The last Ottoman

Following are scans from the chapter from Sea Without Shore A Manual of the Sufi Path by Shaykh Nuh Ha Mim Keller (HA)

 

Asslamo Allaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh,

Everything related to Turkey must be viewed in the context that during the last 80-90 years they have tried their utmost to WIPE ISLAM off the face of Turkey! In the context of almost a century of heresy and deviance you are not going to get pristine Sunnah the next day; its impossible.

Secondly, Turkey (like Syria & Egypt) is the home of Ottoman empire so unlike the subcontinent they are used to dealing with differences of opinions (despite being Hanafees) which Muslims of Indian subcontinent have a very serious problem with as their world revolves around the Hanafi Madhab only.

Hadhra is perfectly permissible in Shaf’ae Madhab (just like goatee beard etc) unlike the Hanafi Madhab and Shaykh Nuh Ha Mim Keller (HA) is a Shaf’ae.

If some Turkish Sufees have somehow kept Islam alive under the most heinous pressure, torture and coercion then they should be commended. My friend in Libya is a Hafidh (& Faqih) and comes from a lineage of Maliki Scholars going back 6 centuries, his Sisters are also Hafidhas and Alimahs who used to go to a university in Tripoli in a Jeans & T-Shirt and then cry in the night in the basement in candlelight (couldn’t turn the light on due to the fear of Qadhafi) , not only they were Hafidhas were Masters of recitation in both Qayloon & Hafs and only started wearing Hijab/Niqab when they escaped to USA.

My friend Shaykh Kamil Naqshbandi from Turkey comes from a long lineage of Hanafi Ulamah & Mashaykh from the Ottoman Empire to this day he wears an Amamah in Turkey and his family never surrendered their Amamah despite torture and his grandfather was shot by the firing squad for REFUSING to wear the Turkish hat!

Government made him wash dishes and cook eggs for years in a kitchen to break his spirits and he showed up in his Amamah and Sunnah dress every single day and washed dishes for years but didn’t comprise , time to time got picked up and beaten up but never let go of his Amamah. In the evenings he taught Qaida to little kids in his basement.

I havn't been in touch in many years but I may ask them or their Sisters to open an Account here so people can ask how they stuck to Sunnah during the torture of regimes...

There is a reason why you see even the Bid'ah Sufees from Turkey/Syria wearing an Amamah and that's because many Muslims were blessed with Shahadah in trying to preserve the headgear.