About

In the 17th and 18th centuries of the Hijrah, many scholars of the Malay world journeyed from the Nusantara to Makkah and Madinah to deepen their knowledge of the religion, for the two Holy Cities were then the foremost centres of learning in the world. Many among them became teachers there, and some were granted authority to guide a tarekat after drawing fully upon the spiritual light of renowned masters such as Sayyidi Syeikh Muhammad as-Sammani al-Madani and Sayyidi Syeikh Muhammad Amin ar-Ridhwan al-Madani.

It is held that the first Malay scholar to confer the ijazah and baiat of the Ghazaliyyah dhikr in Makkah was Syeikh Muhammad Mukhtar Atharid al-Bughuri al-Jawi (b. Bogor 1278H, d. Makkah 1349H, buried in Jannatul Mu'alla), the 36th in the silsilah. From him the path passed to his khalifah in Malaysia, Tuan Guru Hj Ahmad of Paya Rumput, Melaka (the 37th), who carried the Ghazaliyyah to the Malay Peninsula and taught it to those he found fit.

From Tuan Guru Hj Ahmad the trust passed through Tuan Guru Hj Syamsuddin (38th) and Tuan Guru Hj Tahir Aidin of Kuala Pilah (39th, who returned to Allah in Ramadan 2006) to the present Mursyid, As-Syarif As-Sayyid Haji Lokeman Hazli bin Azali As-Seggaf (the 40th). Today the path continues through circles of remembrance, the weekly khalwat, and retreats of ten, twenty, and forty days in the great months of Islam — and through the study of the classical texts of the people of tasawwuf, upon the creed of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah. Its goal is one: the purification of the heart and nearness to Allah, the Most High.