The Core Chishti Practices

Abstract

It was above all the transmission of distinctive practices that gave each order its character. For the Chishti order, this transmission included distinctive practices associated with listening to music (sama‘). But the core of Sufi transmission was the complex of prayer and meditation practices associated with the recollection and recitation of the Arabic names of God mentioned in the Qur’an.¹ The term for this recitation is zikr, meaning “recollection.” Zikr is mentioned very frequently in the Qur’an, since humanity is often called upon in the sacred text to remember God and his commands. The movement toward interiorization of the Qur’an that was so decisive for the development of Sufism lent itself especially to the practice of meditation in which the names of God (traditionally 99 in number) are chanted over and over again, either in solitude or in company, aloud or silently. Both historically and in the present day, the practice of recollection continues to be a central part of Sufi practice.