Sufi Heirs of the Prophet explores the multifaceted development of personal authority in Islamic societies by tracing the transformation of one representative mystical sufi lineage in colonial India, the Naqshbandiyya. Arthur F.

Buehler isolates four sources of personal authority evident in the practices of the Naqshbandiyya - lineage, spiritual traveling, status as a Prophetic exemplar, and the transmission of religious knowledge - to demonstrate how Muslim sufis have exercised charismatic leadership through their connection to the most compelling of personal Islamic symbols, the Prophet Muhammad.