Mysticism means many things to many minds and is undeniably a term that is used in varying contexts with different shades of meanings. Many have used this term to designate a special mark of spiritual disposition, and others have employed it to mark off a higher and final development of life itself. Anyone who reflects God or the Holy Spirit as the vital, determining norm or principle of his or her life could validly be called “Mystical.” Mysticism means, the attainment of higher levels of being in which this knowledge is fully realized in conformity with man’s destiny on earth.
Mysticism is a living tradition that continues to occupy a central place in philosophy of the Muslim world. Sufi orders continue to flourish openly in worldwide and its mystical presence is apparent even on the more external plane. In the contemporary world which is full of materialism, Islamic mysticism is
…show more content…
Soon thereafter, dozens of other orders, most of which evolved as sub-branches of the initial ones, arose throughout the Middle East, Central Asia, India, East Africa, and Spain. Sufi influence continued to expand with the spread of Islam throughout the world. The various orders trace their lineages to, and are generally named after, extraordinary Sufi masters who lived at different times and came from different locales. The Naqshbandi take the name of their order from Khaja Bahaudin Naqshband of Central Asia (1318-1389), the Qadiri from Abdul Qadir of Gilan (1077-1166), the Chishtiya from Abu Ishak Chishti of Syria, etc. All genuine orders have a record of their chain of spiritual transmission (silsilah) passed down from one spiritual preceptor, called a shaykh in Arabic and a pir in Persian, to another. All of the silsilah trace back to the original silsilah of the Prophet Mohammed through Abu Bakr or the fourth Kalif