I couldn't help but just looked at the picture and the whole wonderful experience at Lefke overwhelmes me. I yearn to to go back there and kiss Mawlana's feet and be with him. Except that now I can't since I don't have the money.Look at him. Look at the smile. Look at the happy faces around him. I don't know of any other sufi or scholar who grants such love and happiness like Mawlana, I've never experienced such things with anyone else before. I suppose this picture was taken after Zuhr or 'Asr prayer and Mawlana was walking back to his house. Look at Shaykh Hisham on the right. Well, part of him was not captured in the photo but you could still see and imagine for yourself the light and happiness exuberating and it just fills the air, as much as Mawlana's light and charm that is absolutely extraordinary.
A few familiar faces, if I get them right. The tall smiling man in maroon should be Osman Coletti from Italy. I met him in Damascus in 2004. Very sweet man and so is his baby girl! The one to his right is from Germany but can't remember his name. The one to his left is from the UK. But the one I remember so much is Shaykh 'Ali "Tatari". He's the big man on the left.
I knew him as much as other students in Damascus, as the big, quiet man from Moscow. We were in Abu Nour together and when I saw him the first time his appearance, attire looked all too familiar to my liking. He wears the common Naqshbandi "Haydari" dressing fashioned after that of Mawlana's. But it would take me a few months later to confirm my deep-seated feeling that he's also Naqshbandi when I met him for dhikr one Friday at Grandshaykh 'Abdullah al-Daghistani's maqam and mosque. There he sits, quietly, fully focused.
After that we were more cordial. I remember when I visited Sh. Gibril Haddad with our brother Ibrahim Colliver and was surprised to meet 'Ali there as well, how he said after a few months living there he could now run up all the way from Abu Nour, which was at the foot of Mount Qasiyun, to his house which was almost at the top! One day we met out near the internet cafes and he told me how much he wanted to go to Cyprus and see Mawlana. The next day he said, "I'm going tomorrow. I can afford to forget about the course at Abu Nour. To learn takes a whole lifetime, and I could do that anytime! But to be with the Shaykh, that one you cannot wait!" Inspiring!
So he left. Few weeks later I arrived in Lefke after Maghrib. It was quite dark since the electricity got a blackout for a while. At that time the people were having dinner and waiting for 'Isha. As I walked through the men's area, guess who I saw... 'Ali! But that's not it, he was mopping and scrubbing the cement floor, throwing pail after pail of water and sweeping again. He didn't talk to me much at that time but after dhikr that night, we resumed. He said he had never been happier in his life and he always sent emails to his wife who was in Moscow. He told me how after only a few weeks in Lefke, he improved his Turkish (he's a Tatar) and picked up English so easily.
We both went visiting historical sites and tombs in Cyprus with a bunch of brothers from Spain one day. And there we all got to know a different side of him, one that was warm, funny, and very loving. I've always knew him as a humble, yet strong and firm man. Yes, this man is strong! We were working on Mawlana's land to build a wall bordering Mawlana's plot from the neighbour's that involved digging, piling, stuffing stones. This man literally worked his way so hard he hurt his back for 3 days, at least. But you know Mawlana loves him so much, and that there's something up on the cards for him.
'Ali manage to speak with Mawlana almost every other night. He used to translate for a fellow Russian brother whose family was facing some deep problems and needed daily advice. One night, as 'Ali told me, Mawlana looked at him and called him, "Shaykh 'Ali!". He said, "No, Mawlana, I'm not Shaykh. You are Shaykh!". Mawlana repeated, "Shaykh 'Ali!" three times and after much denying himself of that, finally relented and smiled as Mawlana raised his voice even higher and with firmness. The next thing I knew blew me away.
Mawlana sent him a letter, hand written and I saw his writing - it was the most beautiful handwriting I've seen in Arabic! He was handed the letter and Mawlana opened it, with his pen in his hand, slowly signed on the bottom of the letter. I read it later that Mawlana gave full permission to Sh. 'Ali as his representative in Moscow and the Tatars, and that he was to return to Damascus to perform seclusion! You should have seen the look on 'Ali's face - that beaming smile from the favours of Mawlana. He was never proud however, and always maintained his manners and humility, never bragging about his appointment, although he got quite excited when he told some brothers about it, who also rejoiced for him.
I met him again in Damascus and after his seclusion he looked more radiant, much stronger. He told me how seclusion made him realise how dhikr is manifested in the heart. He acted out how the heart would repeat "Allah, Allah" on its own without him saying anything. That, he said, was his realisation of how powerful dhikr is. And I couldn't be more happy for him, but also my jealousy wished that I also get Mawlana's long awaited permission to perform seclusion soon. (Insha Allah I intend to do it this year.) He went home to Moscow soon after.
The next time I heard about him was in May 2005 when I went to Cyprus. I heard from some brothers Shaykh 'Ali had left with his family only a week earlier. Oh how I missed that! Then I felt how close it was when we have been with together at one point of our lives, but how far it also becomes knowing that we were thousands of miles away from each other at another time. I sat recounting the days and the times we spent in Damascus and Lefke, and also about the other wonderful brothers and sisters around the world that I've met at Mawlana's zawiyah, wondering will the next time be when we're together there to sit with Mawlana and bask in his love and guidance. Seeing this picture brought me memories of one of Mawlana's followers I admired. And I couldn't imagine what he'd achieve in Moscow by now. May Allah forgive me and bless Shaykh 'Ali, and grants Mawlana Shaykh Nazim long life! Amin.
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