Arabic Literature of the North Caucasian Naqshbandiyya in the 19th Century

Abstract

Abstract This article analyses the Sufi treatise al-Ādāb al-marḍiyya fī l-ṭarīqa al-naqshbandiyya written by the Daghestanian Naqshbandī shaykh Jamāl al-Dīn al-Ghāzīghumūqī (d. 1866/67), the Sufi master, companion and father-in-law of Imām Shāmil (d. 1871). After providing an outline of the life and activities of Shaykh Jamāl al-Dīn I will examine the concepts, persons, and practices treated in his Ādāb which not only provide valuable insights regarding the mystical orientation of the Sufi shaykh, but the North Caucasian Naqshbandiyya during the anti-Russian jihād movement in the 19th century. My aim is to illustrate that this document indicates no or in a minor degree references to the Khālidiyya branch of the Naqshbandiyya. This leads me to the assumption that in the case of the Daghestanian Naqshbandiyya in the 19th century, we have a premature, i.e. not developed form of the Khālidiyya.