Grovelling at Nazim's Feet - Anger When Visitor Questioned This

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Most had their eyes closed and appeared to be in a state of intense concentration as they swayed together. I couldn’t resist the pounding rhythm and became carried away with rocking back and forth as I repeated “Allah Hayy, Ya Qayyum” over and over again. The room became hazy and looked like a black and white negative image; everything around me was disappearing. It was an almost psychedelic experience and I was completely lost in the moment, throwing myself backwards and forwards without any inhibition or self consciousness. Unfortunately it also meant that I was unaware of the abrupt end to the proceedings and to my great embarrassment, I continued chanting and swaying for a second or two after everyone else had stopped.

Sheik Nazim recited some prayers and began his sermon. He spoke in a heavy accent, mispronouncing many English words.

“Allah love all his serv-hents. Allah love everything! Every human, every creature, every plant, every rock. Allah does not hate. If Allah hate something it cannot exist.”
He would choose someone in the audience to look at in the eye, as though he were speaking to someone special.

“Allah’s love is not animal love we see in Dunya (this world). It is love that never change. It is love that never die. Our purpose is to reach higher love and immerse ourselves in Love Oceans.”

I wasn’t sure what he meant by ‘Love Oceans’, but it sounded wonderful.
“Only when the serv-hent worship Allah can he wake Love Oceans. We live in time of hate and misery. Most human know only physical love and so become unhappy and miserable. Without waking Love Oceans we can never content.”

I was impressed by both his message and his manner, but felt uncomfortable about the exaggerated reverence his followers showered on him, and decided to ask him about this, during the question and answer session that followed.
“Is it Islamic to allow people to prostrate at your feet? Prophet Muhammad didn’t have people prostrating at his feet, did he?”

My question prompted angry murmurs and boos, which made my face blush and eyes water.

“I do not ask they do, but if they wish for love and respect, I accept. Remember parents prophet Yusuf prostrate to him.”

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Eventually he got up and moved towards the staircase, still surrounded by petitioners. This was my final chance, before he disappeared. I squeezed myself forward through the crowd.
“Sheikh Nazim, can I ask you about the Mahdi. You said he’s coming?”
He started walking up the stairs followed by his green bodyguards.
“He is here!”
“In this room?” I followed him up the stairs.
“No, in Hijaz.” (The area around Makka and Madinah.)
“Does anyone know who he is?”
“He has not exposed to anyone yet.”
“Then how do you know?”
“My Sheikh tell me.”
“Is that the Sheikh who’s dead?”
Sheikh Nazim believed he was in contact with a Sheikh who had died in the 1940s.
“It depend on what you mean dead?”
“In the meaning of not being alive.”
Sheikh Nazim’s bodyguards had heard enough of my questions and aggressively blocked my access, pushing me back down the stairs. The Sheikh was swiftly escorted out of sight.

I was a little disappointed with what I had witnessed at Sheikh Nazim’s circle. Not so much with Sheikh Nazim himself, but the way his followers fawned upon him. It seemed little more than a cult of personality. I was also extremely skeptical of his claims to special knowledge from a dead Sheikh.

After Sheikh Nazim had retired upstairs with some of his Murids, I started to move towards the exit when I was approached by
a tall bearded Englishman.

“Are you on the path, brother?”

“Do you mean am I a Sufi? No, not really. I like Sufism and want to learn more, which is why I came here today.”

“To learn more you must take the path.”

“The problem is I find some things a bit off-putting, like kissing feet and special knowledge from a dead Sheikh.”

“In order to follow us you must not judge or object to anything. This is how the Seeker of knowledge must approach his teacher, just as Khidr told Moses not to question anything if he wished to learn.”

“Well, Moses is one thing, but it seems there is a dangerous potential here for the blind to lead the blind, wouldn’t you say?”

“That’s why you must follow the true Sheikh, so you can completely trust him.”

“I find it difficult to completely trust anyone in such matters.”

“Then that is the source of your problem, brother.”

“What makes you trust Sheikh Nazim so completely?”

“In every age there is one chosen representative (Khalifah) of God. In our age it is Sheikh Nazim. He is the Perfect Saint.”

“What is your evidence?”

“Those who follow him have evidence. Sheikh Nazim knows things that cannot be known by ordinary men. He has proven this on many occasions. For example I myself witnessed him predict the precise time that one of his followers would die and it happened exactly as he said it would.”

“I’m not doubting your word, but there may be many rational explanations for that.”

“Yet another proof for you, my dear brother, is that he has the ability to be with every one of his Murids at every given moment. He can be in one place with one and with another in a different place.”

“I’m sorry but I find that very hard to believe.”

“It’s the arrogance in your Nafs (Ego) that prevents you from believing. You must stop resisting, let go and open your heart.”

Our conversation reminded me of a passage in Alice in Wonderland:

“I can’t believe that!” said Alice.

“Can’t you?” the queen said in a pitying tone. “Try again, draw a long breath, and shut your eyes.”

Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said. “One can’t believe impossible things.”

“I dare say you haven’t had much practice,” said the queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

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Sufism is admired in the West as it suits the trend for religion to be moderate, liberal, and embracing a variety of lifestyles. One Sufi Sheikh I invited to give a talk at SOAS explained that Sufism is the pinnacle of all religions and one can find Christian, Jewish and Hindu Sufis as well as Muslim Sufis. Sufi Sheikhs were often regarded with the same awe in the 60s and 70s as Hindu Gurus and other mystics of the East, and many a hippie trail ended up following Sufism in one form or another.

But I was unconvinced by Sheikh Nazim’s circle and the Sufi circles I susequently visited. My experiences made me very skeptical of the claims of such Sheikhs, which seemed at best harmless eccentricity and at worst dangerous self-delusion.

Of course I did not blame Sufism as a whole for the short-comings of particular Sufi Sheikhs or their followers, but it did put me off joining a Sufi order. Nevertheless I was drawn towards the spiritual and metaphorical understanding of Islam that Sufism taught ... belief that behind the words was a deeper meaning and significance that was not immediately apparent. I also enjoyed Sufi writings, poetry and parables.

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Mathurine said, on January 3, 2009 at 8:45 am
I was deeply into Sufism for the last decade or so, even though I had some of the same problems you are describing here, such as blind adherence to shaykhs, the reverence, the fantastical claims about their abilities, and so forth. But what I ended up seeing was that a lot of these groups are cults of personality, as you mention, and some of them function as cults. It is all so tiring. Not only is prophet the perfect person but so is the shaykh and all shaykhs before him and it’s like, god isn’t there a single regular person on this earth besides me?

BoB said, on January 8, 2009 at 3:00 am
This is a good read.
Reminds me a bit of Ziauddin Sardar’s book, Desperately Seeking Paradise.

Corboy note: Desperately Seeking Paradise is a splendid read. Sardars' brother, very talented, became a follower of Nazim and ended up poor.

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prep4md said, on January 26, 2009 at 1:16 pm

-” It seems odd now that the Saudis, who did not approve of Sufism, allowed him to preach” —- Yes, that is very odd.

-“His followers spoke very highly of him and told me he had ‘special’ knowledge about many things, including the coming of the Mahdi – ‘the Rightly Guided One’ prophesized in hadith” —-

this is common nonsense that you hear in some sufi groups which you wont hear in salafi groups. They praise their scholars and teachers way too much and some claim they not only have special knowledge but “special skill” too. Like knowing what the students are doing in secret, interpreting dreams, meeting with or seeing the prophet. you can find more ridiculous examples in the old books of sufis that claim that some of their scholars could walk on water and others went into the sea to teach jinn (demons) underwater.

-“ushed up and kissed his feet. Several others followed and either prostrated at his feet or kissed his hands.” –

again this is common. But doesn’t it contradict what islam teaches about one being humble and down to earth and sufi teachings of purity selflessness?

-“My question prompted angry murmurs and boos” –

so typical of blind followers.

-“My sister is sick, Sheikh. Please pray for her recovery” -

why dont they ask God directly for her recovery?

-“Sheikh Nazim believed he was in contact with a Sheikh who had died in the 1940s.” -

this is common in extreme sufi circles

-“I was a little disappointed with what I had witnessed at Sheikh Nazim’s circle. Not so much with Sheikh Nazim himself, but the way his followers fawned upon him.” –

Ill be more disappointed with him, if I were you. They are naive and follow him blindly. If he noticed flaws in their actions he should make them change.

-“In order to follow us you must not judge or object to anything. This is how the Seeker of knowledge must approach his teacher, just as Khidr told Moses not to question anything if he wished to learn” —

were we created with brains to set them aside and follow others blindly? I do not think so. Perhaps this is why this cult has come so long. Generations upon generations of blind close minded people.

-“In every age there is one chosen representative (Khalifah) of God. In our age it is Sheikh Nazim. He is the Perfect Saint.” —

what about the guy that is followed now in Indonesia, and the other one in Sudan and the third in Syria and the forth in Iraq, all of them are claimed to be “chosen representatives” who should we believe?

-“It’s the arrogance in your Nafs (Ego) that prevents you from believing. You must stop resisting, let go and open your heart.” —

you should have told him: for gods sake you open your brain!