Silsila

Topic: Bhakti and Sufi Traditions · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 2 "Bhakti-Sufi Traditions"

Meaning

A silsila (literally "chain") is a sufi order. It is a spiritual family tree that links each master to his disciple, generation after generation, back without a break to the Prophet Muhammad. Through this chain, the master's blessing and teaching were believed to pass down.

It matters because the chain gave a sufi's teaching its authority. It also kept an order going for centuries after its founder died. That is how a personal mystical path became an organised movement that spread across India.

Explanation

Background: from lone mystics to organised orders

• In the early centuries of Islam, some Muslims turned to asceticism (living simply and giving up comfort) and mysticism (trying to feel God directly).
• This began as a protest from inside Islam.
• The Caliphate had become a rich empire, and these people felt religion was turning into wealth and politics.
• The first stage was a reaction against the worldliness of the early Umayyad period (661–749 CE) [2].

• They rejected dry, bookish readings of the Qur'an and sunna (the Prophet's practice). They wanted personal experience and love of God.

• In Islamic texts this path is called tasawwuf. The English word "Sufism" was only coined in the 19th century.

• By the 11th century, Sufism had its own body of writing.
• The movement grew into a mysticism of divine love, and finally into organised brotherhoods of mystics [2]. These brotherhoods were the silsilas.

How the chain worked

• The chain proved the teaching was genuine.
• A master's authority came from his own master, and so on, back to the Prophet.

• Spiritual power flowed down the chain, like water down a pipe.

• The people in the chain:

• shaikh (Arabic), or pir or murshid (Persian): the teaching master.
• murid: the disciple.

• khalifa: the successor the master named before he died. The khalifa kept the chain going.

• Joining the chain (initiation):

• The disciple took an oath of allegiance to the shaikh. This was a sign of obedience.
• He wore a patched garment, a sign of poverty.

• His hair was shaved, a sign of giving up vanity.

• The khirqah: the decisive step was being given the khirqah (the master's frock). Only then did the disciple become part of the silsila. The classical chains ran back through the Baghdad master Junayd to the Prophet [2].

• Barakat: the "blessing" that passed down the chain was barakat, the grace or blessing power of a wali (a "friend of God"; plural auliya).

How the orders were named

Named after	Example	Detail
The founder	Qadiri	After Shaikh Abd'ul Qadir Jilani. The Qadiriyyah is counted among the oldest and most widespread sufi orders [2].
The place of origin	Chishti	After the town of Chisht in central Afghanistan.

Growth and results

• The silsila took fixed shape around the 12th century.
• The organised orders (tariqa, an Arabic word meaning "path" or order) were first established in the 12th century. By the mid-20th century there were hundreds of them, with millions of members [2].
• Three institutions worked together:
• the khanqah (hospice) gave the order a physical base,
• the silsila carried it from one generation to the next,

• the dargah (the shaikh's tomb-shrine) kept his barakat at work after his death.

• The result: a teacher's death did not end his order. His khalifa carried it on, and his tomb became a pilgrimage centre.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: the sufi path began in the early centuries of Islam, from about the Umayyad period (661–749 CE) [2]. Silsilas took shape around the 12th century. In India the topic covers c. 8th–18th centuries.
• Places:
• Baghdad, home of Junayd, through whom the classical chains ran [2].
• Chisht, in central Afghanistan, which gave the Chishti order its name.

• Ajmer, Rajasthan, about 130 km south-west of Jaipur [4]. It holds the tomb of the Chishti master Khwaja Muin al-Din Chishti.

• Key people:

• Shaikh Abd'ul Qadir Jilani, founder of the Qadiri order.
• Junayd of Baghdad.

• Khwaja Muin al-Din Chishti of Ajmer.

• The chain is still alive today:

• Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, many from foreign countries, come to Ajmer each year for the urs (the saint's death anniversary) [3].
• The Mughal emperors Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan visited Ajmer often [4].
• The 813th Urs was observed in a recent yearly cycle [5].

• The Prime Minister of India sends a ceremonial chaadar (cloth offering) to the shrine every year [6].

• How we know:

• From the 11th century, sufis wrote about the Qur'an, the mystic path and correct conduct.
• NCERT Class 12, Ch 2 "Bhakti-Sufi Traditions" also uses records of the shaikhs' conversations (malfuzat).
• Today, official records from the ASI and PIB document the living tradition at Ajmer [4] [5] [6].

Don't confuse with

• Khanqah: a place, the hospice where the shaikh lived, taught and fed visitors. The silsila is the line of succession, not a building.
• Dargah: Persian for "court". It is the tomb-shrine of a dead shaikh. The silsila is the living chain of masters that the dead shaikh belonged to.
• Tariqa: the Arabic word for a sufi order or "path". It names the same organised order, so in an exam treat it as a near-synonym of silsila, not a different institution.
• Be-shari'a groups (Qalandars, Madaris, Malangs, Haidaris): these radical mystics rejected the khanqah and defied the shari'a (Islamic law). The organised, law-following silsilas were ba-shari'a ("with the law").

Prelims Hooks

• Silsila = "chain". It traces spiritual descent from master to disciple back to the Prophet Muhammad, and it took shape around the 12th century.
• Qadiri: named after its founder, Shaikh Abd'ul Qadir Jilani. Chishti: named after a place, the town of Chisht in central Afghanistan. This is a common "which of the following" trap.
• Entry into the silsila came with investiture with the khirqah (the master's frock). Classical chains ran through Junayd of Baghdad [2].
• Initiation = oath of allegiance + patched garment + shaved head.
• Roles: shaikh / pir / murshid = master; murid = disciple; khalifa = successor named by the master.
• Organised tariqas were first set up in the 12th century. By the mid-20th century there were hundreds of them [2].

Mains Points

• The silsila explains how Sufism survived and spread.
• A personal mystical path depends on one teacher. The chain turned it into an institution that outlived its founder.
• The khalifa carried on the teaching, the khanqah gave it a home, and the dargah gave it a lasting pilgrimage centre.

• Together these three give a strong framework for "how did Sufism strike roots in India?"

• Legitimacy flowed both ways.

• The chain gave a shaikh spiritual authority. Rulers then tried to share in that prestige: Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan often visited Ajmer [4], and a state offering is still sent each year [6].

• This is evidence for India's composite culture. But it also shows how royal favour could pull orders back into the worldly politics that Sufism first protested against.

• Institution versus protest.

• Sufism began as a reaction against the materialism of the Caliphate [2].
• Over time, the silsilas became organised, property-holding, law-following (ba-shari'a) bodies. The be-shari'a Qalandars rejected all of this.
• Use this tension to show continuity and change in Sufism, and to avoid treating "the sufis" as one uniform group.

Related concepts

• Sufism
• Khanqah
• Shaikh
• Murid
• Khalifa
• Qadiri order
• Mian Mir
• Shattari order
• Nund Rishi
• Dargah

Read more

• The growth of Sufism: khanqah, silsila, dargah