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At the beginning of the 5th/11th century, the attachment of numerous Sufis to gathering, transmission and exegesis of the hadith already represents a form of devotion to the Prophet’s person. The chain of transmitters ( isnâd) in the hadith is not merely perceived as a guarantee of the authenticity of the prophetic word, but it also carries the trace of the prophetic presence, which travels through generations of transmitters and can therefore be understood as a relic passed on devoutly. In the late 4th/10th century, this new dimension of isnâd is linked with the gradual emergence, on the one hand, of the prophetic model as fundamental source of the spiritual path and on the other of the role and status of the spiritual master in the training of disciples. The Prophet’s teaching, collected as sentences with the traditionalists’ standards, receives a similar status to that of the hadith.