Tariqa

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Part of a series on Islam Sufism
Tomb of Abdul Qadir Gilani, Baghdad, Iraq
Ideas Abdal Al-Insān al-Kāmil Baqaa Dervish Dhawq Fakir Fana Hal Haqiqa Ihsan Irfan Ishq Karamat Kashf Lataif Manzil Ma'rifa Maqam Murid Murshid Nafs Nūr Qalandar Qutb Silsila Sufi cosmology Sufi metaphysics Sufi philosophy Sufi poetry Sufi psychology Salik Tazkiah Wali Yaqeen
Practices Anasheed Dhikr Haḍra Muraqabah Qawwali Sama Whirling Ziyarat
Sufi orders Alians Ba 'Alawi Bektashi Qadiri Chishti Naqshbandi Shadhili Suhrawardi Rifa`i Khalwati Rahmani Badawi Desuqi Tijani Darqawi Idrisi Senusi Bayrami Jelveti Maizbhandari Malamati Mouridi Sülaymaniyya Salihiyya Azeemia Kubrawi Mevlevi Shattari Uwaisi Hurufi Ni'matullāhī Nuqtavi Qalandari Safavi Zahabiya Akbari Galibi Haqqani Anjuman Inayati Issawiyya Jerrahi Madari Mahdavi Noorbakshi Zahedi Zikri
List of sufis Notable early Notable modern Singers
Topics in Sufism Tawhid Sharia Tariqa Haqiqa Ma'rifa Art History Sufi music Persecution Ziyarat
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Esotericism
Key concepts Western esotericism Eastern esotericism Mysticism Gnosis Correspondences Magic Astrology Alchemy Meditation Theosophy Theurgy Spiritual Hierarchy Hermeticism Kabbalah Occult Transcendental Unity of Religions Metaphysics Mystical theology
Esoteric rites Initiation Transmission Rites of passage Purification Divination Astral projection Invocation Evocation Visualization Egregore Propitiation Sacrifice Exorcism
Esoteric societies Sufi tariqas Philadelphian Society Freemasonry S.R.I.A. Élus Coëns Rosicrucians OTO Golden Dawn Thelemic Order
Notable figures Pythagoras Plato Hermes Trismegistus Dionysius Ibn Arabi Paracelsus Dee Böhme Lévi Blavatsky Waite Mathers Hall Crowley Gurdjieff Guénon Evola Schuon Steiner Jung
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A tariqa (Arabic: طريقة, romanized: ṭarīqa) is a religious order of Sufism, or specifically a concept for the mystical teaching and spiritual practices of such an order with the aim of seeking haqiqa, which translates as "ultimate truth".^[1]

A tariqa has a murshid (guide) who plays the role of leader or spiritual director. The members or followers of a tariqa are known as muridin (singular murid), meaning "desirous", viz. "desiring the knowledge of God and loving God" (also called a faqir). Tariqa is also believed to be the same as Tzadik of Judaism meaning the "rightly guided one".

The metaphor of "way, path" is to be understood in connection of the term sharia which also has the meaning of "path", more specifically "well-trodden path; path to the waterhole". The "path" metaphor of tariqa is that of a further path, taken by the mystic, which continues from the "well-trodden path" or exoteric of sharia towards the esoteric haqiqa. A fourth "station" following the succession of shariah, tariqa and haqiqa is called marifa. This is the "unseen center" of haqiqa, and the ultimate aim of the mystic, corresponding to the unio mystica in Western mysticism. Tasawwuf, an Arabic word that refers to mysticism and Islamic esotericism, is known in the West as Sufism.