In Sufism, as in hadith studies, there exists a lineage that connects each disciple with their shaykh, who has also taken it from his shaykh, and so on, in a continous chain back to the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace). The spiritual lineage of my own teacher, Shaykh Asad Madani, comes from its prophetic origin through a number of tariqas. The main ones are given below:
THE CHISHTĪ ṢABIRÍ TARĪQA
Amīrul Hind Shaykh Maulānā As‘ad Madani ;
Shaykhul Islām Maulānā Husain Aḥmad Madani;
Shaykh Maulānā Rashīd Aḥmad Gangohi;
Shaykh Haji Imdādullah al-Muhājir;
Shaykh Nūr Muhammad Jhanjānawi;
Shaykh Abdur Rahīm Shahīd;
Shaykh Abdul Bari Amrohī;
Shaykh Abdul Hādī Amrohī;
Shaykh ‘Aḍ al-Dīn Amerohī;
Shaykh Muhammad Makkī;
Shaykh Shah Muhammadī;
Shaykh Muhibbullāh Ilāhabādī;
Shaykh Abu Saīd Gangohi;
Shaykh Nizāmuddin Balkhī;
Shaykh Jalāl Uddīn Thanīsarī;
Shaykh Abdul Quddūs Gangohi;
Shaykh Muhammad ‘Arif Rudawlawī;
Shaykh Ahmad ‘Arif Rudawlawī;
Shaykh Ahmad Abdul Haqq Rudawlawī;
Shaykh Jalāl Uddin Pānīpatī;
Shaykh Shams Uddin al-Turk Pānīpatī;
Shaykh ‘Alā Uddīn al-ṣābir;
Shaykh Farīd Uddīn Ajudahnī;
Shaykh Quṭb Uddīn Bakhtiyār Kākī;
Shaykh Muīn Uddīn Sijzī;
Shaykh Uthmān Harūnī;
Shaykh Sharīf Zandanī;
Shaykh Maudūd Chishtī;
Shaykh Abu Yūsuf Chishtī;
Shaykh Abu Muhammad Chishtī;
Shaykh Abu Ahmad Abdāl Chishtī;
Shaykh Abu Isḥāq Shāmī;
Shaykh Mamshād Daynawrī;
Shaykh Abu Hubayra Baṣrī;
Shaykh Hudhayfa Mar‘ashī;
Shaykh Ibrāhīm ibn Adham Balkhi;
Shaykh Fuḍayl ibn ‘Iyaḍ;
Shaykh Abdul Wāhid ibn Zayd;
Shaykh Hasan Baṣrī;
Amīrul Mu’minīn ‘Ali ibn Tālib [Allah be well pleased with him]
Our Prophet Muhammad, the messenger of Allah [Allah bless him and give him peace]
THE QÁDIRÍ TARÍQA
Amīrul Hind Shaykh Maulānā As‘ad Madani;
Shaykhul Islām Maulānā Husain Aḥmad Madani;
Shaykh Maulānā Rashīd Aḥmad Gangohi;
Shaykh Haji Imdādullah al-Muhājir;
Shaykh Nūr Muhammad Jhanjānawi;
Shaykh Abdur Rahīm Shahīd;
Shaykh Abdul Bari Amrohī;
Shaykh Abdul Hādī Amrohī;
Shaykh ‘Aḍ al-Dīn Amrohī;
Shaykh Muhammad Makkī;
Shaykh Shah Muhammadī;
Shaykh Muhibbullāh Ilāhabādī;
Shaykh Abu Saīd Gangohi;
Shaykh Nizāmuddin Balkhī;
Shaykh Jalāl Uddīn Thanīsarī;
Shaykh Abdul Quddūs Gangohi;
Shaykh Muhammad Qásim al-Awdihí;
Shaykh Buddahn Bahráichi;
Shaykh Makhdúm Jahániya Jahán;
Shaykh Jalál Uddín Bukhári;
Shaykh ‘Ubayd ibn ‘Isá;
Shaykh ‘Ubayd ibn Abu Qásim;
Shaykh Abú Mukárim Fáḍil;
Shaykh Quṭb Uddīn Ghayth;
Shaykh Shams Uddīn ‘Alī Aflaḥ;
Shaykh Shams Uddīn Ḥaddād;
Shaykh ‘Abdul Qādir Jaylānī;
Shaykh Abū Saīd Makhzūmī;
Shaykh Abū Hasan Qurashī;
Shaykh Abu Farah Ṭarṭūsī;
Shaykh ‘Abdul Wāhid ibn ‘Abdul ‘Azīz Tamīmī;
Shaykh Abū Bakr Shiblī;
Shaykh Junayd Baghdādī;
Shaykh Sirrī Siqṭi;
Shaykh M‘arūf Karkhī;
Shaykh Dāwūd Ṭaī;
Shaykh Habīb ‘Ajmī;
Shaykh Hasan Baṣrī;
Amīrul Mu’minīn ‘Ali ibn Tālib [Allah be well pleased with him]
Our Prophet Muhammad, the messenger of Allah [Allah bless him and give him peace]
THE NAQSHBANDĪ MUJADDIDĪ TARĪQA
Amīrul Hind Shaykh Maulānā As‘ad Madani;
Shaykhul Islām Maulānā Husain Aḥmad Madani;
Shaykh Maulānā Rashīd Aḥmad Gangohi;
Shaykh Haji Imdādullah al-Muhājir;
Shaykh Nūr Muhammad Jhanjānawi;
Shaykh Sayyid Aḥmad Shahīd;
Shaykh Shah ‘Abdul ‘Azīz Dihlawī;
Shaykh Shah Walī Ullāh Dihlawī;
Shaykh Shah Abdur Rahīm Dihlawī;
Shaykh Sayyid ‘Abdullāh;
Shaykh Sayyid Ādam Banūrī;
Shaykh Aḥmad Sarhindī;
Shaykh Khawāja Bāqī Billāh;
Shaykh Khawāja Amkangī;
Shaykh Mawlānā Darwāysh;
Shaykh Mawlānā Zāhid;
Shaykh Khawāja ‘Ubaydullāh Aḥrār;
Shaykh Khawāja Y‘aqūb Charkhī;
Shaykh ‘Ala Uddīn ‘Aṭṭār;
Shaykh Khawāja Bahā Uddīn Naqshbandī;
Shaykh Khawāja Sayyid Amīr Kalāl;
Shaykh Muhammad Bābā Samāsī;
Shaykh Khawaja ‘Alī Rāmītanī;
Shaykh Maḥmūd Abul Khayr Faghnawī;
Shaykh Muhammad ‘Arif;
Shaykh Riywkarī;
Shaykh ‘Abdul Khāliq Fajdāwānī;
Shaykh Yūsuf Hamdanī;
Shaykh ‘Alī Ghamidī;
Shaykh Abul Qāsim Qushayrī;
Shaykh ‘Alī Daqqāq;
Shaykh Abul Qāsim Naṣīrābādī;
Shaykh Abu Bakr Shiblī;
Shaykh Junayd Baghdādī;
Shaykh Sirrī Siqṭi;
Shaykh M‘arūf Karkhī;
Shaykh Dāwūd Ṭaī;
Shaykh Habīb ‘Ajmī;
Shaykh Hasan Baṣrī;
Amīrul Mu’minīn ‘Ali ibn Tālib [Allah be well pleased with him]
Our Prophet Muhammad, the messenger of Allah [Allah bless him and give him peace]
THE SUHARWARDĪ TARĪQA
Amīrul Hind Shaykh Maulānā As‘ad Madani;
Shaykhul Islām Maulānā Husain Aḥmad Madani;
Shaykh Maulānā Rashīd Aḥmad Gangohi;
Shaykh Haji Imdādullah al-Muhājir;
Shaykh Nūr Muhammad Jhanjānawi;
Shaykh Abdur Rahīm Shahīd;
Shaykh Abdul Bari Amrohī;
Shaykh Abdul Hādī Amrohī;
Shaykh ‘Aḍ al-Dīn Amrohī;
Shaykh Muhammad Makkī;
Shaykh Shah Muhammadī;
Shaykh Muhibbullāh Ilāhabādī;
Shaykh Abu Saīd Gangohi;
Shaykh Nizāmuddin Balkhī;
Shaykh Jalāl Uddīn Thanīsarī;
Shaykh Abdul Quddūs Gangohi;
Shaykh Ajmal Bahrāichī;
Shaykh Jalāl Uddīn Bukhārī;
Shaykh Rukn Uddīn Abul Fatḥ;
Shaykh Nāṣir Uddīn;
Shaykh Bahā Uddīn Zakariyyā Multānī;
Shaykh Shihāb Uddīn Suharwardī;
Shaykh Abū Najīb Suharwardī;
Shaykh Wajīh Uddīn ‘Abdul Qāhir Suharwardī;
Shaykh Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullāh;
Shaykh Aḥmad Daynawrī;
Shaykh Mamshād ‘Alawī Daynawrī;
Shaykh Junayd Baghdādī;
Shaykh Sirrī Siqṭi;
Shaykh M‘arūf Karkhī;
Shaykh Dāwūd Ṭaī;
Shaykh Habīb ‘Ajmī;
Shaykh Hasan Baṣrī;
Amīrul Mu’minīn ‘Ali ibn Tālib [Allah be well pleased with him]
Our Prophet Muhammad, the messenger of Allah [Allah bless him and give him peace]
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