Naqshbandi Order Golden Chain: Shaykhs of the Caucausus

Excerpts from THE NAQSHBANDI SUFI ORDER, History and Guidebook of the Saints of the Golden Chain

There were eight shaikhs of the Golden Chain of the Naqshbandi Order who were from the Caucasus. They were followers of the branch of the Naqshbandiyya which sprang from Shaykh Khalid al-Baghdadi. Their names, in their order of succession from Shaykh Khalid are: Shaykh Isma'il al-Shirwani, Shaykh Khas Muhammad ash-Shirwani, Shaykh Muhammad Efendi al-Yaraghi, Shaykh as-Sayyid Jamaluddin al-Ghumuqi al-Husayni, Shaykh Abu Ahmad as-Sughuri, Shaykh Abu Muhammad al-Madani, Shaykh Sharafuddin ad-Daghestani, Shaykh Abdullah ad-Daghestani.

Three of these shaykhs were the teachers of the three great mujahid leaders and imams of the Caucasus, and were the ones who established the order for jihad and for the establishment of the shari'ah. These shaykhs taught the first, second (Kazi Mollah) and third (Imam Shamil) imams of the Caucasus the religion in both all its outward aspects and all its inner manners and conduct. The first of this line of shaykhs, and the one who introduced the Naqshbandi Order to the Caucasus was Shaykh Ismail ash-Shirwani.

Shaikh Shamil leads the attack against the outpost at Akhdi, c. 1847

Shaykh Ismail ash-Shirwani

Gammer says of the shaykh:

"...Shaykh Mansur did not establish the [Naqshbandi] order in the Caucasus. This was done, in fact, by the Naqshbandiyya-Khalidiyya, a branch of the order named after al-Shaykh Diya al-Din Khalid al-Shahrazuri (1776-1827). One of his disciples, al-Shaykh Isma'il al-Kurdumiri, was active for a few years in Shirvan as Shaykh Khalid's khalifa (deputy) in the late 1810s. Following the annexation of the Khanate in 1820, the Russian authorities started to persecute the movement...." [Chapter 5, page 39].

Shaykh Isma'il was succeeded as inheritor of the Golden Chain of the Naqshbandi Tariqat in the Caucasus by Shaykh Khas Muhammad ash-Shirwani.

Shaykh Khas Muhammad

Gammer in his book Muslim Resistance to the Tsar... says about the Naqshbandi shaykh Shaykh Khas Muhammad ash-Shirwani:

"... the seed sown by Shaykh Isma'il found a fertile ground in Daghestan, where it was transferred by another of his disciples, al-Shaykh Khas Muhammad al-Shirwani. He ordained al-Shaykh al-Sayyid Jamal al-Din al-Ghazi-Ghumuqi." [p. 39] "Russian and later Soviet sources call the Naqshbandiyya-Khalidiyya in the Caucasus Miuridizm...as the founder of the politico-religious movement which, ...united for a time in the great struggle for freedom a majority of the Muslim inhabitants of Daghestan and Chechnia, but he never took upon himself the actual leadership, and is wrongly counted by some as the first imam." [p. 40]

Shaykh Muhammad Effendi al-Yaraghi

In Chapter 34 Gammer says of the shaykh, in his book, "Muslim Resistance to the Tsar...":

"... While the glittering circle of Russian bayonets closed in on every side, Mula Muhammad [al-Yaraghi]'s influence had been growing steadily year by year. Intangible, immaterial, it passed surely and silently through the hedge of bristling steel as a miraged ship through opposing cliffs, or as a moss-bog fire creeps up against the wind. The two forces, material and moral, moving in concentric rings of opposite direction, kept equal pace, and just when to outward seeming the last spark of liberty was trampled under foot in Central Daghestan by the soldiers of the tsar, the sacred flame was ready to burst forth and illuminate the land on every side, even to its outermost borders." "The Russian sources claim unanimously that Muhammad al-Yaraghi and his disciples preached jihad against the Russians from the very beginning. This would not be surprising.....Furthermore, the role of sufi ta'ifas, and especially of the Naqshbandiyya, in jihad movements all over the Muslim world has been emphasised. ...[due] to the influence of Muhammad al-Yaraghi's preaching." "...The first concern of Muhammad al-Yaraghi and his disciples was to establish and enforce the shari'a and eradicate the 'adat. [prevailing customs]"

"you are neither Muslims nor Christians, nor pagans... the Prophet said: 'he is a true Muslim:...who obeys the Qur'an and spreads my shari'a. He who acts according to my commandments will stand in heaven higher than all the saints who preceded me"..."Vow, O people, to stop all your vices and henceforth to stay away from sin. Spend [your] days and nights in the mosque. Pray to God with zeal. Weep and ask Him for forgiveness." [ p. 44]

Shaykh Sayyid Jamaluddin al-Ghumuqi al-Husayni

Shaykh Jamaluddin al-Ghumuqi al-Husayni was deeply involved directing the movement against the Russians in his time. He was fighting to keep the teaching of spirituality spread in Russia, as it had been in previous times. He was supporting Imam Shamyl the leader who fought with Russia for nearly 40 years. His soldiers consisted solely of Naqshbandi murids, as he allowed no other affiliation in his army.

We quote what was said about Shaykh Jamaluddin, on p. 44 and 55 from the book Sabres of Paradise:

"Imam Shamyl's spiritual teacher was Mullah Jamaluddin Ghumuqi, a descendant of the Prophet (s) and a man of profound piety and learning who loved the strange, violent yet dreamy young man who in turn came to love and trust him implictly, obeying his commands long after he had become the imperious ruler who would brook no word of criticism elsewhere. With his tutor, Shamyl was from the first disciplined and studious. He learned Arabic from his teachers and studied Arabic, Philosophy and Theology, progressing towards the complicated Sufi doctrines which since religious evolution is a fundamental principle of Sufism, included a comparative study of Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. It was apparent that this was no ordinary student, and Shaykh Jamaluddin al-Ghumuqi sought to prepare his charge for that great destiny, which, according to some, was alredy written on his brow. Both Shamyl and his friend Kazi Mullah were presently marked for the priesthood. Both were studying Sufism at Yaragah, the center of Muridism." [the location of Shaykh Jamaluddin's school.] "Where this religious revival was to develop into the politico-military movement known as the Murid Wars from hich the figure of Shamyl emerged and dominated all others."

"Shamyl's hour had not yet struck and for some years he was to remain at Ghimri, immersed not only in the purely doctrinal aspects of Muridism, but in the practices of his dervish group, the Naqshbandiyya."

"According to Sayyid Jamaluddin al-Ghumuqi's teachings to Imam Shamyl, he said that Sufi mystics say 'Islam consists of three separate but linked parts: Shari'ah, the Law, Tariqat, the Path; and Haqiqat, the Truth. Like most of Muslim mysticism, it is eminently practical. The Shariah is the whole body of the Muslim law for the guidance of the whole community: the Tariqat and the Haqiqat are for the progressive spiritual development of those who aspire higher."

"he [the second Imam of Daghestan] rose quickly in the hierarchy of the madrasah, to become one of the inner circle of murids. However much they planned action, a Holy War, still they drew their spiritual inspiration from the Sufi teachings of the old Jamaluddin [al-Ghumuqi al-Husayni]."

"Imam Shamyl was married to Mullah Jamaluddin's daughter Zaydat." (p. 211)

"Imam Shamyl was always in general, spending the rest of the day in meditation or prayer or in theological discussions with his spiritual teacher, Mullah Jamaluddin." (p. 352).

He consulted with Imam Shamyl, and they decided based on his inspiration, due to the political situation at that time, that the people of Daghestan would emigrate en masse from Daghestan to Istanbul in Turkey.

Once the decision was made, the people of Daghestan, Kazan, Chechenia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Aizerbaijan and other areas, all began to prepare for the migration out of Russian-held lands.

Shaykh Jamaluddin was succeeded by Shaykh Abu Ahmad as-Sughuri. I will be posting more about him later, insha-Allah.

References - Bibliography of books on the Jihad in the Caucasus