A Disciple Without a Surviving Certificate

Question

Zayd is also constant in prayer and fasting. For some forty to forty-two years he has openly continued the chain of bay‘ah in the Qadiri persuasion. The elder to whom Zayd attributes his bay‘ah had received khilafa in the exalted silsila of Qadiriyya-Chishtiyya-Naqshbandiyya-Suhrawardiyya, and was Zayd’s spiritual guide and shaykh of the tariqa. Zayd’s claim is corroborated: he remained in the company (suhba)

Answer

When Zayd says, “I am a disciple of such-and-such an elder,” why should he be declared a liar without cause? This statement is not a matter of Sacred Law whose acceptance would be obligatory in itself. A person is reporting on his own state; by outward indications he appears truthful — so it should be accepted as true.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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