Khalwati order

The Khalwati order (also known as Khalwatiyya, Khalwatiya, or Halveti, as it is known in Turkey and Albania) is an Islamic Sufi order (tariqa). It is most widespread in Egypt, Albania, Bosnia, Turkey, and to a lesser extent, Azerbaijan. The order takes its name from the Arabic word khalwa, meaning hermitage. The order emerged from the Safavi-Bektashi milieu and underwent Sunnification under the Ottomans. It was founded by Muhammad-Nur al-Khalwati, and his son Umar al-Khalwati, around the city of Herat in medieval Khorasan (now located in western Afghanistan). It was Umar's disciple, Yahya Shirvani however, who founded the “Khalwati Way” as a practice. Yahya Shirvani wrote Wird al-Sattar, a devotional text read by the members of nearly all the branches of Khalwatiyya. The Khalwati order is known for its strict ritual training of its dervishes and its emphasis of individualism, their poetry is also notable for being influenced by Hurufis like Naimi and Nesimi. Historically, the order promoted individual asceticism (zuhd) and hermitage (khalwa), differentiating themselves from other orders at the time. The order is known as one of the source schools of many other Sufi orders.