About

About Rifai Tradition

Rifai Tradition is an independent site on the Rifāʿī Sufi path. It presents the tradition in its own voice — its masters, lineages, practices and sacred arts, and the communities that keep it today.

Dedication

This site was inspired by the work and teaching of the editor's teacher, Sheikh Sherif Baba Çatalkaya of the Rifāʿī-Maʿrifī path. Naming that affiliation openly is part of the site's independence: readers can weigh what they read knowing where the editor stands.

Independence

The site belongs to no single branch and speaks for none. Each line is described from its own publications and, where possible, reviewed by its own people. It does not rank masters or communities, and gives no personal spiritual guidance.

Sources

Every page is written from published sources — the tradition’s own books and the scholarship on it. Quotations are short; everything else is in the editors’ own words. A full edition with references for every page is in preparation.

Sacred text and images

Qur'anic text is cited by sūra and verse and never used as decoration. Calligraphy and manuscript images appear only as documented works; where an image cannot yet be shown, the words of the inscription are set in type. No image on this site is invented or generated.

Practices

Practices are explained for their meaning and history. Nothing here is instruction: in the tradition, practice is received from a guide.

Corrections

If something here is wrong, or your community is described unfairly or not at all, the editors want to hear from you.