Bay‘ah and Ijaza in All Four Chains

Question

Is there any difference in the method of spiritual reform (islah) and training (tarbiya) among the four chains, or not? If there is a difference, then what, in the end, is the case with the custom found among some elders of taking bay‘ah from, and granting ijaza to, one and the same person in all four chains?

Answer

There is indeed some difference in the method of training and spiritual reform, but the objective of all of them is one and the same, and so this difference is not in any way harmful. Granting permission for bay‘ah in all four chains is just like a person who, having attained mastery in Greco-Arabic, homeopathic, allopathic, and Vedic (Ayurvedic)

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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