Biographies

Shaykh Muḥammad ʿĀdil is the 41st Leader and Shaykh of the Golden Chain of the Most Distinguished Naqshbandī Ṭarīqah. He is the living master of the Naqshbandī way and the inheritor of the secret passed on from Sayyidinā Muḥammad ﷺ to Sayyidinā Abū Bakr aṣ-Ṣiddīq, all the way to Mawlānā Shaykh Muḥammad Nāẓim ʿĀdil al-Ḥaqqānī قَدَّسَ اللهُ سِرَّهُ, his late father and Shaykh. He was born on 29 March 1957 in Damascus, Shām, and resides in the village of Akbaba in the Beykoz district of Istanbul, Türkiye. He is the eldest son of Sulṭān al-Awliyā Mawlānā Shaykh Muḥammad Nāẓim ʿĀdil al-Ḥaqqānī قَدَّسَ اللهُ سِرَّهُ and Ḥajjah Amina Adil Sultan.

Shaykh Muḥammad is of Turkish Cypriot descent. His father and guide, Shaykh Muḥammad Nāẓim al-Ḥaqqānī قَدَّسَ اللهُ سِرَّهُ, is of the lineage of the founder of the Qādiriyyah Ṭarīqah, Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī, while his great grandmother is of the lineage of the founder of the Mawlawī Ṭarīqah, Mawlānā Jalāluddīn Rūmī. According to the Naqīb al-Ashrāf records his lineage goes back to the family of the Prophet Sayyidinā Muḥammad ﷺ, and he is Ahl al-Bayt from his father's side. His mother, Ḥajjah Amina Adil Sultan, is the daughter of a Tatar family who migrated to Shām Sharīf through Anatolia, originally from the village of Bakayevo near the Republic of Tatarstan.

Shaykh Muḥammad spent his youth in Damascus under the guidance of both Sulṭān al-Awliyā Mawlānā Shaykh ʿAbdu Llāh al-Fāʾiz ad-Dāghestānī قَدَّسَ اللهُ سِرَّهُ and Shaykh Nāẓim al-Ḥaqqānī قَدَّسَ اللهُ سِرَّهُ, training in the manner and discipline of the Naqshbandī Ṭarīqah. He received his Islamic education studying Sharīʿah at the prestigious Al-Fatih Islamic Institute in Damascus.

Shaykh Nāẓim قَدَّسَ اللهُ سِرَّهُ declared publicly before his passing that his Khalīfa and successor would be Shaykh Muḥammad ʿĀdil, who took over the trust as the 41st Shaykh of the Naqshbandī Golden Chain on 7 May 2014. Since then he has carried forward his father's spiritual mission as an inheritor of the Prophet ﷺ, emphasising faith, love and humility. He is attributed with poise, humbleness and a merciful heart, spending his time in the service of people purely for the pleasure of Allāh ﷻ. He travels the world spreading the religion of Islām, meeting visitors young and old one by one and giving them advice and guidance.

Shaykh Nāẓim ʿĀdil al-Ḥaqqānī is the 40th Leader and Shaykh of the Golden Chain of the Most Distinguished Naqshbandī Ṭarīqah. Renowned for his deep spirituality and global influence, he was affectionately known as Sulṭān al-Awliyā. Born in Larnaca, Cyprus, he carried the title “Kibrisi” (the Cypriot). His lineage traces back to two great Sufi masters: the eleventh-century saint Imām ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī through his paternal grandfather Shaykh Hussein al-Qādirī, known as “Yeşilbaş”, and the thirteenth-century mystic Jalāluddīn Rūmī through his maternal grandfather Shaykh Kaytazzâde Mehmet Nâzım, after whom he was named. Both grandfathers were shaykhs in the Qādirī and Mawlawī orders.

From childhood Shaykh Nāẓim displayed a strong inclination toward spirituality. While he pursued secular education by day, he studied the Islamic sciences, Ḥadīth, Qurʾānic exegesis and jurisprudence in the evenings. In 1940, at the age of eighteen, he moved to Istanbul and enrolled at Istanbul University, where he excelled in chemical engineering. Despite his academic achievements, he later admitted: “I felt no attraction to modern science. My heart was always drawn to the spiritual sciences.”

During his time in Istanbul he deepened his religious studies, mastering Arabic and Islamic theology. His journey took a decisive turn when he began attending gatherings at the Sultan Ahmed Mosque. He was initiated into Naqshbandī Sufism by Sulaymān Erzurumī, who directed him to Damascus. He arrived in Syria in 1944 and met the renowned Naqshbandī master Mawlānā Shaykh ʿAbdu Llāh al-Fāʾiz ad-Dāghestānī قَدَّسَ اللهُ سِرَّهُ at his tekke on the slopes of Jabal Qāsiyūn. Recognising his innate spiritual gifts, Shaykh ʿAbdu Llāh granted him bayʿah into the Naqshbandī Order, and Shaykh Nāẓim advanced rapidly along the path.

Shortly after, Mawlānā Shaykh ʿAbdu Llāh instructed him to return to Cyprus to spread the teachings of Sufism. Following the passing of Shaykh ʿAbdu Llāh in 1973, Shaykh Nāẓim was appointed his spiritual successor. From 1974 he travelled every year to Western Europe, particularly London, and many spiritual seekers joined the way, a great number embracing Islām after encountering him. Over the decades he became a globally respected spiritual figure, guiding countless seekers through love, humility and divine remembrance. Fluent in Turkish, Arabic, English and Greek, his teachings were compiled into numerous books and his influence extended across cultures and continents.

Mawlānā Shaykh ʿAbdu Llāh al-Fāʾiz ad-Dāghestānī was the 39th Leader and Shaykh of the Golden Chain of the Most Distinguished Naqshbandī Ṭarīqah. He was born in the North Caucasian region of Dagestan, then part of the Russian Empire. Both his father and elder brother were medical doctors, the latter a surgeon in the Imperial Russian Army. He was raised and trained by his maternal uncle and Shaykh, Mawlānā Shaykh Sharafuddīn ad-Dāghestānī قَدَّسَ اللهُ سِرَّهُ (1875–1936).

In the late 1890s his family emigrated to the Ottoman Empire, following his uncle Shaykh Sharafuddīn who had emigrated in the 1870s. They settled in the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa and after a year moved to the village of Reşadiye, now known as Güneyköy, in Yalova Province, Türkiye. The village was established on land granted by the Sultan and populated by Daghestani refugees affected by the War of '93 and the uprising against the Russian Empire. Shortly thereafter Shaykh ʿAbdu Llāh's father died.

In 1910, after merely six months of marriage, Shaykh Sharafuddīn قَدَّسَ اللهُ سِرَّهُ ordered Shaykh ʿAbdu Llāh into a Sufi seclusion (khalwah) for five years, a practice of severe austerities intended to raise his spiritual rank. When the seclusion ended the Ottoman Empire was embroiled in the First World War. Along with many young men of his village he entered military service and took part in the Battle of Gallipoli, where he was severely wounded by enemy fire.

In 1921 he was instructed by Shaykh Sharafuddīn to enter a second five-year seclusion. Upon completing it he was granted ijāzah to be a Shaykh in the Naqshbandī Order. He and his family moved to Syria, where he remained for the rest of his life: first in Aleppo, then Homs, and finally Damascus near the tomb of the saint Saʿd ad-Dīn al-Jibāwī, where he established the first dergāh. In 1943 he moved to a house on Jabal Qāsiyūn. He passed away on 30 September 1973 in Damascus, and that house is now the site of his maqām and its adjoining mosque.

Before his passing, Mawlānā Shaykh ʿAbdu Llāh appointed Mawlānā Shaykh Nāẓim al-Ḥaqqānī قَدَّسَ اللهُ سِرَّهُ as his successor and 40th Leader and Shaykh of the Golden Chain, who continued to carry and spread his teachings around the world.