Chapter (8) Assuming the Shaikhdom

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Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān kissing the Holy Qur’an at the Amman takya, Jordan, on the eve of the celebration of the birth of Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Gaylānī (20 December 2018).

I am like you. I belong to the takya; I belong to the Shaikhs. I am one of your brothers—a dervish. However, the Shaikhs have assigned special obligations to me. They have placed me in Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm’s position. This is an order from Allah, from the honourable Messenger (PBUH), then from the Shaikhs. I am one of you in Ṭarīqa, but I have more obligations, as they have placed me in the place of the honourable Messenger (PBUH).

Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān (Sermon, 1 February 2018)

The appointment of the Shaikh of Ṭarīqa is by the Prophet’s (PBUH) choice. It is a spiritual designation that people cannot infer using reason. The present Shaikh announces who his successor will be before his departure from this world so that there would be no doubt about his identity. For example, a few years before his demise, Sultan ʿAbd al-Qādir announced that his son, Ḥusayn, would succeed him. Sultan Ḥusayn entrusted his brother, ʿAbd al-Karīm, with many responsibilities of Ṭarīqa and its dervishes when he was younger than eighteen—that is, about eight years before his death. He also told the dervishes, years before his death, that Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm would succeed him. Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm, in turn, revealed his successor seven years before he departed this world. Before leaving for hajj in 1971, he appointed Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad as his Deputy, leaving him in charge of the affairs of the takya and the dervishes. Our Shaikh followed suit by designating his eldest son, Nahro, as his General Deputy and Shaikh of Ṭarīqa after him. We will discuss this appointment in detail in Chapter nineteen.

A Shaikh may entrust his General Deputy with some of Ṭarīqa’s responsibilities, such as managing the takya, but he remains the only Master of Ṭarīqa, as Ṭarīqa cannot have more than one Shaikh at a time. The General Deputy is the future Shaikh, but during the Shaikh’s life, he is just another one of Ṭarīqa’s disciples. When the Shaikh passes away, the General Deputy succeeds him and all of the Ṭarīqa’s spiritual and worldly affairs are transferred to him.

8.1 Succeeding Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm

Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm suffered from a heart condition and for treatment, Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad had arranged to take him to London. On Wednesday morning on 1 February 1978, the Shaikh was in poor health. While sitting on a chair at home, he felt a pain in his chest and then collapsed to the ground. Someone phoned our Shaikh who hurried over to find his father sitting on the floor with the help of an assistant. He rushed him to the Republican Hospital in Kirkuk and kept him company, staying in a room opposite his Master’s. One karāma of Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm that astonished medical staff in the hospital is that a machine for treating heart conditions that had been in disuse for a while began working again when it was needed to treat the Shaikh.

Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm stayed in the hospital for three days, during which doctors kept him sedated. As soon as he would wake up and open his eyes he would ask for a mat to pray, even though his health prevented him from doing so, before falling back into a coma. At 9:50 p.m. on Saturday 4 February 1978, the Shaikh of Ṭarīqa passed on to his Lord’s presence.

Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Kasnazān on his last visit to Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Gaylānī, Baghdad, accompanied by his assistant Mullā Muḥammad Amīn (end of 1977).

After washing and shrouding the noble body and reciting the Qur’an over it, our weeping Shaikh said, “For years, not only now, I have been crying over this hour”. These feelings reflect not only the tremendous grief that he felt at the loss of his Shaikh but also the Ṭarīqa’s heavy burden that was now on his shoulders. Overbearing grief remained visible on our present Shaikh throughout the mourning period. He would say that his love for this world went when Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm went.

A group of dervishes prepared a grave for Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm in the hall of the shrines of the Shaikhs in Karbchna, which was being renovated at the time. His noble body was transferred to Karbchna on Sunday morning, with the burial ceremony completed at 1:30 p.m. Villagers stood all along the 100-kilometre-long road between Kirkuk and Karbchna to bid farewell to a Shaikh whose reputation stretched far and wide. The passing of a Shaikh of Ṭarīqa is a mere move from this world to the spirit world because the Shaikhs of Ṭarīqa are spiritually alive. The perpetual continuation of their karāmas after their departure from this life attests to this fact. With the passing of Sultan ʿAbd al-Karīm, his General Deputy, Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad, succeeded him to the Shaikhdom.

Condolences were accepted at a mosque in the Iskān area and a large tent near the Shaikh’s house in Kirkuk. Due to Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm’s reputation and the large number of dervishes, people who loved him, and generally all who wanted to offer their condolences, our Shaikh continued to welcome mourners for many days after the death. Many dervishes lived in remote areas where there were no quick means of communication or transportation, so it took some time for the news of the Shaikh’s passing to reach them. The Iraqi president, Aḥmad Ḥasan al-Bakr, sent a representative to attend the funeral reception on his behalf. The Iraqi government also issued a decree allowing incoming mourners from Iran, where there is a large number of dervishes, to enter the country through Sulaymāniyya without needing to obtain a visa.

Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Kasnazān on his last visit to Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Gaylānī, Baghdad (end of 1977).

When a Master of Ṭarīqa passes on to the spirit world and his successor assumes the Shaikhdom, his dervishes must pledge their allegiance to the new Shaikh. This pledge may not involve taking the Ṭarīqa’s entire pledge anew. Rather, it could include a brief statement in which the seeker accepts the new Shaikh as his Master. The following incidents demonstrate the fact that the designation of a Ṭarīqa’s Shaikh is a spiritual affair that everyone must comply with. On the third day of mourning in our Master’s guest house, Shaikh Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ, one of Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm’s brothers, stood up and announced that he would be the first to pledge his allegiance to his nephew as the new Master. Our Master addressed Shaikh Ṭāhir, Sultan Ḥusayn’s eldest son, who was about seventy years old at the time, and said something along the lines of, “You are Shaikh Ḥusayn’s son. If you wish to be the Shaikh of Ṭarīqa, I am prepared to serve you as I served Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm”. Aware that the Ṭarīqa’s Shaikhs had already chosen their successor, Shaikh Ṭāhir replied that our Shaikh was the most qualified for this trust. He then gathered his brothers, children, and grandchildren and led them to kiss our Shaikh’s hand and pledge their allegiance to him.

Our Shaikh officially assumed the Shaikhdom on the third day of mourning. All the caliphs and dervishes who were present pledged their allegiance to the new Shaikh by saying, “I accept you as my Master and my guide in this life and the hereafter”. That pledge took about three hours to complete because of the number of disciples who were present. Still, caliphs and dervishes kept coming to pledge allegiance to the new Shaikh for more than a week afterwards.

When a new Shaikh assumes the Shaikhdom, some disciples find it difficult to accept the new Shaikh as a successor to the departed Shaikh. This difficulty arises as a result of a combination of the extreme love for the late Shaikh that grew over the years in the seeker’s heart, especially if he accompanied his Shaikh for a long time, and the tremendous pain that he feels as a result of separating from that Master. The disciple may even hurt, for example, when he sees someone else sitting on his late Shaikh’s chair or using any of his belongings, even if it is the new Shaikh who was appointed by the late Shaikh. This is due to the uniqueness of the love of the disciple for his Shaikh. However, by way of a karāma from the Shaikhs, the disciple’s love for his departed Shaikh quickly expands to include the new Shaikh, occupying the unique place of “the present Shaikh” in his heart. It is impossible for any true lover of the departed Shaikh to not find love for the new Shaikh invading his heart so that he starts to see, love, and treat his new Master the same way he saw, loved, and treated the late Shaikh. In the previous chapter, we saw that dervishes who possess ḥāls begin to feel attracted to the future Shaikh a while before the present Shaikh’s demise. They also see spiritual unveilings in dreams and wakefulness that assure their hearts and minds about the transfer of the Shaikhdom and make them accept it. They become disciples of the new Shaikh as they were disciples of the departed Shaikh. The late Shaikh continues to hold a special position in the seeker’s heart, the nature and strength of which are determined by the closeness of his companionship to the departed Shaikh.

Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān at the Fātiḥa ceremonies of his father and the master of Ṭarīqa before him, Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Kasnazān, Kirkuk. He is visibly sad and burdened by the responsibility of Ṭarīqa (early February 1978).

The love for the Shaikh that grows in the disciple’s heart is a result of the charisma that Allah Almighty confers on the Shaikh, as He said about the Prophet Moses, “I bestowed love upon you from Me” (Ṭāhā 39). Our Shaikh used an analogy to describe how love for the new Shaikh enters the disciple’s heart: the Shaikhs of Ṭarīqa make their new successor a receptacle for their honey, so anyone who loves that honey is attracted to him. Anyone who loved the Messenger (PBUH) as a Master and a guide found the same love in his heart for Imām ʿAlī after the Messenger’s (PBUH) departure, as his spiritual heir. Likewise, love for the new Shaikh grows in the disciple’s heart.

Some disciples would have questions or doubts about the new Shaikh’s eligibility to succeed the previous Shaikh. The personal history of the new Shaikh at the time of assuming the Shaikhdom would often have been dominated by worldly preoccupations, bereft of karāmas and spiritual exploits matching those of the departed Shaikh. If the disciple does not remember that this is the case with almost every new Shaikh, he may doubt the eligibility of the new Shaikh for the Shaikhdom. Once, while visiting the Shaikh in Virginia, USA, he talked to me about how dervishes of ḥāls started to come to him about six months before the passing of Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm. He went on to say that even though he was his General Deputy, he was “one of the people of this world”, as opposed to the people of ḥāls who are preoccupied with Ṭarīqa.[1] Being the choice of the late Shaikh, which means that he was chosen by the Prophet (PBUH) and all the Shaikhs of Ṭarīqa, ought to remove all doubt concerning a new Shaikh’s qualification. Assuming the Shaikhdom starts fundamental and continuous changes in the new Shaikh that transform him into the person needed for this spiritual position.

Many karāmas occur that confirm the new Shaikh’s entitlement to the Shaikhdom to help doubtful dervishes, who may have forgotten or ignored the late Shaikh’s will, come back to their senses. Just as there were karāmas and spiritual unveilings regarding Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad’s succession that occurred while Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm was alive, many miracles took place after he assumed the Shaikhdom. One of these instructive karāmas happened to a dervish named Fuʾād Jāsim from the city of Ramādī. He had a firm belief in Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm, having witnessed many of his karāmas. About three weeks after the Shaikh’s death, this dervish visited caliph Yāsīn Ṣūfī and told him that he had a question he hoped would not upset him. He went on to explain that he believed that Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm was the Master of Ṭarīqa and Sultan of walīs but did not know anything about Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad. It was clear that Jāsim doubted the new Shaikh’s succession of his predecessor. Caliph Yāsīn reassured him that whatever applied to Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm was equally true of his successor. He explained that the present Shaikh does not assume the Shaikhdom because he chooses to do so. Rather, this happens according to the Prophet’s (PBUH) instruction and the acceptance of all of the Ṭarīqa’s Shaikhs. He warned Jāsim that questioning the present Shaikh’s eligibility was no small matter.

The next day, Jāsim visited the caliph a second time and told him the following:

When I visited you yesterday, my heart was not at ease with Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad’s succession of Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm. Your words reassured me but not completely. At night, I went to bed still thinking about this issue. I saw in a dream that I was in Medina, near the al-Salām Gate, which people enter through to visit the Prophet (PBUH). I heard the sound of the Kasnazānī dhikr drum and the voices of dervishes chanting “Ḥayy Allāh, Ḥayy Allāh”. Then I heard a voice saying, “Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān has come with Kasnazānī dervishes to visit the Messenger (PBUH)”. My heart rejoiced at this. I wanted to visit the Messenger (PBUH), but I thought that since our Shaikh’s son and Ṭarīqa’s disciples had come, I would wait to visit with them.

Then I saw Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad walking in front of a large, unending crowd of dervishes who were raising the banner of Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya of the main takya in Ramādī. The Shaikh entered from the al-Salām Gate, and I entered after him. He walked until he faced the Messenger’s (PBUH) resting place, while I was behind him. I saw the door to the noble Prophetic resting place open like a sliding door. The door to the Messenger’s (PBUH) shrine also opened like a sliding door. The Messenger (PBUH) came out and embraced Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad, taking in his scent, while the Shaikh kissed the Prophet’s (PBUH) hand. While the Prophet (PBUH) embraced our Shaikh, he looked at me and said, “O Dervish, I am the one who put him in Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm’s place”.

Caliph Yāsīn warned him that if he doubted the Shaikh again, faith may never settle in his heart afterwards.

Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān at the Fātiḥa ceremonies of his father and the master of the Ṭarīqa before him, Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Kasnazān, Kirkuk. He is visibly sad and burdened by the responsibility of Ṭarīqa (early February 1978).

Something similar happened with another caliph and cleric, Ḥājj sayyid Ṭāhā, from the Dibis province in Kirkuk. After Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm’s departure, this dervish thought that no one could take Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm’s place, so he did not visit Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad to pledge his allegiance to him. After a while, he had a dream where he saw several of Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm’s caliphs whom he knew trying to open a closed door. They failed to open it no matter how hard they tried. Then, Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad came and easily opened the door for them. The dream’s meaning was clear, so he visited our Shaikh and pledged his allegiance to him. When our Shaikh asked him why he had delayed the visit, he related the dream to him.

On the eighteenth day after assuming the Shaikhdom, our Shaikh was sitting in the takya’s courtyard in the morning. Those who had come to offer their condolences for Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm’s passing had already left. After a while, an elderly man walked in and greeted the caliph standing at the Shaikh’s service, who returned the greeting. The man asked the caliph about “sayyid Muḥammad”. The caliph asked him if he was a dervish, and he answered in the affirmative. The caliph reproached him, asking him how he could be a dervish and not know who his Shaikh was, as our Shaikh was sitting in the courtyard. The man replied:

My father and uncles would travel on foot from our home in Hawīja[2] to visit Sultan Ḥusayn. When I was a small child, I asked to go with them to visit the Shaikh. My father tried to dissuade me from travelling with them because the trip took days to complete on foot, but I insisted on visiting the Shaikh. In Karbchna, Sultan Ḥusayn called me over to him and gave me the pledge. I haven’t visited the Shaikh since then.

The caliph asked him why he came to visit the new Shaikh a short while after he had assumed the Shaikhdom even though he never visited Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm during his forty years of Shaikhdom. He replied that an angry-looking Sultan Ḥusayn came to him in a dream the night before and instructed him to go to Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad. At that moment, our Shaikh intervened and asked the caliph what the man wanted. He told him about the conversation they just had. Our Shaikh instructed the dervish to begin a khatma of “lā ilāha illallāh (there is no god but Allah)”, and then “Allāh”, which are the first two dhikrs of Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya’s nineteen perennial dhikrs. A khatma of any dhikr in Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya means reciting that dhikr 100,000 times. The Shaikh also told him that he should continue to visit now and then. Having realised that the one who was sitting on the chair and speaking was the Shaikh, the dervish approached and greeted him.

A karāma that relates to Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm’s death came to light on the third day after his passing. A caliph from the Gambia named Ibrāhīm ʿAbd Allāh Jāllū came to the funeral reception. He had taken the Ṭarīqa’s pledge years ago when he was receiving an education in Islamic studies in Ramādī. Before his death, Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm spiritually visited the caliph and instructed him to attend the funeral reception in Kirkuk. The dervish immediately began making travel arrangements, arriving on the third day of the funeral reception.

Ibrāhīm had witnessed a karāma of Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm many years earlier, even before becoming a dervish. After taking the Ṭarīqa’s pledge in Ramādī’s main takya, he asked the caliph who gave him the pledge about a majestic man in a picture on the wall. The caliph said that it was Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm, the Master of Ṭarīqa. When this dervish heard this, he said “Praise be to Allah” three times and reached into his pocket and pulled out a small book that could almost fit into the palm of your hand. It was al-Burda (The Mantle), al-Būṣīrī’s famous poem in praise of the Prophet (PBUH). He went on to tell the caliph the following:

When I was in my third year of secondary schooling, this man (pointing to Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm’s picture) came to me in a dream and showed me this book. He said, “My son, take this book. When you finish your secondary schooling and come to study in Iraq, come visit me in Kirkuk”. At the time, I was living in my brother’s house because my school was far from my family’s home. The next morning, on my way to school, I visited a bookstore on my route. I found the book that the Shaikh showed me in the dream on display. When I wanted to buy it, the shopkeeper told me that I would not benefit from it because it was in Arabic, but I bought it anyway.

About a month later, someone told me that my brother’s house had burned down. The news shocked and disturbed me. I kept thinking about the book. When I reached the house, I found that the fire had rendered it into ashes, as it was made from wood, like all houses there. I went to the room where the bookcase was and reached into the ashes that covered the ground hoping to find the book. I found it intact—the fire had not touched it, unlike the rest of the books.

During the ceremonies on the fortieth day after Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm’s death, our Shaikh was sitting in the outside of courtyard of the shrines in Karbchna, facing the mountain, when he advised the dervishes who were present something along the lines of:

O Dervishes! Look after your behaviour as dervishes and your preaching. Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm was a piece of light from Allah. I am not Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm. Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm was the Master of Ṭarīqa for forty years, while I have only completed forty days as of today. Those present should tell those who aren’t, and if there is anyone among you that do not see me (he rose from the chair and stood so that all the disciples could see him), know that none of you will see any blessing from me, even by this much (he pointed to his fingertip), except by way of hard work and merit.

This statement represented a change in granting spiritual gifts. Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm used to grant spiritual power to many caliphs and dervishes, even if they were not exceptional worshippers; the blessing was mostly gifted, rather than earned. As for the new Shaikh, he emphasised the need for the disciple to earn spiritual power from the Shaikh through the worship of Allah.

Sometime later, our Shaikh decided to perform ʿumrah. He went to Karbchna to visit the shrines. He and some dervishes who accompanied him on the visit entered the shrines. Three of them would go with him for ʿumrah. After greeting the Shaikhs and reading the Fātiḥa for their souls, he asked Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm for permission to perform ʿumrah. At that moment, the Shaikh’s tomb began to shake, continuing to do so for more than two minutes. The vibration was visible to all who were present. It was so intense that it even tilted the covering on the shrine to one side until it fell. In addition to performing ʿumrah in the first half of 1978, our Shaikh had accompanied Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm on his ḥajj in 1973.

All the Kasnazānī Shaikhs wore Kurdish clothing, and so was the case with our Shaikh, although the design of his clothing differed slightly from Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm’s style of dress. About two or three months after he assumed the Shaikhdom, he was visiting the Shaikhs in Karbchna when a caliph, who had served Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm, approached him, carrying an outfit similar to the clothes his predecessor used to wear. He asked him to wear what he called “the clothes of Shaikhdom” during his visit to the shrines. This request annoyed our Shaikh who answered, “Shaikhdom is not tied to clothes. Even if I wore European clothing, I would still be the Shaikh of Ṭarīqa”. True Islam and nearness to Allah are not based on one’s external looks, including what one wears. Rather, it is based on the love for Allah and the piety they have in their heart. Our Shaikh would often wear an Arab cloak over his Kurdish clothes when receiving guests.

Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān in the courtyard of the Baghdad takya (13 May 1990).

8.2 Karāmas That Confirm the Muḥammadan Inheritance

Many karāmas and spiritual unveilings foretold Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad’s succession of Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm. We have also seen several wonders that occurred after our Shaikh assumed the Shaikhdom. Here we will recount other karāmas that confirm his state of being an inheritor of the Prophet (PBUH).

On 10 October 2012, a car broke down in front of the takya’s land in Saraipalya, Bangalore, India, before the takya was built. Three men got out of the car, one of whom turned out to be a businessman, another an engineer, and the third a professor of Sufism named Ḥaydar ʿAlī. Having noticed the takya’s flag, when they entered through the temporary gate, they inquired about the place. Caliph ʿImād ʿAbd al-Ṣamad told them that it was a takya of Ṭarīqa ʿAlīyya Qādiriyya Kasnazāniyya whose Master was Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān al-Ḥusaynī.

The caliph offered the pledge to the professor and explained how it was necessary to take the pledge at the hand of a perfected Shaikh and explained the qualities of such a Shaikh. The words had an impact on the professor, who expressed his desire to take up Ṭarīqa. The caliph told them that their car would start after they took the pledge, as Allah would have fulfilled the good that He wanted for them in having the car break down in front of the takya. The professor said that they would see if what he promised was true, and they all took the pledge.

The professor asked whether the car would now start, and the caliph answered in the affirmative. They wanted to open the bonnet of the car to examine the engine, but the caliph dissuaded them from doing so, as he had promised them that the car would start. He asked them to get into the car, close the doors, and start the engine; the car did indeed start. Touched by the karāma, the professor got out of the car, kissed the hands and feet of the caliph, and donated a sum of money to the takya. The amazed professor said that his house was near the takya so he would stay in touch with the caliph.

The next day, he came with five or six people. He knelt at the takya’s door before entering. After introducing his friends, he said that he wanted to relate something that happened to him the day before. Caliph ʿImād thought that the professor wanted to recount to his friends the karāma of the broken car starting without repair, but he was surprised with what he had to say:

After I left yesterday, some doubts arose in my heart. I thought to myself, “I am a professor of Sufism, so how can this person teach me and give me the pledge?” I felt envious. When I arrived home, I was tired, so I slept. I had a dream in which I saw this takya, and you were sitting in this exact place in the same position. I gradually got closer to you, but I was surprised when I found that the face was not yours; it was of an older person. That man called to me, so I sat beside him. He started to tell me the same things you told me. I said, “My Master, I heard these words yesterday from someone who was sitting here. He was wearing clothes and a green shawl similar to yours, but his face was different”. He replied, “Yes, that was Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān’s caliph. I am the Messenger of Allah’s caliph,ʿAlī Ibn Abī Ṭālib. When you put your hand in the hand of Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad’s deputy, you put your hand in ours”.

The professor began to cry, and those present were overcome with awe. Then he went on to say that Imām ʿAlī Ibn Abī Ṭālib added:

We, the family of the Prophetic household, have authorised our inheritor Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Kasnazān to speak on our behalf.

The very same day, caliph ʿImād phoned caliph Majīd Ḥamīd in Amman to covey to our Shaikh this karāma. He was surprised again when caliph Majīd informed him that the night before, the Shaikh had said that he has permission to speak on behalf of the Prophetic household.[3]

The following vision that caliph ʿImād saw in Bangalore, India, on 11 September 2013, confirms that our Master promotes the Messenger’s (PBUH) way:

While waiting for the time of the afternoon prayer, I fell asleep. I had a dream in which I was in Medina, peace and blessings be upon its owner. I was standing at the end of a long queue of people. We were waiting for the Prophet (PBUH) to come out from his resting place under the green dome so that we could visit him. Suddenly, everybody turned to me and said, “Come over, the Messenger (PBUH) is asking for you”. I also turned around to see if these people were addressing someone behind me, but there was no one. The line of people split in two, allowing me to walk through the middle. I walked with extreme shyness. I saw the Messenger (PBUH) standing near the door. He looked tired and was leaning on Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad for support. Our Shaikh’s right hand was stretched behind the Messenger’s back to his right armpit. He (PBUH) had his left hand on Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad’s shoulder. I said, “Allah is the greatest! The Messenger (PBUH) is tired? Why?” The Shaikh gestured with his noble head to come closer. Before I got closer, I could see some of the Messenger’s (PBUH) features, but as I moved closer, thick clouds gathered around both of them so I could only see the Shaikh’s face. When I was close, I heard the Messenger (PBUH) say, “He (meaning the Shaikh) is the only one who lifted me”.[4]

A vision that our Shaikh saw on AH 17 Ramadan 1437 (22 June 2016) also reflects his deputyship of the Prophet (PBUH). He saw himself visiting the shrines of the Kasnazānī Shaikhs in Karbchna with green flags waving for his arrival. He was standing in front of Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Kasnazān’s shrine, and he and the Kasnazānī Shaikhs were all immersed in a dense, unique light. Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir was standing in front of the door, holding a book he was reading from. He said to our Shaikh, who was standing in front of him, “You are a caliph”. Our Shaikh replied, “Yes, my beloved”. Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir repeated more assertively, “You are a caliph”. Our Shaikh replied, once more, “Yes, my beloved”. Then Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir sharply repeated the phrase a third time, emphasizing the declaration he read from the book, “You are a caliph”. This austerity seems to have been in response to the shyness and humility our Shaikh was overcome with as a result of this bestowal and because of where he was. He responded a third time, “Yes, my beloved”. This vision indicates that he was Allah’s caliph on earth, i.e. the Prophet’s representative.[5]

The Prophet (PBUH) naming our Shaikh “Muḥammad al-Muḥammad”, as we shall see in §12.3, is another indication that he was an inheritor of his Forefather (PBUH). Numerous karāmas show that Allah and the Prophet (PBUH) have elected the Shaikhs of Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya, including Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad, for the deputyship of the Prophet (PBUH).

[1] Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān, sermon, 24 September 2016.

[2]  The Hawīja district is in Kirkuk, about 160 kilometres from Karbchna.

[3] Fatoohi, The wonders of Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya, 47-49.

[4] Ibid., 51.

[5] Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān, sermon, 1 February 2018.

.Louay Fatoohi 2004-2024. All rights reserved
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