Silsila
Silsila ( Arabic سلسلة"Chain") is the spiritual chain of a Sheikh in Sufism , which connects him to the prophet Mohammed through earlier generations of religious teachers or mystics .
Silsila is a spiritual (“golden”) chain of power transmission that plays a central role in all Sufi orders ( Tariqa ). It is through them that the founders of the order - through a backward-looking reconstruction - gain their authority and thus the ability to rally followers. Very few founders of the order declared that they had received their blessing power Baraka directly through a vision from the Prophet, without having a Silsila . The number and importance of the previous masters in his chain is decisive for the prestige and veneration that is shown to a Sufi Sheikh. As a rule, the reputation of the sheikhs increases after their death due to legends surrounding certain supernatural abilities.
In the manuscript of a 10th century Sufi ascetic in Baghdad , a number of names are mentioned of Islamic scholars who received their instruction from their respective predecessors. This master-student relationship can be understood as an early example of a Silsila.
The Andalusian scholar Ibn Masarra (around 883-931) is considered to be the first Sufi master who not only developed his own philosophical-theological teaching and passed it on to students, but also linked his teaching to an initiation . He demanded a certain ascetic way of life from his students, from which the principle Tariqa, the “way” emerged. His initiation ritual was top secret and is therefore not known. Usually, the novice (murid) is accepted after an examination by laying on of hands or, according to the example of Muhammad, by handshake, with which the master's baraka is transmitted. To this day, especially in Morocco , the master also spits on.
Training in the often remote living quarters (zawiya) of a sheikh included personal services for the master; In a settlement ( Ribā Rib ) fortified to defend and spread Islam , as was typical for the marabout , work in the surrounding fields was one of the rules of conduct. As with the Mevlevi , the rules of a larger dervish monastery ( Khānqāh, Turkish: Tekke ) initially required work in the kitchen. In any case, the student had to and must learn his teacher's Silsila by heart . Knowledge of all the Silsila ramifications is also required for a correct understanding of the faith tradition. Only in this way can the baraka of the founder of the order be effective, even after multiple splits into small sub-orders, and the peculiarity of precisely this teaching can be emphasized. The recitation of Silsila is directed towards Mecca and focused on God.
In most cases the Silsila of the Sunni and Shiite Sufi orders leads over the Persian mystic Junaid (around 825–910) and over the fourth caliph and son-in-law of Mohammed Ali ibn Abi Talib . An exception is the Central Asian Naqschbandi Order, which derives its Silsila from the first rightly guided caliph Abu Bakr .
Only one or a few students were granted the right to pass on the teaching to others, i.e. to appear as the Sheikh of the respective order. The lesson was ended with a final initiation, the chain of power transmission could be continued by the successor and the survival of the teachings of the master ensured. This initiation usually takes place through the ritual of putting on a cloak, a protective and possessive gesture, as it is narrated by the Prophet: Ka'b ibn Zuhair was a contemporary of Muhammad, in whose praise he wrote a poem. Mohammed liked it so much that he put his precious coat around the lecturer as a reward.
There was no formal training facility for Sufi students, so some willing learners traveled to the center of another brotherhood as already trained dervishes and served the new master for a while. Famous sheikhs were initiated into several Sufi orders before, in later years, after building their own zawiya, they became the founder of a new order that has been named after them ever since. Of the many venerated saints who left no scriptures, nothing is known about the actual person except the chain of their descendants. These descendants tend the grave of their master.
The term Silsila is used in the Indian region with the same meaning but in a different context : In Qawwali music, which is influenced by Sufism, the musicians of a group trace their playing tradition back to a common spiritual founder. Often they are associated with the founder of the Chishtiyya order until the 13th century . In general, Silsila in Indian music denotes the uninterrupted sequence of a teaching tradition, Ustādh- Shagird-Silsila, ("teacher-student teaching line"), which in a close transference relationship between the two (guru-shishya parampara) for the oral transmission of compositions and playing styles of a particular style of music. Silsila as a teaching tradition is differentiated here from the broader concept of Gharana , which includes relationships and social networks.
See also: List of Islamic Terms in Arabic
literature
- Uwe Topper: Sufis and saints in the Maghreb. Eugen Diederichs Verlag, Cologne 1991, pp. 19–22, 125.
- Annemarie Schimmel: Mystical Dimensions of Islam. The history of Sufism. Insel Verlag, Frankfurt / Main 1995, pp. 328–331.
Individual evidence
- ^ Yajima Yoichi: The Tariqa's Cohesional Power and the Shaykhhood Succession Question. The Origins of Tariqas. In: Asian and African Area Studies, Volume 7, No. 1, 2007, pp. 5-17.
- ↑ Charmaine Seitz: The Distracted Sufi. The Naqshabandi tariqa in Jerusalem. In: Jerusalem Quarterly January 20, 2004, pp. 57-61.