Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān receiving visitors at his residence in London (middle 2000).
Allah (exalted and high is He) says, “Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority (caliph)” (al-Baqara 2:30). Allah’s caliph is a Shaikh who enjoins good and forbids evil. You pledged, you promised the Shaikh of Ṭarīqa that you would be a seeker, meaning a righteous person, a believer, one who has faith in Allah (exalted and high is He). [You promised] that you would be the best person in society; that you would be a just person, an honest person, avoid lying; [that you would] consume what is permissible, speak according to what is permissible, walk towards what is permissible, expel what is forbidden, not consume what is forbidden, not speak of forbidden things, eschew lying, and be a good member of society, so that anyone who looks at you knows that you are a person who has taken the pledge, meaning that you are a human being signed to Allah (exalted and high is He) to be good in society so that people point to you [and say], “this is a caliph or dervish”.
Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān (Sermon, 28 September 2012)
As we have seen, reading was our Shaikh’s main hobby. Yet his diverse talents and curiosity for learning meant that he had several hobbies and interests.
He was fascinated by agriculture, which was also his profession. From his youth, he was in charge of his father’s agricultural lands, often directly overseeing the planting and harvesting work. After moving to Kirkuk, he established a farm in Bānī Maqān, which is five kilometres away from Chamchamāl in Sulaymāniyya. We referred earlier to his 180-acres farm in Dora in Baghdad where the 1998 celebration of the birth of the Prophet (PBUH) was held after the main takya could not accommodate the large number of attendees.
His talent and creativity in agriculture were especially evident from the farm he set up in Qopī in Sulaymāniyya. When construction began at the end of 2003, the 650-acre land was completely bereft of trees, and it seemed very difficult to use this rocky, high-altitude land that was located between two mountains in a successful commercial agricultural project. The project required overcoming challenges such as identifying a close natural water source and designing water storage and transport methods, in addition to the preparation of roads for the transport of agricultural equipment. When our Shaikh lived in Sulaymāniyya, he personally supervised the work done on the farm and discussed details, big and small, with the engineer in charge. After moving to Amman, he continued to constantly follow up on news of the farm, sometimes daily.
Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān supervising the construction of a takya (29 December 1990).
A manifestation of our Shaikh’s acumen and intelligence was that he would often alert those in charge of the farm to details they missed, despite his physical distance from the farm and the limited time that he could devote to it due to his many responsibilities. This was another exhibition of his efficient multitasking. One of his karāmas in this regard was that he once called from Amman the farm engineer in Sulaymāniyya to ask him whether an insect had attacked the Euphrates poplar trees, known locally as qogh. The engineer had not noticed this but promised to check and make sure. In a later telephone call, he asked him the same question. The engineer confirmed that when the Shaikh previously asked him, he examined the trees and found no trace of any insect. The following day, the engineer was walking between some Euphrates poplar trees when he noticed that an insect, locally known as ḥaffār, had spread on those trees.
Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān with some disciples, perhaps in Kirkuk. On his left is Caliph Yāsīn Sūfī (Yāsīn Ramādī) and in the foreground of the picture is Caliph Aḥmed Kūrān (second half 1980s).
The farm grew to have about 40,000 trees, including 25,000 trees of various kinds of pistachios, in addition to other kinds of plants, including walnuts, almonds, oak, chestnuts, pomegranates, apricots, grapes, quinces, tomatoes, okra, laurels, and persimmons, which were new to that area. Our Shaikh also installed artesian wells to supply water when it was scarce. A commentator was spot on when he praised the farm’s role in serving the environment, noting that “the Shaikh has built an oxygen factory that suffices all the cities of Sulaymāniyya”, noting the role of plants in the process of photosynthesis, where they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release oxygen.
The Shaikh’s focus on plant quality was no less than his interest in its types and quantities, planting the best cuttings and seeds. His tendency to be creative would particularly shine in his interest in introducing new agricultural products that did not exist in the region, many of which were brought from outside Iraq. To this end, he built a special nursery on the farm for the cultivation of experimental new plants. After successfully cultivating a new species in the nursery, it was planted on the farm. He would generously gift about half of what the nursery succeeded in planting to other farmers so that they could benefit from growing these new crops in their fields. For example, he succeeded in cultivating a type of Indian berry that was not available in Iraq but is now found in many farms in the north of the country.
Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān during one of his daily visits to the British Library in London, with his eldest son and current Shaikh of Ṭarīqa, Shaikh Nahro, as well as his companion Ḥājj Laṭīf (middle 2000).
He was also interested in herbal medicine and had herbal treatments for various diseases. He used honey in many of his medical prescriptions. At times, he would prescribe certain herbal remedies along with a special dhikr for a patient, although he would often prescribe patients only dhikrs. It is important to stress that he did not use these treatments as an alternative to conventional medical treatment. He respected all sciences that serve people, so much so that he would urge dervishes to obtain the most academic education that they could, as discussed in Chapter eighteen.
He had an experimental approach to herbal medicine. When he discovered a certain treatment for a particular disease and prescribed it to an individual who suffered from that disease, he would follow up on the patient’s condition to ascertain the effectiveness of the drug. Reading and talking to people with experience and expertise in this area were sources of our Shaikh’s information about herbal remedies. There were also remedies that previous Shaikhs used to prescribe and others that they spiritually informed him of.
One hobby that he used to practise before old age stopped him was hunting animals on prairies and in the mountains using a shotgun. He was a skilled huntsman whose skills with various kinds of weapons were polished by the years he spent in the Kurdish movement. Even when he moved to Baghdad, he would often go to the wilderness to hunt rabbits. This was where his interest in hound dogs came from.
Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān heads to the mosque or courtyard of the Baghdad takya (perhaps early 1990s).
It is not surprising that he kept ancestral heirlooms of Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya Shaikhs, from Shāh al-Kasnazān to Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm, such as dhikr beads, staffs, swords, and daggers. He was also interested in collecting the belongings of Shaikhs of Ṭarīqa in general. He had an ablution water jug that belonged to Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Gaylānī, a staff of Kāka Aḥmad al-Shaikh, Shaikh Ḥasan al-Qarachwārī’s ring, and other blessed belongings of great walīs. His estate contained a belt of the Prophet (PBUH) that he gifted to Imām ʿAlī Ibn Abī Ṭālib.
He had a special love for dhikr beads, precious stones, and rings decorated with Qur’anic verses and dhikrs. He would regularly buy and gift them, which was one aspect of his generosity and love for presenting gifts. He also cared for antiques and had a longstanding interest in horses.
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