Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān in a praise session at the Amman takya, Jordan (2018).
The most important thing that you can spend your time and effort working on is preaching. For us, preaching is the greatest worship. Preaching is the greatest deed in Ṭarīqa. Enjoining good and forbidding evil is the most important thing because you teach people to worship, direct them towards Allah (exalted and high is He), implement the Muḥammadan Sharia (PBUH). You are educators: learn and teach people. You take your knowledge from the Shaikhs and the Muḥammadan Sharia and convey it to people and teach them.
Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān (Sermon, undated)
Following in the footsteps of their great forefather, the Messenger of Allah (PBUH), the Kasnazānī Shaikhs dedicated their lives to calling people to the way of Allah and, sacrificing what was precious and dear for this purpose. Just like all of the Masters of Ṭarīqa before him, Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad never stopped this effort, even for a day. He would remind disciples of the necessity of preaching and supported them with everything they needed to convey Allah’s words, His remembrance, and the Prophet Muḥammad’s (PBUH) message to people all over the world. Preaching is not limited to inviting non-Muslims to Islam and urging negligent Muslims to strongly hold on to religion. Rather, every action in the way of enjoining good and forbidding evil is an act of preaching, even when preaching to those who are committed, practising Muslims. Our Shaikh said:
It is impermissible to stop preaching. One must preach daily, even to his family, extended family and relatives. Preaching is of utmost importance.[1]
He went on to say, “My every concern is Ṭarīqa and preaching”. Another one of his sayings about preaching that he used to reiterate is, “Through preaching, obligations are enjoined”.[2] Preaching leads non-Muslims to Islam and teaches them its obligations of praying, fasting, almsgiving, and performing hajj, and it also reminds heedless Muslims of them. Preaching leads people to Islam and reminds them of it. Embracing Islam means upholding its obligations. Hence, “Through preaching, obligations are enjoined”.
Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān in a praise session at the Amman takya, Jordan (9 August 2013).
In extolling the virtues of preaching and giving the pledge, our Shaikh related that upon returning home, Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm would sometimes be asked about his apparent joy. He would say that he was happy because he had just given the pledge to someone.[3] This situation reminds us of a piece of advice that the Messenger (PBUH) gave to his spiritual caliph, Imām ʿAlī Ibn Abī Ṭālib, the day he sent him to conquer Khaybar, “If one person is guided through you, it would be better for you than getting red camels”.[4]
After Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad assumed the Shaikhdom, the preaching of Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya expanded like never before. He intensified the various activities of calling people to Allah, including:
- Founding takyas
- Increasing the number of preaching caliphs, training them, and sending them to preach all over the world
- Continuously giving sermons
- Authoring and publishing books and encouraging caliphs to write about Ṭarīqa
- Facilitating the study of darbāsha karāmas by scientists
We have talked earlier about karāmas but we have discussed them in considerable detail in other books.[5] In this chapter, we will focus on the other four areas of preaching: founding takyas, developing caliphs and preachers, giving sermons, and authoring and publishing Sufi books and promoting Sufi culture.
The central takya of India, Bangalore.
11.1 Scaling Up the Building of Takyas
One example of the unprecedented spreading of Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya during Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad’s Shaikhdom is that what began as 3 small takyas in Baghdad had grown to over 130 by the time he migrated from Baghdad at the end of 2000. This growth took place despite the severe constraints by the government and its security services to limit the spreading of Ṭarīqa, which included ordering the closure of the majority of takyas in Baghdad, as we will see in detail in Chapter seventeen. Every day, the central takya in Baghdad was bursting with disciples and others taking the pledge. On Monday and Thursday nights, which were when major dhikrs would take place, the attendees at the takya would number in the hundreds.
On days of religious celebrations, the takya could not accommodate all of the disciples. On days of Eid, there would be a long queue of disciples, each waiting for half an hour or more before it was their turn to greet the Shaikh. In 1998, our Shaikh hosted the annual celebration of the Prophetic birth in his orchard in Dora, as the main takya could no longer accommodate the thousands of people who attended. He had intended for the orchard to host future celebrations of this noble anniversary, but restrictions imposed by the government meant that the next two had to be held in the central takya with relatively limited attendance.
Our Master visited many of the new takyas that were opened in Baghdad, where a celebration of the Messenger’s (PBUH) birth would be hosted followed by the Kasnazānī dhikr to bless the new takya. He instructed and supervised the construction of the main takya in Basra, southern Iraq, which was completed in 1992. Hundreds of large and small takyas were built throughout Iraq. This led to numerous Arabs taking the Kasnazānī pledge and the fulfilment of Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Kasnazān’s revelation in 1912 when he looked at his swaddled newborn son, ʿAbd al-Karīm, “What Allah wills, what Allah wills. Allah (exalted and high is He) will guide many Arabs at the hands of the son of this man to the true path”.
The mosque of the central takya of India in Bangalore, which is also known as al-Ghawth al-Aʿẓam Mosque.
From time to time, our Shaikh would visit the main takyas in various cities and would be involved in supervising them because the main takya in each city is the preaching hub and means for the instructions of the Shaikh to be disseminated to secondary takyas, and consequently to all disciples, in that city. He stopped these visits after he migrated to Sulaymāniyya and then Amman after that, and also because of his health and the unstable political and security situation in Iraq.
After migrating to Sulaymāniyya, he lived in the area of Mamūstyān and started building a massive takya in Bākhī Bikhtiyārī to be the new central takya. He asked Shaikh Sāmān to be the engineer in charge but he also personally supervised the construction work. When his house in the takya was completed towards the end of 2002, he moved to live there.
Kasnazānī takyas also spread during the era of our Shaikh to different countries around the world. Takyas are places of Allah’s dhikr and a place that the spirits of the Shaikhs and angels attend, so it is not surprising that building a takya is often accompanied by karāmas. We will recount here how the first dedicated takyas in India and Sudan were built and some amazing wonders that happened in the process.
Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān at the Amman takya, Jordan (13 July 2018).
In 1994, our Shaikh started regularly sending caliph Yūsuf Ḥusayn (may Allah have mercy on him) on long preaching visits in India. Over the next fifteen years or so, Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya developed a following mainly in Banglore, but in some other cities as well. About thirty small takyas were built. But the absence of a dedicated building as a takya restricted the spreading of Ṭarīqa. In 2011, our Shaikh launched a new preaching campaign in India, sending caliph ʿImād ʿAbd al-Ṣamad on regular visits. Before he first sent him out, he advised him as follows, “We have been wanting to establish a takya in Bangalore for about twenty years. Your goal is to preach and establish a takya”. The first specialised takya was established in India, in the city of Bangalore, through an amazing karāma whose events began in June 2012. This is the story, as told by caliph ʿImād:
Carrying out my Shaikh’s order, during my preaching tours I searched for a suitable plot of land to establish a takya. Whenever I found a potential place, I would tell the honourable Shaikh about it, but he did not want any of these places because they were far from where caliphs and dervishes lived.
I then had a dream where I saw the honourable Shaikh driving his old red Landcruiser and I was sitting beside him. He said to me, “My son, do you see that yellow-lighted lamp?” I said, “Yes”. He said, “I want you to get land in this area”. I said, “With the spiritual influence of the Shaikhs, I will do so”. Then he said, “My land is there. There are documents that show that it is in my name. Try to find these documents”. I promised him that I would, then we left the place with him driving the car. While we were going back, I saw a train pass near the place. Then I woke up. I began to ask if there was a railroad nearby whenever I was shown a plot of land.
A while later, I had a second dream. The honourable Shaikh was sitting in a car and I was standing next to it. He asked me from the car window, “My son, have you found the place?” I told him that I was still searching, then I woke up. When I told the honourable Shaikh about the two dreams, he commented, “Allah willing, the Shaikhs will give you what you have seen”.
About a week later, I was in Shadab Nagar in the centre of Bangalore, close to where all the caliphs lived, when a Muslim real estate agent came to me with documents for a plot of land that was on sale in Saraipalya. I told him that it was very small, as I needed a tract of land that had an area of no less than one thousand metres squared because it would be a takya. He had other small portions of land neighbouring that land, so I told him that I needed between eighteen to twenty of those small adjoining plots. The agent said that they would be costly. At the time, I didn’t have any money, but I put my trust in Allah.
I asked him what his name was and he said, “Muḥammad Irshād”. When I heard his name, I felt a fluttering in my chest. I saw in the name the first sign from my Master that this was the land for the takya. His first name, “Muḥammad”, was the honourable Shaikh’s name, and his last name, “Irshād” (preaching), was what the takya would do. Caliphs Zakariyyā Ibrāhīm Shaikh, Fayrūz Khān ʿAzīz, and Jaʿfar Muḥammad Ḥanīf, who live in Bangalore, witnessed this and the wonders that followed.
It was afternoon when we went to inspect the land. An indescribable feeling came over me. It was as if I had entered Paradise because we had passed by a railway. Then I saw the streetlight that I saw in my dream. I told my companions that this was the yellow-lighted lamp, and I told them about the two dreams. I told them that the two signs in the dream that we saw on the land and the fact that the agent’s name was Muḥammad Irshād constituted a definitive indication that this was indeed the takya’s land.
The area had a Hindu majority. There were two or three Muslim households and they had a small mosque made of mud. After we performed Wird al-ʿAṣr, I told the caliphs that we would stay until darkness fell so that they could see the yellow light with their own eyes. The area was filled with mosquitoes, so my companions tried to dissuade me from staying, but I insisted on waiting for darkness to descend.
After we performed the sunset prayer, we kept waiting for streetlights to light up so that we could check the colour of that streetlamp. About half an hour passed and the streetlights were still off. I asked Fayrūz and Jaʿfar to ask the owner of a small shop under the streetlamp why the streetlights did not light up and what colour that streetlamp was. He told them that the power was out until nine o’clock and that the colour of the light was white. When they told me what he said, I swore that it was yellow. They were taken aback by my insistence, as the shopkeeper must know better the colour of the streetlight that lit his shop every night!
I asked my companions to stay there until power was restored so that we could determine the light’s colour. We were there at the mercy of the mosquitoes for another hour and a half. A while after we performed the night prayer and its dhikr, the power came. Zakariyyā noted that the light was white. I swore a second time that it was yellow. He started to laugh hysterically when he saw the resoluteness of my belief despite it being contradicted by what the shopkeeper had said and what the eye saw. While Zakariyyā was laughing, he was soon baffled when the white light began to turn yellow. It became apparent that the bulb was a halogen bulb. I asked the caliphs to go back to the shopkeeper and ask him why he had said that the light was white. The man came out of his shop to look at the light. When he saw that it was yellow, he also seemed astonished. He said that he would swear that the light was white and that he was absolutely sure of this since he had owned this shop for many years.
Another wondrous thing in what happened, which was the secret behind the honourable Shaikh in the dream mentioning that the colour of that streetlight was yellow, was that all the other streetlights were white; this was the only streetlamp that was yellow! The caliphs wept because of the karāma they had seen. I restated what I said earlier, that this land definitely belonged to Ṭarīqa. We started the process of purchasing the land.
Two days later, Muḥammad Irshād came to me with a man he introduced as a mediator between us and the landowners. I asked him what his name was, and he said Aḥmad Irshād! The signs kept coming. After we paid the down payment, we went to an office where we met a person named ʿAbbās, who represented the landowners. When I greeted ʿAbbās, he began kissing my hands and feet and delighted me by surprising me with the fact that, for more than fifteen years, his late mother had been a disciple of the honourable Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Kasnazān. She had taken the pledge at the hand of ʿAbd al-Razzāq Sharīf, a caliph of the honourable Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm. Expressing his desire to serve Ṭarīqa, ʿAbbās said that he would try to secure a reduction of the land’s square foot price.
He took us to meet a Muslim individual who was the senior person responsible for a large amount of land, including the one that we wanted to buy. This man said that he also wished to serve the takya project since it belonged to the honourable Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Gaylānī’s Ṭarīqa. He offered to bear the cost of the takya’s opening ceremony. I thanked him and asked him what his name was. He stunned me by replying that his name was “Irshād”.
When I informed the honourable Shaikh that the name of the first individual was Muḥammad Irshād, the second, Aḥmad Irshād, and the third, Irshād, he commented, “Your Shaikh is the Quṭb al-Irshād,[6] Allah be praised, and Ṭarīqa is a Ṭarīqa of irshād (preaching). This takya is for you, Allah willing, by the spiritual influence of our Master al-Gaylānī, may Allah sanctify his secret, and by the spiritual influence of Shāh al-Kasnazān, may Allah sanctify his secret”.
Indeed, we purchased the land and built a takya on it, just as the honourable Shaikh said and as the chain of astounding karāmas indicated.[7]
Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān. The building in the background today houses one of the departments of Al-salam University College (middle 1990s).
Construction of the takya began and was completed in 2013. Development work continued in the following years until the takya became one of the most beautiful takyas and mosques in the city.
Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad also introduced Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya to Sudan, where there are now many takyas and numerous seekers. After the Iraqi reciter of the Qur’an Hajj ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn al-Qaysī (may Allah have mercy on him) returned from an official trip to Sudan in 1994, he informed our Shaikh that he had given the Ṭarīqa’s pledge to Professor Ḥasan Aḥmad Ḥāmid, one of the most prominent scholars there. The latter had recently seen Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Gaylānī in a vision instructing him to spread Ṭarīqa Qādiriyya in Sudan. This vision came true when he took the pledge of Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya.[8] Our Shaikh sent caliph Ṭāhā ʿUbayd al-Ṭāʾī to Sudan and told him that he would find that the Shaikhs had paved the way for him to preach.
Accompanied by two other caliphs, Ṭāhā arrived in Khartoum on Tuesday 11 January 1994. They headed straight for Professor Ḥāmid’s house. They told him about what our Shaikh had entrusted them with and gave him a letter from our Shaikh to be delivered to Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, asking for permission to build a Kasnazānī takya in Sudan. The letter was meant to introduce Ṭarīqa to the president and to prevent any misunderstanding about what Ṭarīqa wanted in establishing itself in Sudan, especially since the Ṭarīqa’s Shaikhs were from another country.
The unexpected visit stunned Professor Ḥāmid. That morning, before the three dervishes arrived, his sister-in-law, who was living with his family, had told him that she had had a dream that night. She saw that a messenger had left Baghdad three days earlier and was headed towards him. Professor Ḥāmid sent for his sister-in-law and told her that her dream had come true. The messenger she had seen in her dream was the caliph who was sent by Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān. He noted, though, that the messenger had arrived on the same day he left Baghdad, not three days after, as she had seen in the dream. The caliph interjected here, giving another detail about his trip that confirmed the vision’s accuracy. He left Baghdad for Amman on Sunday 30 October, but he had to stay in Amman for two days, waiting for the only weekly flight from Amman to Khartoum on Tuesday. Indeed, his trip took three days, not one day as Professor Ḥāmid thought!
Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān in a praise session at the Kirkuk takya, Iraq (1990s).
The next morning, Professor Ḥāmid took the three dervishes on a tour of the al-Ṣāfiya neighbourhood where he lived, searching for a building that could be rented as a place for a takya. They would then send our Shaikh’s letter to the president to obtain the state’s approval. After several hours during which they visited many places, they did not find a suitable building. When they returned to the house at around three in the afternoon for lunch, Ṭāhā remembered a dream he had seen the night before about the takya’s location. He saw a big mosque wherein there was a tall minaret. Next to it, there were simple, old, terraced houses. On the other side of the street, there was a yard in front of the mosque the size of a football pitch. In the middle of it, there was a very large house, so it was isolated from any other structure. In that house, there was one very tall tree that had many branches. When the caliph recounted his dream, Professor Ḥāmid was surprised, and said, “It seems like you know the area better than me!” He went on to say that the big house belonged to someone called Muḥammad al-Ṭayyib, and that the mosque was well known, named “Ummat al-Ijāba”. They were located in Shambāt al-Ḥilla, which was about a kilometre away from al-Ṣāfiya.
On their way to visit the site, Professor Ḥāmid explained that al-Ṭayyib had registered a mosque with the office of religious endowment that he wanted to build on that large expanse of land. However, he built a big house that was about a thousand square metres that no one lived in. It was used from time to time as a retreat to memorize the Qur’an. The tree was a doum palm that had grown over the years where water that students used for ablution ran. Another distinguishing feature of the tree was that it was the only one in the area, as the small houses in that residential neighbourhood had no gardens. After arriving at the house, they all noted the dream’s accurate description of it. Professor Ḥāmid agreed that it would make for a suitable takya. They met al-Ṭayyib who agreed to rent out the house as a takya. This was how the first Kasnazānī takya in Sudan was established. Our Shaikh appointed Professor Ḥāmid, who became a member of the Islamic jurisprudence council in Sudan, as his deputy in the country. Many takyas were later opened in various cities in Sudan.
The karāmas of building the takyas in Bangalore and Khartoum belong to that intricately detailed type of karāma that includes various people, places, and times. These demonstrate the tremendous divine force that is behind every muʿjiza and karāma.
Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān in a praise session at the Amman takya, Jordan (9 August 2013).
11.2 Developing Caliphs and Sending Them to Preach
In Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya, every dervish must preach because calling people to Allah has always been one of the most important duties of Muslims since the time of our Master Muḥammad (PBUH). This is an even greater duty for caliphs, i.e. dervishes who have been given formal permission to preach. In addition to their responsibility to invite people to Ṭarīqa, caliphs are authorised to give the pledge of Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya on behalf of the Shaikh. Our Shaikh’s focus on preaching made him greatly increase the number of caliphs. He began to give formal permission to preach to all who could call people to Allah and had the desire to do so. He would reiterate that the best caliphs and dervishes are those that preach the most.
He organised intensive educational courses for some active caliphs to raise their level of knowledge of Ṭarīqa and Sharia so that they could preach to people in the best way possible. Obviously, a preacher who speaks about Islam and Ṭarīqa with knowledge and expertise can answer people’s questions and respond to ill-informed claims and arguments. Kasnazānī dervishes, in general, became more knowledgeable and developed a greater understanding of Sufism. Islamic scholars lectured in these courses and the participants received official certifications. The study covered several subjects, such as Sharia, Sufism, creed, and jurisprudence. The first course was held in 1994, at the Institute of Imāms and Preachers in Baghdad, the second in the summer of 1996, at the central takya in Baghdad, and the third in 2005, at the central takya, which was now in Sulaymāniyya.
The Shaikh was keen that every caliph and dervish be a true representative of Ṭarīqa. He would always mention the importance of following the example of the Prophet (PBUH), “There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent example for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Last Day and [who] remembers Allah often” (al-Ᾱḥzāb 33:21), who had the highest moral character, “Indeed, you are of a great moral character” (al-Qalam 68:4). Dervishes should be examples for people to follow:
We, Kasnazānī dervishes, must be the cleanest of people in society, so that they may follow our example, so that they may follow the simplest Kasnazānī dervish.[9]
Our Shaikh would continuously advise disciples and caliphs, and he would also intervene to solve problems that arose among them and advise those who have erred. He would try to mend relations between dervishes when there was a disagreement or conflict. He wanted them to be brothers who were affectionate to each other for Allah’s sake, who were prepared to move past the mistakes they made with one another. In his preaching assembly, he would reiterate that were it not for envy, aversion, and other ill feelings between caliphs, “Ṭarīqa would span from east to west”. He often reminded disciples of the Prophetic ḥadīth, “Believers are like a building whose parts support one another”.[10] The Prophet (PBUH) laced his noble fingers together to demonstrate closeness and support when he said this. Our Shaikh would also mention this ḥadīth, “In their mutual love, compassion, and sympathy, the believers are like a body. When a part of it suffers, the whole body responds to it with wakefulness and fever”.[11]
Our Master was a teacher with a big heart that tolerated anyone who erred, confessed their mistake, and rectified their behaviour. At the same time, he was firm with anyone who insisted on distorting the image of Ṭarīqa with damaging words or actions. Individuals were dismissed from Ṭarīqa because they became a source of harm for it and for people in general.
He sent caliphs to preach and give people the Ṭarīqa’s pledge in Islamic and non-Islamic countries—from the largest, most modern, and wealthiest cities of the developed world to the smallest, oldest, and poorest villages in the third world. He sent preachers to India, Malaysia, Sudan, Kenya, Benin, Togo, Comoro Islands, Britain, Germany, the former Soviet Union, the United States of America, and other countries. He also permitted giving the pledge over the phone and the internet to those who could not find a caliph near their place of residence or for whom travelling for that purpose was difficult.
Reflecting the fact that Allah made religion for women as much as for men, and recognising their significant role in developing individuals and society as a whole, the Shaikh increased the number of female caliphs as well. A large number of female preachers in Ṭarīqa now teach women about Islam and its spiritual side. These relevant words are from one of our Shaikh’s sermons:
O Kasnazānī dervishes! Convey your message to everyone, to every individual in society, men and women, young and old. Convey the Muḥammadan message because Ṭarīqa belongs to everyone. Ṭarīqa enjoins good and forbids evil.[12]
Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān in Amman, Jordan (25 September 2015).
11.3 Delivering Sermons
From his ascension to the Shaikhdom, and in keeping with the conduct of the Shaikhs of Ṭarīqa before him, our Shaikh was always keen to speak to disciples about religious affairs and remind them of their obligations to Allah, their families, and society. Before his health forced him to attend circles of dhikr less frequently, he would lead Wird al-ʿAṣr every day, missing it only when preoccupied with other Ṭarīqa affairs.
He would also always attend the dhikr circles held on Monday and Thursday nights, in addition to the celebrations of Eid and other religious occasions. When leading Wird al-ʿAṣr, he would sometimes deliver a sermon before or after the dhikr. As for Monday and Thursday nights, he usually gave a sermon after the dhikr ended and before the singing of odes of praise began. After moving from Sulaymāniyya to Amman, due to the nature of the building of the takya and his health, he no longer attended dhikr circles and assemblies of odes. He only attended the latter when they were hosted in his assembly. He did not stop preaching and delivering sermons to dervishes and others who visit his private assembly to his last days.
He was in a constant state of preaching, whether his assembly was attended by disciples who came to visit him and listen to his words that reminded them of Allah and His Messenger (PBUH) or people who came for any particular reason; whether the attendees were in the hundreds, a few, or even one individual. On many occasions, I found myself alone in his assembly yet he spoke to me exactly as he would preach to a group of visitors of any size. The journey to Allah, religious issues, and the state of Muslims were always topics for sermons, conversations, and dialogues, even in his private assembly. They were closest to his heart. For example, when he went to Moorfield Hospital in London on 11 May 2000 for a procedure on his eyes, Shaikh Nahro, Hajj Laṭīf, who was the Shaikh’s personal assistant, and I accompanied him. When he was sitting on the bed waiting to be taken to the operating theatre, he did not talk about the surgery or anything related to it, nor did he show any signs of anxiety, as an average person would. Instead, he spoke to us about various topics, including pious restraint (waraʿ) in Sufism; the need for the Sufi seeker to not take the concessions of Sharia, but rather, to demand the greatest degree of commitment from himself; the need to avoid backbiting; being vigilant in observing the heart’s thoughts and repelling bad whispers; the immortality of the spirit in Ṭarīqa; and the types of dhikr drums and using them along with tambourines in performing dhikr.
This was also the case when he was in The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, for a kidney transplant. During his stay in the hospital, he would always preach to medical staff. Such instances illustrate his unique disposition and the dedication of his entire life to preaching and serving Islam, Muslims, and people in general.
The Shaikh’s preaching, just like the rest of his affairs, was directed by the Shaikhs. One day in 1981, our Shaikh left his home in the Baghdad takya and headed towards the takya’s mosque, accompanied by Shaikh Sāmān, the engineer in charge of building the takya. While they were crossing the takya’s courtyard leading to the mosque, Sāmān asked him to give a sermon to dervishes urging them to work, noting that some had not been helping enough with the building work. Our Shaikh smiled and replied that the matter was not in his hands; when the Shaikhs wanted him to speak, he spoke with ease and fluency, but when they did not want him to speak, he was unable to speak. This reminds us of Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Gaylānī’s words that explain the difference between the speech of a self-appointed preacher and of one who is an instrument in Allah’s hand, having drawn him near and made him well acquainted with Him:
The Prophet (Allah’s prayer and peace be on him) said, “When someone comes to know Allah, his tongue becomes exhausted”,[13] meaning that he becomes mute. The tongue of His lower self, passion, natural inclination, habit, telling of lies, slander, and falsehood will become dumb, whereas the tongue of his inward will speak, and the tongue of his heart, innermost being, essences, truthfulness, and purity will speak. The tongue of his falsehood will become dumb, but the tongue of his truth will speak. The tongue of his talking about things that are of no concern to him will become incapable of speech, whereas the tongue of his heart will speak about things that concern him. The tongue of his quest for his lower self will become dumb, whereas the tongue of his quest for the True One will speak. In the early stage of acquiring knowingness, speech will stop and the person’s whole existence will melt away. He will become extinct to himself and everyone else. Then, if the True One (mighty and glorified is He) wills, He will resurrect him. If He wants him to speak, He will create for him a tongue with which He enables him to speak. He will cause him to speak what He wants of words of wisdom and secrets. His speech will be a remedy within a remedy, a light within a light, a truth within a truth, a rightness within a rightness, and a purity within a purity, for he will speak only at the command of Allah (mighty and glorified is He) using his heart. If he speaks without being commanded to do so, he will perish. He will not speak unless he is given a command, or as a result of an irresistible thing that overcomes him.[14]
Most of our Shaikh’s sermons were in Arabic because the majority of attendees were usually Arabs. Sometimes, he would deliver sermons in Kurdish when most attendees were Kurds. When he preached to those who did not speak Arabic or Kurdish, such as English speakers, a disciple would translate. He used simple language that made his profound words easy to understand by even the simplest of people. Hence, he often spoke in the vernacular, using Standard Arabic only when necessary.
There is a striking resemblance between our Shaikh’s words and the sermons of al-Ghawth al-Ᾱʿẓam, Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Gaylānī, who delivered them in his school in Baghdad. The words of a Muḥammadan inheritor not only address the intellect but also touch the inner depths of the heart. The words of a Shaikh well acquainted with Allah stem from a heart brimming with divine love, hence they contain light and spiritual energy. They penetrate the barriers of the seeker’s self and the obstacles of his worldly interests to impact his heart.
The Shaikhs of Ṭarīqa do not use sermonising as a means to flaunt their religious or spiritual knowledge because their speech is directed by Allah and is in His cause. They focus their words on what increases the seeker’s determination to worship Allah and obey Him. Our Shaikh limited his preaching to particular topics that reminded seekers of the requisites of travelling on the path to Allah, citing noble verses; honourable ḥadīths; the Messenger’s (PBUH) deeds, states, and manners; and the conduct, words, and karāmas of Ṭarīqa’s Shaikhs. When he cited Allah’s words or the Prophet’s ḥadīths, the listener would find a special delight in them and an effect on the heart every time they were mentioned, which was not lessened by them being repeated. This was something that anyone who listened to his words experienced directly. Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad said:
We always reiterate verses, ḥadīths, and sayings of the Shaikhs, “So remind, if the reminder should benefit” (al-Aʿlā 87:9). This is so that you may benefit, O seeker! So that you may reflect once again on the Shaikh’s sayings, the sayings of the Shaikhs, because the words of the Shaikh and the Shaikhs are consistent with the Sunna and the Book.[15]
Our Shaikh said the following in regard to what he focused on in his exhortation:
Some say, “the Shaikh repeats himself”. Of course, I repeat words to the disciple, so that I may teach him and help him understand. I tell him the same thing every time, I even repeat it a thousand times. If you do not follow what I say, what am I to do? Of course, the Shaikh repeats himself because he speaks from what he has. He is like a shopkeeper who sells what he has in his shop, nothing else! My shop sells worship, my shop sells good conduct, my shop sells my dhikrs and my wirds. I speak about my dhikrs and my wirds. I speak about my Ṭarīqa. I speak about my conduct. I talk about what I have, about what I can talk about. I don’t have anything else. These are my goods.[16]
These words speak of the Shaikh’s utmost humility and show that the only objective of his sermons was to educate the seeker spiritually.
There are many videos and audio recordings of his sermons on the internet.
Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān in front of the shrines of the Shaikhs of the Kasnazānī Ṭarīqa in Karbchna during their renovation and expansion (early 1980s).
11.4 Authoring and Publishing
Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad published four books in Arabic, including a unique Sufi encyclopaedia. They educate the reader about the fundamentals of the Sufi way in general and Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya in particular. They teach the seeker about the requisites of Ṭarīqa, namely, refined manners, conduct, and various forms of worship. Some of these books have been translated into other languages. These publications are all available for free download on the internet.
The following is a summary of the Shaikh’s published books in order of their date of publication:
1) Title: Al-Anwār al-Raḥmāniyya fīl-Ṭarīqa al-ʿAliyya al-Qādiriyya al-Kasnazāniyya (Lights of the Merciful One in Ṭarīqa ʿAliyya Qādiriyya Kasnazāniyya).
Place and Date of Publication: This book was first published in Baghdad in 1988. It was published again in Cairo in 1990 by Madbouly Bookshop.
Summary: The Shaikh made his first book a detailed introduction to the historical and creedal fundamentals of Sufism and the seeker’s code of conduct on the Sufi path. In addition to noble Qur’anic verses, the Messenger’s (PBUH) ḥadīths, and the author’s views, the book cites the views of a large number of Sufi Shaikhs and scholars to illustrate that Ṭarīqa is not only an indivisible part of Islam but it is also its spirit, and to emphasize that practising it is at the core of Islam. The book presents much information about Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya, including its Shaikhs, dhikrs, and devotional practices.
Contents: The book contains an introduction to Sufism and what it means to be a Sufi. It presents the various stations, states, and practices of Sufism, including repentance, companionship, love, spiritual bonding, listening to devotional odes, dhikr, internal strife, silence, vigil, isolation, seclusion, inner thoughts, fear, hope, truthfulness, sincerity, patience, satisfaction, gratitude, asceticism, pious restraint, and reliance.
The book also covers the proper etiquettes of disciples in the Shaikh’s assembly, in the takya, and with their fellow dervishes, as well as when eating, sleeping, dressing, sitting with others, travelling, and visiting their Shaikh. It also addresses important Sharia issues, such as purity, ablution, and prayer.
The book explains the karāmas of walīs and how they are a continuation of the miracles of the Prophet Muḥammad (PBUH). It discusses Sufi practices that are often objected to by those who are ignorant of their reality and origins in Sharia, such as asking for the intercession of walīs, asking for spiritual support, and kissing the hands of righteous people and paying homage to them. Additionally, the book touches on some of the fundamental mistakes that some people who practise Sufism make, such as following a deceased Shaikh instead of a living one or taking more than one Shaikh. It looks at the lives of the Shaikhs of Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya and provides a commentary on its dhikrs, method of giving the pledge, seclusion, and spiritual exercises.
2) Title: Jilāʾ al-khāṭir min kalām al-Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir (Purification of the Mind: From Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir’s Words).
Place and Date of Publication: Baghdad, 1989.
Summary: This is a manuscript containing forty-five sermons that Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir delivered at his school in Baghdad. Our Shaikh edited the manuscript using three different copies of it from the Qādiriyya Shrine Library, the Iraqi Museum Library, and the al-Awqāf Library in Baghdad. This was the first time this manuscript had been edited and published.
He did not publish the forty-five sermons as separate chapters in the book, as they occur in the manuscript and as is the tradition of editing manuscripts, including those of Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir’s sermons. He employed a creative technique to help the general reader and the practising Sufi to benefit more from the words of al-Ghawth al-Ᾱʿẓam. He divided the contents of the sermons into forty chapters, each covering a particular Sufi subject, such as patience, forgiveness, and extinction. The compiled passages from the different sermons on each subject were put in their respective chapters. This thematic organization makes it easier for the reader to study Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir’s sayings about each of these important themes.
Contents: Our Master prefaced the book with an introduction to the exceptionally devout life of Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir. The chapters of the book are as follows: good behaviour in the company of Shaikhs, repentance, the mediator, love, trust, renunciation, fear, patience, sincerity, truthfulness, sorrow, satisfaction, piety, striving against the lower self, the blessings of remembrance [of Allah], the works of the heart, the knowledge of walīs, putting knowledge into practice, spending on the poor, seclusion, solitude, the definition of the Sufi, extinction, pardoning, the light of the believer, denouncing this world, the fruit of knowledge, denouncing hypocrisy, the benefits of the month of Ramadan, the benefit of mercy, the prohibition of injustice, neglecting what is of no concern, humility, denouncing dissimulation, envy, the curtailment of hopes, death, thinking well of others, having a sense of shame, and enduring affliction.
3) Title: Al-Ṭarīqa al-ʿAliyya al-Qādiriyya al-Kasnazāniyya (Ṭarīqa ʿAliyya Qādiriyya Kasnazāniyya).
Place and Date of Publication: Baghdad, 1998.
Summary: There are common themes between this book and al-Anwār al-Raḥmāniyya, but this book addresses them differently, expands on their coverage, and covers many new topics. It does not replace al-Anwār al-Raḥmāniyya but completes it. It clarifies issues that cause controversy and disagreement between scholars. The book is primarily based on Qur’anic verses, Prophetic ḥadīths, and the perspectives and sayings of Shaikhs and scholars.
Contents: Like al-Anwār al-Raḥmāniyya, this book also discusses the stations of Ṭarīqa: repentance, reliance, fear, hope, truthfulness, sincerity, patience, pious restraint, asceticism, satisfaction, and gratitude. It covers the history of the Shaikhs, dhikrs, and etiquettes of Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya. It discusses in detail the greatness of the Messenger (PBUH) and the noble Qur’an, the unique status of the Prophetic household, and the symbol that Imām Ḥusayn embodies. The book also discusses the status of Imām ʿAlī as the bearer of Ṭarīqa’s knowledge after the Messenger (PBUH). It looks into the meaning of the Shaikh being a Muḥammadan inheritor. It discusses the subject of karāmas, including the proof of their validity in the Qur’an and Sunna, as well as the karāmas of the household of the Prophet (PBUH), the Companions, and the Kasnazānī Shaikhs.
The book devotes an entire chapter to the subject of intercession and seeking a means to draw near to Allah, due to its significance and because it is the biggest objection some people raise against Sufism. Citing the noble Qur’an and the honourable Prophetic Sunna, the book demonstrates the validity of seeking Allah’s help through the Prophet (PBUH) and the people of his household, visiting the shrines of walīs, and seeking blessings through relics of the Messenger (PBUH) and righteous people. The book also touches on the permissibility of listening to devotional odes.
4) Title: Mawsūʿat al-Kasnazān fīmā aṣṭalaḥa ʿalayhi ahlu al-taṣṣawuf wal-ʿirfān (Al-Kasnazān Encyclopaedia of Terms Coined by the People of Sufism and Gnosticism).
Place and Date of Publication: Damascus, 2005, Dār al-Maḥabba.
Summary: This twenty-four-volume encyclopaedia is the first of its kind. There are numerous encyclopaedias on various subjects, but this work is the only encyclopaedia specialising in Sufism. In preparing it, Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad consulted hundreds of sources, including 150 manuscripts that had not been edited before, such as Jawāhir al-asrār wa-laṭāʾif al-anwār by Shaikh ʿĪsā, son of Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Gaylānī, and Marātib al-qurra fī ʿuyūn al-qudra by Shaikh Ibn ʿArabī.
The massive task of compiling an encyclopaedia of such breadth requires a team of experts in various sub-sciences. Our Shaikh conducted this enormous research project and compiled this monumental encyclopaedia with the help of a handful of dervishes who assisted him in finding manuscripts and printed sources that he would look over and select material from for the encyclopaedia. They would also make photocopies of sources he wanted and would sometimes look through sources for whatever he asked them to search for.
Working on this monumental project took more than a quarter of a century. In the beginning, our Shaikh did not declare that the goal was to produce an encyclopaedia of Sufism. He would speak about collecting the opinions of Shaikhs on various Sufi terms, but later, he began referring to the idea of compiling an encyclopaedia.
In its preface, the author mentions the objectives behind developing this quantitatively and qualitatively enormous work:
- Shedding light on the history of Sufism since its inception to the present era, especially in a time when the world is spiritually famished
- Filling the need in the Islamic literature for this kind of lexical Sufi work, in a time when encyclopaedias and dictionaries for various other religious sciences abound
- Shedding light on the origins, principles, phases, and criteria of Sufi terminology within a modern framework of lexical mapping
- Uncovering meanings of sciences, primary sources, and doctrinal foundations of Sufis; also, unveiling Sufis’ spiritual stations, ranks, states, inner experiences, and stations of nearness to Allah Almighty that they have been granted
- Revealing the interdependence between the past and the present of Sufi terms and their shared objectives, despite the multiplicity and diversity of their Ṭarīqas
- Making Sufi terminology easier to understand
- Providing a comprehensive Sufi reference for researchers and students of this field
- Facilitating tracing the development of each term by listing the opinions about it in chronological order[17]
Contents: This encyclopaedia contains thousands of terms that Sufis have exclusively used in their books and sayings, in addition to general terms that they ascribed Sufi meanings to, such as Allah’s beautiful names and the names of the Messenger (PBUH). It also includes common words, such as “house” and “tree”, that Sufis have used as symbols and metaphors, giving them technical meanings. It mentions the various meanings of each term according to several Sufis.
For any given term, the encyclopaedia first introduces its linguistic meaning in the dictionary, followed by the places where it appears in the Qur’an, then its instances in the Sunna, if at all, before covering its meanings according to Sufi Shaikhs. One creative aspect of the encyclopaedia is that it organises the perspectives of Shaikhs in chronological order, making it easier to track the development of each term and its transformation over time. For further benefit, the encyclopaedia refers to the opinions of some researchers that have reported the views of Sufi Shaikhs and have commented on them. It also mentions the meaning of any given term according to Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya Shaikhs.
The first term in the encyclopaedia is the letter “ʾalif” and the last is “the Grand Days”. The number of terms and words exceeds ten thousand. The terms fill twenty-two volumes, and the twenty-third volume is dedicated to biographies of influential Shaikhs, scholars, and researchers whose views are covered in the encyclopaedia. The twenty-fourth and final volume contains several indexes, including an index of terms and an index of words and the encyclopaedia sources.
Scholars and academics have praised the uniqueness, importance, and comprehensiveness of the encyclopaedia and have noted that it is a precious addition to Sufi literature in particular and Islamic literature in general.
Our Shaikh also compiled two books of supplications for the followers of Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya:
1) Title: Al-Ṣalawāt al-Kasnazāniyya (Kasnazānī Prayers (on the Prophet (PBUH))).
Place and Date of Publication: Baghdad, 1990.
Contents: This is a compilation of some of the most beautiful and powerful prayers upon the Prophet (PBUH). Prayers upon the Messenger (PBUH) have a special status in Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya, and Sufism in general, as we will see in detail in §12.3. Our Shaikh compiled and printed this book in the 1990s, but collecting prayers upon the Prophet (PBUH) was an ongoing project under his supervision. By the time of his passing, the compiled prayers would fill more than ten volumes when published.
2) Title: Ḥizb al-Wāw (Ḥizb of the Letter Wāw).
Place and Date of Publication: Amman, 2003.
Contents: This unique dhikr was spiritually communicated to our Shaikh in 2013. It consists of every Qur’anic verse that starts with the letter “wāw”, listed in their order in the muṣḥaf. He said that this wird came about “by Allah’s command to the honourable Messenger (PBUH), to the Shaikhs, and the Shaikhs communicated it to me”.[18]
He used to oversee the production of Ṭarīqa’s educational literature in the form of brochures and booklets, such as the booklets The Concept of Ṭarīqa in Islamic Sharia and The Dhikrs of Ṭarīqa ʿAliyya Qādiriyya Kasnazāniyya. At the time of his passing, he had several other books in preparation.
[1] Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān, sermon, 22 December 2005.
[2] Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān, sermon, 2 March 2013.
[3] Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān, sermon, 22 December 2005.
[4] Al-Bukhārī, Al-Jāmiʿ al-ṣaḥīḥ, II, no. 2846, p. 173. Arabs considered red camels as the most precious property that a person can have.
[5] Fatoohi, Shaikh Muhammad al-Muhammad, 91-130; Fatoohi, Al-Taṣawwuf, 55-90; Fatoohi, The wonders of Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya.
[6] The term “Quṭb”, which literally means “pole”, is a high Sufi spiritual rank. The title “Quṭb al-Irshād” means “pole of preaching”.
[7] Fatoohi, The wonders of Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya, 79-83.
[8] For more details, see Fatoohi, Shaikh Muhammad al-Muhammad, 46-48; Fatoohi, Al-Taṣawwuf, 50-51.
[9] Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān, sermon, 22 January 2010.
[10] Al-Bukhārī, Al-Jāmiʿ al-ṣaḥīḥ, I, no. 471, p. 171.
[11] Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ, IV, no. 2586, p. 1999-2000.
[12] Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān, sermon, 22 January 2010.
[13] Al-Rāzī, Al-Tafsīr al-kabīr, 15, p. 113.
[14] Al-Gaylānī, Purification of the Mind, 184-185.
[15] Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān, sermon, 11 January 2014.
[16] Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān, sermon, 18 September 2013.
[17] Al-Kasnazān, Mawsūʿat al-kasnazān, I, pp. 12-13.
[18] Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān, sermon, 12 September 2013.
.Louay Fatoohi 2004-2024. All rights reserved
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