The Red Sulfur among the saints, the Crystal Lamp of this Universe and its Foundation, he was supported by Steadfast Faith. A Knower of the Hidden Meanings of the Holy Qur’an, he was the Key to Its Secret, enlightened with the Pure Essence of the Truth. He had enormous experience in the Way of his predecessors. Sufism was his blood, the Prophet Muhammad  was his heart, and the Divine Presence was his soul. He was the Luminary of Knowledge for human beings in his time, Owner of the Perfect Characteristics and Controller of his Active Self. He was the Ocean of Wisdom for all human beings to sail upon and reach their appointed shore unscathed.

The earth shone with a brilliant new light when he was born. People ran to his door to find through him the happiness of this life and the Hereafter. He was an Ocean of Instruction whose waves crashed roaring on His Divine Shore. He left the erudite perplexed with his superior knowledge and he was the greatest of all ascetics one had seen or read about. He gave selflessly from his Spirit to quench the thirst of the spiritual and the physical worlds. He was a galaxy by himself, garlanded with suns and stars of varied size and color, bringing a different light to each individual. He wore the Crown of God’s Divine Love, and from him people sipped the longed-for honey of Divine Secrets. He never left a person without reaching and raising him with his spiritual breath. The darkness of ignorance disappeared in the illumination of his knowledge.

He was nursed from the breast of the Station of the Ghawth, whose throne he ascended later in life. He was a Reviver of Religion in his time. His reputation for wise counsel and guidance spread over the earth. Kings stood at his door. Scholars sought his disclosures. In his time no one was left who did not receive nourishment from his spirituality. By means of his Light, darkness disappeared and the Secrets of Blessings shone from the people. He was the Perfect Saint and the Pillar of the Knowers.

He was born in Daghestan in the year 1309 H./1891 AD. to a family of doctors. His father was a general practitioner and his brother was surgeon general in the Russian Army. He was raised and trained by his uncle, Shaykh Sharafuddin ad-Daghestani ق, the master of the Naqshbandi Order at that time, who took special care of him from his early life.

During Shaykh Sharafuddin’s sister’s pregnancy, he told her:

The son you are carrying has no veils on his heart. He will be able to see events that have passed or that are coming. He is one of those who can read the Unseen Knowledge from the Preserved Tablets (Lawh  al-mahfuzh) directly. He is going to be Sultan al-Awliya’ in his time. He is going to be called, among the saints, ‘Naqeeb al-Ummah’, the Leader of the Nation of Muhammad. He is going to perfect the ability of being with God and being at the same time with people. He will inherit the secret from the Prophet  which he referred to when he said, “I have one face looking at the Creator and I have one face looking at Creation,” and “I have one hour with the Creator and I have one hour with the creation. When you give birth to him call him `Abdullah, because he will be carrying the secret of Servanthood. He will spread the Tariqat back to the Arab countries, and through him, his successor will spread the Tariqat in Western countries and in the Far East. You must be careful with him. I am asking that when he reaches the age of seven you give him to me to raise and to be under my guardianship.

On the 12th of Rabi`ul Awwal, a Thursday, his mother Amina gave birth to her son, whom she named `Abdullah. When she gave birth to him at around midnight, no one was with her. His father was busy and his brother was away. She said that when she was delivering him she saw a vision, in which two ladies came to her. One was Rabi`a al-`Adawiyya and the other was Asiya (Pharaoh’s wife, who believed in Moses). They helped her in giving birth. After a while the vision disappeared and she saw a baby come forth. At that moment her husband arrived and helped her deliver her son.

His parents never heard him cry. In his childhood, at the age of one year, they often saw him with his head on the floor in prostration. His mother, family, and neighbors were astonished at this. He spoke at the age of seven months and was able to make himself understood clearly. He was unlike other children in other respects as well. He would often be seen moving his head from right to left while voicing the Divine Name. At the age of three he used to tell visitors about their future. He would know their name without being familiar with them or being told. He surprised the people of his country. People used to come to visit his parents’ home in order to see this remarkable child and to hear him speak.

By the age of seven he was reciting Qur’an. He used to sit with his uncle, Shaykh Sharafuddin, and answer the questions people put to him. His answers were always very clear on matters of the Shari`ah, though he had never studied jurisprudence. He would recite the supporting evidences from the Qur’an and Prophetic Narrations without ever having studied the science of Prophetic Narrations. This caused people to be more and more attracted to him.

His father’s house was always full of visitors coming to ask him about their problems and difficulties and daily affairs. He would answer them and predict their outcomes. He became so famous at the age of seven, that if anyone in his village wanted to marry, they would first go to him and ask if the marriage was destined to succeed. More than that, they would ask if the marriage was according to the Will of Allah as mentioned in the Preserved Tablets.

The scholars of his time verified his decisions and accepted his jurisdiction. Knowers in his time were so fascinated with his knowledge, though he was only seven years of age, that they would come from afar to hear the spiritual knowledge that flowed from him like a fountain. His uncle asked him how he was able to speak so effortlessly and endlessly. He answered, “O my uncle, it comes to me as words written right in front of me from the Divine Presence. I only have to look and read what is written.”

He used to discuss subjects of deep knowledge that had never been spoken of before. At the age of seven, he said to the spiritual masters of wisdom of his time, “If I speak what has been put into my heart of Divine Knowledge, even saints will cut my throat.”

He was extremely meticulous in keeping the prescriptions of the Shari`ah. He was the first to appear for صلاة (prayer) in the mosque five times a day. He was the first to be present for الذكر. He was the first to be present in the meetings of scholars. He was the first to be present in the spiritual gatherings.

He acquired fame for healing sick people by recitation of Surat al-Fatiha. Many people were brought to him with different kinds of sicknesses and he would read Surat al-Fatiha and blow on them and they would be healed. He had a tremendous power for healing even people who were far away. People would come to him and ask for help for parents, or a wife, or someone else who was sick and unable come to him. He would read one Fatiha and send it for them, and they would be instantly cured, from any distance. Healing was one specialty from among his endless specialties.

He said about himself:

I am a descendant of Sayyidina Miqdad ibn al-Aswad (r), whom the Prophet   used to appoint as his deputy whenever he left Madinah on an expedition. I inherited, like my uncle, the five marks of the Blessed Hand of the Prophet  which he had placed on the back of my blessed grandfather, Miqdad ibn al-Aswad (r). From that birthmark shines a special light.

At that time, Daghestan was under the severe oppression and tyranny of the Russian occupying armies. His uncle, who was the spiritual head of the village, and his father, who was a well-known doctor, decided to emigrate from Daghestan to Turkey. After reaching this decision, they asked Shaykh `Abdullah to make spiritual consultation on the appropriateness of migrating at that time. Grandshaykh `Abdullah described the event:

That night I prayed `Isha’, then I renewed my ablution and I prayed two rak`ats. Then I sat in meditation, connecting myself through my Shaykh, my uncle, to the Prophet . I saw the Prophet coming to me with 124,000 Sahaba (Companions) saying to me, ‘O my son, I am releasing all my powers and those of my 124,000 Companions from my heart. Tell your uncle and the caretakers of the village to migrate immediately to Turkey.

Then I saw the Prophet hugging me and I saw myself disappearing in him. As soon as I disappeared in him I saw myself ascending from the Dome of the Rock, the Bait ul-Maqdis, from which the Prophet ascended in the Night Journey. I saw myself astride the same Buraq which carried the Prophet and I saw myself carried up in a true vision, to the Station of Two Bow-lengths, where I could see the Prophet but not myself.

I felt myself to be a part of the entirety of the Prophet . Through that Ascension I received the Realities that the Prophet poured into my heart from what he had received on the Night of Ascension. All these different kinds of knowledges came to my heart in words of light, which began as green and changed to purple, and the understandings were poured into my heart in a quantity which is immeasurable.

I heard a voice coming from the Divine Presence saying, “Approach, O my servant, to My Presence.” As I approached through the Prophet , everything disappeared, even the spiritual reality of the Prophet disappeared. Nothing existed except Allah, Almighty and Exalted.

Then I heard a voice from all His Lights and Attributes that were shining in His Presence, ‘O my servant, now come to the State of Existence within this Light.’ I felt myself come into existence through the Prophet , after having been annihilated, appearing and existing in the Divine Presence, decorated with the Ninety-Nine Attributes. Then I saw myself inside the Prophet appearing inside every creation that was existing by Allah’s Power. That took us to a state in which we were able to realize that there are universes other than this universe, that there are endless Creations of Allah, High and Sublime. Then I felt my uncle shaking my shoulder, saying, ‘O my son, it is time for Fajr prayer.

I prayed Fajr behind him and more than 300 people from the village prayed in congregation with us. After Fajr my uncle stood and said, ‘We asked my nephew to make istikhara (spiritual consultation).’ Everyone was eagerly waiting to hear what I had seen. My uncle immediately said, ‘He was brought to the presence of the Prophet by my power. The Prophet gave everyone permission to move to Turkey. Then he took him through states up to the state of ‘the Distance of two Bowlengths.’ Then he took him to a station such that he opened to him a vision of knowledge that has never been opened to any saint before, including myself. His Ascension was a means of instruction for past and present saints, and a Key to open a Gigantic Ocean of Knowledge and Wisdom.

I said to myself, ‘My uncle was with me in that vision, and it was with his power that I received that vision.’

Everyone in the village began to prepare for the emigration. We moved from Daghestan to Turkey on a trip that was full of difficulties caused both by the Russian soldiers and by highwaymen who killed without the slightest provocation.

Near the border with Turkey, we were travelling through a forest which was known to be filled with Russian soldiers. It was Fajr time. My uncle said, ‘We will pray Fajr and then we will cross the forest.’ We prayed Fajr and began moving. Then Shaykh Sharafuddin said to everyone, ‘Stop!’ He asked for a cup of water. Someone handed him a cup of water and he read on it from Chapter Ya Sin (ayat 9): ‘And We have set a barrier in front of them and a barrier behind them, and We have enshrouded them in veils so that they cannot see.’ Then he read Fallahu khairul hafidhan wa Huwa arhamur-Rahimeen –  Allah is the best protector, and He is the Most Merciful of those who show mercy.

As he was reading these verses, everyone felt something come to their hearts, and I saw all the emigrants trembling. Allah gave me a vision at that moment so that I could see that we were surrounded by the Russian Army on every side. I saw that they were shooting at anything that moved, even a bird. Then I saw that we were passing by and that we were safe. We were crossing the forest and they heard no sound of our footsteps or our animals, until we arrived safely at the other side of the border.

The vision ended as Shaykh Sharafuddin finished reading. He cast the water ahead of us and he said, ‘Move now! But don’t look behind.’ As we moved on, we could see the Russian soldiers on every side, yet it was as if we were invisible. We moved for 20 miles through that forest. It took us from morning until after `Isha prayers. We did not stop except to pray and we were invisible to everyone. We heard the Russian army shooting at people, birds, animals, and anything that moved. But we passed undetected and unscathed. We were the only people who were safe. We exited the forest and crossed over into Turkey.

We travelled first to Bursa, where Shaykh Sharafuddin established his home for one year. After that he moved to a place called Rashadiyya, where he established a village for Daghestani emigrants. It was located thirty miles from Yalova, which is on the Marmara Coast, around fifty miles from Bursa and about 60 miles from Adapazar. There he built the only mosque in that village, and next to it he built his own house. Everyone busied themselves with building their houses. My father and mother built a house adjacent to the house of Shaykh Sharafuddin.

When I reached the age of thirteen, Turkey was under the attack of the British, French and Greek armies. The Turkish Army was conscripting everyone, even the children. They wanted me to go join the Army, but my uncle, who had a good relationship with the Sultan Abdul Hamid, refused to send me. My father died and my mother was alone so I had to work to support my mother. When I reached fifteen years of age, Sayyidina Shaykh Sharafuddin told me, ‘Now, my son, you are mature and an adult, and you have to marry.’ I married at the very young age of fifteen years and lived with my mother and my wife.

His First Seclusion and Spiritual Training

Shaykh Sharafuddin raised and trained Shaykh `Abdullah with intensive spiritual discipline and long hours of ذِكْر. After six months he was ordered to enter seclusion for five years. He said:

I was a newlywed of only six months when my Shaykh ordered me to enter seclusion for five years. My mother was so unhappy she went to complain to my Shaykh, her brother, about it. My wife was also unhappy, but my heart never complained. On the contrary, my heart was completely happy to enter the seclusion I desired so intensely.

I entered the seclusion, though my mother was crying and saying, ‘I have no one except you. Your brother is still in Russia and your father has passed on.’ I felt pity for my mother, but I knew it was an order of my Shaykh and that it was coming directly from the Prophet . I entered that seclusion with orders to take six showers every day with cold water, and to keep all my obligations and daily devotional practices (wird/ذِكْر). In addition, I was ordered to read at least seven, and up to fifteen, sections of Qur’an and to repeat the Holy Name of Allah 148,000 times and prayers on the Prophet 24,000 times daily.

There were many other practices as well, all to be performed in a focused and meditative state. I was in a cave, deep in a large forest, high on a snow-covered mountain. One person was assigned to serve me with seven olives and two ounces of bread every day. I entered that seclusion when I was fifteen and a half years old, and I was quite fat. When I emerged from that seclusion at twenty-two years of age, I was very thin, weighing only 100 pounds.

What was unveiled to me of experiences and visions cannot be expressed in words. When I entered the seclusion I said to my ego, ‘O my ego, even if I am going to die, I am not going to leave this seclusion. You must know that. Do not try to change my mind or to cheat me.”

There was a hole in the cave, and when he entered the seclusion he stopped up the hole with a piece of cloth.

I slept very little in that seclusion. I never felt any need to sleep, because I had such strong heavenly support. One time I had a vision of the Prophet  in seclusion in the Cave of Hira. For forty days I sat behind him and he never slept but continued in that state.

As I was making ذِكْر one night after midnight, a huge storm raged on the mountain. I could hear that storm felling trees, pouring rain and finally snow. It was very cold and nothing made me warm except the heat of my الذكر. A heavy wind blew the cloth out of the hole. I was freezing and snow blew in around me. I was so cold that I couldn’t move my fingers to count the repetitions of my الذكر. My heart almost stopped. Then it occurred to me to close the hole again. As soon as that thought came to me, I saw the vision of my Shaykh shouting, ‘O my son! Are you busy with yourself or are you busy with the One who Created you? If you die from the cold it is better for you than allowing your heart one moment of heedlessness.’ That vision gave me warmth in my heart and determination to restart the الذكر immediately. As I continued the الذكر more wind came, and with it more snow. I struggled with myself, finally telling myself, ‘Let me die, even so I am continuing my dhikr.’ As soon as I said that, the wind stopped and the snow stopped. Then a tree fell, and covered that hole in the cave.

In that state I reached a place in the Station of the Awareness of Numbers (وقفة عدائية) of 777,777 repetitions of the Divine Name. I was going to 777,778 when I heard the Divine Presence addressing me, ‘O my servant! You have reached the Secret of Wuquf `Adadi tonight and have gained the key for that station. Enter into our presence in the State of the One who Speaks with Allah (كليم الله), the state of Sayyidina Musa (as) when he spoke directly with God. I saw that I was speaking with the Divine Presence and I received answers to questions that saints had never been able to reach before. I took the opportunity to ask Allah, ‘O Allah, what is Your Greatest Name?’ And I heard, ‘O my servant, you will be given that later.’ Then that vision disappeared and it was time for Fajr prayer.

Before each prayer, I was obliged to take a cold shower. There was, of course, no running water, so I had to use melted snow for showering. As I was about to stand up to wash for prayer, I found that facing me was the head of a snake, which had encircled me completely. Its head was poised so that any movement out of fear would cause him to strike me. I didn’t give that snake any importance. I knew if I felt any fear, it would attack. So in my mind I made it to be nonexistent. I could not take a shower with the snake wrapped around me, but the Shaykh’s order had to be followed. So I poured the water over my clothes and over the snake. For forty days that snake remained wrapped around me. When I was praying, it would move its head to allow for my prostrations. For forty days, that snake kept watch, looking for any mistake or fear, to attack me. This test from my Shaykh, to see if I had fear of any but Allah, finally ended and that snake began to unwind itself from around me. It sat for a while in front of me. Then it disappeared.”

He spent five years in that particular seclusion, which ended at the age of 22. When he emerged he was eligible for military conscription. This time he went into the army.

His Ascension

He said:

وهذا من شأنه أن يجذبهم إلى الروحانية، ويثير فيهم الاهتمام بالعديد من الديانات، ويجذبهم نحو الحضور الإلهي.

الصين تحت سلطة ولي عظيم، سيكون من أعظم الأولياء في زمن المهدي وعيسى. اسمه عبد الرؤوف اليماني. ومن خلال نفوذه ستوقع الصين اتفاقية مع الغرب بعدم استخدام أسلحتها النووية. ستنقسم الصين إلى العديد من الدول الصغيرة المختلفة. ستكون هناك مشاكل في الشرق الأقصى، وفي شبه الجزيرة الكورية، وستتدخل قوة عظمى لوقف هذا الصراع.

ستهاجم دولة غير عربية من الشرق الأوسط منطقة الخليج الفارسي، مما سيثير خوف العالم أجمع من قطع مصدر البترول عنها.

قال :

القاهرة ستغرق تحت الماء

وفي وقت لاحق قام الروس ببناء سد أسوان، الذي يحتوي على كمية هائلة من المياه، وقد وجد مؤخرا أنه يحتوي على أسس فضفاضة معرضة للتآكل.

ستغرق قبرص تحت الماء، وسينفجر جبل الأوليمب بالقرب من بورصة. وتحته يوجد عنصران، الغاز والنار، كانا منفصلين حتى الآن، وكان القديسون يصلون دائمًا ألا يتحد هذان العنصران. ومن جراء انفجاره، سيُصاب مئات الآلاف من الناس بجروح ويصبحون بلا مأوى.

ستكون هناك حرب في منطقة الخليج حيث سينشأ حريق ضخم ويشمل بقية العالم.

إن ألمانيا وإنجلترا سوف تقودان أوروبا كلها. وفي ألمانيا يوجد قديس معين من قبل المهدي (عليه السلام) وعيسى (عليه السلام) لتربية الناس وتدريبهم على الروحانية. وهذا القديس مخفي، ولكنه موجود بينهم.

سيكون هناك تغيير كبير في نهج العرب في السياسة، وسيتغير نظام قوي إلى طريقة أفضل للحكم.

Before he passed away, in a private meeting with some of his closest <em>murids<\/em>, he said :

إن السلام سوف يحل، وسوف تقود أميركا المحادثات من أجل السلام، والتي سوف تنهي الحرب بين العرب وإسرائيل. وهذا سوف يحدث. وعلامة ذلك هي انهيار الشيوعية وتقسيم الإمبراطورية الروسية إلى أجزاء عديدة. ولن تكون هناك قوة في هذا العالم سوى أميركا. وسوف تتجه أغلب الحكومات العربية نحو الأميركيين. وسوف يهدأ الصراع تماما، وسوف يعيش العرب والإسرائيليون في سلام. وسوف تنتهي كل الصراعات على الأرض ببطء، وسوف يسود السلام في كل مكان. وسوف تقود أميركا ذلك. وسوف يكون الجميع سعداء ولن يتوقع أحد أن تحدث حرب مرة أخرى. وفجأة، وفي خضم السلام، سوف يشن هجوم على تركيا من دولة مجاورة، وسوف تبدأ الحرب، ثم يتبع ذلك غزو تركيا من دولة مجاورة قريبة. وهذا سوف يهدد القواعد الأميركية في تركيا وسوف يتسبب في معركة أكبر. وسوف ينتج عن هذا كارثة عظيمة على الأرض وحرب مروعة. وخلال مسار الحرب سوف يخرج المهدي (عليه السلام) وسوف يعود المسيح (عليه السلام). إن هدفه سيكون نشر الروحانية والسلام والعدالة والتغلب على الطغيان والخوف والإرهاب. وسيملأ الحب والسعادة والسلام هذه الأرض بقوة المهدي (عليه السلام) وعيسى (عليه السلام) بمشيئة الله تعالى.

The Secret of the Golden Chain was passed to the Sun of Suns, the Leader of Those Brought Near, the Discoverer of Secrets, Shaykh Muhammad Nazim `Adil al-Qubrusi ar-Rabbani an-Naqshbandi al-Haqqani.

On a related matter he said :

When John Bennett met me and confirmed his الشهادة, he asked what he could do. I told him to keep his shahada secret. Thereby he was able to bring many people in his homeland of England to take الشهادة, and to interest them in spirituality.

I see England entering Islam.

He predicted that a royal family in Europe is going to support Islam, because in their bloodline is the blood of Arabs. “This will draw them into spirituality and arouse in them an interest in many faiths, and draw them towards the Divine Presence.

الصين تحت سلطة ولي عظيم، سيكون من أعظم الأولياء في زمن المهدي وعيسى. اسمه عبد الرؤوف اليماني. ومن خلال نفوذه ستوقع الصين اتفاقية مع الغرب بعدم استخدام أسلحتها النووية. ستنقسم الصين إلى العديد من الدول الصغيرة المختلفة. ستكون هناك مشاكل في الشرق الأقصى، وفي شبه الجزيرة الكورية، وستتدخل قوة عظمى لوقف هذا الصراع.

ستهاجم دولة غير عربية من الشرق الأوسط منطقة الخليج الفارسي، مما سيثير خوف العالم أجمع من قطع مصدر البترول عنها.

قال :

القاهرة ستغرق تحت الماء

وفي وقت لاحق قام الروس ببناء سد أسوان، الذي يحتوي على كمية هائلة من المياه، وقد وجد مؤخرا أنه يحتوي على أسس فضفاضة معرضة للتآكل.

ستغرق قبرص تحت الماء، وسينفجر جبل الأوليمب بالقرب من بورصة. وتحته يوجد عنصران، الغاز والنار، كانا منفصلين حتى الآن، وكان القديسون يصلون دائمًا ألا يتحد هذان العنصران. ومن جراء انفجاره، سيُصاب مئات الآلاف من الناس بجروح ويصبحون بلا مأوى.

ستكون هناك حرب في منطقة الخليج حيث سينشأ حريق ضخم ويشمل بقية العالم.

إن ألمانيا وإنجلترا سوف تقودان أوروبا كلها. وفي ألمانيا يوجد قديس معين من قبل المهدي (عليه السلام) وعيسى (عليه السلام) لتربية الناس وتدريبهم على الروحانية. وهذا القديس مخفي، ولكنه موجود بينهم.

سيكون هناك تغيير كبير في نهج العرب في السياسة، وسيتغير نظام قوي إلى طريقة أفضل للحكم.

قبل وفاته، في لقاء خاص مع بعض أقرب أصدقائه المريدينقال:

There will be peace, and America will be the one leading the talks for peace, which will end the war between the Arabs and Israel. This is going to happen. The sign of it is the collapse of Communism and the splitting of the Russian Empire into many parts. There will be no power in this world, except for America. Most Arab governments will turn to the Americans. The conflict will completely quiet down, and Arabs and Israelis will live in peace. Slowly every conflict on the earth will be put to an end, and everywhere there will be peace. America will lead that. Everyone will be happy and no one will expect war to ever occur again.

Suddenly, in the midst of peace, an attack will be made on Turkey from a neighboring country and a war will start, followed by an invasion of Turkey by a close neighboring country. This will threaten the U.S. bases in Turkey and will cause a greater battle to ensue. This will result in a great disaster on earth and a horrible war. During the course of the war, Mahdi (as) will come forth and Jesus (as) will return. His purpose will be to bring spirituality, peace and justice and to overcome tyranny, fear and terror. Love and happiness and peace will fill this earth, with the power of Mahdi (as) and Jesus (as), by the Will of Allah Almighty.

لقد تم تسليم سر السلسلة الذهبية إلى شمس الشموس، زعيم أولئك الذين تم إحضارهم بالقرب، مكتشف الأسرار، الشيخ محمد ناظم عادل القبرصي الرباني النقشبندي الحقاني.