silsila
Spiritual teacher succession
A silsila is a spiritual lineage or chain of transmission in Sufism, tracing the succession of teachers back to the Prophet Muhammad.
Each Sufi order maintains its own silsila, establishing the authenticity of its teachings through an unbroken line of masters: The sheikh recited his silsila to demonstrate his spiritual authority.
The concept emphasizes that mystical knowledge passes person to person, not merely through texts.
Sufi spiritual brotherhood
- shaykhArab elder title
- fanaEgo's dissolution in God
- dervishSufi order member
- faqirIslamic religious ascetic
baqa · initiation · transmission · spiritual · master · disciple · order
Things that connect
- sequenceOrdered succession of elements
- continuityUninterrupted progression or coherence
- connectionA joining or relation
- concatenationJoining items end-to-end
progression · succession · linkage · thread · strand · bonds · ties · ligature
Family line of descent
- heritageInherited cultural legacy
- bloodlineAncestry through generations
- dynastySuccessive family rulers
- genealogyStudy of family descent
pedigree · descendants · forebears · kinship · clan · family · succession · inheritance
Distinct parts of a series
- sagaExtended heroic narrative
- sequelContinuation of prior work
- installmentsPeriodic partial payments
- arcCurved line segment
continuity · storyline · franchise · seasons · plot · miniseries · drama · anthology
tariqa
Sufi spiritual brotherhood
baqa · faqir · initiation · transmission · spiritual · master · disciple · order
links
Things that connect
- sequenceOrdered succession of elements
- continuityUninterrupted progression or coherence
- connectionA joining or relation
concatenation · progression · succession · linkage · thread · strand · bonds · ties · ligature · interconnection
ancestry
Family line of descent
- heritageInherited cultural legacy
- bloodlineAncestry through generations
- dynastySuccessive family rulers
genealogy · pedigree · descendants · forebears · kinship · clan · family · succession · inheritance · progenitor
episodes
Distinct parts of a series
- sagaExtended heroic narrative
- sequelContinuation of prior work
- installmentsPeriodic partial payments
arc · continuity · storyline · franchise · seasons · plot · miniseries · drama · anthology · cliffhanger
- Sufismtariqa, fana, sufi, Sufism, dervish
- Hadithhadith, hadiths, Muslim, matn, canonical works
- Moroccan Sufismtariqa, marabout, faqir, wird, spiritual master
- Sufi literaturemystical poetry, wird
- Sufi poetryRumi, masnavi, divine love, mystical poetry, fana
- Tijaniyyatariqa, wird
silsilahereditary succession
Passing titles through lineage
royal bloodline · genetic inheritance · family dynasty · genetic lineage · family tree
silsilabroken chain
Disrupted linked sequence
discontinuity · rupture · severance · isolation · disconnection