History of the Qadiri Rifai Sufi Order

Several hundred years ago, Shaykh Ayni Ali Baba, a Rifai, founded a Tekke, or Sufi center, in Kasimpasha, now a suburb of Istanbul. It later became known as the Ayni Ali Baba Tekke. Although is was a center of light and learning for many generations, by 1910, the building where the Tekke had been housed had been abandoned.

Ayni Ali Baba Tekke

Shaykh Muhammed Ansari, who was born in Baghdad, moved to Erzincan in northeastern Turkey in the early 1900's. He was a descendent of both Abdul Qadir al Geylani and Ahmed ar Rifai and was a shaykh of the Rifai order. In Turkey he met Shaykh Abdullah Hashimi, a Qadiri. They worked together for many years. After Shaykh Muhammed Ansari strengthened his connection to the Qadiri Order, Shaykh Abdullah Hashimi sent him to Istanbul to establish the Qadiri Rifai Sufi Order and revive the Ayni Ali Baba Tekke.

Muhammed Ansari

Sometime after arriving in Istanbul, Shaykh Muhammed Ansari came across a soldier, who lay mortally wounded. Through his lineage, he had the powers to heal and miraculously cured the soldier. Upon hearing how the soldier's life was saved, Sultan Abdul Hamid, a Qadiri himself, wanted to commend and reward the Shaykh. He asked him what he would like. The Shaykh replied that he would like permission to build a Sufi center on the foundation of the ruined Ayni Ali Baba Tekke. With the consent of the Sultan, Shaykh Muhammed Ansari and his wife rebuilt the Tekke with their bare hands. (Since then the Tekke has been renovated several times.)

Shaykh Muhammed Ansari headed the Qadiri Rifai Tariqa in the Ayni Ali Baba Tekke from 1915 until his death. His son, Shaykh Muhyiddin Ansari, born in Erzincan, succeeded him. As Qutb of his time, a very high spiritual station, Shaykh Muhyiddin Ansari raised 56 Khalifas, or representatives, and many thousand dedicated students all over Turkey, Germany, and the former Yugoslavia. One of his Khalifas is Shaykh Jemali, Shaykh of Bosnia. In 1978 when Shaykh Muhyiddin Ansari died, he left the tasawuf, the executive power of the Order to Shaykh Nureddin Ozal.

Under the leadership of Shaykh Nureddin Ozal, the Ayni Ali Baba Tekke continued to be a center of light. Shaykh Nureddin Ozal's exemplary devotion to his Shaykh in and out of his presence set the standard of how murids should treat their Shaykh. While raising ten Khalifas, he served everyone with whom he came in contact with humility and love.

In May 1993, Shaykh Nureddin Ozal passed away, leaving the tasarruf (executive power) of the order to Shaykh Taner Ansari. While the center of the Qadiri Rifai Sufi Order is now in America with the Pir Shaykh Taner Ansari Tarsusi er Rifai el Qadiri, the Ayni Ali Baba Tekke is still a flourishing center in Turkey.

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