He is the Imam of the People of Sincerity, the Secret of Sainthood, who revived the Naqshbandi Order at the end of the 20th Century, with Heavenly guidance and Prophetic ethics. He infused into the Nation and the Planet, love of God and love of the lovers of God, after they had been darkened with the fire and smoke of tribulation and terror, anger and grief.

He is the Unveiler of Secrets, the Keeper of Light, the Shaykh of Shaykhs, the Sultan of Ascetics, the Sultan of the Pious, the Sultan of the People of the Truth. He is the Chief Master without peer of the Divine Knowledge in the late 20th Century. He is the Rain from the Ocean of Knowledge of this Order, which is reviving spirits in all parts of this world. He is the Saint of the Seven Continents, his light having attracted disciples and students from all quarters of the globe. He wears the Cloak of the Light of the Divine Presence. He is unique in his time. He is the orchid planted in the earth of Divine Love. He is the Sun for all the universes. He is known as the Saint of the Two Wings: the external knowledge and the internal knowledge.

He is a Miracle of Allah’s Miracles, walking on the earth and soaring in the Heavens. He is a Secret of Allah’s Secrets, appearing in His Divinity and Existing in His Existence. He is the Owner of the Throne of Guidance, the Reviver of Divine Law, the Master of Sufi Way, the Builder of the Truth, the Guide of the circle, the Lyric Poem of All the Secrets. He is the Master of Saints and the Saint of the Masters. Seekers circle the Ka`bah of His Light. He is a Fountain always flowing, a Waterfall continuously cascading, a River always flooding, an Ocean endlessly cresting and breaking on infinite shores.

He was born in Larnaca, Cyprus, on the 23rd of April 1922, a Sunday, the 26th of Sha‘ban, 1340 H. His lineage from his father’s side traces its roots to Sayiddina ‘Abdul Qadir Jilani, founder of the Qadiri Order. His lineage from his mother goes back to Sayiddina Jalaluddin Rumi, founder of the Mevlevi Order. He is Hassani-Hussaini, related to the Prophet through the lineages of his grandfathers to the Family of the Prophet . From his father’s side he received the Qadiri Tariqat. From his mother’s, the Mevlevi Tariqat.

During his childhood in Cyprus he sat with his grandfather, who was a Shaykh of the Qadiri Tariqat, to learn its discipline and its spirituality. Extraordinary signs appeared early in him. His conduct was perfect: he never fought nor argued with anyone. He was always smiling and patient. His grandfather from his father’s side and his grandfather from his mother’s side trained him for the spiritual path.

As a youth, Shaykh Nazim was given great consideration because of his unusually high spiritual station. Everyone in Larnaca knew about him, because at a young age he was able to advise people, and to predict the future and reveal it spontaneously. From the age of five there were times when his mother couldn’t find him. After searching, she would find him either in the mosque or at the grave of Umm ul-Hiram , a Companion of the Prophet whose grave has a mosque built next to it. Tourists come to her grave in large numbers, attracted by the spectacle of a rock suspended in space above her grave. When his mother would try to bring him home, he would say, “Leave me here with Umm ul-Hiram, she is one of our ancestors.” He was often seen speaking to Umm ul-Hiram, who was buried fourteen centuries ago, listening and then speaking, listening and answering, as if having a conversation with her. Whenever anyone would disturb him, he would say, “Leave me, I am speaking with my grandmother who is in this grave.”

His father sent him to school to study secular knowledge during the day, and in the evening he studied the religious sciences. He was a genius among his fellow-students. After completing his high school studies every night, he would devote his time to studying the Mevlevi and Qadiri Tariqats. He was conducting the Qadiri and Mevlevi circles on Thursday and Friday.

The day of the hearing arrived for the 112 cases. If prosecuted and convicted he could receive over 100 years of jail time. The same day, the election results came in from Turkey: a man named Adnan Menderes had been voted into power. His first action as President was to open all mosques and to permit the Adhan to be made in Arabic. That was a miracle of our Grandshaykh.

During his years there, Shaykh Nazim traveled all over Cyprus, and also visited Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and many other places to teach the tariqat. He moved back to Damascus in 1952, when he got married to one of the murids of Grandshaykh, Hajjah Amina Adil. From that time he lived in Damascus, and every year he would visit Cyprus for the three months of Rajab, Sha‘ban and Ramadan. His family lived in Damascus with him and would travel with him to Cyprus when he went there. He had two daughters and two sons.

His Travels

Shaykh Nazim used to go every year for pilgrimage as the Hajj leader for the convoy of Cypriot pilgrims. He made 27 pilgrimages in all

He looked after the murids and followers of Grandshaykh. One time Grandshaykh ordered him to go from Damascus to Aleppo on foot and to stop at every village on the way to spread the Naqshbandi teachings, the knowledge of Sufism and the knowledge of religion. The distance between Damascus and Aleppo is about 400 kilometers. It took him more than a year to go and return. He would walk one or two days, reach a village, spend one week in the village spreading the Naqshbandi Order, leading dhikr, training the people, then move on down the road to the next village. Soon his name was on every tongue, from the border of Jordan to the border of Turkey near Aleppo.

Similarly, Grandshaykh once ordered Shaykh Nazim to walk through Cyprus. He walked from one village to another, calling people to Islam, to leave atheism, secularism, and materialism and to come back to Allah. He became so well-known throughout Cyprus, and so beloved, that the color of his turban and cloak, both a dark green, became known throughout the island as “the Shaykh Nazim green head” (Sheih Nazim yesilbas).

In recent years he has performed a similar walkabout in the country of Turkey. Each year since 1978, he has spent three to four months traveling throughout one area of Turkey. In one year he traveled the area of Istanbul, Yalova, Bursa, Eskisehir and Ankara. In another he traveled to Konya, Isparta, Kirsehir. In another year he traveled the southern seacoast, from Adana, to Mersin, Alanya, Izmir, Antalya. Then another year he went to the Eastern side, Diyarbakir, Erzurum, up to the border of Iraq. Another sojourn he spent on the Black Sea, moving from one district to another, from one town to another, from one mosque to the next, spreading the word of Allah, and spirituality and light wherever he went.

Wherever he travels he is welcomed by crowds of common people, and by the officials and government people as well. He is known by the beloved nickname of al-Kibrisi throughout Turkey. He was the Shaykh of the late president of Turkey, Turgut Ozal, and he was extremely well-respected by him. Currently he is well-known throughout Turkey because of the extensive coverage given to him by the media and the press. He is interviewed nearly every week by one television station or another, one reporter or another, to get his opinions on the events in Turkey and its future. He walks the middle path recommended by the Prophet , enabling him to tread a fine line between the secularist government and the Islamicist group. This brings happiness and peace to the hearts and minds of both the common people and the intelligentsia.

As Shah Naqshband was the Mujaddid in Bukhara and Central Asia, as Sayyidina Ahmad as-Sirhindi al-Mujaddedi was the Reviver of the 2nd Millenium, as Sayyidina Khalid al-Baghdadi was the Reviver of Islam and Shari`ah and Tariqat in the Middle East, now Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil al-Haqqani is the Reviver, the Renewer and the Caller to God in this Age, the Age of Technology and Material Progress. His smiling, glowing face is beloved throughout Europe, for bringing the first real taste of spirituality the lifetime of the people..

Recently in 1991, he began his journey to America. In his first trip he visited over 15 states. He met many people of different beliefs and religions: Muslims, Christians, Jews, Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus, and New Age believers. This resulted in the establishing of over 15 centers of the Naqshbandi Order in North America. He made a second visit in 1993, and traveled to many cities and towns, visiting mosques, churches, synagogues, and temples. Through him, over 10,000 people in North America have entered Islam and have taken initiation in the Naqshbandi Order.

He visited Lebanon many times, where we came to know him. One time I was in the office of my uncle, who was the General Secretary for Religious Affairs in Lebanon, a high ranking government position. It was ‘Asr time and my uncle, Shaykh Mukhtar Alayli, used to pray in the Masjid al-‘Umari al-Kabir in Beirut. It was a church at the time of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab , and it had been converted into a mosque in his time. Until today beneath the mosque are the foundations of the church. My uncle was leading the prayer, and two of my brothers and I were praying behind him. A Shaykh came and prayed beside us. He looked at my brother and said to him, ‘Are you so-and-so?’ and mentioned his name. He looked at my other brother and mentioned his name. He looked at me and called me by name also. We were very surprised at this, as we had never seen him before. My uncle was also drawn to him.

My eldest brother insisted on hosting Shaykh Nazim in our house and my uncle came with us. Our guest said, “I have been sent by Shaykh ‘Abdullah and he told me, ‘The one on your right side after ‘Asr prayer is named such and the other is named such and the other is named such. Initiate them into the Naqshbandi Order. They are going to be among our followers.’ His knowing all our names astonished us and drew us to him. I was particularly attracted to him, being quite young.

From that time on, he made it a practice to visit Beirut regularly. We also used to visit Damascus every week to see Grandshaykh ‘Abdullah and Shaykh Nazim. We received a lot of spiritual knowledge and witnessed the miraculous powers that they were spreading to the hearts of seekers. We were so drawn to them, that we were always begging our father to let us go see them every Sunday.

Shaykh Nazim’s house was never empty of visitors. At least one hundred visitors would pass through his house each day. He was serving each and every one of them. His house was near Grandshaykh’s house on Jabal Qasiyun, a mountain overlooking the city, on the southeastern side of Damascus. He lived in a modest stucco house in which everything was simple, made by hand out of wood or some other natural material.

His Seclusions

His first seclusion by the order of Shaykh `Abdullah Daghestani was in the year 1955, in Sueileh, Jordan. There he spent six months in seclusion. The power and purity of his presence attracted thousands of murids, so that Sueileh and it surrounding villages, Ramta and Amman became full of the murids of the Shaykhs. Scholars, officials and so many people were attracted to his light and his personality.

When he had only two children, one daughter and one son, he was called by our Grandshaikh, Shaykh `Abdullah ad-Daghestani. He told him, “I have received an order from the Prophet for you to make seclusion in the mosque of `Abdul Qadir Jilani in Baghdad. Go there and make seclusion for six months.”

Describing that event, Shaykh Nazim says:

“I didn’t ask the Shaykh any questions. I didn’t even go back to my house. I directed my steps immediately to Marja in the downtown. I didn’t think, ‘I need clothes, I need money, I need provisions.’ When he said, ‘Go!’ I went. I was drawn to do seclusion with Sayyidina `Abdul Qadir. I went directly to Marja. When I reached the downtown walking I saw a man looking at me. He looked at me and he recognized me. He said, ‘Shaykh Nazim, where are you going?’ I said, ‘To Baghdad.’ He was a murid of Grandshaykh. He said, ‘I am going to Baghdad myself!’ He had at truckload of goods to deliver in Baghdad. So he took me with him.”

“When I entered the mosque of Sayyidina `Abdul Qadir Jilani there was a giant man closing the door of the mosque holding it shut. He said, ‘Shaykh Nazim!’ ‘Yes,’ I answered. He said, ‘I am the one assigned to be your servant during your stay here. Come with me.’ I was surprised at this, but in my heart there was no surprise because we know in tariqat that everything is always arranged by the Divine Presence. I followed him as he approached the grave of the Arch-Intercessor (Ghawth al-‘Azam) and I gave greetings to my great-great-grandfather, Sayyidina `Abdul Qadir Jilani. Then he took me to a room and told me, ‘Every day I will serve you one bowl of lentil soup with one piece of bread.’”

“I only emerged from my room for the five prayers. Other than that I spent my whole time in that room. I was able to reach such a state that I could recite the whole Qur’an in nine hours. In addition I recited 124,000 Dhikr of the Kalima (la ilaha illallah) and 124,000 salawat (prayers on the Prophet ) in addition to reading the entire Dala’il al-Khayrat. Added to that I was regularly reciting 313,000 ‘Allah Allah’ every day, as well as all the prayers that were assigned to me. Vision after vision appeared to me every day. These visions took me from one state to another until I was Annihilated in the Divine Presence.”

“One day I had a vision that Sayyidina `Abdul Qadir Jilani was calling me to his grave and he was saying, ‘O my son I am waiting for you at my grave. Come!’ Immediately I took a shower, prayed two cycles of prayer and I walked to his grave which was only some few feet from my room. When I got there I began contemplating and I said, as-Salam ‘alayka ya jiddee (‘Peace be upon you O my grandfather’). Immediately I saw him come out of the grave and stand beside me. Behind him was a Great Throne decorated with rare stones. He said to me, ‘Come with me and sit with me on that throne.’

“We sat like a grandfather with his grandson. He was smiling and saying, ‘I am happy with you. The station of your Shaykh, `Abdullah al-Fa’iz ad-Daghestani is very high in the Naqshbandi Order. I am your grandfather and I am passing to you now, directly from me, the power that I carry as the Arch-Intercessor and I initiate you now directly into the Qadiri Order.’”

When Shaykh Nazim had finished his seclusion and was about to leave, he went to Sayyidina `Abdul Qadir Jilani’s grave to say goodbye. Sayyidina ‘Abdul Qadir Jilani appeared in the flesh to him and said, “O my son. I am very happy with the states you have reached in the Naqshbandi Order. I am renewing your initiation to me through the Qadiri Order.” Sayyidina `Abdul Qadir Jilani then said, “O my grandson, I am going to give you a token of your visit.” He hugged him and gave him ten coins. Those coins were from the time he was living in, not from our time. Up until today, Shaykh Nazim has kept those coins with him.

Before he left, Shaykh Nazim gave the Shaykh who had served him during the seclusion, his jubbah (cloak) as a remembrance. He told him, “I used that cloak during all of my seclusion, either as a mat to sleep on, or as a dress when praying and making dhikr. Keep it and Allah will bless you and Sayyidina Muhammad will bless you and all the Masters of this Order will bless you.” The Shaykh took the cloak, kissed it, and wore it. Shaykh Nazim left Baghdad and went back to Damascus, Syria.

In 1992, when Shaykh Nazim was visiting Lahore, Pakistan, he visited the tomb of Shaykh `Ali Hujwiri. The Shaykh of the Qadiri Order invited him to his house, and Shaykh Nazim spent the night there. At Fajr time, the Shaykh said, “O my Shaykh, I kept you here tonight to show you a very precious cloak, that we have inherited 27 years ago. It was passed from one great Shaykh of the Qadiri Order to another from Baghdad, and finally it reached us. All our Shaykhs have kept it and preserved it, because it was the personal cloak (jubbah) of the Ghawth of his time.

“A Turkish Shaykh of the Naqshbandi Order kept seclusion in the mosque and tomb of Sayyidina `Abdul Qadir Jilani. When that Shaykh finished his seclusion he gave the cloak as a present to a Qadiri Shaykh who had served him during his seclusion. That Qadiri Shaykh, before he passed away, ordered his successors to take great care of that cloak, because if anyone wears it, he will be healed of any illness. Any seeker wearing that cloak, in his path to the Divine Presence, will be lifted easily to high states of Vision.”

He opened the closet and revealed the cloak preserved in a glass case. He opened the case and took the jubbah out. Shaykh Nazim was smiling. The Shaykh asked him, “What is it my Shaykh?” Shaykh Nazim said, “This brings me great happiness. This is the cloak I gave to the Qadiri Shaykh at the conclusion of my khalwat.” When the Shaykh heard this he kissed the hand of Shaykh Nazim, asked to renew his initiation in the Qadiri Order and to take initiation in the Naqshbandi Order. Allah takes good care of his saints, wherever they go, by means of his sincere and beloved servants.

Seclusion in Madina

Many times Shaykh Nazim was ordered to go into seclusions which varied in length from 40 days to one year. The seclusions also varied in the degree of isolation from outside contact: sometimes there was no contact; sometimes there was the small amount necessitated by performing the daily prayers in congregation; and sometimes more contact was permitted for attendance at circles of gathering for association, lectures or dhikr. He did many seclusions in the city of the Prophet . He said,

Once Shaykh Nazim was visiting Lebanon for a period of two months during the hajj (pilgrimage) season. The governor of the city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Ashar ad-Daya, was head of the official convoy to the hajj. He invited Shaykh Nazim to go with him on the Pilgrimage. The Shaykh said, “I cannot go with you, but, Insha-Allah, I will meet you there.” The governor insisted, “If you are going, please go with me. Don’t go with anyone else.” Shaykh Nazim replied, “I don’t yet know if I will go or not.” After the season of hajj finished, and the governor had returned, he rushed to the house where Shaykh Nazim was staying. In front of 100 people, while we were watching, he said, “O Shaykh Nazim, why did you go with someone else, why didn’t you come with me?” We said, “The Shaykh did not go on hajj. For two months he has been here with us, traveling around Lebanon.” He said, “No! He was on hajj. I have witnesses. One day I was making the ritual circumambulation of the Ka’aba (tawaf), and Shaykh Nazim came to me and said, ‘O Ashar, are you here?’ I said, ‘Yes, my Shaykh.’ Then he made circumambulation with me. We spent the night together in our hotel in Makkah. He spent the day with us on Arafat, in our tent. He spent the night with me in Mina, and he stayed with us in Mina for three days. Then he told me, ‘I have to go to Madinah to visit the Prophet.’”

As he told this story, we were carefully observing Shaykh Nazim, as we knew that he had never left our presence in Lebanon. We saw that unique, hidden smile, as if he meant to say, “That is the power that Allah grants to his saints. When they are on His Way, when they reach His Divine Love and His Divine Presence, Allah will grant them everything.”

When he saw that, the governor said, “O my Shaykh, what is this miraculous ability that you showed us? It is incredible. That is something I never saw in all my life. I am a politician, and I rely on my mind and my logic. Yet I must say that you are not an ordinary person, you have superhuman powers. It must be something that Allah Himself has dressed you with!” He kissed the hand of the Shaykh and asked him for initiation in the Naqshbandi Order. Whenever Shaykh Nazim would visit Lebanon, that governor and the prime minister of Lebanon would sit in the Shaykh’s association. Up until today, their families and many of the Lebanese people are his followers.

From His Sayings

About the state of Unique Oneness (wahdaniyya) he said:

“It means the impossibility of the existence of multiplicity, and it is of three categories:

-The unique Oneness of the Essence: This means that His Essence is not compounded or combined from two or more parts, and there is nothing which resembles His Divine Essence.

-The Unique Oneness of His Attributes: This means that Allah, Almighty and Exalted, does not possess two kinds of Attributes which represent the same thing. For example, He does not have two Wills nor two Intentions. He is One in every attribute.

The Unique Oneness of His Actions: It means that He is the Creator, by His Own Wish and His Own Will, of everything that appears in this universe. All creations are either a substance or a description or an action. Thus all His Actions are created by Him for His servants.”

“If the love is true, then the lover must keep respect for the Beloved and proper manners with Him.”

“The highest Certainty of Truth is when the Shaykh glorifies the Divine Presence in your eye and diminishes everything other than God.”

“There are three big snakes that harm human beings: to be intolerant and impatient with the people around you; to be habituated to something you cannot leave; and to be controlled by your ego.”

“To achieve dunya (the world) is humiliation, and to achieve the next life is honor. I am amazed at those who prefer humiliation to honor.”

“If Allah, Almighty and Exalted, opened the Essence of His Divine Love, everyone on earth would die from that love.”

“We must always be engaged in the following: pondering Allah’s verses in the Holy Qur’an and his signs which cause love to evolve in us; thinking about His Promise to reward us, which will generate and bring forth in us yearning; and thinking about His Warning of punishment, which will generate in us shyness of Allah.”

“Allah said, ‘Whoever will be patient with Us will reach Us.’”

“If fear of God is grounded in the heart, the tongue will never speak what is of no purpose.”

“Tasawwuf is the purity of progressing to Allah’s Divine Presence, and its essence is to leave this materialistic life.”

“One time Junayd (q) saw Iblis (Satan) in a vision, and he was naked. He told him, ‘O Accursed one, are you not shy of people to appear naked?’ He said, ‘O Junayd, why should I be shy of people when they are not shy from themselves?’”

“When you meet a seeker in the way of Allah, approach him with sincerity and loyalty and with lenience. Don’t approach him with knowledge. Knowledge might make him wild at the beginning, but leniency will bring him quickly to you.”

“A seeker should be someone who has left himself and connected his heart with the Divine Presence. He stands in His Presence performing his obligations while visualizing the Divine with his heart. Allah’s Light has burned his heart giving him a thirst for the nectar of roses, and withdrawing the curtains from his eyes, allowing him to see His Lord. If he opens his mouth it is by order of the Divine Presence. If he moves it is by the order of Allah, and if he becomes tranquil it is by the action of the Divine Attributes. He is in the Divine Presence and with Allah.”

“The Sufi is the one who keeps the obligations that Allah has conveyed by the Holy Prophet , and strives to raise himself to the state of Perfected Character, which is the Knowledge of Allah, Almighty and Exalted.”

“Tasawwuf is a knowledge from which one learns the state of the human soul, praiseworthy or blameworthy. If it is blameworthy he learns how to purify it and enable it, by becoming praiseworthy, to journey to Allah’s Divine Presence. Its fruits are the heart’s development: Knowledge of Allah, Glorious and Sublime, through direct experience; salvation in the next world; triumph through gaining Allah’s pleasure; the attainment of eternal happiness; and illumination and purification so that noble matters disclose themselves, extraordinary states are revealed, and one perceives what the inside of others is blind to.”

“Tasawwuf is not a particular type of worship, but is rather the attachment of the heart to Allah. Such attachment demands that whenever something is preferred (mandub), according to the standards of the Sacred Law, for someone in one’s circumstances, then one does it. This is why we find that Sufis have served Islam in a wide variety of capacities. Islamic scholars must acquire the higher education of Sufism.”

Grandshaykh’s Predictions Concerning Shaykh Nazim

Grandshaykh, before he passed away said in his will, “By the Order of the Prophet  , I have trained and lifted up my successor, Nazim Effendi, and put him through many seclusions and trained him in severe training and I am assigning him to be my successor. I am seeing that in the future he will spread this Order through East and West. Allah will make all kinds of people, rich and poor, scholars and politicians, come to him, learn from him and take the Naqshbandi Order, at the end of the 20th Century and the beginning of the 21st Century. It will spread all over the world, such that not one continent will be devoid of its sweet scent.”

“I see him establishing and founding huge headquarters in London through which he will spread this tariqat to Europe, the Far East, and America. He will spread sincerity, love, piety, harmony, and happiness among people, and all shall leave behind ugliness, terrorism, and politics. He will spread the knowledge of peace within the heart, the knowledge of peace within communities, the knowledge of peace between nations, in order that wars and struggles will be taken away from this world and peace will become the dominating factor. I am seeing young people running to him from everywhere, asking for his barakah and blessings. He will show them the way to keep their obligations in the Islamic tradition, to be moderate, to live in peace with everyone of every religion, to leave hatred and enmity. Religion is for Allah and Allah is the judge of His servants.”

That prediction has come to pass, just as Grandshaykh ‘Abdullah had described it. In the year after Grandshaykh (q) passed away in 1973, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim made his first return trip to Turkey, visiting Bursa. Then he went to London. Many young people, especially the followers of John Bennett, came to meet him. As many people began coming to hear him he established his first center there in 1974.