Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān in a praise session at the Amman takya, Jordan (21 August 2018).
The seeker is like a car that always needs fuel. The seeker needs to perform dhikr, to ask for spiritual help, to see the Shaikh, to come close to the Shaikh, to listen to odes of praise, and stories. Why did Allah say, “We narrate to you [O Muḥammad!] the best of narratives” (Yūsuf 3)? So that the seeker may feel reassured and become stronger spiritually, so that Muslims may feel stronger, “Indeed, We will support Our messengers and those who believe in the life of this world and on the Day when the witnesses will stand” (Ghāfir 51).
Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān (Sermon, 25 May 2000)
The impact of any statement on a listener is not made solely by its words. Other factors, such as the identity of the speaker, his style of speech, and his voice, also affect the listener. When a speaker wants to threaten listeners, he speaks in an intimidating manner, and when he wants to earn their affection, he addresses them in a gentle, calm tone, and so on. These factors are important even when reading Allah’s Book. Reciting the Qur’an in a beautiful voice and with melodies that touch the innermost corners of the heart increases the impact of Allah’s words on the listener. The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, “Beautify the Qur’an with your voices, for a beautiful voice increases the Qur’an’s beauty”.[1] It is human nature to be influenced by beautiful sounds and melodies. This natural phenomenon can be seen even in small children. Indeed, it is scientifically proven that even animals and plants respond to music, as it has been shown to aid in their growth and accelerate their recovery from injuries.
Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān in a dhikr circle at the Baghdad takya, Iraq (early 1990s).
Sufis have always attached importance to composing and singing odes in praise of the Messenger (PBUH) and the Shaikhs of Ṭarīqa. Mentioning them and remembering their qualities affix love for them in the heart. This, in turn, plants Allah’s love in the heart because they are His callers and special servants. Songs of praise have a special role in reminding the traveller on the path to Allah of the First Guide (PBUH) and those who followed his noble way, increasing the love for them in the heart and the impact of this love by remembering them. A song of praise emanates from love and inspires love. When a beautiful voice sings it to a beautiful rhythm, its effect multiplies. This is why Muslims of Medina improvised the first ode of praise in Islam, Ṭalaʿa al-badru ʿalaynā (The Full Moon Rose Upon Us), when they welcomed the Light of Islam (PBUH) when he arrived as a migrant from Mecca.
Among the Shaikhs of Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya whose religious poetry has been compiled and published are Imām ʿAlī Ibn Abī Ṭālib[2] and Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Gaylānī.[3] Shaikh Ismāʿī al-Wilyānī wrote poems in the Bāhdīnī dialect of the Kurdish language while Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm Shāh al-Kasnazān composed a long poem. It is also said that Shaikhs ʿAbd al-Qādir and Ḥusayn wrote poetry but these manuscripts were burned when the British army occupied Karbchna in the middle of 1919, in retaliation to the two Shaikhs and the dervishes who fought the occupation forces.
Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān in a praise session in the mosque of the Baghdad tayka, Iraq (19 January 1992).
Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya has a large heritage of brilliant odes, in Arabic, Kurdish, and Persian. In Shaikh ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Kasnazān’s time, most odes were in Kurdish because Ṭarīqa was mainly present in Kurdish areas. In Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad’s time, the Ṭarīqa’s base changed to Baghdad and the number of Arabic-speaking dervishes surpassed its Kurdish followers, so Arabic became the language of most new odes. Encouraged by our Shaikh, who was fond of praising, remembering, and reminding people of the Prophet (PBUH), Ṭarīqa’s writers excelled in authoring dozens of poems, in both classical Arabic and the Iraqi dialect, in praise of the Messenger (PBUH) and the Shaikhs of Ṭarīqa. Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya has a huge treasure of odes of praise that one can never feel to have listened to enough. One poet who has many poems that are still being sung is caliph Bāsim Jawād Kāẓim (may Allah show mercy to him).
Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān at the Baghdad takya, Iraq (possibly middle 1990s).
Excluding some famous songs of praise of the Prophet (PBUH), such as al-Būṣīrī’s al-Burda, the odes that our Shaikh and the dervishes of our Ṭarīqa would listen to were authored by Kasnazānī dervishes and exclusively focused on the feats and karāmas of Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya Shaikhs. The benefits of odes for a seeker are growing love for the Prophet (PBUH) and the Shaikhs of his Ṭarīqa in his heart and increasing his belief that they are his means to draw closer to Allah.
One poet whose poetry our Master particularly loved was caliph ʿAlī Fāyiz (may Allah show mercy to him), who was martyred by sectarian terrorists in 2007. Speaking about Sufi poetry of praise during his visit to London in 2000, our Master lauded ʿAlī Fāyiz and said that, in his opinion, his Sufi poetry was better than that of Aḥmad Shawqī (1870-1932), who is traditionally called “the Prince of Poets”. Our Shaikh also commended the poetry of caliph Dr ʿAbd al-Salām al-Ḥadīthī who continues to add beautiful poems to the treasure of Kasnazānī songs of praise. I have quoted in this book poetry from both poets.
Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān visiting the late Mufti of Iraq, ʿAbd al-Karīm Byāra (al-Mudarris) in Baghdad, Iraq (1990s).
Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya has talented singers that our Shaikh used to invite to sing in his assembly. He particularly enjoyed listening to Majīd Ḥamīd who sang for him odes of praise for almost three and a half decades. Caliph Majīd has a very beautiful and capable voice to which his perfection of the musical maqams has added even more beauty and creativity. Our Shaikh used to ask him to sing odes of praise even when commuting in the car. He also used to ask for a short piece of singing before he left his assembly for his private room. After caliph Majīd moved to live in the USA, caliph Ḥasan ʿAbd al-Karīm, who has a beautiful voice, became the singer in our Shaikh’s assemblies.
Usually, two or three odes would be sung after the dhikr circles on Monday and Thursday nights. Songs of praise would also be performed at religious celebrations, such as the celebration of the Prophetic birth and the birth of Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Gaylānī. Dervishes also like to sometimes sing odes in takyas at other times.
Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān in the Al-Jazīrā area of Ramādī, Iraq (1 April 1990).
When our Shaikh’s health allowed him to attend dhikr circles, he would stay for the session of songs of praise that followed the dhikr. After his health deteriorated, he stopped attending the dhikr circles but the singing of odes in his assembly continued. It would be attended by the dervishes who were present in the takya. He continued to attend the religious celebrations that the central takya hosted.
He was greatly moved by odes, with his tears and body movements often expressing what his heart harboured. He was particularly affected when the Prophet (PBUH) was mentioned. Mention of Imām Ḥusayn and the suffering he went through also particularly affected him. He commemorated his martyrdom every year.
Sometimes, our Shaikh would change a word or phrase in an ode to something better. For instance, one poem by caliph Khālid al-Bārūdī (may Allah show mercy to him) started with the phrase “ṣāla ʿalā al-fursān jaddī Ḥaydara” (my grandfather Ḥaydara attacked the knights), where “Ḥaydara (lion)” is a title of Imām ʿAlī Ibn Abī Ṭālib. It is a title that the Imām himself mentioned when he fought and defeated the bravest warriors of Khaybar when Muslims conquered it. The Shaikh pointed out that the word “fursān (knights)” is a flattering description that indicates bravery that should not be used for those who fought Imām ʿAlī. He changed it to the word “kuffār (disbelievers)”, so the beginning of the poem became “ṣāla ʿalā al-kuffār jaddī Ḥaydara” (my grandfather Ḥaydara attacked the disbelievers).
Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān in the Sulaymaniyah takya, Iraq (possibly 2006-2007).
In 2015, our Master was gifted by the Shaikhs the following couplet of poetry in Kurdish in praise of the Messenger (PBUH):
Aḥmad Muḥammad har dū yak nāwa
Ṣalawāt ladyār ʾaw jūta chāwa.
It means:
Aḥmad, Muḥammad, the two names are one
Prayers upon the two eyes.
“Aḥmad” and “Muḥammad” are names of the Messenger (PBUH). “Aḥmad” is the superlative of “Ḥāmid”, so it means “most-praising”, meaning most praising of Allah. As for “Muḥammad”, it is the superlative of “Maḥmūd”, meaning “much-praised”.
Our Shaikh asked caliph ʿAbd al-Salām al-Ḥadīthī to compose a poem in Arabic for which the preceding couplet is used as a refrain when it is sang. This is the poem in full:
Jāhuka Ṭāhā qaṭ lā yuḍāhā,
Majdun Tabāhā, sirru al-naqāwa.
Kahfu al-wujūdi, ʿaynu al-suʿūdi,
Ṣāḥibu al-jūdi, baḥru al-nadāwa.
Sirru al-khalāʾiq, fayḍu al-ḥaqāʾiq,
Nūruhu sābiq wa lā yusāwā.
Kāshifu al-ghumma, rāhimu al-umma,
Sirāju al-ẓulma, māḥī al-shaqāwa.
Durratu Adam, nabʿu al-makārim,
Fa Abū Qāsim ʿaynu al-sakhāwa.
Shaikhī Muḥammad, ghawthun mumajjad,
Wārithu al-asʿad, laysā daʿāwā,
ʿAmidu al-ʿitra, jaddahu asrā,
Wa ʿinda al-haḍra nāla al-hafāwa.
Fakam ʿadīmu, wa kam yatīmu,
Wa kam saqīmu bihi yudāwā.
Al-Kasnazānīyyu badru al-zamāni,
Wa fī lisānī lahu tilāwā.
The poem may be translated as follows:
Your status, Ṭāhā, is ever unparalleled,
Illustrious glory, the secret of purity.
The cave of existence, the essence of happiness,
The source of generosity, the sea of freshness.
The secret of creation, the flow of truths,
His light is the first, with no likeness.
The remover of affliction, the merciful to the nation,
The lamp in the darkness, the eraser of misery.
The pearl of Adam, the spring of gifts,
For Abū Qāsim is the fountain of bounty.
My Shaikh Muḥammad is a glorified Ghawth,
The inheritor of the most fortunate, not a mere claim.
The head of the (Prophetic) progeny, his grandfather journeyed at night,
At the Presence, he was celebrated.
How many a poor person, how many an orphan,
And how many a sick person by him is cured.
The Kasnazānī is the full moon of the time,
And my tongue has a mention of him.
This poem became one of the most often-sung odes. When singers began to perform this poem, our Shaikh would often stand out of respect for the couplet of praise of the Prophet (PBUH) that he received from the Shaikhs. In his last month, he would exclusively ask to listen to this ode.
[1] Al-Dārimī, Musnad Al-Dārimī, IV, no. 3544, p. 2194.
[2] ʿAlī Ibn Abī Ṭālib, Dīwān al-imām ʿAlī. There is near consensus that some or much of the poetry that is attributed to Imām ʿAlī is inauthentic (Khafājī, “Introduction”, 20.) It is unlikely, however, that all attributed poetry is inauthentic.
[3] Al-Gaylānī, Dīwān ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī.
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