Miracle of Sheikh Nazim ar-Rabbani KS visting Funeral of Sheikh Abdullah al-Faiz ad-Dagestani (KS)
Miracle of Sheikh Nazim ar-Rabbani KS visting Funeral of Sheikh Abdullah al-Faiz ad-Dagestani (KS)
Miracle of Sheikh Nazim ar-Rabbani (KS) visting Funeral of Sheikh Abdullah al-Faiz ad-Dagestani (KS) as explained by Mawlana Sheikh Hisham Kabbani about the funeral of Grandsheikh Abdullah al-Faiz ad-Dagestani (KS).
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 (KS) 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 up from his house to the Mosque of Ibn Arabi (KS), 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 (RA), Sayyidina Uthman (RA) and Sayyidina Ali (RA) were not accepting that the Prophet ﷻ had passed away. We underwent that same state, even wondering how Sayyidina Abu Bakr (RA) could not have felt the same. All the government officials and scholars were at the mosque waiting to bury him.
A message was delivered to the imam from out of the blue saying, “Do not bury Grandshaykh until Shaykh Nazim arrives.” No one could believe it as there had been no way to contact Shaykh Nazim, who was in Cyprus. There was no phone, no fax machine, and even a telegram would have taken two days. No one accepted that the message was real. But for the love of our Shaykh, we were happy to postpone his burial and insisted to wait until Shaykh Nazim arrived.
It was Ramadan, everyone was fasting. The scholars and the crowd grew restless. People said they wanted to go. We told them they were free to go if they wanted, but that we must wait. After some time most of the people left, and only the most sincere followers of the Shaykh remained. Shortly before Maghrib prayer time, Shaykh Nazim was seen climbing the stairs. How he arrived so quickly no one knows. It remains a mystery to this day.
Shaykh Nazim brought Grandshaykh’s body back into the mosque and prayed janaza over him again. Then he ordered us all to go break our fast. He buried him with his own hands. When he lifted the shroud from his face, we smelled the sweet perfume of sandalwood, amber and musk the like of which we had never smelled before. Then Shaykh Nazim asked us to go out. Only my brother and I stayed, watching from the window to see what was happening inside.
He stood at the head of the grave, as if in prayer. Then in the blink of an eye, Shaykh Nazim disappeared. This event added an extraordinary surprise to our previous surprises. There were no words to express our feelings. Fifteen minutes passed, and suddenly we saw Shaykh Nazim appear in the same place from which he had disappeared. Then we ran to the door as he came out. He said, “What! Still here? You didn’t break your fast? Never mind, my company is better!” We went down to break our fast with him. Shaykh Nazim returned that night to Beirut, and took a plane back to Cyprus.
Taken from the book “Classical Islam and the Naqshbandi Sufi Tradition” by Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani on the life of Shaykh Abdullah al-Fa’iz ad-Daghestani.
Bir hurmati Habib bir hurmati Anzalta Surat al-Fatiha for Grandsheikh QS and Sheikh Nazim QS!
