[Bashir, S: "Messianic Hope and Mystical Vision: The Nurbakhshiya Between Medieval and Modern Islam (Studies in Comparative Religion), "University of South Carolina Press", October, 2003] ]History
Nurbakhshiya emerged in 15th century Iran, Central Asia, Kashmir and Baltistan as a branch of the Kubravia Sufi order.
It was in the valley of Kashmir and in Baltistan where the Nurbakhshiya gained their greatest prominence in the early 16th century. This was due to the missionary efforts of Mir Sham ud-Din Iraqi, himself a disciple of Sayyid Muhammad Nurbkhsh's son and spiritual heir, Shah Qasim Faizbakhsh.
In its country of origin, Iran, the order became outright Shi'a some decades after the Safavid dynasty made twelver Shi'ism the religion of the state in 1501, and the same happened in Kashmir, either during the lifetime of Shams ud-Din Iraqi, who died in 1527, or in the following decades during the the brief interlude of the Chak dynasty's reign. But in Baltistan the Nurbakhshiya has survived until this day as a sect with doctrines of its own, combining elements of both Shi'ism and Sunni Islam. [Reick Andreas: "The Nurbakhshis of Baltistan- Revival of the Oldest Muslim Community in the Northern Areas of Pakistan", Paper read at the International Confernce "Karakurum-Himalaya-Hindukush-Dynamics of Change", Islamabad, national Library, 29.9-2.10.1995 and published in The Monthly Nawa-i-sufia Islamabad, Issue No. 28, march, 1997. ] .Ghousulal-Mutakharin Sayyid al Arifin Mir Sayyid Muhammad Nurbakhsh was the 9th century missionary Sufi master on whom the researchers have paid less attention. That is why we could not trace a detailed biography on his life. Although Nurbakhsh had many scholar-disciples including Assiri lahiji, but non of his disciples made any serious effort to write Nurbakhsh's biography and to preserve his teachings. However it is a wonderful miracle that hundreds of thousand of his followers are still present in a very far-flung and the most backward areas of Islamic Republic of Pakistan who are practicising his teachings in in its entirety and who are the custodians of his works and teachings even these days when five centuries have been passed after Nurbakhsh. [Dr. Naeem, G: "Mir Sayyid Muhammad Nurbakhsh and Nurbakhshiya Sect", "Shah-e-Hamadan Publications, Islamabad, Pakistan, 2000"] .=Nurbakhsh's Geneology=
Silsila Dhahab meaning the golden chain starts from the Muhammad. The geneology as given by Nurbakhsh himself in his works is as follows:
1. Muhammad
2. Hazrat Ali Ibn Abi Tal;ib
3. Hazrat Imam Hassan
4. Hazrat Imam Hussain
5. Hazrat Imam Ali Zain-Ul-Abideen
6. Hazrat Imam Muhammad Baqir
7. Hazrat Imam Jafar Al-Sadiq
8. Hazrat Imam Musa Kazim
9. Hazrat Imam Ali Raza
10. Hazart Shayk Maruf al Kurkhi
11. Hazart Shaykh Sari as-Saqti
12. Hazart Shaykh Junayd Baghdadi
13. Hazart Shaykh Abu ali al Rudbarai
14. Hazrat Sheikh Abu Ali Katibi
15. Hazart Shaykh Abu Usman Maghribi
16. Hazart Shaykh Abu al-Jurjani
17. Hazart Shaykh Abu Bakr Annasaji
18. Hazart Shaykh Ahmed Ghazali
19. Hazrat Shaykh abu Najeeb al-suharwardi
20. Hazrat Shaykh ammaar yasir al-Badeesi
21. Hazrat Shaykh al-Najm-ud-din al–kubra
22. Hazrat Shaykh Ali al-Lala
23. Hazrat Shaykh Ahmed zakir al Jurjani
24. Hazrat Shaykh Abud al- Rahman Asfariyeni
25. Hazrat Shaykh Alla al-Dula as-Samnani
26. Hazrat Shaykh Mehmood al Muzdiqani
27. Hazrat Shaykh Amir al-kabir sayyid Ali Hamadani
28. Hazrat Khawaja Ishaq al –Khutalni
29. Hazrat Mir Sayyid Muhammad Nurbakhsh al-Qahistani
The fact that these practices are not an assemblage of his personal view but the practices were originally conceived to him from Muhammad through the masters of the spiritual chain. If any reader feels doubt in this connection, we would invite them to travel on the long road through the history of mysticism and to compare it with that of Nurbakhsh’s teachings. The research it self will tell you the fact. [Balghari S.H."Shah Syed Muhammad Nurbakhsh Qahistani","Monthly Nawa-i-Sufia Islamabad",Issue No.28., 1996/>.=References=
