Necdet ORAL

(Translated from Anilarla Mehmed Zahid Kotku (rhA) Hazretleri, Dr. Metin Erkaya, Istanbul, Seha:1996, pp. 131-9)
 

I met Hasib Effendi RhA in 1948. His house was close to the Istanbul Men's High School. We used to live in Sultanahmed. A year before I met him, Almighty Allah blessed me with zeal and I started daily prayers in the month of Ramadhan.

At that time, one of our friends, Mazhar, got into a different mood. He started reciting poems from Yunus Emre. Once he told me: "Necdet! I met a great Khawaja Effendi. I want you to meet him. Among many friends, I choose you and your brother to take to him."

First, we went to the street where the daily Cumhuriyet had offices. Hasib Effendi's house was on that street. When we saw him for the first time, he smiled at us. That smile was sufficient to have our hearts filled with spirituality. That smile branded us for life.

I was 17 or 18 years old then. Hasib Effendi RhA told us: "Spiritual guidance is a light and mercy that descends to the heart. That mercy softens the heart as water softens the salty and dry soil. Then the heart opens up for the truth and accepts it just like the softened soil accepting the seed and germinating it."

We started attending Hasib Effendi's discourses. He had Khatme-i Khawajagan at his house every Monday night to the early hours of Tuesday. We decided to attend the Khatme-i Khawaja at Hasib Effendi's house for the first time. Since we had been minors, we never went outside at night before. On a Monday, we went to his house. Following the discourse and the Khatme-i Khawajagan, Hasib Effendi offered us a cup of tea. When we left his house, it was late in the night. We arrived at our house[in the wee hours.

Since my father was in Tekirdag, my uncle was staying with us. He opened the door for us and screamed: "Where have you been? Could anybody be on the streets until now?" And he started beating us. My grandmother tried to stop him: "Don't beat them. Leave them alone. They have a Khawaja Effendi; they are coming from him."

My uncle would not listen to her. After uttering an improper expression for the beard of the Khawaja Effendi, he slapped us again and then stopped.

In the morning, my uncle was in a terrible state. His hand on his chest, he was trying to tell something to my grandmother, yet could not say much to us. He had a terrible nightmare. I was amazed how a person like my uncle could be almost crying:

"There was a giant bonfire. Somebody was brought into the fire before me. He screamed so much. Then it was my turn. While they were dragging me towards the fire, I tried to escape. I fell off the bed."

While his hand was still on his chest, I realized that it was the wisdom of Allah and the spirituality of Hasib Effendi RhA. Hasib Effendi was among ahlullah; he was a pole of spirituality. I heard later his successor Aziz Effendi (Abdulaziz Bekkine) rhA saying "qutbul aqtab" to describe Hasib Effendi in the Khatme-i Khawajagan.

The Khatme-i Khawajagan in Hasib Effendi's house would not continue until the morning. He would observe the Sunnah attentively. As recommended by the Prophet, they would not stay up long after the Isha prayer. However, there would be long discourses late into the night in Aziz Effendi's house because this man’s life was growing short. He knew this fact. Hasib Effendi, too, knew that Aziz Effendi would have a short life. I was told, in reference to Mehmed Zahid Kotku, he said: "It appears to us that one who will come after Aziz Effendi will live long."

In a discourse, he was asked: "Khawaja Effendi, may Almighty Allah give you long life. Yet we wonder what we will do or where we will go after you pass away?"

He responded: "There is no reason to worry; there is Aziz. You can attend his discourses for a while." Later I heard from other people that he said, "One to come after Aziz will have a long life."

Hasib Effendi was old and had miraculous powers. He knew what was in your heart. Before you said anything, he would reveal something about your thoughts: "It is not like that at all. They say such and such for that." Brother Sirri told us once: "One day we left the Ibrahim Pasha Mosque after Isha. I was carrying the briefcase of Hasib Effendi. The sky was clear, and I was looking at the stars. Hasib Effendi was looking down. I saw a shooting star. I wondered how the shooting stars are interpreted in Islam. Before I said anything, he lifted his head and said, 'They say the angels are chasing the devil.'"

Hasib Effendi was such a person.

My brother and I had one and a half years with Hasib Effendi. When we received our allowance from my father, we would take Hasib Effendi from his house to the Bayazit Mosque by taxi. He would give a discourse there on Sundays after Asr prayer.

Once we were taking him from the mosque to his home. When we were passing the entrance of our high school, I had the thought: "I hope Khawaja Effendi prays for me to pass one of my difficult courses." In the taxi cab, he turned to me and asked:

"Which school do you attend?"

"This one," I said.

"Do you have any poor grades?"

"Yes."

"Insha-Allah, you will pass."

The same thing happened in his house, too. I visited him before the exams. He had some discomfort. His wife, our respected mother, was rubbing his back and wiping his sweat. Hasib Effendi was seated with his head down. While I was sitting there, he was saying something. I wished that he asked me about my exams and prayed for me. He stopped what he was saying and turned to me: "Which school do you attend?" I told him the school, but I was really embarrassed. My face turned red. He continued, "Do you have any poor grades?"

"I do."

"Insha-Allah you will pass." Then he added, "Sometimes I pray for the students and they pass their grades. It is not from me but from Allah." He had tears in his eyes.

He would cry when he heard a verse of the Qur'an. He always had tears while the Qur'an was being recited before the Friday prayer.

A person may be tested in various ways. On this subject, Aziz Effendi said: "A shaikh does not test a disciple, it would not be proper for him to do so. A shaikh would not say ‘I would like to have this man clean the toilets to see if he has any objections in his heart.’ What if the person opposes? What if the person says something offensive to Islam? What if it leads him to disbelief? That would be an enormous burden in the hereafter. That is why a shaikh does not test the dervish. Yet tests will come, from almighty Allah."

In Hasib Effendi’s house, Aziz Effendi would be his company. Before Hasib Effendi died, Aziz Effendi visited him every day with his brief case. They would study books such as Muhammadiya, Ahmadiya. It was not merely a series of study sessions; rather, it was a transfer of the stage and responsibilities.

Once I went to visit Hasib Effendi when they were studying. Hasib Effendi was in a sitting position in bed, reading a book in Arabic out loud while Aziz Effendi was following him on another book. Every now and then he would ask what a particular phrase meant. Aziz Effendi turned to Hasib Effendi and asked: "Khawaja Effendi! After a shaikh dies, would his powers helping a disciple be reduced or diminished?"

Hasib Effendi responded: "No, not at all. On the contrary, after a shaikh dies, his power for his disciples becomes sharper just like a sword taken out of its case."

Aziz Effendi was a generous person despite his poor income. He would not accept anything from people. Yet he looked like he was a wealthy person. Each Khawaja Effendi was exemplary for us in their life styles.

Aziz Effendi was the imam of Zeyrek Ummu Gulsum Mosque. I heard his salary was 19 liras. To feed his children, he bought a pair of goats. The goats multiplied in time. He, a beloved servant of Allah, would go to the green-grocery wholesale place after the day's bazaar was over, collect the leftover vegetables, and bring them home to feed the goats. I could not hold back the tears in my eyes when I heard him saying, "I collected each one of these leftovers by my very own hands."

One of our friends, Osman Agabey, asked the son of Aziz Effendi: "Mahmud, is there anything you cannot forget about your father?"

He responded: "Osman Abi, there are so many things I remember. However, there is one thing I never forget. After collecting the vegetable leftovers, he would put them in a big sack and carry it on his back. When he walked up the Zeyrek hill, one would think that his nose would touch the ground."

One day a woman came to Aziz Effendi to request him pray for her sick son. She begged him to do so. He wanted to do it but changed his mind: "I am sorry, I cannot do that!" The woman left in disappointment. Later on Aziz Effendi told us: "If I tell them to pass under my beard, it would be a path. If I pray for somebody, then people would call me a breath-healer. If the child gets better by the grace of Allah, then I would be in trouble with the calamity of fame."

I heard that Aziz Effendi brought Hasib Effendi to the tekke. Then the shaikh of the tekke, Mustafa Feyzi Effendi, told him: "You have brought a piece of high quality lumber."

Somebody asked Aziz Effendi, "How should the dress of a Muslim woman appear?"

He responded: "The dress of a Muslim woman should not attract attention but respect. It could be made of a loose head-scarf covering the majority of facial lines, a loose and long coat that would cover the body lines, thick socks, and a pair of flat shoes."

Once I heard from Aziz Mahmud, who was a friend of Aziz Effendi and an imam of the Fatih Mosque:

"I used to keep the books of the City Stock Farm. In the month of March, we had to balance the books and close the account for the year. I had trouble balancing the book. The director called me: 'If you cannot balance the book in two days, we both have to look for new jobs.'

"I went to Aziz Effendi and stated the problem: 'There is a small difference in the balance. I cannot find the reason.' He asked me to bring the book. I went home and brought the book. Aziz Effendi was getting ready to make wudu'u while sitting on the floor. He asked me, 'Come, sit by me and turn the pages.' While he was sitting with his arms crossed on his chest, I kept turning the pages. At one page, he put his finger on a number and said: 'Look at this number carefully and close the book.'

"I went home and searched the invoices to find the one related to the number pointed out by Aziz Effendi. I realized that I had recorded 69 as 96 by mistake. I corrected the mistake and balanced the book by the help of Aziz Effendi."

Here is something about Mehmed Effendi:

[It is a custom in Turkey to offer the guest some candy and perfume. Cologne, rose water or some kind of oil is used for that purpose. Due to the alcohol content, cologne is often avoided.] Mehmed Effendi would not use cologne. Once we went to a house in a group. He was sitting by the door. A little girl came to the room and grabbed the bottle of cologne and went straight to Mehmed Effendi's hands. He looked at the girl and then at the bottle. He extended his hands and let the girl put some cologne on his hands.

This is a good example for us. Imagine the little innocent girl. If he had refused it, it would have been a disappointment for her. She would have cried. The family perhaps did not pay much attention to the alcohol content of the perfume, yet Khawaja Effendi did not turn the little girl down. I had seen him may times saying "No, thanks!" to such offers before.

Kadin ve Aile, November 1992