ABSTRACT
More than any of its antecedents, the Khalidiyya was the creation of its eponymous founder, Diya’ al-Din Khalid. Of Kurdish extraction, Khalid acquired a thorough religious education in his homeland before departing to India in 1809 to be initiated into the Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidiyya by Shah Ghulam ‘Ali. He then propagated a combination of learning and orthodox Sufism during a stormy career spanning Sulaymaniyya, Baghdad, and Damascus. Most importantly, Khalid’s disciples in Istanbul joined the local Mujaddidiyya in supporting Sultan Mahmud II’s (1808-1839) effort to revitalize the Ottoman Empire and re-establish law and order in its provinces. Khalid paid special attention to the organizational dimension of his brotherhood. His innovations in this sphere – a new stress on the rabita, a concentrated form of khalwa, and “closing the door” to non-members during the dhikr – were designed to turn the Naqshbandiyya-MujaddidiyyaKhalidiyya into an effective socio-religious movement in the service of the Muslim community and orthodox Islam.
