Worshippers pray for the holy man

Followers from around the world have gathered at the hospital in northern Nicosia which is treating a revered and influential Turkish Cypriot Sufi leader who has inspired millions with his spiritual teachings and messages of peace and humility.

In hospital since April 17, 92-year-old Shaykh Nazim is in the intensive care unit of the Near East University Hospital. Admitted for heart and respiratory problems as well as kidney and liver conditions combined with old age, the Shaykh’s condition is serious.

Since his admission, the Shaykh’s followers and the leaders of his order from around the world have been visiting the hospital to be close to him and pay their respects. The hospital on its website’s home page has even created a special section with get-well messages for the man who followers call Mawlana Shaykh. Mawlana is a title showing respect and “denotes the Lordship and the Sovereignty of Allah”.

On his website saltanat.org, Shaykh Nazim’s oldest son and successor, Shaykh Mehmed, is urging followers to pray for his father’s recovery. His second son, Shaykh Bahauddin, says that followers with compatible blood types are providing blood for transfusions.
“My father is strong, he is a fighter. He is responding to medication. The doctors are careful in their announcements but they are optimistic he will recover,” he said.
“But at the end of the day we are believers. If it is time for my father to move on to the after world, we will not fight it.”

The Larnaca born shaykh is the leader of the Sufi Naqsibandi-Haqqani Order – Sufism is a mystical branch of Islam – and is believed to be a descendant of the 13th century mystic Djalal al Din Rumi. He is considered to be the fortieth sheikh in the “golden chain” of the Naqshbandiya, which leads back to the Prophet Mohammed and he has great influence within the Islamic world, ranking 42nd in the list of the world’s most influential Muslims. Among his followers are members of royal families and statesmen.

He resides with his followers in his dergah (religious commune) in Lefke in a number of restored Ottoman-era houses. The shaykh has two sons and two daughters…..

Read the whole article by Evie Andreou in Cyprus Mail by clicking here!