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)
When Shah Naqshbandi was asked, “What are the requirements of one who follows your way?” he said, “To follow the Sunnah of the Prophet (s).” He continued saying: “Our way is a rare one. It keeps the cUrwat ul-Wuthqa, the Unbreakable Bond, and it asks nothing else of its followers but to take hold of the Pure Sunnah of the Prophet (s) and follow the way of the Sahaba (Companions of the Prophet (s)) in their ijtihad (efforts for Allah).
“The Naqshbandi School is the easiest and simplest way for the student to understand tawhid. It urges its followers to seek a state of complete worship of Allah both publicly and privately by keeping the complete code of conduct of the Prophetic Sunnah. It encourages people to keep to the strictest modes of worship (cazima) and to abandon exemptions (rukhsa). It is also free from all innovations and deviations. It does not demand of its followers perpetual hunger or wakefulness. That is how the Naqshbandiyya has managed to remain free from the excesses of the ignorant and the charlatans (mushacwazan). In sum we say that our way is the mother of all tariqats and the guardian of all spiritual trusts. It is the safest, wisest, and clearest way. It is the purest drinking-station, the most distilled essence. The Naqshbandiyya is innocent from any attack because it keeps the sunnah of the beloved Prophet (s).”
In the universe of really strange websites about religion, faith and especially sufis, there are few gems to look for. Here is a new one which is worth checking out.
As always, there is the Osmanli Dergah Website with videos and audio
and
the truth on 
m.a.kidwai,CME/IND.RLY.(retd.) on 