Maslak al-Arifin, The oldest Surviving Text of the Khwajas

One of the texts of the pre-Naqashbandi period related to the Khwajagan period is a book entitled Maslak al-Arifin, the author of which is a person named Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad Bukhari or Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn As'ad Bukhari. This book is one of the most important sources for understanding the Khwajagan sect before the formation of the Naqshbandiyya and Baha'u'llah Muhammad Naqshband Dynasty (d. 791 AH), which has not been published yet. There were 2 reductions of this book: the short reduction included 17 chapters and the long reduction consisted of 23 chapters. In this article, besides introducing the book, its aspects of importance were shown. The most important information in Maslak al-Arifin was about the dynasties of Khawaja and its branches. In this work, there was a dispute between Ghijdiwani successors over vocal and silent dhikr, which showed how the Khwajagan dynasty was divided into two groups. Also, some Naqshbandiyya terms that were among the eight principles, such as "solitude in the society" and "travel in the homeland", were mentioned in this book. There was also a chapter entitled "Cloak", which give us unique information about the types of cloak colors and their suitability with the Sufi’s conditions. This research was based on a descriptive-analytical method accompanied by historical research.