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 (q), 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-mahfuth) 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 salla , after having been annihhilated, appearing and existing in the Divine Presence, decorated with the Ninety-Nine Attributes. Then I saw myself inside the Prophet salla , 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 Bow-lengths.’ 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 readFallahu 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 dhikr. 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:

As I lay dying, I saw the Prophet   coming to me. He said, ‘O my son, you were destined to die here, but we still need you on this earth in both your spiritual and physical form. I am coming to you to show you how a person dies and how the Angel of Death takes the soul.’ He presented me with a vision in which I saw my soul leaving my body, cell by cell, beginning from the toes. As the life was withdrawing, I could see how many cells are in my body, and the function of every cell, and the cure for every sickness of each cell. I heard the ذِكْر of every cell.

As my soul was passing away I experienced what a person feels when he dies. I was brought to see the different states of death: painful states of death, easy states of death and the most blissful states of death. The Prophet   told me, ‘You are from those who pass in a blissful state of death.’ I was enjoying that passing so much because I was going back to my Origin, which made me comprehend the secret of the Qur’anic آيات, “To Allah we belong, and to Him is our return” [2:156].

That vision continued until I experienced my soul departing on the last breath. I saw the Angel of Death come and heard the questions he would ask. All the kinds of visions that appear to the dying I experienced, yet I was alive during that experience and this enabled me to understand the secret of that state.

Total Surrender

Shaykh `Abdullah (q) continued his life under the watchful eyes of his uncle, Shaykh Sharafuddin (q), and he advanced ever higher in spiritual knowledge. One day Shaykh Sharafuddin was sitting in a gathering of 300 scholars, both religious and spiritual, and they were there to discuss matters of importance to their spiritual life. They were sitting on a hill near his mosque.

Shaykh `Abdullah came up the hill towards the gathering. Some of the scholars said to Shaykh Sharafuddin, “We are astonished at the great importance you give to that child.” The Shaykh replied:

Look at him. He is coming to see me. If a little child of seven were to come to him and say, ‘Your Shaykh is sending you a message that you must go to Makkah,’ even if I hadn’t sent that child, `Abdullah would immediately accept and do what that child says. This is because he relates everything to me and he knows that whatever comes to him comes from me, regardless of the means. He knows that if it comes from me, the order is from the Prophet , because my heart is connected to his heart, and that its origin is from Allah. Now if that were to happen, without going back to his wife or his mother to say good-bye, nor to pack any provisions, he would immediately direct his steps toward Makkah. That is why I give him such importance; and also because I know what kind of station he is in.

The State that he is now in, no one before him, including myself, has ever been able to enter or to see. He has reached a state higher than my state and higher than my masters in this Tariqat. As the الطريقة continues from one master to another it moves upward. As the secret is passed from one Shaykh to another, the rank will be increased by the addition of the successor’s secret to the secret that he receives. At the same time, the rank of the Prophet  is always increasing, in every moment, and as he is raised ever higher, so too are the saints of his Nation. That is the meaning of the verse, “And above every possessor of knowledge there is One All-knowing.”

Grandshaykh `Abdullah (q) used to serve in his master’s خانقة. Everyday hundreds of visitors arrived to visit the Shaykh, most of them coming from Daghestan. Among the many visitors to the Shaykh was the Russian teacher George Gurdjieff. Having recently arrived in Turkey, after a long and arduous  and the knowledge of these Nine Points was opened to you through it. The vision was by the blessings of the verse: ’Peace! a Word (of salutation) from a Lord Most Merciful’

His States and Discourses After His Second Seclusion

At 30 years of age, Shaykh Abdullah was ordered to enter a second long seclusion for five years. During that seclusion, many visions and states were granted to him, which it would be impossible to describe within the span of this book. After he completed this second seclusion, the power of his spiritual attraction increased. He became so renowned that even during his Shaykh’s lifetime, people used to come from everywhere to learn from him.
Following are some of his discourses:

هناك خمس محطات للقلب: قلب، سر، سر السر، خافأ و اخفى.قلب هو القلب سيدي هو السر, سير السير هو سر السر، خفا هو المخفي، و اخفا الخفية، وسر هذه الطريقة مبني على هذه الخمسة: لطائف (الدقائق) منازل القلب.

لطيفة القلبمرحلة القلب، وهي تحت سلطة سيدنا آدم، لأنها تمثل الجانب المادي للقلب. لطيفة السرمقام السر، تحت سيدنا نوح، لأنه الوعاء الذي نجا من بحر الظلمات، النجاة من طوفان الجهل. لطيفة سر السر، مقام سر السر، تحت نبيين: إبراهيم وموسى، اللذان يمثلان الحضور الإلهي لله على الأرض. جعل الله إبراهيم رمزًا لجميع خلفائه على هذه الأرض، كما ورد في آية خلق الإنسان، "سأجعل في الأرض خليفة" [2:30] لقد رزق الله موسى السمع والنطق مع الله، وهما الصفتان الأساسيتان من صفات العلم.

لطيفة الخفاء المقام الخفي، هو عند سيدنا عيسى، وبسبب علاقته بالمعرفة الخفية، فهو يمثل الفهم الروحي.

لطيفة الاخفاءإن المقام الخفي هو في حقيقة سيدنا محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم، لأنه قد وهب له مقاماً أعلى من مقام سائر الأنبياء والمرسلين، فهو الذي رفع في ليلة المعراج إلى الحضرة الإلهية، ويتمثل ذلك في: كلمة (عبارة مقدسة) لأنه لا يوجد لا إله إلا الله بدون محمد رسول الله.

لقد أراني أضواء هذه المحطات. نور القلب ذو لون أصفر، ونور السر أحمر، ونور سر السر أبيض، ونور المحطة المخفية أخضر، ونور المحطة الأكثر خفاء أسود.

هذه المحطات الخمس هي مركز النقاط التسع التي تمثل موضع الكشف والإلهام للحضور الإلهي في قلب الإنسان. تقع هذه النقاط التسع على صدر كل شخص وتمثل تسع حالات خفية مختلفة في كل إنسان. ترتبط كل حالة بولي، لديه السلطة للسيطرة على تلك النقطة.

إذا استطاع السالك في الطريقة النقشبندية أن يكشف ويقيم اتصالاً روحانياً مع المعلم المعتمد الذي يتحكم في هذه النقاط، فقد يُمنح المعرفة والقوة لاستخدام هذه النقاط التسع.

لا يمكن الإشارة إلى الشروط المتعلقة بفتح هذه النقاط التسع إلا بشكل غير مباشر. تتضمن المحطة الأولى قوة حبس الأنا. أما مفتاح الحالة الثانية فهو الذكر مع لا إله إلا الله. الحالة الثالثة: مشاهدة نقش اسم الله على القلب (نقشالحالة الرابعة تتعلق بمعنى ذلك النقش على القلب، والحالة الخامسة هي أن تطبع النقش بيدك. ذِكْرفي الحالة السادسة يتم جعل القلب يتوقف عن الضخ بإرادته ويبدأ في الضخ بإرادته. الحالة السابعة هي أن تكون على دراية بعدد المرات التي يتوقف فيها القلب عن الضخ وعدد المرات التي يستعيد فيها ضخ القلب.

وفي الحالة الثامنة يذكر لفظ محمد رسول الله في كل انقطاع للقلب وكل عودة لضخه. والمرحلة التاسعة الرجوع إلى كهفك كما ذكر الله في سورة الكهف:وإذا اعتزلتموهم وما يعبدون من دون الله فأووا إلى الكهف ينشر عليكم ربكم من رحمته..."[18:16]."

Shaykh Sharafuddin’s Will

In the last days of Shaykh Sharafuddin’s life, he wrote his will and gave it to Shaykh Abdullah. He predicted at that time:

I went to Egypt and stayed with my daughter. The relationship between her and her husband was not good. After some time the marriage failed and ended in divorce. I took my Shaykh’s advice to use that opportunity. I boarded a ship with my wife and daughters in Alexandria and sailed to Latakia. From Latakia I went to Aleppo, where I landed with only ten piastres [about 10 cents] in my pocket, and no other worldly possessions with me. I went to the mosque to pray Maghrib with my daughters and my wife. There a man approached me and said to me, ‘O my Shaykh, please be my guest.’ He took me and my family and he hosted us. I consider this to be one of my Shaykh’s miracles, which took us from Egypt to Aleppo where Allah opened a door for us.

From there he moved to oms, where he visited the mosque and tomb of the Companion of the Prophet , Khalid ibn al-Walid (r). He stayed briefly in oms. He moved to Damascus, in the Midan District, near the tomb of Sa`d ad-Din Jibawi, a saint from the family of the Prophet . There he established the first zawiya for the branch of the Naqshbandi Order which had gone to Daghestan. With him the Golden Chain of the Naqshbandi Order which had gone from Damascus to India, Baghdad, and Daghestan, now returned to Damascus.
His two daughters were married, Rabiha had four children, three girls and one boy. Madiha was married to Shaykh Tawfiq al-Hibri, one of the great Islamic scholars of Lebanon.

Soon people began to crowd into his zawiya. They arrived there from all over the city: Sufis, government people, businessmen, and common people. Murids were coming every day to sit at the door of his khaniqah. Daily they served food to hundreds, many of whom also slept there.

Then he received a spiritual order to move to the Mountain of Qasyun. It is the highest point in Damascus, from whose vantage the entire city can be viewed. With the help of his two senior murids, Shaykh Muhammad Nazim `Adil and Shaykh Husayn `Ali, he built a house. This house and the mosque next to it still stand, and the mosque is the site of his maqam (tomb). He saw in a vision, while he was building the mosque, that the Prophet , with Shah Naqshband and Sayyidina Ahmad al-Faruqi, came and put posts to mark the shape and location of the walls of the mosque. As soon as the vision ended, the markers were visible, and everyone present saw them. At that mosque, over the years, hundreds of thousands of visitors were received: for healing, for prayers, for training, for all kinds of external and internal knowledge.

Many times he was ordered by the Prophet  to go into more seclusions. These seclusions varied in length from 40 days to one year. He went into over twenty seclusions during his lifetime. Some of these seclusions were made in Damascus, some in Jordan, some in Baghdad, at the tomb of Sayyidina `Abdul Qadir Jilani, and many were in Madinah. With each seclusion, his spiritual power and rank were amplified.

One time he sent a message to Sharif `Abdullah, who was the King of Jordan and one of his murids, via Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q), telling him, “Don’t go and pray in congregation, especially on a Friday, because I had a vision that you will be killed.” That message was given to Sharif `Abdullah, but he did not heed the warning. The next week he was killed as he left the Friday congregational prayers.
Years later a cousin of ours was caught by accident in gunfire in Beirut. He was taken for emergency surgery. We went to visit our Grandshaykh, terrified for his condition. As soon as we walked in and before we could speak he said to us,

He said: “I saw Grandshaykh coming to me and doing surgery on me; and that is what saved me.”

Shaykh Abdullah (q) often talked about foreordained things (قَادًا’). He said:

A Meeting With John Bennett

Among the many visitors and seekers at the door of Grandshaykh was the Englishman, John G. Bennett. In several of his books he recounts his meetings with Shaykh Abdullah. Following is part of his accounts compiled from Concerning Subud و Witness.

His Passing From This Life

We observed many wondrous events with our Grandshaykh. His life was full of beneficent activity. He was always smiling, and never angry. He had no income, yet the food was always abundant in his house. How was he supported, was the question in the mind of everyone. People would show up unannounced until they sometimes numbered 200, but they would find food prepared and ready for them. We always used to wonder, “Where did that rice and bread and meat come from?”
I rarely saw him sleep at night. During the day he was always receiving people, and at night he was always sitting in his special room, reading Qur’an, reading Dala’il al-Khayrat, doing his personal dhikr or reading praises on the Prophet . He used to pray after midnight until the dawn. He helped the needy as much as he was able and he sheltered many homeless in his mosque. He served humanity. The tongue is helpless to describe his good manners and good characteristics.
Until one day came in 1973, when he said :

After he went for the eye surgery, he stopped eating. We begged him to eat, but he refused saying, ‘I am in complete seclusion, because the Prophet is calling me.’ He would only accept dry bread softened by soaking in water, once a day. He said, ‘I don’t want to live any longer, I want to go to join my Prophet and to be with him. He is calling me, Allah is calling me.’ This was like a thunderbolt for us, but still we could not believe it. Then he wrote his will and said, ‘Next Sunday I am going to pass on.’ It was the September 30th, 1973 CE, the 4th of Ramadan, 1393 H. Everyone was surprised and fearful awaiting that day to see if it would happen.
It was ten o’clock on the Sunday that he had predicted and we were sitting in his room. He said to me, “Feel my pulse.” I felt his pulse and it was over 150. Then he said, “my son, these are the last seconds of my life. I don’t want anyone here. Everyone must leave and go to the big meeting room.”

There were only ten of us inside the room. At that moment two doctors arrived: one was my brother and the other a friend. Both were surgeons. Grandshaykh did not allow anyone other than family in the room.
We heard his daughter cry out, “My father has died, my father has died.” We all ran into the room and we saw that Grandshaykh was not moving. Quickly my brother took his pulse and his blood pressure, but they were not detectable. He ran hysterically to the car to get a syringe with medicine, returning minutes later. He re-entered in the same manner, wanting to inject the Shaykh in his heart to try to restart its pumping. The other doctor said, “What are you doing? The Shaykh has been dead for over seven minutes. Stop your foolishness.” But he wouldn’t stop and insisted on going ahead with the injection.
Then Grandshaykh opened his eyes, put his hand up and said in Turkish “Burak!” which means, “Stop!”

Everyone was shocked. They had never heard the dead speak before. I will never forget this in all my life. All those present, professors and doctors, will never forget either. After that my brother put his instruments away. We stood there in shock, not knowing what to say. Was he dead or not? Was he simply veiling himself to return shortly? That is the secret Allah gave to His Lovers and Saints who travel in His Kingdom, in His Love, in His Secrets. It was an unforgettable day.

The news of his passing was like a tremendous tornado, whirling through Damascus, Aleppo, Jordan, Beirut. People came from everywhere to him for one last look. We washed him, and from his holy body came a very beautiful smell. We prepared him for the funeral prayers and for burial the next day. All the scholars of Damascus attended his funeral. Four hundred thousand people came to his janaza prayers. People were lined up from his house to the Mosque of Ibn `Arabi, where his body lay in state.

When we returned to his home after the janaza prayer we saw the coffin gliding over the heads of people without any help from anyone, moving to his mosque for its burial. It had taken us three hours to walk back from the Mosque of Muhyiddin Ibn `Arabi to Grandshaykh’s mosque, a trip which normally takes twenty minutes because of the huge crowd in the streets.

Everyone was crying. They did not want the Shaykh to be buried. No one could believe it and no one could accept it. It was enough to make us remember the state of the Sahaba when Sayyidina Muhammad passed away. We understood why Sayyidina `Umar (r), Sayyidina `Uthman (r) and Sayyidina `Ali (r) were not accepting that the Prophet لقد توفي رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم، فمر بنا نفس الموقف، حتى تساءلنا كيف لم يشعر سيدنا أبو بكر الصديق رضي الله عنه بنفس الشعور.

كان جميع المسؤولين الحكوميين والعلماء في المسجد ينتظرون دفنه. وصلت رسالة إلى الإمام من العدم تقول: "لا تدفنوا الشيخ الكبير حتى يصل الشيخ ناظم". لم يستطع أحد أن يصدق ذلك لأنه لم تكن هناك طريقة للاتصال بالشيخ ناظم، الذي كان في قبرص. لم يكن هناك هاتف ولا جهاز فاكس، وحتى البرقية كانت تستغرق يومين. لم يصدق أحد أن الرسالة كانت حقيقية. ولكن من أجل حب شيخنا، كنا سعداء بتأجيل دفنه وأصررنا على الانتظار حتى يصل الشيخ ناظم.

كان شهر رمضان، وكان الجميع صائمين. وبدأ العلماء والحشد في القلق. وقال الناس إنهم يريدون الذهاب. فأخبرناهم أنهم أحرار في الذهاب إذا أرادوا، ولكن علينا أن ننتظر. وبعد فترة من الوقت غادر معظم الناس، ولم يبق سوى أتباع الشيخ المخلصين. وقبل وقت قصير من موعد صلاة المغرب، شوهد الشيخ ناظم يصعد الدرج. ولا أحد يعرف كيف وصل بهذه السرعة. وما زال الأمر لغزا حتى يومنا هذا.

ثم أعاد الشيخ ناظم جثمان الشيخ الكبير إلى المسجد وصلى عليه الجنازة مرة أخرى، ثم أمرنا بالإفطار جميعاً، ثم دفنه بيديه، وعندما رفع الكفن عن وجهه شممنا رائحة طيبة من خشب الصندل والعنبر والمسك لم نشم مثلها من قبل، ثم طلب منا الشيخ ناظم أن نخرج، وبقي أنا وأخي فقط نراقب من النافذة لنرى ما يحدث بالداخل.

وقف عند رأس القبر كأنه يصلي، ثم في غمضة عين اختفى الشيخ ناظم، أضاف هذا الحدث مفاجأة غير عادية إلى مفاجآتنا السابقة، لم نجد كلمات تعبر عن مشاعرنا، مرت خمسة عشر دقيقة، وفجأة رأينا الشيخ ناظم يظهر في نفس المكان الذي اختفى منه، ثم ركضنا إلى الباب عندما خرج، قال: ماذا! مازلت هنا؟ لم تفطر؟ لا يهم، صحبتي أفضل! نزلنا لنفطر معه، عاد الشيخ ناظم في تلك الليلة إلى بيروت، واستقل الطائرة عائداً إلى قبرص.