Chapter (23) The Absent Yet Present Full Moon of Kasnazān

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Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān arriving at Heathrow Airport, London (26 April 2000).

This world is temporary, a short period. Look at those who lived before us, is there anyone who lived two hundred years, two hundred and fifty years, three hundred years, four hundred years? “Every soul will taste death” (Āl ʿImrān 3:185), “Everyone upon the earth will perish (26) And there will remain the Face of your Lord, Owner of Majesty and Honour” (al-Raḥmān 55:26-27). Death is the destiny of every human being. No matter how much you escape from it, it continues to chase you. When your time comes, when your appointed time is here, there would be no bringing forwards or pushing backwards. You will surrender your soul, even if you amass billions after billions, even if you had all the armies of the world. Where are the pharaohs? Where are the most powerful presidents and kings, wealthy people, billionaires? They are all dust now. The person who is one of the people of worship, the people of prayer, his soul, Allah willing, will be in Paradise. As for the person who is one of the people of corruption will be in the fire. Who will save him from Allah (exalted and high is He)? His creator is the one who can harm him and save him.

Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān (Sermon, 4 March 2013)

Our Master saw the Prophet (PBUH) on the night of his trip to the USA in 2014. He kissed his blessed hand and said to him, “Thanks be to Allah that I did not die so I have touched your hand again”.

In a later vision, our Master was told that there was a message for him from the Messenger (PBUH) inside the Karbchna shrines. When he entered the hall of the shrines, he found a message in the form of a framed plaque mounted on the wall. The message was written in raised golden letters. He and his companion in the vision, Shaikh Sāman, took the message outside the shrines and started to read it. A third man from Jordan was reading it with them. The message contained the following, “Accordingly, leave him alone”.

Our Shaikh recounted another vision of encounter with the Prophet (PBUH), which seems to have been at the end of 2015 or early 2016. He saw a unique huge dome. There were people outside surrounding it but inside there was only the Messenger (PBUH) lying down. Our Shaikh was told that he was required to visit the Prophet (PBUH). An opening was made for him at the top of the dome so he entered through it. He found the Messenger (PBUH) lying on a very beautiful bed in the middle of the hall, facing the qibla. The Shaikh moved towards him, put his head on his chest, and held his hand, kissing it, asking for his help, and crying. The Prophet (PBUH) put his right-hand index finger, which is used when reading the shahāda, in our Shaikh’s mouth. He continued to move his noble finger in the mouth of our Shaikh, who was crying out of love. Then our Shaikh was told that this was sufficient, so he withdrew.[1]

Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān arriving at Heathrow Airport, London (26 April 2000).

When I visited the Shaikh in Virginia, USA, on Eid al-ʾAḍḥā in August 2019, he mentioned this vision to me briefly, describing it as the last time that he saw the Prophet (PBUH). I do not know whether he saw the Prophet (PBUH) again before his death. Two months after his passing, our present Shaikh, Shamsuddin Mohammad Nahro, also recounted this meeting in a public assembly and called it “a meeting before the meeting”.[2] This indicates that the vision was a temporary meeting in this world before the permanent meeting in the spirit world that took place after the Shaikh departed from this world.

Strangely, all previous Kasnazānī Shaikhs died of a heart attack, departing this world shortly after it. Shāh al-Kasnazān survived only one night, Sultan ʿAbd al-Qādir one hour, Sultan Ḥusayn three days, whereas Sultan ʿAbd al-Karīm lived for three days.[3] Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad passed away in the same way.

Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān in a celebration of the birth of the Prophet (PBUH) at the Baghdad takya (1 May 1995).

He travelled to Virginia, USA, at the end of June 2019 for treatment for an abdominal condition that caused him severe pains and forced him to continuously be on strong painkillers, as well as for a general medical checkup. He had had heart problems for years before then, but in March 2020 he suffered a heart attack followed by a cardiac arrest. His younger son, Dr ʿAbd al-Karīm, was with him and gave him first aid before he was admitted into intensive care. Despite leaving the hospital after a while, the Shaikh’s health was poor and unstable because his heart had been severely weakened.

During the period of his final illness, which left him bedridden, our Shaikh loved to listen to an ode of praise called “Aḥmad Muḥammad”. It would be sung by caliph Majīd Ḥamīd, who accompanied our Master throughout his medical trip. He says that one day he visited the Shaikh in the intensive care unit where he was almost in a coma, yet he found him reading al-Burda of al-Buṣīrī, the timeless poem of praise of the Prophet (PBUH).

On 24 June 2020, the condition of our Shaikh dangerously deteriorated, so he was admitted into intensive care in The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Shortly after midnight on Saturday 4 July 2020, his heart stopped and doctors could not restart it, and he departed this world to the mercy of Allah (mighty and glorified is He).

Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān giving a sermon at the Amman takya, Jordan (17 May 2017).

Long in the past, our Shaikh had asked caliph Majīd Ḥamīd to read the Qur’anic chapter of Yāsīn over him when he died. He said that he had benefited from its blessings and witnessed some of its secrets. The caliph went to the hospital to carry out our Shaikh’s wish even though he did not have permission to enter it, which was one of the necessary precautions enforced by the hospital at the time against coronavirus. No one stopped him as he went to our Shaikh’s room, although usually even permission holders would be carefully checked before being allowed inside. The wish of our Shaikh was thus fulfilled.

The noble body was washed and prayed over on Thursday 9 July in Virginia in the presence of our Shaikh’s elder son and successor, Shaikh Shamsuddin Mohammad Nahro, who accompanied his father throughout his stay in the USA. Our Shaikh was also accompanied throughout that entire trip by his youngest son Shaikh, ʿAbd al-Karīm, and caliph Majīd Ḥamīd. On the following day, Shaikh Shamsuddin Mohammad Nahro brought back the noble body of his father to Sulaymāniyya where thousands of dervishes and those who loved the Shaikh were in waiting. All were engulfed in deep sadness for the loss of a rare spiritual father and teacher and a human being whose manners embodied the best of qualities. Before burying the noble body in the shrine that was quickly built in the central takya in Sulaymāniyya, caliph Majīd recited the pledge to Shaikh Shamsuddin Mohammad Nahro as his father’s successor, the Shaikh of Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya, with all those present repeating it. This was in fulfilment of the instruction of our Master, the full moon of Kasnazān (may Allah sanctify his secret).

Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān in Karbchna (1984).

May Allah shower mercy on our Shaikh who is absent from our eyes but present in our hearts. May Allah grant him a dwelling with those whom He most favoured of the prophets, the truthful, the martyrs and the righteous. May Allah show mercy to the educator of seekers who spent his life in the service of the noble Qur’an and the Sunna of the Prophet (PBUH) and in spreading the love for the beloved of Allah (PBUH) until he became all love. May Allah show His mercy to a teacher of the noblest and most sacrosanct love and reward him on our behalf.

[1] Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān, sermon, 10 February 2016.

[2] Shaikh Shamsuddin Mohammad Nahro al-Kasnazān, sermon, 10 September 2020.

[3] Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān, sermon, 8 May 2000.

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