Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Joseph 

Ward Goering, and Barry Walfish, eds., With Reverence 

for the Word: Medieval Scriptural Exegesis in Judaism, 

Christianity, and Islam (New York: Oxford University 

Press, 2003); Fazlur Rahman, Major Themes of the 

Quran (Minneapolis: Bibliotheca Islamica, 1994); Yas-

sin Roushdy, Allah: The Divine Nature (London: Dar 

al-Taqwa, 1999); Mohamed Taher, ed., Encyclopedic 

Survey of Islamic Culture. Vol. 11, Islamic Thought: 

Growth and Development (New Delhi: Anmol Publica-

tions, 1998).

tarawih

  See r

amadan

.

tariqa 

(Arabic: path, way)

The term tariqa carries several meanings within 

Sufi rhetoric. One use is as a metaphor for the 

individual’s inner journey to God, which was 

outwardly reflected in the Sufi practice of travel-

ling to other lands to seek mystical knowledge. 

s

UFism

 itself was seen as a tariqa, or path through 

one’s soul toward the Divine. On this path, the 

wayfarer passes through various stations, or 

maqamat, such as repentance and trust in God. 

The  tariqa is also described as constituting the 

second part in the three essential parts of Islamic 

religious life, the first being 

sharia

 (the outer 

laws of Islam), and the third being either marifa

(mystical gnosis) or 

haqiqa

 (truth).

The term tariqa has also come to mean a 

course or method of religious study, which was 

institutionalized in a Sufi establishment called 

a  tariqa, or Sufi order. Various types of these 

orders existed and still exist in most areas of the 

Middle East, and, depending on the region, they 

were also known as tekkes, zawiyas, and dar-

gahs. J. Spencer Trimingham has categorized the 

stages of Sufism’s development, and he describes 

the second stage, from the 13th century to the 

15th century, as the Tariqa phase. This phase 

is characterized by the organization of Sufism 

into hierarchical structures, with an emphasis 

on the relationship between Sufi masters and 

their disciples. The Sufi master of each tariqa

traced his spiritual lineage through a silsila, or 

chain of transmission, and thus the source of 

his mystical knowledge through chains of past 

Sufi masters. Key figures often found in these 

silsilas include a

bU

 

al

-q

asim

 

al

-J

Unayd

  (d. 910) 

and a

bU

 y

azid

 

al

-b

istami

 (d. ca. 875), all lineages 

ultimately begin with the prophet m

Uhammad

.

Through these genealogical trees, masters and 

ultimately their 

murid

s, or disciples, would derive 

recognized legitimacy. Prominent tariqas, named 

after their respective founders, included the 

Suhrawardi,  q

adiri

,  r

iFai

,  c

hishti

,  n

aqshbandi

, 

m

evlevi

, and b

ektashi

. Sufi orders or lodges first 

appeared between the 11th and 13th centuries, 

somewhat before Trimingham’s tariqa phase, and 

many are still active today.

Other scholars have noted the social, economic, 

and political functions of tariqas. These mysti-

cal brotherhoods created new ways in which to 

form communal identity other than on the basis 

of ethnicity and tribal kinship. The sometimes 

diverse background of the tariqa members allowed 

for some orders to play community peacekeeping 

roles. The tariqa sites served as community burial 

grounds, schools, and places in which ritual danc-

ing, chanting, vigils, and processions took place. 

The surrounding land possessed by certain tariqas 

was sometimes used for agricultural purposes, thus 

helping to financially provide for its members. At 

times, local rulers would try to get support, military 

or otherwise, from a given tariqa, and some tariqas 

found it beneficial indeed to lend their backing in 

this way, thus wielding political influence them-

selves and sometimes receiving gifts such as land 

endowments. These Sufi orders are commonly asso-

ciated with conversions of non-Muslims to Islam,