Her true name is Maud Alexandre. Now she is known by the name Khayriye. She is German. While she was studying medicine in Hamburg, she made a sudden decision and left the university. She changed her religion, her way of dressing, and her outlook on life. The name on his ID is Philip Udin. Now his name is Farid. He is English. He decided to go to India to learn meditation. At that time he was an atheist. In the streets of London he came across a person who changed his life. Her true name is Hildegard Obermayer. Now it is Mabrura. She is Austrian. While she was working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she went to London with one of her friends and her life took off in a very different direction.
All these people that changed their names and perhaps all the people coming from every corner of the world who also want to live a similar experience, are traveling from their homes to one common destination: Shaikh Nazim. It is said he is the pillar of the Naqshbandi Order and also the shaikh with the largest number of murids (students) in the world. And it is also said that among his murids are some truly famous names.
The murids, by means of the shaikh’s local representatives, receive news of the shaikh. And either the shaikh comes to their countries and they sniff out his presence, or they are pulled like a magnet to his country. From Istanbul to Cairo, from New York to Sri Lanka, from Germany to Malaysia, from England to Palestine to Damascus, they are finding him everywhere. Shaikh Nazim, who knows Turkish, Arabic, English and Greek spends four months of the year in his klix hometown of Lefke, and the remaining eight months meeting his murids in many different countries. Among his murids are people from every different class of society. A converted Istanbulian Jew; a METU engineering graduate; a philosophy professor from Berlin.
It is not only Muslims that are coming to see the 70-year white-bearded shaikh in his long jubba: that are coming to spend one week, one month, and even all their lives with him. It is not only Muslims, it is also non-Muslim people coming from different countries of the world for the same purpose: e.g., Germany, Denmark, Spain, Austria, Australia, Egypt, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.
Mostly they are young couples, some with children, some without. Also among them are widowed women and unmarried men. It is not required to be the shaikh’s relative or his friend or even to know him for years. It takes only one meeting, in one corner of the world, and without hesitating people change their lives onto his path. When they come to Turkey, it is enough to show the address to anyone: Zawiya of Shaikh Nazim, Lefke, to get directions.
As we arrive the zawiya’s door is wide open. On the left men are sitting. On some of their heads you see the Middle Asian Naqshbandi turbans, and some of them are wearing baggy pants (shalwars). All of them are men. In the corner is Shaikh Nazim. You can recognize him at first glance by his long white beard. Also remarkable at first glance is his big walking stick. He welcomes us when we come in. Everyone says the same thing: "selaam alaykum." It is expected that the hand of the shaikh be kissed, but we only shake his hand and he laughed at us. When he laughed, we at once perceive his charismatic personality.
The Focus of Shaikh's Life - Prayer
It is prayer time. They show us the place where women pray. Outside of the place we are in, we glimpse a door opening to a different world, beautiful ladies, some white-skinned, colored eyes, some tan, they are talking with one another in English. You can also see that some of the ladies are trying to put their children to sleep. They are very shy and close the door in our face. The woman that Shaikh Effendi married in Damascus, and who is five years younger than he, approached us and said, "Welcome, you can go wherever you want, except don't go up to the bedrooms." His daughter is helping Hajji Anne, making food in big pots for many people. The only member of the family staying with them, Ruqaiyah is married to an electronic engineer, Feridun. The son-in-law, while studying in London, became one of the shaikh’s murids. Now he cares for the zawiya work. The other daughter Nazihe is married to a Lebanese shaikh, Hicham Kabbani, who has four children andwho is his representative in America. Of Shaikh Nazim’s two sons, one sells cars in Magosa and the other is a jeweler in Istanbul.
Later on the shaikh goes to the women’s section. He asks each of them individually "how are you?" and then they all make an invocation for health, children of good character and a happy, easy life. In the hands of these women are tasbeehs. They are dressed in long skirts, wide pants, and long scarves. According to the 35-year old Annette, putting scarves on is not easy for the Westerners. She says, "I don’t want to follow a guru or a leader. My shaikh does not force me to do anything. I can discuss anything with him: he will explain according to the law of Islam and the good conduct of tariqat, and the meaning he conveys always touches my heart."
Fatima has known the shaikh for six years. Every year, with her ten-person family, she comes from Malaysia to spend some weeks with the shaikh. Important murids like her are being hosted in the shaikh’s house. New ones are living in the guest house. For Fatima, the shaikh is like a father. He is protective and he is tolerant. They talk about every subject with him. For example: how should we bring up our children? How should we spend our money? How can we prevent ourselves from spiritual loss?
The shaikh said he never advertises himself. He says the murids that come in droves are making enough advertisement for him. He said, "if you put my picture in your magazine, of course you will not not put the women, but if you put my photo you will sell so many copies." Then he says, "cut the watermelon for the guests." Water is served in plastic cups; he sends it back saying, "bring it in glasses."
The Reason for the Shaikh's Popularity
He begins explaining to us the cause of popularity. "Man, who is in the midst of every kind of favor, is worrying how he should live, how he should support himself. He is devoid of spiritual happiness. For some it is not enough to have two feet, they want to have wings. These people here are coming for a solution to this dilemma. Here we are discussing ourselves. We are discussing, religion, dunya (the worldly life), akhira (the Hereafter), physics, literature, history and politics. I don’t know everything, but when I listen I listen very well. In Islam there is a great deal of tolerance. But it is being narrowed down so much. I am saying the door of paradise is very wide. Don’t put an embargo on Allah’s mercy. Leave it open, it is enough for everyone. Our majlis is open for everyone. It is not with money, our majlis is with love."
The shaikh is giving a prescription: "the simple life," to the people that are not happy with two feet or the people that want wings. And a lot of the murids are adopting this prescription. They are kicking all the Western styles and comforts. Shaikh Effendi doesn’t like technology becauses he believes it makes people run from each other. He said, "If there weren’t so many people coming to my house, instead of electricity I would put candles." What about the phone? "I don’t have one, Alhamdulillah, praise be to God." What about TV? "Is there a house which doesn’t have one?"
mislim da se o liku govorilo u negativnom kontestu.