The Process of the Formation of the Eleven Principles of the Naqshbandiyya Order ‎in the Remaining Texts from the Beginning to Rashahat Ayn Al-hayat

In most mystical texts, following the words of Fakhreddin Ali Safi in the book Rashahat Ain al-Hayat, which is one of the most important primary sources of the Naqshbandi order, it is stated that the first eight principles presented by Khwajeh Abdul Khaliq Ghijduvani, the head of the Khwajagan, are: awareness while breathing, watching the step, journeying in the homeland, solitude in the assembly, remembrance, restraint, watchfulness, and recollection. Baha'u'ldin Naqshband, the head of Naqshbandiyya has added the three principles of numerical, temporal, and hearty waqf. Given that none of the works of Ghijduvani and Yousef Hamedani mention these principles, the research question of the present descriptive-analytical study is whether this attribution, which has been followed by almost all scholars, is correct, and whether a sign of these principles can be found among the works of the Ghijduvani successors. To answer this question, all the ancient works of the Khwajagan and Naqshbandi orders that could be accessed (both manuscripts and printed copies) were studied. It was concluded that these eight terms were created by the Khwajagan of the seventh and eighth centuries AH, which gradually have been formed and accepted among them. The terms have been attributed to the ancestors of their dynasty. The oldest source that can be cited is the book Maslak al-Arifin, in which these terms were first mentioned.