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 jubba (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 (jubba) 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 jubba 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,

“No one ever had the privilege of making seclusion with his Shaykh. I had the privilege of making a seclusion in the same room with my Shaykh in Madinah al-Munawwara. It was in an ancient room near the Prophet’s Holy Mosque. It had one door and one window. As soon as I entered the room with my Shaykh, he blocked the window by boarding it up. He gave me authorization to leave the room only for the five daily prayers in the Holy Mosque of the Prophet .” 

“I was ordered by my Shaykh to keep the practice, Nazar bar Qadam, ‘Watching the Step,’ when I walked to the prayers. By disciplining and controlling the sight, this practice is a means to disconnect oneself from everything except Allah, Almighty and Exalted, and His Prophet .”

“My Shaykh never slept during that seclusion. For one year I never saw him sleeping. He never touched food. We were given one bowl of lentil soup and one piece of bread each day. He would always give his share to me. He only drank water. He never left that room.” 

“Day after day and night after night my Shaykh sat reading Qur’an by the light of a lamp, making Dhikr and raising his hands in du’a. For hours he would make du`a (supplication) and one du`a never resembled another. Each one was different from the other and throughout the whole year, he never repeated the same du`a. Sometimes I was not able to understand the language he was using in the du`a because it was a heavenly language. I could only understand these du`as by means of the visions and inspirations that came to my heart.”

“I didn’t know when night left and day arrived except by the prayers. Grandshaykh `Abdullah never saw the light of day for one whole year, only the light of the candle. I would see the daylight only when I went out for the prayers.”

“Through that seclusion I was raised to different levels of spirituality. One day I heard him saying, “O Allah give me the Power of intercession, from the Power of Intercession You have granted Your Prophet , to intercede for all human beings on the Day of Judgment to lift them up to be in Your Divine Presence.” As he was saying that I was in a vision experiencing the Judgment Day, and Allah, Almighty and Exalted, was descending on His `Arsh (throne) and judging people. The Prophet  was on the Right Side of the Divine Presence. Grandshaykh was on the right side of the Prophet  and I was on Grandshaykh’s right side.” 

“After Allah had judged the people, he authorized the Prophet  to intercede. When the Prophet  had interceded and finished, he ordered Grandshaykh to give his blessings and to lift the people up with the spiritual power that he had been given. That vision ended as I heard my Shaykh saying, ‘Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, Nazim Effendi, I got the answer.’”

“These visions continued. One day he told me after I returned from Fajr prayer, ‘Nazim Effendi, Look!’ Where should I look, up, down, right or left? It came to me look at his heart. As soon as I looked at his heart a great unveiling occurred to me and I saw Sayyidina `Abdul Khaliq al-Ghujdawani (q) appear in his physical body and tell me, ‘O my son, your Shaykh is unique. No one like him has ever come before.’ Then he invited Grandshaykh and me to come with him.”

“Immediately we saw ourselves with Sayyidina `Abdul Khaliq in another place on this earth. He said, Allah, Almighty and Exalted, has ordered me to go to that rock,’ and we were following him to a rock. He said, ‘Allah has ordered me to hit that rock.’ When he hit the rock an incredibly powerful stream of water came gushing forth from that rock, the like of which I had never seen before. Sayyidina `Abdul Khaliq said, ‘That water is coming out today and is going to continue to pour out like this until the Judgment Day.’

“Then he said, ‘Allah Almighty has told me that He is creating from every drop of this water an angel of light, which will be praising Him until Judgment Day. And He has ordered me by saying, ‘O My servant `Abdul Khaliq al-Ghujdawani, your job is to give every angel its name. You cannot use any name twice. You must name each one with a different name and count their praises. You will divide the rewards of their praises among the followers of the Naqshbandi Order. That responsibility is on you.’ Then that vision ended. I was so attracted to Sayyidina `Abdul Khaliq al-Ghujdawani and amazed by his incredible task.”

“Visions continued to pour on me in similar fashion. In the last day of our seclusion, after Fajr prayer, I heard a voice outside the room crying. I heard one great voice and many smaller voices like the voices of many children crying. That crying did not stop, but I was unable to go and see who was crying because I had no permission. The sound of crying kept increasing and continued for hours.

“Then Grandshaykh looked at me and said, ‘Nazim Effendi, do you know who is crying?’ Though I knew that it was not the cries of human beings, I said, ‘O my Shaykh, you know better.’ Immediately he told me, ‘This is Iblas (Satan) and his soldiers. Do you know why they are crying?’ I said, ‘O my Shaykh, you know better.’ He said, ‘Satan announced to his devils that two people on this earth have escaped their control.’

“Then I saw a vision that Satan and his soldiers were encircled with a heavenly chain that prevented them from reaching my Shaykh and me. That vision ended. Then Grandshaykh said, ‘Alhamdulillah, the Prophet  is happy with you and I am happy with you.’ Then he put his hand on my heart and I immediately saw the Prophet  and 124,000 prophets, 124,000 Companions, 7007 Naqshbandi Saints, 313 Exalted saints, the five Qutbs and the Ghawth. All of them were congratulating me and they each poured into my heart their divine knowledge. I inherited from them the secrets of the Naqshbandi Order and the secrets of the 40 other Orders.”