Sellü’l-Hüsâm is one of the lesser-known treatises of the late Hanafi jurist and scholar Ibn Abidin (d. 1252/1836). In it, he defends Mawlana Khalid al-Baghdadi—to whom he was affiliated, from whom he received scholarly authorization, and whose gatherings he attended—against envious detractors and deniers, shares his own memories and impressions, and includes poems written about him.

The spiritual guidance (irshad) of Mawlana Khalid al-Baghdadi spread with a speed and magnitude rarely seen in the history of Sufism. Major scholars across almost the entire Ottoman geography became his followers. This great emergence of the Khalidiyya naturally led mischief-makers to spread great corruption. When the Mufti of Damascus, Sayyid Husayn al-Muradi, himself a descendant of the Naqshbandi Murad al-Bukhari, requested that Ibn Abidin write a treatise to refute these rumors, this work came into existence.

Although Keçecizâde İzzet Molla was himself a Mevlevi, he showed great joy for the Khalidiyya order, which represented a massive renewal and gain in strength for the Ahl al-Sunnah, and in a long poem he wrote, he stated:

“It is the Khalidiyya that purifies the corruption of the Ummah,
Destroying the people of innovation with the sword of the inward,
Putting heretics and deniers to the edge of the blade,
Always heralding the Ahl al-Sunnah with Paradise.”

The meaning in this poem still resonates today. In this respect, the work you hold holds an important place in the history of the Naqshbandi path.