The Successors of Ali ibn Abi Talib

In the light of this Hadith, Ali will be providing guidance to the seekers of Allah till the doomsday. In this regard, Mujaddid Alif Sani who is equally acknowledged in all the mystic orders, says:  There are two ways of union with Allah. One of them is the way of Prophethood. Through this way, only the Prophets are connected and unified with Allah and this way was sealed after Prophet Mohammad.

The second way is that of sainthood. The people of this way are connected to Allah through a mediator. This group consists of the Sufi hierarchy of Qutb, Autad, Abdal, Nujaba (the nobles) and common Saints. The mediator and the main source of this way is Ali ibn Abi Talib. This way of union with Allah is all about the grand status of Ali ibn Abi Talib.

At this station he exercises the authority granted to him by

Prophet Mohammad. Fatimah-tuz-Zahra, Hasan and Husayn also share this status with Ali. (Maktubat Imam Rabbani)

Ali ibn Abi Talib had four spiritual successors; Hasan ibn Ali, Husayn ibn Ali, Shaikh Hasan of Basra and Kumayl ibn Ziyad. In Sufism, they are known as the four righteous leaders or the four mystic caliphs. From these four Imams, fourteen mystic orders further initiated. Through these orders the beneficence of the Holy Prophet is transmitted to the umma spiritually. Thus the successors of Ali ibn Abi Talib established such a strong system of mystic orders which successfully continues till date. The spiritual orders of Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali continued through the Imams who are their progeny. Even the greatest Saints such as Fuḍayl ibn Iyaḍ, Imam Shafii, Imam Abu Hanifa, Bayazid Bastami got spiritual beneficence from them and achieved high spiritual status.

Hasan of Basra is the famous successor of Ali from whom all his mystic orders started and continued. There were many successors of Hasan of Basra, among them two are more prominent, Shaikh Abdul Wahid ibn Zayd and Shaikh Habib Ajmi. Because of their spiritual beneficence, fourteen mystic orders were formed, five from Abdul Wahid and nine from Shaikh Habib Ajmi. All of these orders now collectively exist in Qadri order, Suhrawardi order and Chishti order. The Qadri order is ranked above all the orders because of Faqr.