Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari

Baha' al-Din Muhammad Naqshband was born in 1318 in what is now Uzbekistan. He built a teaching tradition that emphasized quiet contemplation over vocal ritual, a break from the ecstatic practices common in other Sufi circles. That approach became the foundation of the Naqshbandi order, which spread across Central Asia, the Ottoman Empire, and beyond. He died in 1389, but the order carried his name forward through centuries of expansion. Today it remains one of the most widespread Sufi networks in the Sunni world.