CLARIFYING THE DOCTRINE OF THE SINGLE GRAND MURSHID IN EVERY NAQSHBANDĪ AGE
The Haqqānī Position: Clarification, Not Denial It is vital to understand that the announcement of Shaykh Mehmet ʿĀdil ar-Rabbānī (q) affirming that certain individuals are not authorized to represent the ṭarīqah was not an act of excommunication (tabdīʿ) or spiritual negation (nafy al-maqām). Rather, it was a clarification of organizational and initiatory authority: who among the Shaykhs may grant bayʿah or speak in the name of the ṭarīqah Naqshbandiyyah al-Ḥaqqāniyyah. The Naqshbandī tradition recognizes many awliyāʾ operating simultaneously, each with his own maqām, but at any given time there is only one “Shaykh al-ʿĀmm,” the Grand Murshid of the Golden Chain, through whom the secret of wilāyah (sirr al-wilāyah) flows outwardly to the rest. Thus, Shaykh Hisham Kabbani (may Allah preserve him) retains his maqām as a realized ʿārif, a man of enormous spiritual contribution, recognized even by Shaykh Mehmet himself but the Grand Chair (kursī al-irshād al-ʿāmm) belongs to Shaykh Muḥ...