It is said that it was the descendants of Mohammed that founded Kādiriyah Sect in the 17th century. Kādiriyah Sect has many branches, which fall into two groups: Qimen Group and Yunnan Ma Group. Believers of this sect are scattered mainly in Linxia and Lanzhou of Gansu Province, Guyuan in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Xining and Hualong in Qinghai Province, Xixiang and Hanzhong in Shaanxi Province and Guangyuan in Sichuan Province. Kādiriyah in Arabic means one who is capable of everything.

During its development, the sect is greatly influenced by traditional Chinese culture. It broadly accepts and transforms some spiritual concepts of Confucianism and Taoism to reinterpret the Islamic creeds. It is characterized in that it doesn't lay stress on the religious rites of the orthodox religious sects; instead, it pays attention to spiritual cultivation and individual rites. Therefore, they believe that one can know Allah well only when he can know himself well. Thus they take burning joss sticks and sitting still as their major religious practices.

The head of this sect is called Senior or Guider and strict demands are put on him, including the following: he must renounce his family and cultivate himself in the mountains since his childhood; or if he renounces his family later, he must make a living by begging all his life, and cultivate himself wandering around in hardship. They don't have a hereditary system in terms of succession, but choose a successor according to his ability. There are two types of religious personnel, one type is so called Chujiaren (those who enter a religion), who must renounce their families and cultivate themselves according to the religious doctrine; the other type is Akhunds, who are only required to obey common religious rites and practices.