Qalandariyya

Several later spiritual movements and Sufi schools trace inspiration or lineage to the Qalandari tradition. Among these is the Azeemia order, founded in the 20th century by Qalandar Baba Awliya.

Origin

According to Qalandari hagiographical traditions, the Qalandariyya order traces its origins to Abdul Aziz Makki, who is described as a descendant of the prophet Salih and among the Ashab al-Suffa, the companions who resided in the Suffa area of the Prophet's Mosque Masjid-e-Nabvi in Medina. Tradition holds that after learning of the coming of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Abdul Aziz Makki prayed to God to allow him to live long enough to witness his era. According to these accounts, his prayer was accepted, he embraced Islam at the hands of Muhammad, and was given the name of Qalandar by the prophet.

Some Sufi traditions associate the early spiritual foundations of the Qalandariyya silsila with the Egyptian mystic Dhu al-Nun al-Misri.

According to some secondary sources, the Qalandariyya are an unorthodox Tariqa of Sufi dervishes that originated in medieval al-Andalus as an answer to the state sponsored Zahirism of the Almohad Caliphate.

According to other secondary sources, the Qalandariyya may have arisen from the earlier Malamatiyya, and exhibited some Buddhist and Hindu influences in South Asia. The Malamatiyya condemned the use of drugs and dressed only in blankets or in hip-length hairshirts.

One could perhaps describe them as ‘‘ostentatious’’ Malamatis. Thus they shaved their eyebrows and beards, wore strange clothing, led an errant life, living off the charity of the local populations. They had no (or very few) zawiyas and wandered about in bands accompanied by flags, drums, and strange music. Their greatest appeal, generally, was to members of the lower and uneducated classes. Their doctrine of disregard for formal religious observances led to great laxity and immorality in their behavior.