The Eleven Naqshbandi principles or the "rules or secrets of the Naqshbandi", known in Persian as the kalimat-i qudsiya ("sacred words" or "virtuous words"), are a system of principles and guidelines used as spiritual exercises, or to encourage certain preferred states of being, in the Naqshbandi Sufi order of Islamic mysticism.

Background

There were originally eight principles formulated by the Central Asian Sufi teacher Abdul Khaliq Gajadwani (died 1179), the last three of the eleven being added later by Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari (1318–1389), founder of the Naqshbandi Order. Both were Khwajagan (Masters) of the Sufi tariqah (path, way or method). These principles are designed to be borne in mind and used as spiritual practices or exercises in the Naqshbandi system of spiritual development. They are carried out under individual tuition, expertly prescribed, monitored for changes, and carefully adjusted by a teacher, rather than being automatically performed. The principles have been brought to the attention of contemporary Western audiences through the works of the writers Idries Shah, John G. Bennett, Omar Ali-Shah and J. Spencer Trimingham. The exercises were an important aspect of Omar Ali-Shah's work with groups in the modern Naqshbandi tradition in the West. For instance, one of Ali-Shah's books of edited transcripts, The Rules or Secrets of the Naqshbandi Order, was devoted to this subject.

The Eleven principles

The Eleven principles are as follows, shown in the order used by Idries Shah in A Perfumed Scorpion, which differs slightly (in items 5 to 8) from the order presented by Omar Ali-Shah:

1. Hush dar dam (or hosh dar dam) — awareness of breathing
2. Nazar ba kadam (or nazar bar qadam) — watching over the steps
3. Safar dar watan — travelling in the Homeland
4. Khilwat dar anjuman (or khalwat dar anjuman) — retirement in company
5. Yad kardan (or yad kard) — remembering, recollecting exercises
6. Baaz gasht (or baz gasht) — restraint
7. Neegar dashtan (or nigah dasht) — watchfulness, use of special faculties
8. Yad dashtan (or yad dasht) — keeping of the memory, sensing of the being and the body
9. Ukufi zamani (or wuquf-e zamani) — time-halt (or pause)
10. Ukufi adadi (or wuquf-e adadi) — number-halt (or pause)
11. Ukufi qalbi (or wuquf-e qalbi) — heart-halt (or pause) or visualisation

General background