1 March 2011 Lefke, Cyprus
(Translated from Turkish)
Dastoor, yaa Sayyidee! Yaa Rasoolullah, alfu ‘s-salaat, wa alfu ‘s-salaamu `alayka yaa Sayyid al-Awwaleen wa’l-Akhireen. Say, a`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani ‘r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem.
Without “Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem,” no work will prosper; every Muslim and believer must know this. All of us are weak servants. Wearing a dress or a uniform does not make Man an important one, no. You cannot reach anywhere with a uniform, but with “Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem” you can.
Merhaba! How are you, people of the Black Sea region? Sagolasınız. What to do? Our way is through association, so we must make suhbat. If they want us to say a few words, I will convey them to you. Today is the last Tuesday of Rabi` ul-Awwal; it is our Hijri date, something which belongs to us.
Now let’s say, a`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani ‘r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem, so both speaker and listener can benefit and understand something. Without “Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem,” no work could be carried out, no one would understand anything, and hearts would not be content; it would be a strange state. We are Muslims, alhamdulillah. We recite the Basmala Shareef and seek refuge in Allah (swt). (Mawlana Shaykh Nazim stands) Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem is the sword that Allah Almighty granted Muslims! (Mawlana Shaykh Nazim sits)
Each day’s content is different. Thus, the happenings of today were not existent yesterday and the happenings of tomorrow will not resemble that of today’s. Every day has a unique character of its own, and those characters will come out one by one on the Day of Judgment. Who lives accordingly will be judged by what he has done on that day. This is our firm belief and faith. Allah Almighty says, “You are free to believe or not.” Who believes will profit; who does not believe will see harm. Believers will profit and unbelievers will lose. This balance is unchangeable. The gains of a mu’min are something and the kaafir’s loss is another.
It ha been 7,000 years since the establishment of this world; we are now walking in the seven-thousandth year since Mankind set foot on Earth. Our master, Prophet Muhammad (s), may Allah increase his honor and dignity, to him whom we give highest respect and for his honor we stand. (Mawlana Shaykh Nazim stands and sits)
Today’s people play a national anthem and rebuke who does not stand up, saying, “This is our national anthem! Why do you sit?” Okay, when the Greatest Prophet’s Name (s) is mentioned, we stand up and are rewarded. Whoever doesn’t stand up, the angels say, “Why didn’t you stand up when the name of Allah’s Beloved One (s) was mentioned! Why do you sit like an animal? Stand up!” Then the angels smack him. Now we are trying to fulfill the orders and adab of our religion as much as possible.
Black Sea People! How are you? You’re known as, “strong Muslims,” but I don’t see such behavior from them because anchovies have eaten their brains. (Laughter) They fear and feel shy to say, “I am a Muslim.” Fear Allah! Tonight may be your last night, tomorrow may be your last day. Is it certain? Then what kind of a Muslim are you?
It’s not that we know something, but when we sit here, there’s a way that goes to our hearts, and from that channel we address (people). The only thing we owe is our lives to Allah; we are not in debt to anyone. (Mawlana Shaykh referring to himself) We have neither taken a monthly salary from the government, nor did the government take anything from us.
Now every day has its own character; the contents are different for each day. Today is the last Tuesday of the Mawlid Shareef month, Hijri year 1433. Today’s appearance was quite different than any other, with a different specialty. Maybe other nations are not too concerned with this, however, today’s appearance excited everyone all around Turkey. Some were curious, some were in doubt, some fell in fear, some became insane. What for? President Necmeddin of Turkey passed away. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji`oon, “To Allah we belong and to Him do we return.” There is nothing extraordinary in this as everyone will taste death.
Those who gathered today at the funeral, perhaps most of them have not heard the late Necmeddin Bey’s first address given in Konya. This faqeer (referring to himself) heard it, although he was five years younger than I. It was the first time I heard that honorable person’s speech, which made my heart fall into a strange state. He said, “For the sake of the blood that our ancestors and grandfathers shed, Allah Almighty will never make this country a kaafir nation! Certainly, Allah Almighty will awake this nation! Certainly, this nation does not know its right and left, and is unaware of what is before and behind it. However, Allah Almighty will send someone who will break this wall and show them the scenery on the outside.” Allah, Allah! Allah, Allah! I experienced such spiritual pleasure from his speech!
Today, Necmeddin Bey reached Rahmati Rahmaan. His made-up last name is “Erbakan,” is a meaningless term. Do you know Turkish? At least say, Ere bakan, “the one who protects soldiers,” or Yere bakan, “the one who looks to the ground,” or Goge bakan, “the one who looks to the sky,” or Tarihe bakan, “the one who looks at history,” or Millete bakan, “the one who looks after the people,” or Sagina bakan, “the one who looks to his right,” or Soluna bakan, “the one who looks to his left,” or Camilere bakan, “the one who looks to mosques,” or Hukumete bakan, “the one who looks after the government.” Isn’t it so?
He is going to open! Allah Almighty will not let it go, He will not let His religion fall. The blood our ancestors have shed was for Islam, was for Allah’s pleasure, not for show! (...) Did he die while standing or lying down? (Lying down.) As soon as he laid down, it means, “I have submitted to the Owner of Heavens and Earth!” Is there a man who won’t submit? O sirs, pashas, presidents! Is there anyone from amongst you who will not submit to Allah Almighty’s command? Say! Huuuu.
There were two extremely crowded funerals that I’ve witnessed: one, I heard; the second, I saw. The first one was the funeral of the first president of the Republic of Turkey, and in those days there were no TVs so they announced the news through the new radio media and they also filmed it. We didn’t have such devices back in 1933. Perhaps, the sound of people crying in the radios could reach all the way to the Black Sea region; all of them kept crying. What was strange was that the crowd at his funeral consisted mostly of women, youngsters, and a battalion of soldiers from each country. A gun carriage carried his coffin through the streets of Ankara. From what I’ve seen of pictures in the newspapers and in films, it was an unprecedented crowd never before seen until that day.
Today’s mass crowd, however, was such that the whole nation stood up as an expression of love and acceptance of our nation’s own son and his funeral was crowded with people who came from love. Perhaps we can say at that time (Ataturk’s funeral) there was a crowd of 50,000 people in Ankara. But today’s tremendous crowd was in the millions! So that is what I saw and I was around 17 or 18 years old when I saw that. Of course, there have been other funerals after, but for our holy brethren’s funeral, people were not obliged to attend. On the contrary, they pervaded Islambol (“Full of Islam,” original name of Istanbul during the Ottoman Empire) through the love and respect they held for him.
Based on what they’ve said, their number was above five million, mashaa-Allah; he entered the hearts of five million people, including the 60 or 70 million who couldn’t come. He’s buried in their hearts. So this is what we are saying: today’s occasion was a sign of this, which was very strange to me, that the president, including all top-level government officials and military forces, came in full respect, standing in his presence. For what? This is the question I want an explanation for. What did this man do so that all government dignitaries, sirs, pashas, and kings from foreign Islamic nations, all of whom were present, stood in high respect with their hands clasped together and heads bent forward?
Inside the coffin, he was wrapped in a simple shroud, and over the coffin was thrown an unwritten, plain green covering. I said, “At least you should have placed a cap to the head of the coffin.” For ladies’ coffins, based on our old customs, they used to tie a head scarf, whereupon you would know that the deceased was a female. But he was stripped away from all titles and placed in front of the mosque to have his funeral prayer performed. When the muezzin said, er kishi niyetine, “For the sake of this man!” I said, "How could this be? You should say like this: 'Prime Minister! President-to-be! The man whose love is in the hearts of people!' Why won't you say it like this?" But instead all worldly titles were dropped and what was said?
Er kişi niyetine!
Allah için namaza!
Resûllulâh için selâtu selâma!
Meclis için duaya niyet edin.
Dört tekbir ilen cenâze namazına:
Allahu Ekber!
For the sake of this man!
For Allah’s Sake, this prayer!
Upon Rasoolullah, peace and blessings!
Intend to make du`a for this gathering,
With four takbeers, to perform the funeral prayer:
Allahu Akbar!
And (with one voice) the tremendous crowd said, "Allahu Akbar!" How was it? Did the whole square become majestic? (Yes.) How many thousands of people from the Black Sea region were there? Maybe half-a-million. They didn't call the first president as, er kishi niyetine, “For the sake of this man!” They didn't place him on the musalla taşı, where the funeral prayer is performed, in the courtyard of a mosque. Such was the mentality in those days. Why won't you bring him in front of the people and perform the funeral prayer “for the sake of this man”? Why have you deprived him? Who were the ones that deprived him? The worshippers of Shaytan! They didn’t leave his coffin for the people to perform his funeral prayer. Secretly. Why would they do it in secret?
What we are saying is history. They may go back and look into it as much as they want. We are not a man to lie! We are asking: why did they hide it? Wasn’t the first president a Muslim? Why didn’t they wash his body? Why didn’t they wrap him in a shroud? Why didn’t they bring him in front of the people to have them perform his funeral prayer? Who was it? Which mentality? Was it the work of AK Party or was it Halk Party’s force? It was Halk Party, at the time, that prohibited this. They didn’t let them perform his prayer. People kept crying; they were going to pray, but they didn’t let them, nor did they wrap him in a shroud or show him to them. They hurriedly took him to the burial place. This is a shame, but who to say this to?
I am making this manifest: let the whole country know, including government officials and the pashas of our glorious army! They are also young; all of them are like my grandchildren. I will tell them as well, to ask why they deprived the first president of that honor? No answer! No answer! Weren’t there any imaams (in the country) to come and lead his funeral prayer? Why did you take him to the grave so quickly? Was anything like this ever heard in the world? Even the pharaohs of the Egyptians used to make mummies and place them inside something, whereupon they would perform a kind of religious ceremony. They didn’t let the people perform a religious ceremony for the first president! Why aren’t government officials and the beys and pashas of our glorious army asking this? Why aren’t they asking?
Didn’t that person have any rights over us? And didn’t we have any rights over him? Why did they deprive him? I am asking. Now there’s not a single man in Turkey who can make this speech. I am saying, let them look into it and find out who’s work it was. All the pashas from the Independence Courts were washed, shrouded, and were buried in cemeteries; none were taken to a mausoleum. Let our pashas and our people ask, “Why have you put him in this mausoleum?”
Look; this person (Necmeddin Bey) was a civilian. Did he phone or telegraph all these people to gather them there? No. This means, it was the inspiration of their hearts which brought them. Maybe three million, maybe five million people were there, silently pronouncing takbeers from inside as they carried and presented him to the presence of an awliyaaullah (in Merkez Efendi Cemetery). Instead of making a separate building for the first president, why didn’t they bury him next to an awliyaaullah? For what reason? Who did this? Let them ask history and hear its testimony. Let them convict those who were responsible for this. Now, neither the President of Religous Affairs, nor Prime Minister Erdogan Bey, nor President Abdullah Gul Bey can speak these words. This is it.
(For Necmeddin Bey) People stood waiting on the streets in midst of a blistering cold winter, from the crack of dawn until the time for the evening prayer. What was it that caused this emergence of love and had them wait there (for him)? Let beys, sirs and pashas try to solve this mystery. “Yahu, Shaykh Efendi, don’t say ‘Bey,’ sir, but say ‘bay,’ monsieur. Don’t say ‘pasha,’ but say, ‘general officer.’”
“But ‘general’ is not a Turkish word! Turks do not have the word ‘general.’” For instance, “Russian general,” “German general,” “Greek general,” or “Bulgarian general” could be said, however, we have nothing to do with “general”. There’s no factor that forces us to imitate the kaafirs, unbelievers, to follow them in every way, given that we alone have ruled the world and established kingship. That’s why we have “pasha”. Why did they remove the title of “pasha”and replace it with “general”? What are we to do with “general”? The people suntil say, “pasha” (amongst themselves) but the official title for it is “general”. I won’t accept “general”! Say “pasha”! Say “pasha”! They say, “Now it’s ‘marshal.’” What ‘marshal’? Say mushir (an old term used for marshal)! Why has he removed all these old terms? Why have you removed the title of our pashas and replaced it with the title of kaafirs, which have brought this world upside down? Now what are we saying?
(...)
O People of the Black Sea, Konya, Erzurum! There are plenty of issues to take into account. In any case, let’s cut it short. We can speak about this subject not up to morning, but up to next week. However, now what we are saying is that this was not a “collected crowd”. The first president’s, on the other hand, was a “collected crowd”. They didn’t leave people to take ownership of his funeral and to bury him as they liked; they brought a ton of soldiers from outside. The English marshals also came. I know them all.
Today’s pashas are all like my grandchildren; they don’t know anything. Through the love in their hearts, they ran to perform the late Necmeddin Bey’s funeral prayer, and make du`a for him. That is not a “collected crowd”. This means, he made place in the hearts of people. They stood waiting for him in the blistering morning cold of Islambol until late evening, freezing and shivering all over. Ashk olsun! This means, they, our people, are a people of appreciation. And because they were appreciative of his service, they gathered there to accompany Necmeddin Bey on his final journey, from east to west, coming from all over.
Beys, pashas, sultans, and kings from other nations came too. Pashas, the commanders of our glorious army came as well. So this means they too have something in their hearts. If there wasn’t they would have said, “Who cares (for this)? Let the people do as they like.” But this is to show us that there exists an unusual element inside the army’s heart. Ashk olsun! I prayed for the pashas too; I prayed for them thoroughly. Allah Allah! SubhaanAllahi 'l-`Aliyyu 'l-`Azheem.
I will stop at this, because there are issues ten times more than this that need to be spoken of, but we are old. We also made a service for him tonight. The holy Merkez Efendi (q) was invited there; he reached through his spirit and teslim aldılar, took acceptance. Our soul was also present at that acceptance ceremony, thanks to Allah. We are not a man to be seen amongst the people; however, we were invited. It was a welcoming from the Sultan of the Hereafter, Merkez Efendi; through his invitation, we performed the funeral prayer, made du`a, and it was accepted. Merkez Efendi (q) may put whom he wants there and prevent whom he doesn’t want; he (Necmeddin Bey) was welcomed, he was relieved and his grave was rendered as rawdhatul min riyadh ul-jannah, a garden from the gardens of Paradise.
O the Republic of Turkey living on Ottoman inheritance! Government dignitaries! Be careful, because one day you too will end up in the cemetery; be so that you are welcomed, not driven away! This holy man was accepted and welcomed through his spiritual being. That’s why there weren’t any men of spirituality amongst the crowd. Between Maghrib and `Isha, we were also given permission to welcome that holy one there. He is in a good position (Mawlana Shaykh smiles), his place is comfortable; he’s neither crying nor lamenting. May Allah make his station very high, to be in Jannat ul-Firdaws! And to those who say “ameen”, including those who were present at his funeral and read one Fatihah (for his soul), may Allah grant them to leave dunya with imaan and having served Islam.
The glory and honor of our nation will soar high! Kufr, unbelief will collapse! Yaa Allah! Governments based on military rule will crumble; governments based on religion will not! We had an empire, a sultanate based on religion for 700 years and no one was able to demolish it. It was not until this last movement, the military factors that drove us out of Europe, which has caused the downfall of our empire. Governments based on military rule will disintegrate; governments based on religion will not! You must know this! Don’t stir in other issues or else you will be sent away, too.
The one who is Qutb al-Mutasarrif is ready and prepared! Whoever objects (to this) will not live to see next year; they too will be sent to the cemetery, but not with such honor! Government ceremonies are one thing and Islam’s sultanate is another!
Mashaa-Allah laa quwwata illa billah. Inna lillah wa inna ilayhi raji`oon. Fa’l-hukmu lillahu ’l-`Aliyyu ’l-Kabeer. Allahu Akbar! La ilaha illa-Llah Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar ve lillahi ‘l-hamd. Alfu’s salaat alfu’s-salaam `alayka yaa Sayyid al-Awwaleen wa al-Akhireen. Let the banners of İslam rise!
Fatihah.
Allahu Akbar! Tawbah, yaa Rabbee! Tawbah, yaa Rabbee! Again, let me add in another issue that is unknown to people. At the (funeral) ceremony held in Ankara, there was also an Indian emperor, Marshal Waltime, whom was sent by the Kingdom of England. Because he had a disabled foot, he couldn’t walk behind the coffin. So he stood in salute with his marshal stick on a balcony, which I also witnessed, and no one knows this. Marshal Waltime, in his formal dress, stood in salute while the cortege passed, and the battalion of soldiers from England were walking behind (the coffin); I saw that as well.
If they want, let them look at history. They cannot know what we know. I spoke to them of something which I saw with my own eyes. Thanks to Allah that our mind is intact. Thanks to Allah! (Mawlana Shaykh stands) Subhaanahu wa Ta`ala, Allahu Dhul-Jalaal, Who is Qaadiru ‘l-Muqtadir, “The Absolute All-Powerful One.” He will disclose haqq and baatil will drown! (Mawlana Shaykh sits)
(Mawlana Shaykh recites from Imam Busayri's world-renowned poem, Burdah ash-Shareef, "The Mantle of Prophet")
Tooba lanaa yaa ma`ahshar-Islaami
inna lanaa min al-inayaatai ruknan ghayra munhadimi.
Mawlaya salli wa sallim da’iman abadan
`Ala Habeebika khayri ’l-khalqi kullihimi
Good tidings for us, O People of Islam!
Truly for us is a supporting pole that is never falling down.
O my Lord! Send peace and blessings upon Your Beloved,
The Best of all Creations.
Allahu Akbar al-Akbar (Mawlana Shaykh stands.) Allahu Akbar al-Akbar! Allahu Akbar al-Akbar wa lillahi ‘l-hamd!
Fatihah, for all of our ancestors.