Rahmaniyya

The Raḥmâniyya (Arabic: الرحمانية) is an Algerian Sufi order (tariqa or brotherhood) founded by Kabyle religious scholar Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥman al-Azhari Bu Qabrayn in the 1770s.

Following his stay in the Hijaz, Bu Qubrayn settled in Egypt to attain greater knowledge at the Al-Azhar mosque in Cairo.

As part of his learning with al-Hifnawi, Bu Qubrayn traveled extensively to teach ḫalwatîya doctrines, including in Darfur for six years and as far as India.

[4]The Raḥmâniyya grew rapidly beyond Kabylia region, in eastern and south-eastern Algeria where it competed with other Sufi orders such as Qâdiriyya or Tijâniyya.

[8] The zawiyas offered different teachings and supports across the order, but it included studies on religion, grammar, religious law, geography, and mathematics.

[10] After the insurrection of 1871, the main zawiya definitively lost control over the other branches of the order,[5] which were now following and adapting the Raḥmâniyya teachings more or less independently.

Second, reformers from the Islamic Modernism movement attacked Sufis, claiming they were into deviational and heretical practices, superstitions keeping people ignorant.

[15] Also, under the presidencies of Ahmed Ben Bella (1963-1965) and Houari Boumedienne (1965-1978), Sufi orders were further weakened by governments trying to increase their control of Algerian society.

At the end of the war, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika (1999-2019) endeavored to support "Sufism as a more moderate alternative to more radical Salafis and more conservative Wahhabis".

Teaching and practicing are conducted in zawiyas under the direction of a shaykh (شيخ, šaiḫ, or religious scholar or master), assisted by a khalifa (ḫalifa or lieutenant) or a naib (نائب, nāʾib, or deputy), The muqaddams (representatives,[2] delegates or local chiefs) and finally the ikhwan (إخوان, iḫwan, or brothers) constitute the bottom of the hierarchy.