guidance after 1811	–
Shādhiliyya	1911	1998	Founder-figure ('muḥyī al-ṭarīq') of the Belqāʾidiyya-Hibriyya zawiya, Sidi Maarouf, Oran	–
Shādhiliyya	1937	26 Feb 2025	Shaykh of the Belqāʾidiyya-Hibriyya after Muḥammad Belqāʾid; builder of the Sidi Maarouf zawiya	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Founder of the Ḥāmidiyya Shādhiliyya per Egyptian press	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	1170/1757	Qādirī shaykh of Arawān; teacher of Mukhtār al-Kuntī	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	1868	Qādirī shaykh, founder of the Sidiyya branch at Boutilimit (1780-1868 per an academic excerpt); listed among students of al-Mukhtār al-Kuntī	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	592/1196	Son; ancestor of Maghribī Qādirī sharifs	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	date not recorded	date not recorded	Meccan traditionist	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	188 AH	Closest pupil of Ḥamza; teacher of Khalaf and Khallād	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	date not recorded	Teacher of Ḥamza	–
Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)	623/1226	712/1312	Rūmī's son; organised the order	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	936/1529	Founder of the Sünbüliyya	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Brother of Zainul Abedin; announced in April 2017 that he had removed him as spiritual head. Claim recorded.	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Named by the same Wikipedia report as the other son who succeeded Syed Mohammad Nizami; single tertiary source	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Dewan and sajjāda-nishīn of Ajmer before his son	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Named by Wikipedia (citing Times of India, 9 Feb 2026) as one of two sons who succeeded Syed Mohammad Nizami at the Niẓām al-Dīn dargāh; single tertiary source	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Dewan and sajjāda-nishīn of the Ajmer dargāh of Muʿīn al-Dīn Chishtī (as of Oct 2026; accession year not stated in sources read)	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	2016	Claimed the office of 53rd Dāʿī al-Muṭlaq in 2014, on a private designation he says he received in 1965; plaintiff in Suit 337/2014 until his death in 2016	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	date not recorded	53rd Dāʿī al-Muṭlaq of the Dāwūdī Bohras, as the majority of the community recognises him; leads it from Mumbai (Saifi Manzil). The Qutbī line claims the office (see links)	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	2014	52nd Dāʿī al-Muṭlaq of the Dāwūdī Bohras (Dāwūdī numbering); died 2014	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	date not recorded	Claims the office of Dāʿī al-Muṭlaq (his side counts him the 54th) as successor to his father Khuzaima Quṭb al-Dīn; substituted as plaintiff in Suit 337/2014 (dismissed by the Bombay High Court, April 2024; appeal announced); leads the Qutbī Bohras	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Link in the Shādhilī chain as listed by the order (via Wikipedia's relay of shazuli.com)	–
Kubrawiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Khalīfa of Simnānī; gave Hamadānī a khirqa	–
Shādhiliyya	1808	1883	Qādirī by earlier attachment; Shādhilī-Darqāwī initiation in Mecca 1863 (Taleb)	–
Qādiriyya, Naqshbandiyya, Shādhiliyya, Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî), Suhrawardiyya, Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings, Schools of law and ḥadīth, The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	632 CE	Head of the silsila	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	1926-01-21	2018-02-15	Khalifa of Muzaffer Özak; spiritual guide of the Jerrahi Order of America (Spring Valley / Chestnut Ridge, NY)	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	33/654	Companion of the Prophet, named in Ibn al-Jazarī's isnād to the Prophet	–
Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)	date not recorded	719/1320	Rūmī's grandson; spread the order through appointed deputies	–
Suhrawardiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Paternal uncle of Abū l-Najīb; gave him the khirqa and ijāza	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	110 AH	197 AH	Rāwī of Nāfiʿ; went to Medina and read four complete recitations to Nāfiʿ in 155 AH, then led recitation in Egypt	–
Bektāshiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Dedebaba 1945 (Wikipedia)	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	date not recorded	Read to Ibn ʿĀmir; teacher of Ayyūb, ʿIrāk and Suwayd	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	202/817	Rāwī of Abū ʿAmr; teacher of both al-Dūrī and al-Sūsī	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	date not recorded	Teacher of al-Aʿmash	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	date not recorded	date not recorded	Nishapuri traditionist; Muslim's first teacher	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	205 AH	Canonical reader (one of the ten)	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	date not recorded	Teacher of Khalaf; pupil of Abū Bakr (Shuʿba)	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	851/1447	Khalifa of Naqshband; author of Risāla-yi Unsiyya	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	910/1504	Founder of the Aḥmediyya	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	535/1140	Merv hānqāh, first khwāja	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	45/665	Companion of the Prophet, named in Ibn al-Jazarī's isnād to the Prophet	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth, The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	122/740	Eponym of the Zaydīs; son of Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn	–
Suhrawardiyya	date not recorded	838/1435	Founder of the Zayniyya at Herat	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Link in the Shādhilī chain as listed by the order (via Wikipedia's relay of shazuli.com)	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	date not recorded	Teacher of ʿĀṣim	–
Suhrawardiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Held the Suhrawardī line of Bahāʾ al-Dīn Zakariyyā's branch	–
Kattāniyya	1884	1962	Brother of Muḥammad; shaykh who revived the order under the protectorate (Eickelman); Trimingham: reorganised c. 1918	–
Kattāniyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Father of Muḥammad; introduced him to Sufism (Wikipedia)	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	1317/1899	Founder of the Kasnazāniyya (TDV Qādiriyya)	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	575/1179	Regarded as real founder of the Khwājagān	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Yemen-based teacher of Ma Mingxin	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Murshid of Muṣṭafā al-Bakrī, successor of Doğanî Mustafa Efendi	–
Qādiriyya	470/1077	561/1166	Eponym; Ḥanbalī teacher in Baghdad from 521/1127	–
Shādhiliyya	1918	1992	Disciple of al-Hāshimī	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	944/1537	Prominent Ṣābirī	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	date not recorded	date not recorded	Syrian jurist; school of the Levant	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Link in the Shādhilī chain as listed by the order (via Wikipedia's relay of shazuli.com)	–
Bā ʿAlawiyya (Ṭarīqa ʿAlawiyya of Ḥaḍramawt)	date not recorded	date not recorded	named by the order as an envoy of Abū Madyan; not confirmed in sources read	–
Bā ʿAlawiyya (Ṭarīqa ʿAlawiyya of Ḥaḍramawt)	date not recorded	810/1407 or 819/1416	forebear of Āl al-Saqqāf and the ʿAydarūs	–
Shādhiliyya	1912	2004	Disciple of al-Hāshimī	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Qādirī shaykh whose tomb/ijāza figures in Uways traditions	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	117/735	Teacher of Nāfiʿ	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	603/1206	Son; ancestor of Qādirī sharifs of Rabat and Salé (TDV 'Abdülkādir-i Geylânî')	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	1227/8	Master of al-Shādhilī; some researchers call him the true pīr of the order (TDV)	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Link in chain	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	c. 793	Link of the chain	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Khalifa of Zawāwī in Java region	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Khalīfa of al-Jazūlī; Tabbāʿiyya branch	–
Bā ʿAlawiyya (Ṭarīqa ʿAlawiyya of Ḥaḍramawt)	date not recorded	date not recorded	in the Amūdiyya account, student of Muḥammad al-Faqīh sent to Ḥaḍramawt	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	145/762	Ḥasanī; father of Idrīs I and of Muḥammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	70/689-90	Teacher of Ibn Kathīr and Mujāhid	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	1993	Hadith scholar; the Ṣiddīqiyya's chain reaches al-Shādhilī through him (order's account)	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	date not recorded	date not recorded	Pupil of al-Shāfiʿī (TDV); teacher of al-Bukhārī	–
Qādiriyya	date not recorded	768/1367	Founder of the Yāfiʿiyya	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	date not recorded	date not recorded	Teacher of Muslim and Abū Dāwūd	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings, Schools of law and ḥadīth	date not recorded	32/652-53	Companion of the Prophet, named in Ibn al-Jazarī's isnād to the Prophet	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings, Schools of law and ḥadīth	date not recorded	68/687-88	Companion of the Prophet, named in Ibn al-Jazarī's isnād to the Prophet	–
Bā ʿAlawiyya (Ṭarīqa ʿAlawiyya of Ḥaḍramawt)	1044/1634	1132/1720	Bā ʿAlawī scholar, Sufi and poet; Ḥaddādiyya attributed to him; died at Ḥāwī, buried in Tarīm	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	21 AH (or 8 AH, as the Nashr reports the disagreement)	118 AH	Canonical reader (one of the ten)	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	64/683-84	Teacher of al-Aʿraj, Shayba and Abū Jaʿfar	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	date not recorded	date not recorded	Companion; his fiqh passed through Nāfiʿ	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	date not recorded	King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; the Royal Hashemite Court calls him 'the 41st generation direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad'; exercising constitutional powers since February 1999	–
Tijāniyya	date not recorded	1922	Father of Ibrāhīm; entered the Tijāniyya 1873; founded Léona Niassène zawiya at Kaolack 1911 (tertiary sources)	–
Kubrawiyya	789/1387	872/1468	Leading disciple of Khuttalānī; branch Dhahabiyya (Iʿtishāshiyya) attributed to him	–
Naqshbandiyya	1156/1743	1240/1824	Mazhar's successor; teacher of Khālid	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Khalid's khalifa in Mecca	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Successor of Aḥmad al-ʿAlawī (named in a German reference, not read in full)	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	383/993	Eponym of the Bā ʿAlawī; died at Sumul, Ḥaḍramawt	–
Kubrawiyya	date not recorded	736/1336	Founder of the Rukniyya; charged with training Hamadānī	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	690/1291	Founder of the Ṣābirī branch; little is known of his life	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	1143/1730	Master of Nūr al-Dīn Jarrāḥī	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Khalifa of Naqshband	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	254/868	Tenth Imam (Twelver); buried at Samarra	–
Qādiriyya, The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	203/818	Last imam in the 'golden' chain (silsile-i zeheb) before Maʿrūf	–
Rifāʿiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	In the Wāsiṭī chain (as TDV names him)	–
Qādiriyya, Shādhiliyya, Chishtiyya (Chishti order), Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî), Suhrawardiyya, Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings, Schools of law and ḥadīth, The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	40/661	Link in both Qādirī chains	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	189 AH	Canonical reader (one of the ten)	–
Schools of law and ḥadīth	date not recorded	date not recorded	Principal teacher of Ibn Mājah	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	1194/1780	Idrisid sharīf; first founder of the Darqāwiyya per TDV	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	527/1133	First of the family to settle at Tarim (521/1127) per TDV as read	–
Tijāniyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Named successor in Fez; led the Tamalhat zawiya at Tamasin (TDV)	–
Rifāʿiyya	date not recorded	584/1188	First successor at Umm ʿAbīda	–
Tijāniyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Disciple; author of Jawāhir al-maʿānī (completed 1217/1802), main source on al-Tijānī	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Murshid of Mahmud Ustaosmanoğlu (from 1952); head of the line at İsmailağa to c. 1960	–
Shādhiliyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Shaykh of the Ṣiddīqiyya Shādhiliyya; former Grand Mufti of Egypt	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Ramaḍāniyya chain	–
Shādhiliyya	1208/1793, Bizerte	19 Ramadan 1316/1899	Founder of the Yashruṭiyya; first zāwiya at Tarshīḥā near Acre, 1862	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	721/1321	Khwājagān master	–
Niʿmatullāhiyya	date not recorded	1997-01-16	Gunābādī pole until his death; authorised Nur ʿAlī Tabandeh in 1992 (Wikipedia)	–
Qādiriyya, Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings, Schools of law and ḥadīth, The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	94/713	Imam in chain via Ahl al-bayt	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings, Schools of law and ḥadīth	date not recorded	62/682	Teacher of Yaḥyā b. Waththāb; read to Ibn Masʿūd	–
Kubrawiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Master sent to train Kubrā; the only master Kubrā's own works name per TDV	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	date not recorded	Ghujduwānī's successor	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	127 AH	Canonical reader (one of the ten)	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	date not recorded	Teacher of al-Kisāʾī; read to ʿĀṣim, Ṭalḥa and al-Aʿmash	–
Rifāʿiyya	date not recorded	670/1271	Grandson of Aḥmad al-Rifāʿī; author of al-Maʿārif al-Muḥammadiyya; eponym of the Sayyādiyya	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	date not recorded	Aḥmediyya chain	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	322/934	Founder of the Fatimid caliphate (declared 297/910)	–
The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines	date not recorded	date not recorded	Born in Basra	–
Naqshbandiyya	806/1404	895/1490	Founder of the Aḥrāriyya	–
Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)	date not recorded	800/1397-98	Eponym of the order; born Lāhījān (Gīlān); grave placed at Tabriz or Avahil near Shamakhi	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	23/644	Companion of the Prophet, named in Ibn al-Jazarī's isnād to the Prophet	–
Chishtiyya (Chishti order)	date not recorded	617/1220	Shaykh of Muʿīn al-Dīn	–
Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings	date not recorded	35/656	Companion of the Prophet, named in Ibn al-Jazarī's isnād to the Prophet	–
Naqshbandiyya	date not recorded	1866	Founder of Kurdish-Khalidi shaykhly families	–

A dash or “date not recorded” means the sources read so far give none.

Not yet confirmed (161)

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

(Qādiriyya) TDV Kādiriyye states that in Qādirī ijāzas the chain reaches Ḥaḍrat ʿAlī by two routes; the step from the Prophet to ʿAlī is implied there, not stated.
(Qādiriyya) Same TDV chain. [omits: unnamed intermediaries (al-Shiblī d. 334/946; al-Tamīmī d. c. 425/1034)]
(Qādiriyya) Same TDV chain.
(Qādiriyya) Same TDV chain.
(Qādiriyya) Same TDV chain.
(Qādiriyya) Son; succeeded his father in teaching.
(Qādiriyya) Son; ancestor of Moroccan Qādirī sharifs.
(Qādiriyya) Son; ancestor of Egyptian Qādirī sharifs.
(Qādiriyya) TDV (summary only): Eşrefoğlu received a Qādirī khilāfa from Ḥusayn al-Ḥamawī at Hama and founded the first Qādirī lodge in Ottoman lands at İznik.
(Qādiriyya) TDV: after dreaming of al-Jīlānī, İsmâil Rûmî joined the Baghdad Qādirī central lodge under Seyyid Feyzullah Efendi.
(Qādiriyya) TDV: studied with the Qādirī shaykh Sīdī ʿAlī b. Najīb of Arawān and received the khilāfa from him.
(Qādiriyya) TDV: his son Muḥammad took over guidance after his death in 1811.
(Qādiriyya) TDV lists Sīdiyā al-Kabīr among his leading students and followers.
(Qādiriyya) TDV Ahmedü Bamba: joined the Qādiriyya through al-Ḥājj Kamara in Saint-Louis.
(Qādiriyya) Sidiyya Bābā is the heir of the founder of the Sidiyya branch, Sidiyya al-Kabīr of Boutilimit (1780-1868) (academic source).
(Qādiriyya) Oral tradition: Uways met al-Zayla'ī and was given control of the Qādiriyya; Samatar holds he only visited the tomb and received a symbolic ijāza.
(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.
(Naqshbandiyya) Yūsuf al-Hamadānī says the line reached him from Fārmadhī.
(Naqshbandiyya) Order's own chain.
(Naqshbandiyya) Bedāʾūnī was Mazhar's principal master; Mazhar stayed six years at his tomb and took further initiations elsewhere.
(Naqshbandiyya) Dihlawī served Mazhar for 22 years and received ijāza; he succeeded him.
(Naqshbandiyya) Named a leading khalifa who spread the order in the Northern Caucasus.
(Naqshbandiyya) Appointed khalifa for the Northern Caucasus.
(Naqshbandiyya) Order's own chain (Daghestani line).
(Naqshbandiyya) Order's own chain (Daghestani line).
(Naqshbandiyya) Khālid appointed him khalifa in Mecca; his disciples spread the order to Southeast Asia.
(Naqshbandiyya) One of Khālid's khalifas, in Tripoli (Lebanon).
(Naqshbandiyya) Gümüşhânevî is described as Ervâdî's khalifa.
(Naqshbandiyya) A leading khalifa and founder of Kurdish-Khalidi shaykhly families.
(Naqshbandiyya) Ma Mingxin studied in Mecca and Yemen under the Naqshbandi teacher ʿAbd al-Khāliq (Wikipedia; TDV names him al-Mizjājī).
(Naqshbandiyya) TDV names Madura's ʿAbd al-ʿAẓīm among Zawāwī's khalifas who worked in Java, Kalimantan and Sulawesi.
(Shādhiliyya) Listed in the order's own silsila as relayed by Wikipedia from shazuli.com; the order's own page was not read.
(Shādhiliyya) Listed in the order's own silsila as relayed by Wikipedia from shazuli.com; the order's own page was not read.
(Shādhiliyya) Listed in the order's own silsila as relayed by Wikipedia from shazuli.com; the order's own page was not read.
(Shādhiliyya) Listed in the order's own silsila as relayed by Wikipedia from shazuli.com; the order's own page was not read.
(Shādhiliyya) Listed in the order's own silsila as relayed by Wikipedia from shazuli.com; the order's own page was not read.
(Shādhiliyya) Listed in the order's own silsila as relayed by Wikipedia from shazuli.com; the order's own page was not read.
(Shādhiliyya) Listed in the order's own silsila as relayed by Wikipedia from shazuli.com; the order's own page was not read.
(Shādhiliyya) Listed in the order's own silsila as relayed by Wikipedia from shazuli.com; the order's own page was not read.
(Shādhiliyya) Listed in the order's own silsila as relayed by Wikipedia from shazuli.com; the order's own page was not read.
(Shādhiliyya) Listed in the order's own silsila as relayed by Wikipedia from shazuli.com; the order's own page was not read.
(Shādhiliyya) Listed in the order's own silsila as relayed by Wikipedia from shazuli.com; the order's own page was not read.
(Shādhiliyya) Listed in the order's own silsila as relayed by Wikipedia from shazuli.com; the order's own page was not read.
(Shādhiliyya) Listed in the order's own silsila as relayed by Wikipedia from shazuli.com; the order's own page was not read.
(Shādhiliyya) Listed in the order's own silsila as relayed by Wikipedia from shazuli.com; the order's own page was not read.
(Shādhiliyya) Listed in the order's own silsila as relayed by Wikipedia from shazuli.com; the order's own page was not read.
(Shādhiliyya) Listed in the order's own silsila as relayed by Wikipedia from shazuli.com; the order's own page was not read.
(Shādhiliyya) One forum silsila puts Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Bāshā directly under al-Darqāwī; no other source read names him.
(Shādhiliyya) Same forum silsila: al-Wakīlī under al-Bāshā.
(Shādhiliyya) tarajm.com: al-Hibrī and al-Būzīdī were both trained by Ibn Qaddūr al-Wakīlī.
(Shādhiliyya) Forum silsila only.
(Shādhiliyya) Forum silsila: Muḥammad al-Hibrī is the son of al-Ḥājj Muḥammad al-Hibrī.
(Shādhiliyya) ʿAbd al-Laṭīf Belqāʾid led the zawiya after Muḥammad Belqāʾid (d. 1998); the zawiya's speakers call him 'our shaykh'.
(Shādhiliyya) MA thesis: Ben Brīka took the way from Muḥammad Belqāʾid; the zawiya's biographic block gives the same.
(Shādhiliyya) MA thesis: renewed the way at the hands of ʿAbd al-Laṭīf, entered khalwa with him, received the Greatest Name.
(Shādhiliyya) Thesis names Amrouche among Ben Brīka's students.
(Shādhiliyya) Thesis names Maʿzūz among Ben Brīka's students.
(Shādhiliyya) Amrouche calls him 'our master and shaykh' in a Sept 2025 talk; formal bond not stated.
(Shādhiliyya) Maʿzūz calls ʿAbd al-Laṭīf 'our shaykh' in talks of 2015-2017.
(Shādhiliyya) tarajm.com: al-Būzīdī received the secret from al-Wakīlī and succeeded him at the zawiya on Jabal Kirkar.
(Shādhiliyya) tarajm.com: Ibn Yallas took the way second from al-Būzīdī, who authorised him to guide.
(Shādhiliyya) tarajm.com: Ibn Yallas took the way first from Muḥammad al-Hibrī.
(Shādhiliyya) Wikipedia: after Ibn Yallas died in 1927 Aḥmad al-ʿAlawī named al-Hāshimī his deputy for the Middle East.
(Shādhiliyya) Wikipedia lists him among al-Hāshimī's four main disciples (relaying Guezzou 2009, not read).
(Shādhiliyya) Wikipedia lists him among al-Hāshimī's four main disciples (relaying Guezzou 2009, not read).
(Shādhiliyya) Wikipedia lists him among al-Hāshimī's four main disciples (relaying Guezzou 2009, not read).
(Shādhiliyya) Wikipedia lists him among al-Hāshimī's four main disciples (relaying Guezzou 2009, not read).
(Shādhiliyya) A German reference, not read in full, lists ʿAdda Bentounès as al-ʿAlawī's first successor after 1934; not read in full.
(Shādhiliyya) Same German reference lists Mahdī Bentounès after ʿAdda; one source.
(Shādhiliyya) Taleb: Ẓāfir al-Madanī is a successor of al-Darqāwī (as relayed by Amrouche).
(Shādhiliyya) Taleb n. 110 (from Abū Zayyān al-Ghārisī, Kanz al-asrār): Masʿūd al-Fāsī succeeded Ẓāfir al-Madanī.
(Shādhiliyya) Youm7: the order's work continued through his sons down to the present shaykh al-Ḥusayn Ḥāmid Salāma al-Rāḍī.
(Shādhiliyya) The order's account (press) gives a chain to al-Shādhilī through al-Ghumārī; the intermediate links are not given in the sources read.
(Shādhiliyya) Al-Watan: the order's chain reaches al-Shādhilī through al-Ghumārī; ʿAlī Jumʿa is its shaykh.
(Shādhiliyya) Al-Watan 16 Sep 2025: ʿAlī Jumʿa appointed Majdī ʿĀshūr general deputy and charged him with leading the order after him (designation, not yet an office).
(Shādhiliyya) The Burhāniyya's own chain places Ibrāhīm al-Disūqī after al-Shādhilī; recorded as the order's account.
(Shādhiliyya) The order's own chain.
(Shādhiliyya) The order's own chain.
(Shādhiliyya) The order's own chain; its page also says he entered the Burhāniyya at about ten through his uncle, and that a teacher later came 'sent by' al-Disūqī.
(Shādhiliyya) The order's page: his son Ibrāhīm led after the founder's death in 1983 and died in 2003.
(Chishtiyya (Chishti order)) The order's traditional account of the Ṣābirī branch's origin; TDV names ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Ṣābir as founder without naming his master.
(Chishtiyya (Chishti order)) The order's traditional account; TDV does not state the link.
(Chishtiyya (Chishti order)) TDV: Fakhr al-Dīn was Kalīmullāh's son.
(Chishtiyya (Chishti order)) TDV: Nūr Muḥammad was a khalifa of Fakhr al-Dīn.
(Chishtiyya (Chishti order)) TDV: Niyāz Aḥmad was a khalifa of Fakhr al-Dīn.
(Chishtiyya (Chishti order)) Sulaymān Taunsawī is placed in Nūr Muḥammad's line in the order's account; not read in an open source.
(Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)) The chain ends at ʿAlī; the step to the Prophet is the standard Sufi assumption and TDV does not spell it out.
(Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)) Listed in the chain Aflākī gives in Manāqib al-ʿārifīn (II, 998), as reported by TDV Mevleviyye. [omits: Abū ʿUthmān al-Maghribī (d. 373/984); Abū l-Qāsim al-Jurjānī]
(Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)) Listed in the chain Aflākī gives in Manāqib al-ʿārifīn (II, 998), as reported by TDV Mevleviyye.
(Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)) Listed in the chain Aflākī gives in Manāqib al-ʿārifīn (II, 998), as reported by TDV Mevleviyye.
(Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)) Listed in the chain Aflākī gives in Manāqib al-ʿārifīn (II, 998), as reported by TDV Mevleviyye.
(Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)) Sipahsālār calls Bahāʾ Walad a disciple of Najm al-Dīn Kubrā.
(Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)) Listed in the chain Aflākī gives in Manāqib al-ʿārifīn (II, 998), as reported by TDV Mevleviyye.
(Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)) Sipahsālār: Bahāʾ Walad descends from Abū Bakr.
(Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)) Shams served Abū Bakr-i Salabāf of Tabriz about fourteen years.
(Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)) Appointed Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn khalīfa after Shams's second disappearance (1247); led about ten years.
(Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)) After Ḥusām al-Dīn's death in 683/1284 Sulṭān Walad followed Karīm al-Dīn b. Baktamur, who died 691/1292.
(Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)) Sulṭān Walad took his father's place in 691/1292 per TDV Sultan Veled.
(Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)) Abāpūsh-i Walī's Çelebi title derives from Muṭahhara Khātūn, daughter of Sulṭān Walad (Sākıb Dede's genealogy).
(Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî)) Father appointed his son shaykh of Karahisar a year before his death.
(Suhrawardiyya) TDV states the chain reaches ʿAlī; the step from the Prophet is implied, not stated.
(Suhrawardiyya) TDV: from Maʿrūf one line goes via al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, the other via the Ahl al-Bayt imams, to ʿAlī. Intermediates between al-Baṣrī and Maʿrūf are not named in this article. [omits: Ḥabīb al-ʿAjamī, Dāwūd al-Ṭāʾī (or Farqad al-Sabakhī in Ibn al-Nadīm's chain)]
(Suhrawardiyya) Same silsila (Hulvī, in TDV).
(Suhrawardiyya) TDV: his uncle Wajīh al-Dīn ʿUmar gave him the khirqa and ijāza and made him chief successor (per Hulvī). Wajīh al-Dīn's own upstream chain is not given in the TDV entries read.
(Suhrawardiyya) TDV: Quṭb al-Dīn-i Abharī was his chief successor and founded the Ebheriyye.
(Suhrawardiyya) TDV Suhreverdiyye continues the line to the grandson Rukn al-Dīn Abū l-Fatḥ (Rukn-i ʿĀlam).
(Suhrawardiyya) TDV Suhreverdiyye: Jalāl al-Dīn Surkh-posh al-Bukhārī was one of Bahāʾ al-Dīn's khalīfas; he built his lodge in Uch.
(Suhrawardiyya) TDV: his grandson Makhdūm-i Jahāniyān (d. 785/1384) revived the Bukhārī line. [omits: Aḥmad Kabīr (Makhdūm's father)]
(Suhrawardiyya) TDV: the Zayniyya descends from the line of Nūr al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Ṣamad; Zayn al-Dīn al-Khwāfī founded it at Herat. The exact step between them is not given in the passage read.
(Suhrawardiyya) TDV: Imām-i Rabbānī received khilāfa through his father ʿAbd al-Aḥad, who belonged to the Bahāʾī (Bahāʾ al-Dīn Zakariyyā) line.
(Kubrawiyya) Second chain, via Ismāʿīl al-Qaṣrī, goes to ʿAlī through Kumayl b. Ziyād.
(Kubrawiyya) Same chain names ʿAbd al-Wāḥid b. Zayd with Kumayl; their order and adjacency are not stated by TDV (chronology makes a direct link doubtful).
(Kubrawiyya) Qaṣrī chain passes through ʿAbd al-Wāḥid; intermediates omitted.
(Rifāʿiyya) Chain via Aḥmad's first shaykh, as TDV gives it: Shiblī → ʿAlī al-ʿAjamī.
(Rifāʿiyya) Chain via Aḥmad's first shaykh, as TDV gives it: al-ʿAjamī → Abū ʿAlī al-Rūdhbārī.
(Rifāʿiyya) Chain via Aḥmad's first shaykh, as TDV gives it: al-Rūdhbārī → Ghulām b. Turkān.
(Rifāʿiyya) Chain via Aḥmad's first shaykh, as TDV gives it: Ghulām b. Turkān → Abū l-Faḍl al-Wāsiṭī.
(Rifāʿiyya) Chain via Aḥmad's uncle, as TDV gives it: Ruwaym → al-Sundūsī.
(Rifāʿiyya) Chain via Aḥmad's uncle, as TDV gives it: al-Sundūsī → al-Karmazī.
(Rifāʿiyya) Chain via Aḥmad's uncle, as TDV gives it: al-Karmazī → Abū Saʿīd al-Najjār.
(Rifāʿiyya) Chain via Aḥmad's uncle, as TDV gives it: Abū Saʿīd al-Najjār → Abū Manṣūr al-Ṭayyib.
(Rifāʿiyya) Chain via Aḥmad's uncle, as TDV gives it: Abū Manṣūr al-Ṭayyib → Manṣūr al-Baṭāʾiḥī.
(Rifāʿiyya) TDV (Rifâiyye, branch 1): Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī al-Ḥarīrī b. Abī l-Ḥasan is listed among the disciples of Abū l-Ḥasan al-Ḥarīrī. Recorded separately because the sources distinguish the two men.
(Rifāʿiyya) TDV: Seyyid Hamza er-Rifâî in Medina, a descendant of Aḥmad, granted Kenan Rifâî icazet and hilafet.
(Rifāʿiyya) She began Qur'an and Mesnevî study at Ayverdi's wish and never met Rifâî herself (Sargut foundation pages).
(Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)) TDV Shaʿbāniyya: Shaʿbān's silsila runs back through Cemâl-i Halvetî and Yaḥyā; direct step not spelled out. Curry's reading of Hulvî: omits Muhammad el-Erzincânî.
(Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)) Sünbül Sinān's shaykh was Cemâl-i Halvetî, whom he succeeded.
(Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)) First link below Yiğitbaşı in the Cerrâhî chain.
(Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)) Chain as listed in TDV Cerrâhiyye.
(Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)) Chain as listed.
(Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)) Chain as listed.
(Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)) Chain as listed.
(Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)) Chain as listed.
(Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)) Chain as listed.
(Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)) Chain as listed.
(Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)) Chain as listed.
(Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye)) Köstendilī is named Nūr al-Dīn's shaykh.
(Tijāniyya) TDV: in Medina he received the Sammāniyya licence from Ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Sammān.
(Tijāniyya) TDV: became a Tijānī in Fez and carried the order to the ʿIdaw ʿAlī of Mauritania.
(Tijāniyya) TDV: Mawlūd Fāl, a khalīfa of Muḥammad al-Ḥāfiẓ, was among those who spread the Tijāniyya in Senegal.
(Tijāniyya) Wikipedia (tertiary): Mawlūd Fāl initiated ʿUmar Tal; TDV mentions him among key West African figures.
(Tijāniyya) TDV: ʿUmar trained under Muḥammad al-Ghālī in Mecca, who appointed him khalīfa c. 1829.
(Tijāniyya) Wikipedia (tertiary): father and son; Ibrāhīm's initiation chain not confirmed.
(Tijāniyya) Algerian state press (APS, 6 Aug 2020) calls Cheikh Mohamed Ben Ali El-Arabi the calife général of the Tijānī confraternity at Aïn Madhi (Laghouat). Kinship and the intermediate holders of the office are not stated.
(Bā ʿAlawiyya (Ṭarīqa ʿAlawiyya of Ḥaḍramawt)) In the Amūdiyya account the khirqa mission passes from Muḥammad al-Faqīh to his student ʿAbd Allāh al-Ṣāliḥ; ʿAbd Allāh is named as teacher of the Amūdī, not stated as teacher of Muḥammad b. ʿAlī.
(Bā ʿAlawiyya (Ṭarīqa ʿAlawiyya of Ḥaḍramawt)) TDV Bâ Alevî names ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Saqqāf, d. 810/1407 or 819/1416, as great ancestor of Āl al-Saqqāf and the ʿAydarūs; a secondary summary of the article calls him the son; generational gap unresolved.
(Bā ʿAlawiyya (Ṭarīqa ʿAlawiyya of Ḥaḍramawt)) Wikipedia names al-Saqqāf as a Hijaz teacher of Ḥabīb ʿUmar; not checked against a specialist source.
(Bā ʿAlawiyya (Ṭarīqa ʿAlawiyya of Ḥaḍramawt)) al-Jifrī's official biography: he studied Bukhārī, Muslim and the Iḥyāʾ with al-Saqqāf.
(Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings) Ibn al-Jazarī: the Companion read the Qurʾān to the Messenger of God (the isnād ends here in each chain).
(Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings) ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Sāʾib read to Ubayy b. Kaʿb and ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb.
(Schools of law and ḥadīth) Siyar lists al-Bāqir among those Abū Ḥanīfa narrated from; TDV says Abū Ḥanīfa held scholarly discussions with Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq.
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines) Third Imam in the Twelver list (d. 61/680).
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines) Imams in Zaydī doctrine are Ḥasanī or Ḥusaynī claimants; al-Rassī (d. 246/860) is the main systematiser.
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines) TDV Hasenîler gives the line through al-Nafs al-Zakiyya to al-Ḥasan al-Dākhil; Filâlîler says only 'descendants' of al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī with no named generations.
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines) Later Filālī sharīfs (Mawlāy ʿAlī al-Sharīf, 15th c.; Sharīf b. ʿAlī from the 1630s) lead to al-Rashīd (took Fez 1666, d. 1672), then his brother Ismāʿīl (1672-1727).
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines) Brother (listed under 'family').
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines) The Bā ʿAlawī sayyids are traced to al-Ḥusayn through Aḥmad b. ʿĪsā; TDV Bā Alevî as read links the line to ʿAlī through Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq and does not give the intermediates. Treated as the family's own genealogy.
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines) Aḥmad's son ʿUbaydallāh (ʿAbd Allāh), born in Basra.
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines) ʿAlawī b. ʿUbaydallāh, d. 383/993, Sumul, Ḥaḍramawt.
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines) TDV as read names only two links across about 140 years, so intermediate generations are missing from this summary.
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines) Al-Faqīh al-Muqaddam is Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. Muḥammad; father not named in the text read.

Where the sources differ (150)

(Qādiriyya)
- TDV Kādiriyye records a second Qādirī chain, the 'silsile-i müzehheb', running from Maʿrūf through Dāwūd al-Ṭāʾī, Ḥabīb al-ʿAjamī and al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī to ʿAlī.
(Qādiriyya)
- TDV Maʿrūf: 'all sources' state that he became Muslim through ʿAlī al-Riḍā; the report that he was al-Riḍā's doorkeeper also appears in Sunni sources and is generally accepted in Shiʿi circles.
- TDV Maʿrūf reports that al-Dhahabī did not accept the doorkeeper report, suggesting the doorkeeper was another man named Maʿrūf; that Ibn Taymiyya held Maʿrūf never left Karkh and denied that he became Muslim through al-Riḍā or took a khirqa from him; and that some Shiʿi authors doubt the link because early Shiʿi ṭabaqāt works do not name him. TDV adds that sources do record Maʿrūf leaving Karkh.
- al-Qushayrī and Jāmī give clientship (mawlā / his father as doorkeeper), not an initiation; Trimingham: 'said to have adopted Islam at his hands'.
(Qādiriyya)
- Chain 'ʿAlī, Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, Ḥabīb al-ʿAjamī, Dāwūd al-Ṭāʾī, Maʿrūf' (silsile-i müzehheb) as transmitted by the order.
- TDV Hasan-ı Basrî records the belief (inanılır) that al-Ḥasan received the khirqa from ʿAlī or from Kumayl b. Ziyād.
- Trimingham (App. A): the oldest silsilas (Ibn al-Nadīm; al-Qushayrī) do not name ʿAlī; he enters Sufi chains only in the 5th/11th century.
(Qādiriyya)
- Order's lineage: Dāwūd was Ḥabīb al-ʿAjamī's disciple.
- TDV Dāwūd: his murshid is said (söylenir) to have been Ḥabīb al-Rāʿī; the article does not name Ḥabīb al-ʿAjamī.
- Jāmī (Nafaḥāt pp. 44-45) names Dāwūd's guide as Ḥabīb al-Rāʿī; the atlas's Ḥabīb al-ʿAjamī is the figure the Trimingham chart and the Siyar attach.
(Qādiriyya)
- TDV Maʿrūf reports that Ibn Taymiyya and al-Dhahabī denied that Maʿrūf kept company with Dāwūd, and that some Shiʿi authors say they never met; TDV also notes that ʿAṭṭār and earlier sources record a meeting.
- al-Dhahabī, Siyar (entry Maʿrūf al-Karkhī): reports al-Sulamī's claim that Maʿrūf accompanied Dāwūd al-Ṭāʾī and judges it unproven (lam yaṣiḥḥa).
(Qādiriyya)
- Trimingham (p. 42): no sign of Sufi training before he attended Ḥammād al-Dabbās's school; al-Wasiṭī (Tiryāq) says he never propagated a khirqa himself.
(Qādiriyya)
- Initiation through al-Dabbās (sources cited by TDV).
- Shaykhly khirqa from al-Muḥarrimī, with the chain shared from Maʿrūf onward.
(Qādiriyya)
- al-Wasiṭī via Trimingham: only ʿAbd al-Razzāq and ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz of his sons took up the Way; his khirqa spread after his death.
(Qādiriyya)
- Some accounts make Ḥājjī Bayram his first murshid (hence Bayramiyya); according to TDV (read in summary only), Ḥājjī Bayram instead sent him to Ḥamawī.
(Qādiriyya)
- Some silsilenames name the Khalwati Ahmed Efendi as his murshid; he also received an ijāzatnāme from Aḥmad-i Miṣrī in Egypt.
(Qādiriyya)
- Marcus-Sells rejects describing al-Mukhtar al-Kunti as 'pole' or 'head' of the Qadiriyya in West Africa, calling those terms anachronistic; she says he and his son saw themselves as following a path of awrad inherited from earlier figures.
(Qādiriyya)
- TDV also reports he later studied with the Qādirī shaykh Sīdiyā in Mauritania, who named him khalīfa for the Wolof region.
(Qādiriyya)
- Oral tradition: al-Zayla'ī handed him the Qādiriyya.
- Samatar: visit to the tomb and symbolic ijāza to preach.
(Qādiriyya)
- Mounir's side, as reported: his father named him spiritual heir at the commemoration of Hamza's death (le360, 13 Aug 2025); on 17 Aug he spoke of leadership as a spiritual mission, with unity and consultation first.
- Assembly of 50+ representatives at Madagh, reported 18 Aug 2025: collegial direction as the governance model, structure not described.
- Muʿād's side, as reported: after Mounir's communiqué of 13 Aug 2025 ceding leadership, a council at Madagh (reported 2 Feb 2026) adopted an attestation recognising Muʿād's legitimacy to lead the order spiritually.
(Qādiriyya)
- Mounir's side: he was the named heir (le360, 13 Aug 2025); he then ceded the role to his brother by communiqué.
- Muʿād's side: the Madagh council's attestation recognises his legitimacy (h24info, 2 Feb 2026).
(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.
(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.
(Naqshbandiyya)
- Buehler: biographical sources say Qāsim could not have met Salmān; Shāh Walī Allāh's reply is 'God knows best' (as reported by Buehler).
(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.
(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.
(Naqshbandiyya)
- Uwaysī transmission (Pārsā, as reported by TDV).
- Order's own chain lists Kharaqānī directly after Bisṭāmī.
(Naqshbandiyya)
- Yaʿqūb-i Charkhī (Risāla-yi Unsiyya) inserted Abū l-Qāsim Gurgānī/Kurragānī (d. 450/1058) between Kharaqānī and Fārmadhī.
(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.
(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.
(Naqshbandiyya)
- Trimingham gives Maḥmūd Anjīr Faghnawī's death as 643/1245 or 670/1272, not 685/1286.
(Naqshbandiyya)
- Jāmī: Muḥammad Bābā al-Sammāsī accepted Naqshband as a son and Amīr Kulāl taught him the outward manners (Nafaḥāt p. 437 ff.).
(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).
(Naqshbandiyya)
- Buehler: Sirhindī denied Uways ṣuḥba with the Prophet (Maktūbāt 1.58.35) yet identifies himself as an Uwaysī (Maktūbāt 3.87).
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(Naqshbandiyya)
- Gazete Vatan reports Ahmet Fikri Doğan as the new shaykh instead.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(Naqshbandiyya)
- Amīn Kuftārū died in 1938 (most sources seen).
- One infobox gives 1983.
(Shādhiliyya)
- Some versions of the order's chain are shorter: Hasan, Jābir, Saʿīd al-Ghazwānī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Madanī, Ibn Mashīsh (per order-affiliated blogs); another list runs Nūr al-Dīn ʿAlī, Fakhr al-Dīn, Taqī al-Dīn al-Fuqayr, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān.
(Shādhiliyya)
- TDV Şâzeliyye names no Abū Madyan link for the chain and mentions Abū Madyan only as the subject of a qaṣīda commentary by Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh and Ibn ʿArabī.
(Shādhiliyya)
- The forum silsila inserts al-Ḥājj Muḥammad al-Hibrī (father) between al-Wakīlī and Muḥammad al-Hibrī.
(Shādhiliyya)
- The article on Wikipedia gives the full name Ṭarīqa al-Burhāniyya al-Disūqiyya al-Shādhiliyya but no chain.
(Shādhiliyya)
- No other claimant to the headship of this branch was found in the public sources read.
(Chishtiyya (Chishti order))
- TDV Hasan-ı Basrî records the belief (inanılır) that al-Ḥasan received the khirqa from ʿAlī or from Kumayl b. Ziyād.
- Trimingham (App. A): the oldest silsilas (Ibn al-Nadīm; al-Qushayrī) do not name ʿAlī; he enters Sufi chains only in the 5th/11th century.
- Böwering (Iranica): the Indian Chishti chain from Ibrahim b. Adham to the Prophet via al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī and ʿAlī is 'historically flawed'.
(Chishtiyya (Chishti order))
- Böwering (Iranica): Muʿīn al-Dīn's association with the Chishti tradition 'rests on the tenuous link of Ḵᵛāja ʿOṯmān alone'.
(Chishtiyya (Chishti order))
- Böwering (Iranica): Shah Fakhr al-Dīn (d. 1199/1784-85) was 'a significant indirect successor' of Shah Kalīm-Allāh Jahānābādī.
(Chishtiyya (Chishti order))
- Dewan Zainul Abedin Ali Khan: holds the office as sajjāda-nishīn; the CEO of the government-appointed Dargah Committee said in 2017 that he continues in the office under the Durgah Khawaja Saheb Act, 1955 (reported by Deccan Herald, India TV).
- His brother Syed Alauddin Alimi (April 2017) announced that he had removed him from the spiritual headship. The Quint reads the episode as a quarrel between brothers.
- Generation count: Wikipedia gives '22nd generation' and '29th successor' in different places; not reconciled.
(Chishtiyya (Chishti order))
- Dewan Zainul Abedin Ali Khan: holds the office as sajjāda-nishīn; the CEO of the government-appointed Dargah Committee said in 2017 that he continues in the office under the Durgah Khawaja Saheb Act, 1955 (reported by Deccan Herald, India TV).
- His brother Syed Alauddin Alimi (April 2017) announced that he had removed him from the spiritual headship. The Quint reads the episode as a quarrel between brothers.
- Generation count: Wikipedia gives '22nd generation' and '29th successor' in different places; not reconciled.
(Chishtiyya (Chishti order))
- A Wikiwand page (undated) names Syed Mohammad Faiz Nizami as current sajjāda-nishīn of the Nizamuddin dargāh; uncorroborated.
(Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî))
- Aflākī's chain, as reported by TDV Mevleviyye, passes from ʿAlī to al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī.
- TDV Hasan-ı Basrî records the belief (inanılır) that al-Ḥasan received the khirqa from ʿAlī or from Kumayl b. Ziyād.
- Trimingham (App. A): the oldest silsilas (Ibn al-Nadīm; al-Qushayrī) do not name ʿAlī; he enters Sufi chains only in the 5th/11th century.
(Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî))
- Jāmī (Nafaḥāt pp. 44-45) names Dāwūd's guide as Ḥabīb al-Rāʿī; the atlas's Ḥabīb al-ʿAjamī is the figure the Trimingham chart and the Siyar attach.
(Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî))
- al-Dhahabī, Siyar (entry Maʿrūf al-Karkhī): reports al-Sulamī's claim that Maʿrūf accompanied Dāwūd al-Ṭāʾī and judges it unproven (lam yaṣiḥḥa).
(Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî))
- Sipahsālār places Bahāʾ Walad in a chain back to Aḥmad al-Ghazālī (TDV Mevlānā).
(Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî))
- Reported tradition, but TDV adds that Bahāʾ Walad did not function as a Kubrawī shaykh.
- Algar (Iranica 'Kobrawiya'): Jāmī's notion that Bahāʾ al-Dīn Walad was Najm al-Dīn Kubrā's pupil 'must be dismissed' (citing Lewis, pp. 30-33).
(Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî))
- TDV Mevlānā describes Burhān al-Dīn as Rūmī's spiritual guide after his father's death; the Bahāʾ Walad article does not mention him.
(Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî))
- Sipahsālār: descent from Abū Bakr (TDV notes Bahāʾ Walad's descent through his mother).
- Aflākī: the lineage reaches ʿAlī through the mother; TDV reports that later scholars consider the claim of a Khwārazmshāh mother unsupported.
(Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî))
- Jāmī (Nafaḥāt pp. 535-539): Shams's teachers are uncertain: Abū Bakr Sallābāf of Tabriz, Rukn al-Dīn Sanjāsī, or Bābā Kamāl Jandī.
(Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî))
- TDV Mevleviyye chronology table dates Sulṭān Walad's term from 683/1284 while its text says 691/1292; the two disagree.
(Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî))
- Sākıb Dede: Divane Mehmed descends from Süleyman Shah who married Muṭahhara Khātūn.
- A Konya MS genealogy (869/1464) gives Abāpūsh-i Walī as grandson of Mehmed Pasha, with a different line; Aflākī does not record the marriage.
(Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî))
- Generation count: Dār al-Masnavi says 22nd generation; another site says 20th great-grandson (22nd generation).
(Mawlawiyya (Mevlevî))
- The order's own account (Dār al-Masnavi): all legitimate Mevlevi shaykhs are to be affiliated with him through the International Mevlana Foundation.
- The same account notes that independent Mevlevi groups do not recognize this authority.
(Suhrawardiyya)
- The other route runs through the Ahl al-Bayt imams, left unnamed in TDV.
- Trimingham (App. A): the oldest silsilas (Ibn al-Nadīm; al-Qushayrī) do not name ʿAlī; he enters Sufi chains only in the 5th/11th century.
(Suhrawardiyya)
- Fasīḥ Aḥmad-i Khwāfī adds Muḥammad al-Ghazālī between Nassāj and Aḥmad al-Ghazālī.
(Suhrawardiyya)
- Some sources attribute the order to Abū l-Najīb himself; on that reading Ebheriyye and Kübreviyye would be Suhrawardī branches.
(Suhrawardiyya)
- The same TDV entry, citing Jāmī (Nafaḥāt), names Ammār-i Yāsir al-Bitlīsī and Ismāʿīl Qaṣrī as the shaykhs who trained Kubrā. TDV Necmeddîn-i Kübrâ calls Ammār a khalīfa of Abū l-Najīb, so on that reading the chain reaches Abū l-Najīb through Ammār (see Kubrawiyya).
(Suhrawardiyya)
- The Bahāʾ al-Dīn entry names a different companion, Jalāl al-Dīn-i Tabrīzī, as a khalīfa of Shihāb al-Dīn who parted from him at Nishapur.
(Suhrawardiyya)
- Shah Mahmood Qureshi: Wikipedia describes him as the sajjāda-nishīn of the Bahāʾ al-Dīn Zakariyyā (and Rukn-i ʿĀlam) shrines, whose hereditary custodians claim descent from Zakariyyā; Dawn (24 Aug 2023) calls him 'the shrine caretaker'.
- Mureed Hussain Qureshi (his brother): Dunya News (undated; excerpt) reports that he announced Shah Mahmood's removal from the gaddi, saying he had earlier appointed him after their father's death; Dawn (24 Aug 2023) reports him overseeing the ʿurs and in disagreement with Shah Mahmood over the shrine.
(Suhrawardiyya)
- Shah Mahmood Qureshi: Wikipedia describes him as the sajjāda-nishīn of the Bahāʾ al-Dīn Zakariyyā (and Rukn-i ʿĀlam) shrines, whose hereditary custodians claim descent from Zakariyyā; Dawn (24 Aug 2023) calls him 'the shrine caretaker'.
- Mureed Hussain Qureshi (his brother): Dunya News (undated; excerpt) reports that he announced Shah Mahmood's removal from the gaddi, saying he had earlier appointed him after their father's death; Dawn (24 Aug 2023) reports him overseeing the ʿurs and in disagreement with Shah Mahmood over the shrine.
(Kubrawiyya)
- Jāmī (Nafaḥāt, pp. 42–43) names Dāwūd al-Ṭāʾī as the shaykh Maʿrūf kept company with and gives al-Riḍā only as the master of Maʿrūf's father; Trimingham's Appendix A chart also shows Dāwūd al-Ṭāʾī (d. 781) beside the ʿAlid line.
(Kubrawiyya)
- TDV Necmeddîn-i Kübrâ: Kubrā's chain runs through his shaykh Ammār Yāsir and Abū l-Najīb to Maʿrūf al-Karkhī; Kubrā's own works name only Ammār.
- Fasīḥ Aḥmad-i Khwāfī (Mujmal-i Faṣīḥī, II, 319), as reported by TDV, records a silsila in which Kubrā benefited from Abū l-Najīb directly. The same TDV entry, citing Jāmī, names Ammār and Ismāʿīl Qaṣrī as the shaykhs who trained him (see Suhrawardiyya).
- Trimingham (1971, p. 55): ʿAmmār was one teacher, but Kubrā's real training took place under Ismāʿīl al-Qaṣrī, who gave him the khirqa of tabarruk.
(Kubrawiyya)
- TDV: the accounts of Iqbāl Sīstānī (relaying Simnānī) and Kamāl al-Dīn Khwārazmī of Kubrā's early training differ; TDV says it cannot be decided which is right, Fritz Meier judged Sīstānī's the more plausible, and both name Rūzbihān, Ammār and Qaṣrī.
- Some sources (al-Zabīdī, Itḥāf al-aṣfiyāʾ, as cited by TDV) trace Kubrā's silsila through Qaṣrī, ʿAbd al-Wāḥid b. Zayd and Kumayl b. Ziyād to ʿAlī.
- Trimingham (1971, p. 55) calls the khirqa from al-Qaṣrī a khirqa of tabarruk (of blessing).
(Kubrawiyya)
- Majd al-Dīn is omitted from the silsila as he died before Kubrā; some sources place him between Kubrā and ʿAlī Lālā.
(Kubrawiyya)
- Trimingham (1971, p. 56, n. 4 and chart): most derivative branches stem from the line of Majd al-Dīn al-Baghdādī; the chart does not make clear whether ʿAlī Lālā is drawn from Kubrā directly or through Majd.
(Kubrawiyya)
- Trimingham (1971, p. 57) dates Khuttalānī's death to 826/1423; the atlas figure has 827/1424 (TDV).
(Kubrawiyya)
- TDV Nurbahşiyye: a fellow disciple dreamt of a light descending on Sayyid Muḥammad and spreading to the others; Khuttalānī then named him Nūrbakhsh. He read the dream as a sign that he was the Mahdī, and his shaykh is recorded as supporting that reading; some sources say it was Khuttalānī who convinced him. His followers later differed, some taking 'mahdī' in its lexical sense (one who guides).
- TDV Necmeddîn-i Kübrâ: according to the sources, the Nūrbakhshiyya regards Khuttalānī as one who confirmed Nūrbakhsh rather than as its source.
(Kubrawiyya)
- TDV Zehebiyye (a cross-reference entry): a Kubrawī branch, the Kubrawiyya itself being listed among the Suhrawardī branches, 'attributed to' Barzishābādī (d. 872/1468).
- TDV Necmeddîn-i Kübrâ: Barzishābādī continued Khuttalānī's line without doctrinal change; the fully Shiʿi Dhahabiyya appeared about four generations later, mainly in western Iran. TDV finds no sign that Barzishābādī or his mostly Sunni khalīfas were Shiʿi, and suggests the branch took a distinct Shiʿi form through Ghulām ʿAlī Nīshābūrī.
(Rifāʿiyya)
- Jāmī (Nafaḥāt, pp. 105–108): Ruwaym is called a companion and peer of al-Junayd, though he presented himself as his pupil; Anṣārī ranks him above al-Junayd.
(Rifāʿiyya)
- Shaʿrānī (Ṭabaqāt, Lawāqiḥ al-anwār, l.5788–5790) makes Muḥammad al-Shunbukī the shaykh of Manṣūr al-Baṭāʾiḥī; Trimingham (1971, p. 263, summarising al-Wāsiṭī's Tiryāq) lists Manṣūr's silsilas as: hereditary to al-Junayd; via Maʿrūf al-Karkhī and the ʿAlid line; and via Abū Bakr al-Hawāzanī al-Baṭāʾiḥī to Sahl al-Tustarī, Dhū l-Nūn, Isrāfīl and ʿAlī. The Ruwaym → Sundūsī → Karmazī → Najjār → Ṭayyib route of the first pass is not in either.
(Rifāʿiyya)
- Ibn Khallikan (Wafayāt al-aʿyān, entry Ibn al-Rifāʿī) says Aḥmad had no offspring (ʿaqib) and that the descendants who inherit the shaykhdom are his brother's; Trimingham (1971, p. 38) repeats this and adds that Aḥmad's sister's son ʿAlī b. ʿUthmān succeeded him. TDV and Trimingham's Appendix H both call al-Ṣayyād a grandson (ḥafīd) of Aḥmad.
(Rifāʿiyya)
- Two men of the same name are in the record. TDV (Rifâiyye, branch 1) separates Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī al-Ḥarīrī (d. 620/1223, a grandson of Aḥmad through a daughter, founder of the Ḥarīriyya) from his disciple Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī al-Ḥarīrī b. Abī l-Ḥasan (d. 645/1247), and says some authors mixed them up. Trimingham (1971, p. 39 and App. H) knows only the second, d. Busra 645/1248, and states no kinship. The first pass gave the second man's role under the first man's dates.
(Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye))
- Trimingham (1971, p. 74 and chart) gives Muḥammad Nūr al-Khalwatī (= Akhī Mehmed al-Khwārizmī) a death date of 1350, against 780/1378-79 in the atlas (TDV), and has Ibrāhīm al-Zāhid die between 690 and 700/1291-1300.
(Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye))
- Some sources name Muḥammad b. Nūr al-Bālisī as ʿUmar's shaykh, or treat Zāhid-i Gīlānī or Yaḥyā Shirvānī as the order's pīr rather than ʿUmar.
(Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye))
- Trimingham (1971, p. 77, n. 2): according to some sources Yaḥyā-i Shirwānī was Ibrāhīm Gülsheni's successor at Baku; Evliya Çelebi writes that ʿUmar Rūshenī and Gülsheni were both successors of Yaḥyā. Trimingham's chart dates Yaḥyā d. c. 1460 (atlas 868/1463-64, TDV).
(Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye))
- TDV Halvetiyye instead says Habīb Qarāmānī's khalīfa Cemâleddin İshak Karamânî (Cemal Halife, d. 933/1527) took the line to Istanbul; whether he is the same man as Cemâl-i Halvetî (d. 899/1494) is not settled in the pages read.
- Curry, reading Hulvî's Lemezât (Table 1, p. 302): the primary chain runs Yahyâ-yı Şirvânî (21), Muhammad el-Erzincânî (22), Cemâl el-Halvetî (23).
(Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye))
- TDV gives Nūr al-Dīn d. 1133/1721 but his shaykh d. 1143/1730; the dates cannot both be right.
(Khalwatiyya (Halvetiyye))
- TDV Bekriyye (Halvetiyye) says only that his silsila reaches the Shaʿbāniyya through Qarabash Walī.
(Tijāniyya)
- TDV: al-Tijānī says the litanies were taught to him by the Prophet in a dream (rüya); TDV elsewhere calls the event a spiritual unveiling. Members date the order's founding to 1782.
- The order's own literature (e.g. ʿAlī Ḥarāzim's Jawāhir al-maʿānī) describes the meeting as in a waking state (yaqẓatan), not in sleep. This wording is not in the TDV entry and was not read in an open source for this atlas.
- TDV: he first taught as a Khalwatī shaykh after receiving khilāfa from Maḥmūd al-Kurdī; Ottoman Sufi sources list the Tijāniyya as a Khalwatī branch, while ʿAlī Ḥarāzim records that Khalwatī chain as taken only for blessing (tabarrukan) and the order's sources begin the silsila with the Prophet and al-Tijānī.
- TDV: in Fez the scholar Ibn Kīrān rejected his claim to be a shaykh. TDV also reports, from his disciples' books, that he saw himself as heir to the stations of quṭb, quṭb al-aqṭāb and khatm al-wilāya (ideas TDV traces to Ibn ʿArabī), that ulema criticised him for this, and that he answered them forcefully.
- Trimingham (1971, p. 107, citing Jawāhir al-maʿānī i. 43) quotes the order's account as permission given "in a waking and not sleeping state", which supports the reading attributed to ʿAlī Ḥarāzim above; he places the call at Tlemcen in 1196/1782 and the final fatḥ at Abū Samghūn in 1200/1786, where TDV puts the unveiling at Abū Samghūn in 1196/1782.
(Tijāniyya)
- The order's own Jawāhir al-maʿānī names Maḥmūd al-Kurdī al-Miṣrī as al-Tijānī's shaykh in the isnād of one litany, so the contact is attested in the order's own text; Trimingham notes only that al-Tijānī took the Khalwatī line at first for his chain.
(Tijāniyya)
- Trimingham (1971, pp. 109-10): on ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā's death the leadership went to Aḥmad's son Muḥammad al-Ṣaghīr, then back to ʿAlī's line; his chart numbers al-Ṣaghīr among the heads and lists al-Kabīr only as a son. The atlas (TDV) has al-Kabīr leading ʿAin Māḍī first.
(Tijāniyya)
- Echorouk (Algerian daily), as summarised in a short extract: Sheikh Ali Tidjani is the general caliph of the brotherhood in the Aïn Madhi area. Undated, not read in full.
- The Algerian state, in an APS report of 18 May 2026 on a Senegalese visit, speaks of 'the seat of the general caliphate of the Tijaniyya' at Aïn Madhi without naming its holder. Moroccan sources describe the Fez zāwiya as the order's spiritual centre. Each is that side's own account.
(Bā ʿAlawiyya (Ṭarīqa ʿAlawiyya of Ḥaḍramawt))
- TDV Amûdiyye cites the Silsila quddūsiyya: Abū Madyan told his deputy Muḥammad al-Faqīh to go to Ḥaḍramawt; he fell ill in Mecca and sent his student ʿAbd Allāh al-Ṣāliḥ, through whom Abū ʿĪsā al-ʿAmūdī joined. TDV does not say here that this Muḥammad al-Faqīh is Muḥammad b. ʿAlī.
- TDV Bâ Alevî mentions Muḥammad b. ʿAlī's admiration for Abū Madyan and no khirqa or envoys.
- Harīrīzāde (Tibyān) repeats the story but found no chain for the Amūdiyya; al-Zabīdī gives a chain via ʿAbd al-Razzāq al-Marzūqī (both as reported in TDV Amûdiyye).
- Trimingham (1971, p. 15 n. 1): Muḥammad b. ʿAlī was initiated into the Way deriving from Abū Madyan Shuʿayb and is said to have been the first to introduce Sufi discipline (tahkīm) into Ḥaḍramawt; dates 574/1178-653/1255. Jāmī (pp. 612–615) dates Abū Madyan's death 590.
- Ho (2006, p. 41): Abū Madyan's student al-Muqʿad died in Mecca; before dying he instructed ʿAbd Allāh al-Maghribī to invest the First Jurist with the cloak and appoint him (takhkīm) as representative of Abū Madyan's pathway.
(Bā ʿAlawiyya (Ṭarīqa ʿAlawiyya of Ḥaḍramawt))
- Ho (2006, p. 41): ʿAbd Allāh al-Maghribī was instructed by Abū Madyan's student al-Muqʿad before the latter's death at Mecca.
(Bā ʿAlawiyya (Ṭarīqa ʿAlawiyya of Ḥaḍramawt))
- Death date 810/1407 versus 819/1416, both given in the same TDV article.
(Bā ʿAlawiyya (Ṭarīqa ʿAlawiyya of Ḥaḍramawt))
- Trimingham (1971, p. 73) says Abū Bakr al-ʿAydarūs "acquired a Kubrawī silsila" and describes the ʿAydarūsiyya as a restricted lineal ṭarīqa, a derivative of the ʿAlawī line.
(Bektāshiyya)
- TDV: earlier sources (Elvan Çelebi, Eflākī, Aşıkpaşazade) show him as a khalīfa of the Vefāʾī leader Baba İlyas of the 1239-40 Babaî revolt; TDV argues he probably did not found the order that bears his name.
- Trimingham: relation of Hājjī Bektāsh to the order named for him is 'tenuous'; the Bektāshī system proper derives from Balım Sultan.
(Bektāshiyya)
- The identity of Hacı Bektaş's successor is debated between the Çelebi and Babagan branches to this day (Gümüşoğlu 2022 abstract excerpt). Çelebis claim descent from Hacı Bektaş and an office hereditary at least from 1750 (Trimingham); Babagan (Yol evladı) dedes derive from Balım Sultan, an apostolic head chosen by council.
(Bektāshiyya)
- No rival claimant to the Tirana headquarters was found. The Çelebi line at Hacıbektaş (Ulusoy family per a METU dissertation excerpt) is a separate lineage whose present head was not located.
(Kattāniyya)
- Wikipedia (Muhammad al-Kattani) names no Darqāwī, Aḥmadiyya or Idrīsī-Sanūsī teacher; it records only a Shādhilī student, Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm al-Fāsī. No source read supports an Aḥmadiyya root.
(Kattāniyya)
- Dates differ: Wikipedia says the Kattānī family established the ṭarīqa in 1853; Trimingham c. 1850 by 'Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab' (as printed; the Fez zawiya is elsewhere credited to Abū l-Mafākhir Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Wāḥid, d. 1872, in a low-quality listing); Eickelman 1890.
(Layène)
- Wikipedia: the founder is said to have claimed to be the Mahdi, and the community holds him to be the return of the Prophet; it adds that the Layène are open to all Muslims.
- Founding date: Wikipedia 1884; an allAfrica report counts January 2026 as the 146th anniversary of the community's 'Appel', i.e. 1880. Not reconciled.
(Layène)
- Numbering and parentage differ by report: Le Soleil calls him the 7th khalife and son of Seydina Ababacar Laye; Dakaractu the 8th and son of Seydina Issa Laye. No rival claimant found.
(Murīdiyya (Mouride))
- Another academic account says Bamba was also affiliated later with a Tijānī master; a David Robinson essay on Sidiyya Bābā says Bābā discouraged him from pursuing the Tijāniyya. Not read in full.
- No source read mentions a Shādhilī affiliation of Bamba; none is asserted here.
(Murīdiyya (Mouride))
- Wikipedia's text gives Abdou Khadr 1989-1990, its reference list 1988-1989.
(Niʿmatullāhiyya)
- Trimingham classes the order as keeping Shīʿī orthodoxy in Iran (via the Gunābādī) and as the most active order in Iran; the date and manner of the order's Shīʿī turn were not found in sources read.
(Niʿmatullāhiyya)
- Iranica (summary): the Munawwar ʿAlī-Shāhī line has the strongest claim to the main Niʿmatullāhī descent and its members call themselves exclusively Niʿmatullāhī. The Gunābādī line records Saʿādat ʿAlī Shāh as Raḥmat ʿAlī Shāh's successor. Reported as the branches' own claims; no winner named here.
(Niʿmatullāhiyya)
- No rival claimant to the Nurbakhsh line's headship was found in the sources read; claimants outside it were not searched.
(Niʿmatullāhiyya)
- Peace-mark (Mohebi, 2018, human-rights activists' site): government pressure around Tabandeh's residence affected the choice of a successor and divided the order. No claimants named; no rival to Jazbi located in sources read.
- As reported: Amnesty (2011) links the arrests of Gunābādī dervishes to the Supreme Leader's Oct 2010 speech on 'false mysticism'; Wikipedia's Tabandeh article reports over 300 Sufis arrested after the Feb 2018 protests and Tabandeh held under house arrest for two years until his death. Reported attributions, not our finding.
(Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings)
- Ibn al-Jazarī also reports that Ismāʿīl b. Jaʿfar read to Abū Jaʿfar himself, noting that some of his own scholars (ḥuffāẓ) record this.
(Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings)
- Ibn al-Jazarī: it is also said that Abū Jaʿfar read to Zayd b. Thābit himself, a possibility he allows because Abū Jaʿfar was brought as a child to Umm Salama, who touched his head and prayed for him.
(Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings)
- Ibn al-Jazarī adds that al-Bazzī also read to Abū l-Ikhrīṭ himself, to ʿIkrima b. Sulaymān and to ʿAbd Allāh b. Ziyād.
- al-Bazzī's own teachers did not include al-Qawwās directly: Ghāyat entry, al-Dhahabī entry and al-Dānī's isnād route him through ʿIkrima b. Sulaymān, Abū l-Ikhrīṭ and ʿAbdallāh b. Ziyād to al-Qusṭ.
(Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings)
- ʿAbdallāh b. al-Sāʾib read the Qurʾān to Ubayy; al-Dhahabī says he only narrated (rawā) from ʿUmar.
(Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings)
- Mujāhid read to Ibn ʿAbbās (al-Dhahabī, al-Dānī); the reading to ʿAbdallāh b. al-Sāʾib is al-Dānī-via-Ghāyat and in al-Dhahabī's Ibn al-Sāʾib entry only.
(Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings)
- Whether Abū ʿAmr read to Abū l-ʿĀliya: Ghāyat accepts it 'on the sound view'; al-Dhahabī says it is not established though he was alive for 20+ years of Abū l-ʿĀliya's life; al-Dānī's list of Abū ʿAmr's teachers omits him.
(Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings)
- Ibn al-Jazarī: al-Dānī affirmed that Ibn ʿĀmir read to Abū l-Dardāʾ, and Ibn al-Jazarī holds it sound; the chain through al-Mughīra to ʿUthmān is the one on which he says there is no disagreement.
(Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings)
- Ibn al-Jazarī: ʿarḍan (a full recitation), 'and it is said, the letters only' (al-ḥurūf faqaṭ).
(Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings)
- Ḥumrān heard (samiʿa) from al-Bāqir (al-Dhahabī) rather than read to him; only Ghāyat records a reading.
(Qirāʾāt: the ten canonical readings)
- Ibn al-Jazarī: it is also said that Yaʿqūb read to Abū ʿAmr himself.
(Schools of law and ḥadīth)
- TDV 'Ebû Hanîfe': al-Bāqir is one of the Ahl al-Bayt scholars Abū Ḥanīfa met and exchanged knowledge with; the article does not call him a formal teacher.
- Siyar (al-Dhahabī) names Abū Jaʿfar al-Bāqir in the list of those Abū Ḥanīfa narrated from; Jaʿfar is not in that list, but Siyar's entry on Jaʿfar names Abū Ḥanīfa among Jaʿfar's transmitters.
(Schools of law and ḥadīth)
- Siyar (entry Jaʿfar), through Ibn ʿUqda's isnād, has Abū Ḥanīfa say he saw no one more learned in law than Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad, and tell of forty hard questions he put to Jaʿfar before al-Manṣūr at al-Ḥīra.
- TDV 'Ebû Hanîfe': Abū Ḥanīfa met and exchanged knowledge with Zayd b. ʿAlī, Muḥammad al-Bāqir, ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Ḥasan and Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, and drew on them in matters of creed; the article describes meetings and exchange, not a teacher-student relation.
- TDV 'Ebû Hanîfe' reports the claim, grounded in these meetings with Jaʿfar, that Abū Ḥanīfa turned to Sufism in his last two years and said 'Were it not for the two years, al-Nuʿmān would have perished'; the article judges the claim hard to accept, since Sufism was not yet a separate discipline.
- Ibn Khallikān (entry Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq) tells, from Kushājim, that Jaʿfar asked Abū Ḥanīfa about a pilgrim who broke a gazelle’s incisor; Abū Ḥanīfa answers that he does not know and is corrected. An encounter in which Jaʿfar is the questioner, not a study relation.
- Tahdhīb al-kamāl (entry Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad) lists Abū Ḥanīfa al-Nuʿmān b. Thābit among those who narrated from Jaʿfar; Abū Ḥanīfa’s own entry lists his teachers without Jaʿfar.
(Schools of law and ḥadīth)
- Ibn Khallikān (entry al-Shaybānī): he sat in Abū Ḥanīfa’s circle about two years and then studied fiqh under Abū Yūsuf, so most of his Hanafite fiqh came through Abū Yūsuf. The Siyar basis (completed with Abū Yūsuf) is consistent.
(Schools of law and ḥadīth)
- Twelver tradition: designated by the Prophet; the imam's knowledge is inherited from the Prophet (TDV, 'Câfer es-Sâdık', summarising Shia sources).
(Schools of law and ḥadīth)
- Twelver account, as TDV 'Câfer es-Sâdık' gives it: an Imam's knowledge is ladunnī and comes down from the Prophet, so Jaʿfar's legal views are not reached by ijtihād like other mujtahids'.
- Sunni scholars, as TDV gives them: Jaʿfar is a trustworthy transmitter and a mujtahid with sources (Qurʾān and Sunna first) and methods, not held to be infallible.
- Ibn Khallikān introduces Jaʿfar as “one of the twelve imams according to the Imāmiyya”, i.e. he reports the Twelver doctrine as attributed to a school, while also noting his noble descent and his death in 148.
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines)
- TDV reports a Sunni position that limits the Ahl al-Bayt to the Prophet's wives, and another that includes his descendants and the Banū Hāshim.
- TDV reports the Shiʿi usage naming the five (Prophet, ʿAlī, Fāṭima, Ḥasan, Ḥusayn).
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines)
- Ismāʿīlī account: the imamate passed through Ismāʿīl b. Jaʿfar and his son Muḥammad. TDV İsmâiliyye gives the reasons reported for Mūsā's designation instead of the elder Ismāʿīl: a report that Ismāʿīl died three years before his father, and a report about his conduct and his ties to Abū l-Khaṭṭāb.
- Daftary (modern historian of Ismāʿīlism), reporting the Twelver position: the Twelvers claim a designation (naṣṣ) of Mūsā by al-Ṣādiq, supported by ḥadīths. Daftary adds that it is not certain al-Ṣādiq named anyone after Ismāʿīl. (ch. 3, p. 88)
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines)
- TDV İsnâaşeriyye: after al-Kāẓim's death, the groups who accepted that he had truly died became known as the Qaṭʿiyya.
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines)
- TDV: on al-ʿAskarī's death the Shiʿa split into fourteen or fifteen groups over whether he had a son to succeed him; the group holding that he had a hidden son, the imam and ḥujja, was the first to be called the Imāmiyya.
- TDV: Ibn Bābawayh dates al-Samarrī's death 328/940, the article's main date is 329/941.
- TDV: limiting the Imams to twelve and the doctrine of two successive occultations became dominant towards the end of the 4th/10th century, after which the name Ithnāʿashariyya came into use.
- Sunni account in al-Dhahabī's Siyar (entry 'al-Muntaẓar'): reports the Imāmiyya belief that Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan entered a cellar at nine, does not accept it, and cites Ibn Khallikān's alternatives (entry at seventeen in 275, or in 265). Ibn Khallikān himself gives birth on 15 Shaʿbān 255, matching the Twelver date, and notes Ibn al-Azraq's 256 or 258.
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines)
- Twelver account: Mūsā, not Ismāʿīl, was designated; TDV İsmâiliyye lists the reports given for this (Ismāʿīl's death three years before his father, his conduct, his friendship with Abū l-Khaṭṭāb).
- Ismāʿīlī accounts as TDV gives them: the majority (the Mubārakiyya) held that Ismāʿīl died before his father and the imamate passed to his descendants; a smaller group held that he had not died. TDV also cites a report that he was seen alive in Basra five years after 148/765.
- Ibn ʿInaba (citing Ibn Khidāʿ, the Egyptian genealogist) buries Ismāʿīl at al-Baqīʿ in 133/750, twenty years before al-Ṣādiq; al-Dhahabī dates his death to 138/755. Both place it in his father's lifetime. TDV gives three years before al-Ṣādiq.
- Daftary: calls Ismāʿīl al-Ṣādiq's second son, with the full brother ʿAbd Allāh al-Aftaḥ the eldest surviving son (ch. 3, p. 88), where Ibn ʿInaba and al-Dhahabī call Ismāʿīl the eldest. His genealogical table gives Ismāʿīl's death as 'after 136/754' (p. 507).
- Daftary on the date of Ismāʿīl's death: one source gives 133/750, while others name later years up to 145/762–763. Because the caliph al-Manṣūr (r. from 136/754) is named at his death, Daftary infers 136–145/754–763, possibly later. All of this is in his father's lifetime. (ch. 3, p. 91)
- Daftary on the earliest Ismāʿīlī groups: one group denied Ismāʿīl's death and awaited him as Mahdī (the 'pure Ismāʿīliyya'); the Mubārakiyya accepted his death and recognized his son Muḥammad as imam, and Mubārakiyya was the original name of the movement. (ch. 3, pp. 89–90)
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines)
- Twelver sources, as Daftary relates them: Ismāʿīl was deprived of succession rights because of drinking and disavowed by his father. Daftary regards these reports as probably later fabrications by those who rejected the Ismāʿīlī line. (ch. 3, p. 88)
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines)
- Ibn ʿInaba, relaying the genealogists al-ʿUbaydalī and Abū Naṣr al-Bukhārī: Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl was 'imam of the Maymūniyya', was in Mūsā al-Kāẓim's circle, went to Iraq with Hārūn al-Rashīd, died in Baghdad and is buried there. This differs from the Ismāʿīlī account TDV gives (Medina, then Rayy or Daylam, then Nishapur).
- Daftary: Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl left Medina, went into hiding (hence al-Maktūm), and travelled first to southern Iraq and then to Persia, spending his later years in Khūzistān. Different sources give different final destinations. This differs from TDV (Rayy or Daylam, then Nishapur) and from Ibn ʿInaba (died in Baghdad). (ch. 3, pp. 95–96)
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines)
- Fatimid sources, as TDV Fâtımîler gives them: ʿUbaydallāh b. al-Ḥusayn b. Aḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl b. Jaʿfar. TDV adds that even the earliest Ismāʿīlī sources do not name the hidden imams, and that the Fatimid caliphs published no official genealogy.
- TDV Fâtımîler: in a letter to the Yemen community, ʿUbaydallāh traced his line not to Ismāʿīl but to Ismāʿīl's elder brother ʿAbd Allāh, whom, he said, Jaʿfar had named heir; TDV relates this to the hidden imams' use of cover names. al-Maqrīzī (al-Muqaffā) records a lineage close to the letter's.
- TDV Fâtımîler reports another account in which ʿAbd Allāh b. Maymūn al-Qaddāḥ, not of ʿAlī's line, is named the real founder of the movement and ancestor of the Fatimids; TDV traces the confusion to 'Maymūn' being one of the epithets of Jaʿfar's sons.
- TDV Fâtımîler: the maḥḍar issued by the Abbasids in Baghdad in 402/1011 to contest the Fatimids' descent, which al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā also signed, does not name Maymūn or his son.
- TDV İsmâiliyye: Ḥamdān Qarmaṭ and ʿAbdān withdrew their support over ʿUbaydallāh's claim of 286/899, and the Ismāʿīlī communities of Iraq, Bahrain and western Iran did not accept his imamate, holding to the return of Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl as the qāʾim.
- Qarmaṭī view, as Daftary reports it from al-Nawbakhtī, al-Qummī and others: before 286/899 the great majority of the movement recognized only seven imams, ending with Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl, expected as Qāʾim and Mahdī. Only a small subgroup continued the imamate in his progeny. The Qarmaṭīs of Iraq and Bahrayn held to this and did not accept ʿAbd Allāh's claim. (ch. 3, pp. 96, 99, 117, 120–121)
- Maymūn al-Qaddāḥ account and its critics, as Daftary reports them: Ibn Rizām and Akhū Muḥsin made the non-ʿAlid ʿAbd Allāh b. Maymūn al-Qaddāḥ the founder of Ismāʿīlism and ancestor of the Fatimids. Daftary notes that al-Nawbakhtī, al-Qummī, al-Ṭabarī, ʿArīb b. Saʿd and the 402/1011 manifesto do not name him. Ivanow called it a myth; Massignon, Qazvīnī and Lewis clarified the Qaddāḥ biographies; Stern sees a basis in later Qaddāḥ descendants; Lewis proposes two lines of imams (mustawdaʿ and mustaqarr), a view Daftary says other scholars do not generally accept; Hamdani and de Blois see the official genealogy as a merger of two lines of Jaʿfar's descendants (ʿAbd Allāh and Ismāʿīl). (ch. 3, pp. 101–107)
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines)
- TDV İsmâiliyye: Ismāʿīlīs name ʿAbd Allāh al-Wafī, Aḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Taqī and Ḥusayn b. Aḥmad al-Raḍī as the imams after Muḥammad, and TDV says it is not known with certainty whether they were historical persons. al-Maqrīzī, per TDV Fâtımîler, says these three were called 'hidden in God's essence'.
- Ibn Khallikān reports four attributions of ʿUbaydallāh's descent: from the line of Mūsā al-Kāẓim (Taʾrīkh al-Qayrawān); from Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl; from a line through al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn (as he gives it); or as son of al-Taqī b. al-Wafī b. al-Raḍī, sons of Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl who stayed hidden for fear of the Abbasids. He adds that verifying genealogists reject the claim.
- Ibn ʿInaba: the Abbasid-sponsored manifesto of Baghdad denied the lineage; he finds the critics' reasoning assumes the first Mahdī was a direct son of Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl, which chronology does not allow, and notes that al-Sharīf al-Raḍī affirmed the lineage in verse. He gives two accounts: son of Muḥammad al-Ḥabīb b. Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl, or of Jaʿfar al-Baghīḍ.
- al-Dhahabī lists Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl's descendants through Egypt and reports that a Damascus sharīf, Abū l-Ḥusayn Muḥammad b. ʿAlī (known as Akhū Muḥsin, d. before 400/1009), wrote a book denying ʿUbaydallāh any share in the lineage.
- Daftary on the official Fatimid chain: Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl, ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad (who, he says, later took the surname al-Raḍī), Aḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh, al-Ḥusayn b. Aḥmad, ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Ḥusayn (al-Mahdī). The epithets thus differ from the al-Wafī, al-Taqī, al-Raḍī sequence TDV and Ibn Khallikān give. Daftary notes the Ismāʿīlī sources are reluctant to name these imams and that they used pseudonyms. (ch. 3, p. 100; table, p. 507)
- Fatimid (al-Mahdī's own) account, as Daftary reports it: in his letter to the Yaman community he gives his line as ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn b. Aḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, naming Jaʿfar's son ʿAbd Allāh rather than Ismāʿīl as progenitor, with the imams using the names Mubārak, Maymūn and Saʿīd for concealment. His successors never adopted this as the official genealogy. Al-Muʿizz's epistle explains 'son of Maymūn al-Qaddāḥ' as a code name for ʿAbd Allāh, son of Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl. (ch. 3, pp. 101, 104)
- 402/1011 Baghdad manifesto, as Daftary reports it: sponsored by the Abbasid caliph al-Qādir, signed by ʿAlids and jurists, it denounced the Fatimids' ʿAlid descent as false; it names a Daysān b. Saʿīd as ancestor and does not name Maymūn al-Qaddāḥ. It drew on the account of Ibn Rizām and Akhū Muḥsin (the latter, in Daftary's dating, wrote c. 372/982 and died c. 375/985–986). (ch. 3, pp. 101–103; ch. 4, p. 185)
- Other Ismāʿīlī positions in Daftary: in al-Muʿizz's time some eastern Ismāʿīlīs held that leadership passed to ʿAbd Allāh b. Maymūn al-Qaddāḥ and his descendants before reverting to Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl's line, and al-Muʿizz refuted them; al-Kirmānī rejected the Qaddāḥid ancestry; the Yamanī Mustaʿlī dāʿī al-Khaṭṭāb (a fourth hidden imam, ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn, with al-Mahdī only a trustee who returned the imamate to al-Qāʾim) and Ibrāhīm al-Ḥāmidī (al-Mahdī as father of al-Qāʾim, with Maymūn's son as tutor of Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl) gave variant sequences; the Druze literature lists seven hidden imams. Daftary's own conclusion is that the evidence does not prove al-Mahdī was not al-Qāʾim's father, nor support a Qaddāḥid origin. (ch. 3, pp. 105–106)
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines)
- Mustaʿlī account, as Daftary reports it: al-Mustanṣir revoked his first designation of Nizār and named al-Mustaʿlī, including a deathbed naṣṣ. An assembly in Cairo in 516/1122 heard testimony, notably from Nizār's full sister, and the vizier's circular al-Hidāya al-Āmiriyya set out the case. Daftary adds that Nizār's rights were, as a historical fact, never revoked (his own assessment). (ch. 5, pp. 241, 245)
- Ṭayyibī account, as Daftary reports it: al-Āmir had an infant son al-Ṭayyib (born Rabīʿ II 524), attested by an epistle to the Ṣulayḥid queen Arwā and by Ibn Muyassar; he was designated heir and then hidden, and the Ṭayyibīs follow his line of hidden imams under dāʿīs, the first being al-Dhuʾayb b. Mūsā al-Wādiʿī (d. 546/1151). Ḥāfiẓī account: ʿAbd al-Majīd al-Ḥāfiẓ succeeded al-Āmir, and Daftary lists the Ḥāfiẓī imams through al-Ẓāfir, al-Fāʾiz, al-ʿĀḍid (d. 567/1171). (ch. 5, pp. 246–248; tables, pp. 508, 510)
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines)
- Mustaʿlī account: al-Mustaʿlī was the rightful successor. TDV İsmâiliyye and Müsta‘liyye describe him as declaring his imamate with al-Afḍal's support.
- Nizārī account, as TDV Nizâriyye gives it: the imamate was Nizār's right; after Nizār and his son were killed, a young grandson was brought to Iran by Ḥasan-i Ṣabbāḥ and raised there.
- Nizārī account, as Daftary reports it: the Persian Ismāʿīlīs defended al-Mustanṣir's original naṣṣ to Nizār. Nizār himself named no successor; Nizārī coins at Alamūt continued to carry his name for about seventy years, blessing his progeny anonymously. Persian historians report that a son or grandson of Nizār was brought secretly to Alamūt, in versions naming the qāḍī Abū l-Ḥasan Saʿīdī and a grandson al-Muhtadī. Daftary notes that Nizār's descendants launched revolts in Egypt, the last in 556/1161. (ch. 6, pp. 325–326, 363)
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines)
- Community's own account: an unbroken line of Imams from ʿAlī and Fāṭima to the present Imam.
- TDV Nizâriyye: after Alamūt fell (654/1256) there is no reliable information on the following imams and the lists differ; the list accepted by the Aga Khan branch was adopted in the late 19th century. After Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad (d. 710/1310) the Nizārīs divided into the Qāsim-Shāhī majority and the Muḥammad-Shāhī (Muʾmin-Shāhī) minority.
- Daftary on the line after Alamūt: the first two centuries after the fall of Alamūt (654/1256) remain obscure; a succession dispute then divided the Nizārīs into Muḥammad-Shāhīs and Qāsim-Shāhīs. Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad apparently lived in concealment in Ādharbayjān (Tabrīz, 679/1280). Daftary's list of the Qāsim-Shāhī imams numbers Ḥasan ʿAlī Shāh (Aga Khan I) 46th, Aga Khan II 47th, Aga Khan III 48th and Karīm Aga Khan IV 49th; the Muḥammad-Shāhī (Muʾmin-Shāhī) list ends with its 40th imam, Amīr Muḥammad al-Bāqir. (ch. 7, pp. 405, 411; table, pp. 509–510)
- Accession of the present line, public record only, as Daftary reports it: Sulṭān Muḥammad Shāh Aga Khan III was installed in 1885 as the 48th imam, and his grandson Karīm succeeded as 49th under Aga Khan III's will of 1955, being acclaimed in Switzerland. (ch. 7, pp. 479, 495)
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines)
- Nizārī Ismāʿīlī position as the Imamat states it (relayed by Dawn): succession is by designation (naṣṣ) in his father's will; the Imam holds the imamate by that designation. The official page itself was not read.
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines)
- Twelver account: the imamate passed to Muḥammad al-Bāqir by designation.
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines)
- Ibn ʿInaba shows al-Qāsim al-Rassī as a Ḥasanid, through Ibrāhīm Ṭabāṭabā b. Ismāʿīl b. Ibrāhīm al-Ghamr b. al-Ḥasan al-Muthannā, not from Zayd. This fits the Zaydī doctrine in TDV that any qualified Ḥasanī or Ḥusaynī may rise, and means the link is a doctrinal succession, not descent.
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines)
- TDV İdrîsîler states the descent from al-Ḥasan without naming ancestors or discussing doubts.
- Scarcia Amoretti reports an author (via her map notes) not accepting by the scholars some putative Ḥijāz descendants of Idrīs b. Idrīs b. Muḥammad b. Yaḥyā (a later Idrīsid line), p.115.
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines)
- Ibn ʿInaba: Idrīs II was born about four months after his father's death. Some ascribed him to Idrīs I's client Rāshid; Ibn ʿInaba, citing Dāwūd b. al-Qāsim al-Jaʿfarī, rejects this and affirms Idrīs I as father.
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines)
- TDV Filâlîler: no intermediate generations named, descent presented as established.
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines)
- TDV: link between ʿAlī al-Sharīf (15th c.) and the 1630s sharīfs is not spelled out.
- TDV Hasenîler dates the dynasty to 1075/1664.
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines)
- Scarcia Amoretti's map notes place the Meccan amīrs among descendants of Mūsā al-Jawn (son of ʿAbdallāh al-Maḥḍ), i.e. through the Ḥasanid line, naming no Qatāda or Ḥashimī houses.
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines)
- Ibn ʿInaba traces al-Ṣādiq's son ʿAlī al-ʿUraydī to Muḥammad and ʿĪsā al-Rūmī, and (L6779-6783) reports al-ʿUmarī's statement that a ʿĪsā al-Azraq al-Rūmī al-ʿUraydī left twelve sons without descendants. The text read does not say whether this is the Bā ʿAlawī ancestor, and does not name Aḥmad al-Muhājir.
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines)
- TDV: dates for Tarim settlement given as both 521/1127 and 1166; unclear.
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines)
- Mufaddal Saifuddin's side: Burhān al-Dīn conferred the naṣṣ on him on 4 June 2011 in front of witnesses; under Dāwūdī doctrine a naṣṣ can be changed or revoked, and the alleged 1965 naṣṣ lacked witnesses (as reported in his defence).
- Khuzaima Quṭb al-Dīn and, after 2016, Ṭāhir Fakhr al-Dīn: Khuzaima was privately appointed successor by Burhān al-Dīn in a naṣṣ before the public designation of 10 Dec 1965 (the day the court report gives for the mazoon announcement), kept secret until 2014; they claim the office of 53rd Dāʿī (Khuzaima) and 54th (Ṭāhir). Suit 337/2014 was filed 29 March 2014 seeking that declaration.
- Court record, reported: on 23 April 2024 the Bombay High Court (Justice Gautam Patel, single bench) dismissed the suit, holding the plaintiff had not proved the 1965 naṣṣ; the judge said he decided 'proof' and not 'faith'. Ṭāhir Fakhr al-Dīn's office said it would contest the judgment on appeal; the appeal's status was not confirmed in this pass.
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines)
- TDV Zeydiyye (as quoted on the earlier link): the imamate lasted to 1948, the year of Imam Yaḥyā's death.
- Wikipedia: overthrow on 26 Sept 1962; the imamate's formal abolition is dated 1 Dec 1970, at the end of the civil war. The Zaydī community's own account was not read.
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines)
- The dynasty's founder is named variously (Sharīf b. ʿAlī, or the line of Ḥasan al-Dakhil as ancestor) in the references; the sharifian descent itself is the house's own account.
(The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines)
- A publisher's author biography gives 'forty-third generation'; the court's own pages say 41st. Counting conventions differ.
(Qādiriyya)
- Founded by ʿAlī al-Bakkāʾ, d. 670/1271 (al-Zabīdī).
- Founded by Aḥmad al-Bakkāʾ al-Kuntī, d. 908/1503 (al-ʿAynī, Trimingham, Dernīqa per TDV).
- Founded by ʿUmar al-Bakkāʾ, d. 960/1553 (Rinn per TDV).
(Qādiriyya)
- TDV Qādiriyya lists it as a Qādirī branch.
- TDV 'Muhammed Gavs' calls Gavsiyye a branch of the Shaṭṭāriyya.
(Qādiriyya)
- TDV: descendants of al-Jīlānī representing the order in southeast and east Anatolia.
- Wikipedia summary: scholars disagree on when the family joined the Qādiriyya; one academic source puts it in the early 18th century.

Basemap: Natural Earth 1:110m land (public domain) via world-atlas; Mercator projection. Coordinates are those given in the sources; a place without them is listed beside the map, not drawn.