Sheikh (Sufism)

A Sheikh or sheik (Arabic: شيخ shaykh; ; pl. شيوخ shuyūkh), of Sufism is a Sufi who is authorized to teach, initiate and guide aspiring dervishes in the islamic faith. The sheik is vital to the path of the novice Sufi, for the sheik has himself travelled the path of mysticism. Viewed as the spiritual master, the sheik forms a formal allegiance (bay'a) to the disciple of Sufism and authorizes the disciple's travels and helps the disciple along the mystical path. Islamic tradition focuses on the importance of chains and legitimization. In Sufism, sheiks are connected by a continuous spiritual chain (isnad, sanad, silsila). This chain links every previous Sufi sheik, and eventually can be traced back to the Successors, and in later times to the Prophet himself. As Sufism grew, influential shayks began to acquire spiritual centers and waypoints known as khanqah, ribat, and zaouia. Sheikhs duplicate the Prophetic realities, and are also expected to perform and act as an intermediary between the Creator and the created, since the sheikh has arrived close to God through his meditations and spiritual travels. There are several types of such sheikh.

This can, for example, be someone who inherits leadership of a group of Sufis, who although he does not have the spiritual standing of a genuine sheik of Tarbiyah (Instruction) nevertheless has a blessing in that by holding to him his followers have unity and community, as is in the Noble Hadith, "The hand of Allah is with the group (jama'ah)."

This is a sheik who has genuine tasting of the states of Sufism and can transmit them.

This is properly the correct usage of the term sheik according to the Sufis. This is the realised gnostic ('arif) of Allah, who has been granted idhn (permission and authorisation) by God(Allah), to lead the followers of the path of Sufism to knowledge of Allah. This idhn is not to be confused with ijazah (authorisation) granted by a sheik or a scholar to a student to teach. Even if all of the scholars and sheiks granted their ijazah to a student, he would still not be a sheik of Instruction until he had the idhn of Allah and Muhammad. This is manifest in his tawfiq or 'success' in inculcating the perfections of Islam, iman and ihsan in his disciples [point 8, below].

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