Yusuf Hamdani

Hadrat Abu Yaqub Yusuf Hamdani (d. 1140) is the first of the group of Central Asian Sufi teachers known simply as "Khwajagan" (the Masters) of the Naqshbandi order.

According to Ibn Khallikan, he began his religious career with the cultivation of the religious sciences, becoming both a respected scholar of hadith and fiqh and a popular preacher in Baghdad. Later he abandoned these pursuits, adopting an intensely ascetic way of life and travelled east, first settling in Herat and later in Merv, where his tomb is still reputed to exist. He named four khalifas or successors, a pattern that repeated itself for several succeeding generations of the Khwajagan, including Ahmed Yesevi and Khwaja Abdul Khaliq Gajadwani, the next link in the Naqshbandi silsila.

ources

The Naqshbandi Order, Hamid AlgarWafayat al-A'yan, Ibn Khallikan

Bibliography

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ee also

*Naqshbandi