Khirqa

The khirqa is the initiatory cloak of the Sufi chain of spirituality, with which esoteric knowledge and barakah is passed from the Murshid or the Shaikh to the aspirant murid.

The khirqa initiates an aspirant into the silsilah, the chain or lineage of sheikhs that goes back to the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

Khirqa-yi irada is characterized by the passing of barakah to the aspirant from the singular sheikh to which they have pledged allegiance (bay'at).

Khirqa-yi tabarruk, also known as the "frock of blessing", is characterized by the passing of barakah to the worthy aspirant from any sheikh that they have encountered.

It was not until the late eleventh and twelfth centuries that Sufism accepted this form of isnad as a means to transmit mystical knowledge and blessings.

Dervish draped a blue khirqa, late 16th–early 17th century.