Sohbah of Hajjah Ruqqaiyah Sultan
Dated 7 May 2020 / 14 Ramadan 1441
Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem,
Today is urs of Mawlana Shaykh Nazim Al Haqqani Ar Rabbani, six years from now, from it was, Sub Haan Allah, the time, we think that it will never….. pass but it is passing, now six years. Today….. Insha Allah no, no story, I talk about Mawlana Shaykh, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim was born….. morning of day, Jum’aa day, Friday, in the morning, the morning prayer when it Adhan he was born. He use to tell always that he was born without midwife. That he was very quickly born, that when midwife was coming he was outside….. waiting for her. It was 21st of April and I think 17th of Shaban. He was, he is youngest of his four older brothers, fifth, he is number five….. of….. five boys, one, one died when very small, so and he had a sister but she was….. many years younger than him. He was born in Larnaca….. where Hala Sultan is, maqam of Hala Sultan is there….. his, his father’s origin….. he was living from there, from Larnaca. His mother is from Lefkosa, if you know Cyprus you know what….. anyway, but the father side, his father side was his grandfather was Hassan Effendi….. he was Qadri, Shaykh, Qadri Shaykh, he was serving in Hala Sultan Tekke and for forty years, he was….. and from his mother side his grandfather was Moulvi, Moulvi….. his name was Mehmet Nazim also….. Mawlana’s name was after him. He was Moulvi, he was writing also poet, poet he was, he had, he was poet and calligrapher also same time, and father was Alhamdulilah, father, mother, children and he had a grandmother, his grandmother was Fatima Hanim….. famous Fatima Hanim, her, her father was Egyptian….. from Alexandria….. Yusuf Suruj Effendi….. and Mawlana he use always to tell stories about her and he was so happy my….. he always tell that my grandmother is Egyptian, Fatima Hanim, and he grew in, in that time pious….. family Alhamdulilah.
He was telling about so many, so many small, small stories he is telling but….. when he was eighteen years old….. finish the school the oldest….. high school they were calling him Mulla, Mulla in, in school also because he was so pious. He, his father was fond of teaching his children, to educate his children, so all the three older brothers were….. sent to Istanbul to study. Mawlana also the same habit was….. my grandfather took him to Istanbul to, grandfather Ahmed Adil took Mawlana Shaykh Nazim to Istanbul to study. He was studying Chemist, Chemist?….. Chemistry, and….. after….. he, he is in Istanbul the second world war started, so for many years there was no communication between Cyprus and, and Turkey or no, no, not coming, coming, so Mawlana use to live with his brother, older brothers and studying. One of his brothers….. passed away in, during the war, Turkey was not….. Yea he was doctor….. Turkey was not under war, war but it was making so much strict….. thing….. strict for the….. restrictions especially for food, you know so, so many people were that time that getting ill and from less of nourishness…… nourishness?….. malnutrition , malnutrition and they even have….. TP and most of them died from this TP, TP you know TP you say Tuberculosis, TB, and….. one of his brothers passed away. He was a doctor, Mawlana never say this, it was, this is the reason that he is so much, he left all the university but Hajjah Amina was telling this….. that this was….. effected him so much, he, he was pious, he was praying, fasting things but he was not really….. to sufism.
After his brother passed away he started to….. look for, for education, for way, he start to learn how to read Quran, to fiqah, he had a Shaykh his name was Suleiman in Istanbul and you know Mawlana always cry when he sees me reading Arabic or something he was telling “I learn how to read Arabic when I was twenty years old” you know he was crying. This….. he was….. upset about it, because when he started to go to school, six years old, they were….. they were writing, still writing….. Arabic letters, and after six months from his going to school it was change to Latin letters, so he always, and he had this Shaykh, he was going every morning to him every, after….. tahajjud time to this shaykh and your know at that time there was, he has to pass from, if you Istanbul, they have to pass….. the sea to go to the other side of the sea, small channel but at that time, at that night there is no, no boat, no small boat, no big boat, nothing. But every morning he find a person with small boat waiting for him, passing him from one side to the other side of the sea, this hall, golden hall….. and he was going to his Shaykh, everyday going to his Shaykh, then he has ijazah from this Shaykh.
Then he was so much….. the, the university was finish and he was, so much he wants to go to….. to Madina, to be mujawar, to be in Madina, to live in Madina, to Prophet, next to Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam. His Shaykh was telling now, it was, now it was year around year forty, 1944, it was nearly the end of the war, second world war, and his Shaykh was telling him you go….. you passed to Damascus, you find Shaykh named Abdullah, you….. don’t….. visit him and then you continue go to Madina. You don’t go before you go to this Shaykh, because he said I had a dream, the Shaykh was telling that you have to….. pass from this place.
Mawlana went, to say bye bye to his brothers, he went to….. then it was in the world, world second world war and Allah knows how long it takes him to go to Syria, go to Syria, it was not Syria at that time, it was occupied by French. Then he was passing and he came to Hummus, Hummus, he could not pass to Damascus because it was so much war and there was so many….. problems from the war, you know because there was English, French, so many fighting….. same and he stayed in Hummus, in Hummus, it is the city where Khalid Ibn Walid, Sahabi, a big Sahabi of Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam buried and he has big maqam there masjid and madrasa so he was staying there for one year, and he had a Shaykh named A’im Sood I don’t know the first name but he always….. you know he was having education from his big….. from big Shaykh there, he learnt Arabic, he learned more in fiqah and….. tajweed and so many….. ilms. He took ijazah after one year it was the war is finish, so….. he go from Hummus to Damascus, and Damascus he was looking for Shaykh Abdullah and somebody was telling him there is a new Shaykh coming, also coming from Turkey….. immigrate from Turkey, he lives some place here, they were showing him the….. the place where he was living in Midan, it was the oldest place area in Damascus, he was living there that time, and he was…..( listening or not listening?) …..
He was going there knocking the door, Mawlana Shaykh Abdullah was opening the door and say Assalamu Alaykum Shaykh, Shaykh Nazim I was waiting for you, he was took him inside and sitting and giving from that night give bayah for Shaykh Abdullah, Hazratleri, mawlana shaykh Abdullah and he was telling….. Mawlana Shaykh Abdullah that he is going to Madina, to be mujawar for in Madina. Mawlana Shaykh Abdullah told him I will make istekhara for, for you….. make for begging Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam asking him and I will give you answer tomorrow. Next day Mawlana Shaykh Nazim came, Mawlana Shaykh Abdullah said….. your, your intention was accepted, to be mujawar it is accepted but you have so many big duty to do, you have to go back to your country, first….. you….. not you don’t go to Madina. It is accepted to go to your…… country now.
Mawlana Shaykh Nazim accepted this and he stayed, I don’t know how long he stayed, then he was going to Tripoli, Tripoli in….. in Lebanon, he find boat….. sail….. sail boat….. sail….. sailing boat, sailing boat and he was staying few days in Tripoli and also there was a big Shaykh there, he was….. visiting him. He was going with this sailing boat, three days in the sea….. it was the first boat, civil boat….. going through the mediterranian after the war. For six years, you know second world war, so for six years there was no, no civil boat or ship going in the, in the sea, it was all war, so it was the first one going Tripoli to Cyprus after six years and it was sailing boat. Three days going up and down, up and down, reached the….. Cyprus, Limassol. Limassol, when he was boarding he saw his father, came to receive him, to receive him. Who told his father to come, Allah knows. His father received him and took him home, from Limassol to Lefkosa….. in, in Lefkosa, because Mawlana now he looks Sufi because he wear Shalwar and Kameez and he wear Jhuba and putting Turban, big beard Maa Shaa Allah, very beautiful, very handsome. Everybody looks like an angel you know you cannot take your eyes after him, very, very handsome, still is, very much haybah….. haybah, but you know it is….. it is not so easy to be like this, so many people were…..not, not jealous they were….. not accepting this, but one of them was his sister, his sister, she was three days she didn’t come out of her room to see him, Sub Haan Allah, but later on when she was in the, her last, later on she loved him, she loved him but then she was so shocked of his….. appearance, because at that time all the people going to out of, out of religion, out of religion, they want to be civilized, they don’t, religion is not, its bad thing, they don’t want to be in….. the religion is dark thing, the religion is backward and they want to be civilized, they want to go out, modern. So, later on she was accepting and Sub Haan Allah in her last days she, she died early, she had cancer, but she was telling when she was in hospital having….. operation, she was telling that you came….. you came and make me operation to Mawlana Shaykh, she was telling him this and she believes so much in him. But at that time she was so young, but also she was three days was not out and later on Mawlana was staying in….. the….. his house
It was in, on the newspaper there was….. elan?….. advertisement that there is a Shaykh came from Damascus, the son of Ahmed Adil Al Effendi, he will make sohbah, lecture in the big, Hagia Sophia Mosque….. the date and the timing nobody knows who make this advertisement, but it was all over the….. news, journals, newspapers. This is most of them Hajja Anna was telling, Mawlana not telling so much also that, and the day was there and Mawlana took his, father was always going with him, protecting him and he was on the chair to make sohbah for the people, people it was she said….. it was full, the Hagia Sophia Mosque was full, looking for this new person who, who he, who he is, and he was saying Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem, Madad Ya Sayyedi then he was saying that it was not me who was talking, I don’t know how this talk was coming out of my mouth and I was, it was spiritual coming through Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam to Mawlana Shaykh Abdullah, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim and the people were so blessed and so much happy about it.
And Sub Haan Allah, after that Mawlana use to go from one village to other village in the, in the, on the island and….. it was….. he had….. so many mureeds, all around the, the Cyprus, that people was some, in some villages they were even the mosque were closed because nobody is praying then he start to clean the mosque and the calling people, and making sohbah with them, he use to go the coffee, coffee shops sitting with them, talking to them, he go to places where they gather and they….. calling people for….. you know to become back to islam and the first tariqa. Maa Shaa Allah, there was so many….. Cypriots, don’t look now, not, they are nobody, Alhamdulilah now we have the best….. still….. he was doing this and there was small, small zikr….. also zikr places he was in every village there was one place for zikr also.
On the other side there was, you know they were trying to get, because it was under English occupation here, they were trying to take….. the independence from English, there was one man also his name Fazal kichuk he had that time, he, he is doctor and he had a newspaper, he never liked Mawlana. He was starting to make everything against Mawlana, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim every day writing bad things about him, making people to go to….. against him, and you know and so many things, so many lies about it, you know this man never see Mawlana, he never come face to face, to Mawlana, but he was so bad….. he was….. Mawlana say, Hajjah Anna use to say that he is Abu Jahl of Mawlana Shaykh Nazim. He was so bad this man, against his….. Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, and after you know Mawlana use to….. but he has no power that time, he was, but you know, because Mawlana come and it was, there was a law, he was trying to be….. making the law that to read Adhan was Turkish, there was a law in Turkey that they reading Adhan was Turkish.
Then Mawlana Shaykh coming and reading Adhan was Arabic in one place, so they took and put him in jail for one month, for one month for this, and he was the man who was guarding him, he said every morning the prayer he see Mawlana Shaykh outside having wudu without opening the door and coming back then he see him inside. This is one of his karamahs…..
And Mawlana had duty that time that he was collecting people from here to take them to Hajj. So he was, he use to come Ramadan, Rajab, use to come from Rajab and Shaban, Ramadan being in Cyprus and after Ramadan starting to collect people to take to Hajj. For many years everytime he take them to Hajj. It was his duty to take them to Lebanon, Beirut and from there, there was bus or he takes them to Damascus by, and then with bus. Sometimes they were going to Beirut and going from with boat from, with boat to….. to Jeddah with boat also, so many years, Hajjah Anna sayings twenty two years, Mawlana said may be its more, Allahu Alam.
When it was this independence, Cyprus was independent, and….. while, mean while this is very short, short, short, he married Hajjah Anna, mean while in the middle…… it is too long for, it is very long story of Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, because….. also one of his karamahs, his miracle, that he was, when he was young, before marriage, he, he was going to one village and the man, the one people in the village there was one bad man, they were making plan to kill him and they said….. one, they make one, somebody to said I will, I will kill him, one of them, and when he is coming we’ll kill him in the middle of the….. courtyard, where he is coming in the village. This, the, from old, from the old mureed of Mawlana they were telling this and this man was drunk, drinking and his waiting for Shaykh to come, and he was coming and he was making the, trying to make with the gun, Mawlana was making with his stick around him like this, then he couldn’t go any place, he was turning, turning and turning, and his place and he doesn’t see anything. He, this man he could not do anything then he was….. asking him relieve me, relieve me, release me, and he was telling that he saw wall around him and he cannot go out of this wall, he said he was asking Mawlana Shaykh to release him, that he won’t harm him, and he will not appear on his face anymore, and he was….. release, Mawlana make like this and it was open for him. This is and then it was, it so long story, every moment of Mawlana’s life is miracle Alhamdulilah.
And he married Hajjah Anna. The story of his marrying of Hajjah Anna is, Mawlana Shaykh Abdullah was looking for, for a….. for wife, to, to marry Mawlana Shaykh and he had somebody, here in Cyprus to marry but the night that marriage will happen the, the uncle from the….. wife to be, he was taking her and running away, Alhamdulilah. Mawlana Shaykh Abdullah was telling that in his, in his dream, you know Mawlana Shaykh Abdullah was so humble that he doesn’t say that he seeing Prophet Sallallahu alaihi Wasallam directly, he say I see in dream that Prophet Sallallahu alaihi Wasallam was telling him “Why you are not marrying Our son Nazim” and said I could not find any suitable one, He said “look you marry him Amina, daughter of Ali, Hajjah Ali, look them, there nikah is already written on the sky” and when he woke up, his, he knew my uncle, my Grandfather Hajjah Ali, because all immigrants you know, they all immigrants they know each other, so he, that day Sub Haan Allah there was a funeral, Mawlana Shaykh Abdullah went and when my unc….. my grandfather Hajjah Ali was also there and he was asking him, to….. for daughter Amina, you have Amina he said yes, he said I ask for my, you know, one of my mureeds, he is like my son, I ask for her hand, and that …..my grandfather said ok, I will, I will think about it and answer you, and this, he came home and ask my uncle Hajjah Wali, you know the one who is now buried here. Mawlana always say “I love him so much, he was the one who was, was agreeing with me, saying he praise me and I have Hajjah, Hajjah, Hajjah Amina” and he, he was asking him, because that time Mawlana Shaykh Abdullah was moved to Jabal Qasioun to the, to the mountain, Qasioun mountain and he was, he had a small house and he had masjid next to his house, and this masjid , and this masjid was volunteer, people volunteering, doing things, not with money, so my uncle was making the, the taps from the water system for the mosque and , my grandfather ask him this Shaykh Abdullah was telling me this, this, do you know this person, he said “when I was making this the water system, I saw one man, I don’t know he is angel or he is a human where, I could not take my eyes over from him, if he is this, he is mentioning this man, give without asking” because my mother, my aunty were blonde, white and blondy, and you know Arab people like, and there was so many people asking for them, but my grandfather was not agreeing, asking for the hand, and then, but without, my uncle said this, if he this man, if it is this man the one I saw in the mosque, give without thinking, Alhamdulilah. Then Mawlana was telling this that….. Mawlana Shaykh Abdullah send him letters, telling “him come I found you wife” and….. he Mawlana Shaykh saw Hajjah, it is Sunnah to see the, the person you, the, the bride you marry and he said I was sitting there telling sohbah, making sohbah about Adam Alaihisalam, Hawa Alaihisalam and this and Hajjah Anna was sitting I, she not opening her mouth, but I didn’t know she is ocean, later on. In one week they married Maa Shaa Allah.
Mawlana Shaykh Alhamdulilah, so it was Hajjah Naziha was, Mawlana use to have khalwat also, khalwah, and six, six times. One time is in, two times I think in Madina, one time in Baghdad, one time in Tripoli, one time in Jordan and I think may be in, in Damascus or it was seven times he, he had seclusion, and in this time Mawlana Shaykh always bringing people, taking people….. to Hajj and also going, visiting the Arab countries….. in Syria , sometimes going to Turkey, but not so often, to Turkey it was not so often, because it was not so stable that time, but in, in Syria he go to, there is mountain of Kurds, there is lots of villages, visiting there, he went to Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, also he was going to Jerusalem, taking Hajjis when they go to Hajj, coming back taking them to Jerusalem also to visit, and, and…..
In 1960 Cyprus was independent, then this man, the one who was against Mawlana, he became….. there President is Greek but Vice President is Turk, should be this, the law was like this, so he was making a law, that Shaykh Nazim cannot make any prayer, any Adhan, any sohbah, any, any thing, and if he is doing it he will have….. punishment, he will be….. in jail, sentence, he will have sentence. So for many years any place they were going, some, some religious, Mawlana, because he comes and goes to Cyprus, not….. in, in the, he was living in Damascus, and he was coming to Cyprus and going back, taking Hajjis, going back, sometimes bringing family, sometimes leaving them in Damascus, in, in Damascus also sometimes they, there were….. giving him trouble that he is foreigners, this and that, anyway.
But here in Cyprus he had more than sixty sentence. That, he is praying, he is Making Adhan, he is praying with people or his making sohbah, you know, not every where, when he go with some villages, some people they go and tell the police that Shaykh , come and make sentence. One of them is here, in Lefke, in the mosque, where now Shaykh Nazim Mosque, was muezzin….. he was, he knows Mawlana, and he is, Mawlana read Adhan in this mosque in the, on the microphone and after ten minutes they will hear another Adhan from this man, and he was….. coming telling Shaykh, making sentence for the Mawlana Shaykh. This man he finished, he prayed in the mosque and go he where he, he had a motorbike, he fall from his motor bike and his legs, his both legs were broken, and then he was in hospital, he was sending somebody to Mawlana asking him for forgiveness, to come read for him and ask for forgiveness , he said I know, I made wrong, I made wrong.
So this is the six….. sixty sentence for Mawlana, and each sentence I don’t know how much money, punishment and how much jail, six months jail and so much money, so for sixty you can count how many years should be jailed. It was election time his, his….. his vice, this vice president, his, his assistant was Dantash, Dantash, wanted to be, he, he wanted to be the vice president, with elections and he was coming asking Mawlana for dua and he said if I win, I will make dismiss all this sentence. At that night Hajjah Anna was seeing….. dream that two big snakes coming towards Mawlana, one of them, it was killed and the second one ran away, second one get shrink and went away, Mawlana told this, Insha Allah this man will be finished, he was asking Mawlana also that your mureeds if they give me their votes also I, and Sub Haan Allah, he won, and he was making all the sentences for Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, that he can, he is free to cancel, that year, it was may be the whole winter was no rain, it was no rain, may be more than year was no rain at all. That day when this sentence was finishing I, I even remember, I may be was four or five years, I was so small but I remember this, Hagia Sophia how was, it was crowd, it was crowd and somebody was holding me up, Mawlana was on top of….. making dua for prayer, for rain and it was raining, the sky was not, no, no clouds and it was raining, each, each drop is like this, even the Greek, the sad time , it was not splatted yet the, the Greek was saying he is holy man, he is a holy man, you know he not finishing the dua, it was raining, the water was running all, all this over streets
Wa Minallah at-Tawfeeq,
Al-Fatiha.
Tomorrow I continue.