Dr. Alâaddin KAYA

(Translated from Anilarla Mehmed Zahid Kotku (RhA) Hazretleri, Dr. Metin Erkaya, Istanbul, Seha:1996, pp. 257-9, http://meckitap.8m.com/anmzk/esad.html)

The first time I met Mehmed Zahid Kotku Effendi was when he came from Bursa after Aziz Effendi passed away. I was a child attending the seventh grade. He asked me: "What is your name?"

"Mehmed." It was my middle name.

"We have the same name!" was his response.

I attended the discourses for a while, then stopped going to the Dargah.

In 1971, people who went for the pilgrimage were quarantined. I was among the health crew handling the quarantine work. I saw Khawaja Effendi. I approached and kissed his hand. He said:

"Doctor Bey, we would like to see you at our house." I responded by heart, "If you invite me, I will come." Several months passed after the incident. One night in my dream, I got the invitation: "Son, come to me."

That was how I was initiated into the tariqa. Alhamdulillah, I have been in the Dargah since than.

Mehmed Zahid Effendi used to have hadith discourses every Sunday after the Asr prayer. On a Sunday in 1977, he came to the mosque with Es'ad Effendi. He made him sit in the pulpit. He turned to the congregation and said: "From now on, Es'ad will do the discourses. He is my son-in-law. He is a professor at Ankara University, College of Theology."

Having introduced Es'ad Effendi, he sat by him. After listening to the discourse for about ten minutes, he got up and left. Es'ad Effendi was quite excited; his hands were shaking. From that day on, Es'ad Effendi carried out the hadith discourses.

[I had witnessed some manifestations of Mehmed Zahid Effendi's extraordinary powers.] Once my seven-month-old son got sick. He was hospitalized with a diagnosis of intestinal blockage. We felt so sorry for the baby. My wife kept crying by the child. Doctors decided to operate on the baby. I informed Khawaja Effendi of the situation.

On the morning of the day of the operation, I fell asleep while I was waiting by the child. In my dream, Khawaja Effendi stopped by. He said, "Bismillah ir-rahmân-ir-rahîm," and placed his hand on the abdomen of the child. I woke up, and realized that the child was passing gas. There was no need for the operation.

I was with Khawaja Effendi during his last days. He could not sleep at nights. He could not eat anything. We tried treatments to comfort him. During his last evening, he got worse, then got better. He was in a coma when the Maghrib time entered. He woke up and asked me: "Is it Maghrib time yet?"

I said, "Yes, Effendi." We brought him a brick to do tayammum. He offered the prayers. He called his older daughter and whispered something to her. We heard later that he said: "These people are hungry. Offer them some food in the other room."

We went to the other room. One of our brothers stayed with him. Khawaja Effendi opened his eyes and told him: "You go and eat, too!"

Since he felt better at night, we never expected anything bad would happen in the morning. There was a curfew imposed by the military in that period. I returned home before the curfew started. At night, I was called back. His condition had worsened. His blood pressure was down to 5. We attached an IV, and the blood pressure rose somehow.

The same day, around noon, he was in his bed while his eyes were closed. He was not concerned with what was happening around him. At 12:05, he sat up, opened his hand in prayer and said: "Oh my Lord!" We all got startled. Then he lay down. A few minutes later, he sat up again and cried: "Oh my Lord!" He lay back once more. I heard a light rattling sound. I checked his heartbeat: it had stopped. The clock hands were pointing to 10 minutes after 12.

I was sure that he was praying for his disciples when he cried, "Oh my Lord!" It was not for himself.

September 30, 1990 -- ISTANBUL