Pervasive elements of Islamic mysticism include the importance of physical intimacy (qurba) with a spiritual guide or master, as the means of accessing baraka (blessing, in the form of knowledge or good fortune) and the ethic of spiritual concentration (dhikr) for achieving closeness to God. Striving for this connection to God, and to his friends on earth took a variety of forms in practice. This paper will contrast the rituals of initiation to the Bakriya Brotherhood described in Murtada al-Zab?d?’s Iqd al-Jaw?hir al-Th?m?n to those for initiation into the Waf?‘? brotherhood described in Mohammad Tawf?q al-Bakri’s Bayt al-S?d?t al-Waf?‘iyya. These will be shown to represent two very different ideas about the nature of mystical authority that resonated with different political and economic structures in Eighteenth century Egypt. It will be shown that the initiation rituals of the Waf?‘iyya reflect an emphasis on the complete submission of the disciple to his shaykh, a formulation which acted as the moral basis for patron-client relationships through which resources and political influence were distributed. By contrast, rituals described in the ‘Iqd prescribe solitary prayer and meditation as the means to access the dh?t or physical body of the Prophet, and be initiated by him directly. This initiation through seeing the Prophet was characteristic of the Tar?qa Mu?ammadiya movement, which was increasing in popularity through the eighteenth century and into the nineteenth. Some scholars have suggested that the submission of the disciple to his master is implicitly feudal or authoritarian, while initiation through seeing the Prophet is implicitly entrepreneurial and thus more suited to a modern economy fueled by trade. This paper will consider the careers of key members of these brotherhoods to better understand the relationship between these competing rituals of sanctity and competing modes of production in modern Egyptian society. The paper has relevance to broader discussions of the diversity in the practice and theory of Islamic mysticism, and the mechanisms of change in Sufi institutions that have allowed them to thrive in changing contexts.