Golden Chain

From Genealogy

For Sufis, the stream of Sufi wisdom and knowledge (metaphysical "knowing", rather than written words, of course) is traced back through murshids (guides, mentors, masters) initiating seekers into the field, all the way back to Muhammad through one of two people he is said to have initiated in that field: Abu Bakar and Ali. The marriage of Jafar Sadiq, fifth Imam of the Shias to the grandson of Abu Bakar leads to several chains now claiming spiritual lineage to both of the first two gentlemen.

[edit] Sources

• See the Wikipedia article on Sufism for a start.
• PHILTAR (Philosophy of Theology and Religion at the Division of Religion and Philosophy of St Martin's College) has a very useful Graphical illustration of the Sufi schools.