The slave, Mahmud ibn al-Husayn ibn Muhammad [al-Kash-ghari] states: When I saw that Allah Most High had caused the Sun of Fortune to rise in the Zodiac of the Turks, and set their Kingdom among the spheres of Heaven; that He called them “Turk,” and gave them Rule; making them kings of the Age, and placing in their hands the reins of temporal authority; appointing them over all mankind, and directing them to the Right; that He strengthened those who are affiliated to them, and those who endeavor on their behalf; so that they attain from them the utmost of their desire, and are delivered from the ignominy of the slavish rabble; [then I saw that] every man of reason must attach himself to them, or else expose himself to their falling arrows. And there is no better way to approach them than by speaking their own tongue, thereby bending their ear, and inclining their heart. And when one of their foes comes over to their side, they keep him secure from fear of them; then others may take refuge with him, and all fear of harm be gone.
I heard from one of the trustworthy informants among the Imams of Bukhara, and from another Imam of the people of Nishapur: both of them re-ported the following tradition, and both had a chain of transmission going back to the Apostle of God, may God bless him and grant him peace. When he was speaking about the signs of the Hour and the trials of the end of Time, and he mentioned the emergence of the Oghuz Turks, he said, “Learn the tongue of the Turks, for their reign will be long.” Now if this hadith is sound—and the burden of proof is on those two!—then learning it is a religious duty: and if it is not sound, still Wisdom demands it.
I have traveled throughout their cities and steppes, and have learned their dialects and their rhymes; those of the Turks, the Turkmen-Oghuz, the Chigil, the Yaghma, and the Q’irghiz. Also, I am one of the most elegant among them in language, and the most eloquent in speech; one of the best educated, the most deep-rooted in lineage, and the most penetrating in throwing the lance. Thus have I acquired perfectly the dialect of each one of their groups; and I have set it down in an encompassing book, in a well-ordered system.
Mahmud al-Kashghari – 11th Century Lexicographer – “Diwan Lughat al-Turk” (1072)
Text Translation Excerpted from “Islamic Central Asia – An Anthology of Historical Sources” – Levi, Sela (2010)
If the venerable Shah Naqshband received a visitor when he himself was fasting (outside of the month of Ramadan), he would immediately provide a meal for the guest, breaking his fast in order to join him at the table. One day a dervish of his refused to eat with a guest, even when pressed to do so, on the grounds that he was keeping a supererogatory fast. Turning to his other pupils, the Khwaja said : “That man is far from Allah. Keep your distance from him”.
ref: Shushud, Hasan (1982). Masters of Wisdom of Central Asia. Coombe Springs Press. England
Sheykh Abdul Kerim at
Summer Palace -Beijing
The second Naqshbandi tariqa, the Jahiryya order, was founded in China under the dynamic leadership of Ma Mingxin (1719-81). One of the most fascinating detective stories in historical discovery is the tracing of Ma Mingxin’s spiritual lineage to Mizjaja, a village on the outskirts of Zabid in Northern Yemen, by Joseph Fletcher. While Chinese Sufis have known for generations that their saint Ma Mingxin studied in the Middle East, it was never clear where he received his “New Teaching” from or where he studied. Middle Eastern Sufi accounts recorded the presence of Chinese Muslims studying in certain Sufi areas, but only Joseph Fletcher was able to put the two together. This was important discovery as Ma Mingxin’s Sufi practice was thought to be novel, even heterodox, and the subject of many conflicts in Northwest China. This controversy is mainly over Ma Mingxin’s use of the Jahr in remembrance (“vocal dhikr”, from whence comes the name “Jahriya”, the “vocal” ones), which he openly advocated in opposition to the Khufiyya’s silent remembrance, the more standard Naqshbandi practice. After an extensive search through arcane Sufi documents in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Chinese, and a final personal trip to Yemen, Fletcher discovered that the name of the Sufi saint whom Chinese Muslim records indicate Ma Mingxin studied under, but did not know exactly who he was, was a Naqshbandi Sufi, az-Zayn b. Muhammad Abd al-Baqi al-Mizjaji (1643/4-1725) whose family home was in Mizjaja, the Zabid. Chinese Sufi records only indicate that Ma Mingxin studied in Yemen in a Sufi order known as the Shazilinye, whose Sheykh was Muhammad Bulu Seni, but did not know the full ancestry and origins of the order. Most Jahriyya only say “The root of our order is Arabia, the branches and leaves are in China” This discovery is extremely significant in the history of ideas, as it is known that az-Zayn had studied in Medina under the famous Kurdish mystic, Ibrahim b Hasan al-Kurani (1616-90), who also advocated the use of vocal formulae in the remembrance of Allah (al-jahr bi-dh-dhikr). Al Kurani’s students were are the forefront of Islamic reform and revolutionary movements throughout the Islamic world.
ref: Atabaki, Touraj. Mehendale, Sanjyot. Central Asia and the Caucasus. pub: Routledge (2005)
During his 1672 visit to Hezhoi, Khoja Afaq played an important role in the life of a certain Ma Laichi (1673-1753), a Hezhou Hui of extraordinary talent who went on to found one of the earliest and most influential Naqshbandiyya orders in China, the Khufiyya menhuan. According to Sufi tradition, Ma Laichi was born to a childless couple after receiving Khoja Afaq’s blessings, and was later raised and trained by one of his disciples, Ma Tai Baba (“Great Father”), who later gave him his daughter in marriage and passed on to him the leadership of the mystical path that he had received from Khoja Afaq. From 1728-81, Ma Laichi went on to the pilgrimage to Mecca, Yemen, and Bukhara where he studied several Sufi orders, and became particularlly influenced by Mawlana Makhdum, a man of uncertain origin, who Fletcher hypothesizes may have been Indian. When he returned from his polgrimage, Ma Laichi established the most powerful of the Khufiyya menhuan, the Huasi (“flowery mosque”) branch, propograting the order for 32 years among the Hui and Salar in Gansu and Qinghai, before his death in 1766 at the age of 86. The menhuan is still quite active and centered in Linxia Hui Autonomous Region, Gansu, at the tomb of Ma Laichi, which was restored in 1986.
Originating in an earlier Central Asian and Yemeni Naqshbandi Sufism, the Khfiyya order was permeated with an emphasis on a more passive participation in society, the veneration of saints, the seeking of inspiration at tombs, and the silent dhikr (“rememberance,” properly “Khafiyya,” the “silent ones) There are now over 20 sub-branch menhuan throughout China, with mosques in Yunnan, Xinjiang, and Beijing. Most Khufiyya orders are concentrated in Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, and Xinjiang with several of the original Khufiyya practices in some outlying areas such as northern Ningxia beginning to lose their distinctiveness over time.
ref: Atabaki, Touraj. Mehendale, Sanjyot. Central Asia and the Caucasus. pub: Routledge (2005)
Working Class Muslim Families Series - An interesting series where Umar Lee comes to conclusions not too far from my own:
There can be no solution to these problems though unless we successfully raise our children as Muslims and we do our part to help build and sustain Islamic institutions. Dawah is important and should never be forsaken; but more important than dawah is sustaining the existing Muslims. So, if you are living in a city that is not conducive to the Islam of your children or does not nurture your Islam then you need to go.
The problems of raising Muslim children vary depending on the race or ethnicity of the family and children. The offspring of affluent immigrant suburban Muslims are at risk of just falling in love with the dunya and the modern secular world. With an elite education and the ability to materialistically achieve at the highest level while having a minimal Islamic identity it is highly probable that the bulk of these young Muslims will raise children less Muslim than they are and that many will not raise Muslim children at all. This will weaken with every generation with the remaining Muslims falling into the categories of the very conservative Muslims who have clustered themselves in areas with a high concentration of Muslims (which will be the biggest category), a few progressive Muslims who want to hold onto a non-white identity and have some kind of loose connection with their roots while not professing to follow the Sunnah, and fresh immigrants. More so than any of the categories though you will find people with names like Blake Siddiqhi and Lisa Faruq who are descendents of Muslim immigrants who did well financially ; but they have no connection to Islam due to intermarriage and a lack of Islamic education by their parent or grandparents.
I do not feel that these projections are particularly difficult to make. Those seeking a modern and reformed Islam, almost by definition, want to be a part of the modern world and lack an enthusiasm for traditional Islam. They were born and raised into more traditional Muslim families so they have a semblance of Islam; but without such a benefit given to their children they will have even less Islam, if any at all, and it is highly doubtful that the generation after that will identify as Muslim at all.
The clustered Muslims who practice selective engagement have the greatest chance of ensuring Islam is spread to the future generations in America.
What is a limitation of the series is that Umar Lee’s life experiences create the boundaries for the discussion, and while he is obviously well versed with some pockets of Muslims in America, he is not familiar with all of it (and shouldn’t expected to be). Specifically, he remains unfamiliar with traditional “sufi” Muslims reactions to modernity and their approaches to these same questions.
Also, while focusing on implementing the Sunnat, what Umar does not address is the application of the Sunnat in these times and situations and problems. The discussion has become about implementing Sunnat in womens dress, schools, meat, and finding marriage partners. “Islamic” has become a sociological expression, but shouldn’t the sunnah also guide us to the goals of all of the above and more?
But what does the Sunnat say about what will happen to Muslims, and what were our instructions? Didn’t the Prophet (S) speak very specifically about the further strangeness of Islam and Muslims in contrast with the rest of the world? What is the consequence of this prophecy? Why are Jews a model, when we were told we would follow them down the lizards hole? Further, what kind of community can be built without a real leader?
The answers of all these questions have been though about in 1400 years of Islamic tradition. How were Islamic communities established across all of Balkans, Central Asia, India, some in the very heart of kufr? The Islamic lifestyle which is being implemented by the Osmanli Naksibendi Dergah in upstate New York, which follows this protocol, goes far beyond the corner of a city neighborhood filled with Muslims.
Another quote I enjoyed:
The second thing people are thinking is, and I think perhaps maybe this opinion may be the majority in many circles, is why am I making a fuss? Hey, we are in America, the land of the free and the home of the brave. Muslims are dying to come here and raise their children and you are complaining about having to raise your children here? America is the land of opportunity. If you work hard and get a good education here you can succeed materialistically no matter your race, religion or ethnicity. And, finally, they will not see what I see. Maybe they are cloistered in immigrant Muslim communities, or maybe they see the American-Muslim community and approve of the direction it is heading too. Their goal is the “mainstreaming” of Islam in America and they see this as achievable. More mosques are open and more Muslims are visible, so what is the fuss? A mainstream Islam for a mainstream America is being created!
Well, I am sorry, but if I waned to be in the mainstream of America I would have never became Muslim. When I took shahadah, I was embracing a faith that offered me a radical alternative to the American way of life. A faith not at one with liberals or conservatives or any other religion or political ideology on this planet. If I believed in religious pluralism, in the sense that all religions are the same and no one should profess the exclusivity of the correctness of their faith, I would have never became Muslim.
It is the belief that Islam is the Haqq, The Truth, which sustains me and guides my plans for my family. I am an extremely flawed Muslim and human being, and I am not setting myself up as a role model by any means, but the brothers I have met and loved in this deen have struggled because we are trying to get closer to Islam and live the Sunnah in our lives”
This is missing some subtle understandings, especially when it comes to other religious expression, but I myself am the same way.
If I have time I’ll do a piece by piece commentary of this article series. Regardless, it seems a valuable thing for everyone to read.
the truth on 
m.a.kidwai,CME/IND.RLY.(retd.) on 
