Criteria of A Sufi Naqshbandi Sheikh
The following would always apply to genuine Sufi Naqshbandi teachers or Sheikhs:
- They comply with Sharia
- They must be an Aalim. There can be no Tasawwuf without Ilm.
- They regularly acknowledge the silsilah to which they give allegiance.
- They openly and regularly defer to the current leader of the silsilah.
- Bay'ah is given to the leader of the silsilah, not the local teacher or Sheikh.
- They accept interaction with other murids of the order.
- They do not accept Ijazah from dead persons, or in dreams, or through special spiritual experience (rawhani). There are exceptions to this rule according to the Uwaisi concept of transmission where someone who lived before can train and transmit knowledge to someone who came later.
- They only accept written Ijazah in the presence of witnesses.
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