TEMPO TURKEY'S Premiere Newsmagazine
		The United Colors of Shaykh Nazim translated from the Turkish

According to some murids, the coming of many Europeans to the shaikh is due to their finding the true path to reality in Islam. Maud (Khayriya), who left her studies in medical school, says: "humanity is on the edge." She likes her shaikh, doesn’t want to watch TV, doesn’t want to read newspapers: "...all of it is rubbish. Romantic novels, jazz, rock are all away from Allah. The beautiful women in the media are making problems. The men are saying, ‘our wives are not that beautiful,’ so they leave them and go to such ladies. Women die in order to be thinner. That philosophy is not controlling the problems of the world. Allah has many rules, but instead of that, they are inventing rules."

Photo 1: "Behind the door... behind the door at which Shaikh Nazim and men murids are standing at its entrance, there is a rose garden belonging to Hajji Anne. Only the Shaikh by himself and those helpers, who have been with him for years may enter this door. Sometimes Hajji Anne even puts Shaikh out of the door. When that happens he makes a sohbet for the murids in front of the door." Photo 2: "‘Whatever our Shaikh orders...’ the room in which Shaikh Nazim and his men murids make prayers, has an entrance to the other section covered by a grilled window. From this opening the women who are able to hear the voice of the Shaikh at the other section they are making their prayers with deep soul concentration. After the prayers, they make Dhikr by calling Allah’s names, one after another and by other means."

Every murid agrees that when all of them think of living, they think of making the right move. Twenty people living in the guest house surprisingly are keeping it very clean. The expenses are met by the money that is gathered each week. The couples who have been living with each other for years may not be able to sleep with each other here. There are two big rooms, one for men and one for women. The first couples to come to the guest house have the chance of getting the private rooms.

It is also necessary to be organized in such a place, because in the morning there are lines in front of the restrooms. The first prayer is at 4:30 in the morning, Tahajud, followed by Fajr prayer and sohbets (instructional gathering). Most of them wait for the sunrise, then they sleep one or two hours. They make breakfast with each other, the women clean the dishes and clean the house. Before the 1 o’clock noon prayer, the men work in the garden and the women do laundry. The shaikh comes to the garden sometimes. Afterwards, between five and six o’clock is the afternoon prayer.

They eat two times day. Then ten o’clock breakfast is usually made as a brunch. They eat soup and the leftovers from the previous night. Whoever has a question gathers in the shaikh’s house before Maghrib prayer. Afterwards, all the sohbets are recorded to be transcribed in book form and translated into more than 10 languages. Generally, brunch is eaten at the shaikh’s house, the women with Hajji Anne and the men with the shaikh. Dinner is served to over 200 persons, murids, the poor and orphans from nearby, visiting guests: all sit on the floor and eat together in a traditional Islamic way. The shaikh likes to eat dinner with his family. The women eat there as well, separate from the men. The shaikh asks them, "how did your day go? What did you cook?" They ask, "Has Hajji Anne ever made the shaikh be quiet?" "Every time!" She replies. "Which lady can’t make him be quiet?" But in fact the acceptance of this behavior by the shaikh does not correspond with the image of women he has in his head.

"Islam doesn’t like the woman that tries to be like a man and I don’t like the man that tries to be like a woman either. Alhamdulillah - Praise God, if the woman is satisfied with her womanhood.... A lady may work, but getting married and raising a family are more satisfying than what she will get from the job. ...After all, is there a better job than being a mother? If I was the government I would give the woman sitting at home twice the salary the woman outside the house gets."

We asked the shaikh, "what do you think of the woman: prime minister Tansu Ciller?" He says, "We don’t say "woman", it is impolite, say "lady". Now Lady Tansu she came to rule. All the ladies must be happy because they will be getting salaries, and all the men because they are getting the apron."

If he sees her succeed in politics, he will applaud, "let us see what Tansu Hanim will do... If Demirel with thirty years of experience didn’t do anything I don’t think Lady Tansu will fill his place."

Halal vs. Haram

According to the shaikh, another reason for depression in both men and women, is their frequent changing of lovers, which comes about in modern culture. Even the increase in the number of Russian prostitutes in Turkey, is due to the same cause--endless desire and no satisfaction with what God has given.

One of the prescriptions of Shaikh Nazim that organizes the lives of his murids: "for a woman who is unmarried to be with a man is a big haram - sin, and for a man to be with a woman is a big haram. Marriage is for the honor of man and woman, it is halal, permitted and recommended for all. There are no monks or nuns in our way."

"Masha-Allah, Masha-Allah," - "It is as God wills!" like so many words, this word is also used a lot of in the English sentences [spoken by murids.] It is heard from murids more than from the shaikh who love to practice the new Islamic phrases and verses they study so assiduously every day. The new converts among them are lucky, they are able to study Arabic, Islamic law, principles of tasawwuf, Quranic studies and the Traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (s) without paying tuition at the hands of some of the most knowledgeable teachers of Islam in Turkey, mainly graduates of Azhar university in Egypt. Among the murids are those fluent in three, five even ten languages, enabling them to translate the Shaikh's teachings for newcomers from any part of the world.

Shaikh's Treatments for Illnesses

The shaikh has treatment methods for illnesses: according to one murid, the shaikh prescribed that a woman drink onion water for forty days for the larynx cancer she had had for seven years. The woman got well and her whole family entered Islam. The shaikh blows into the water, sugar and honey that is put each Thursday when the tariqat comes together. These things, besides being good for a lot of illnesses, are very effective against cigarette smoking.

The Shaikh's Famous Predictions

The shaikh’s mysterious aspects are everyone’s concern. For example: the secret meeting with Turgut Ozal before he died. He was seen at the funeral and at the same time he was with his murids in France. On the 11^th of September 1980, when Demirel was prime minister, he told him of the revolution that would happen the next day, and it happened just as he foretold. Also famous is his saying to Asil Nadir’s mother "we will pick out your son as we picked the hair out of the butter." His predictions of the Gulf War, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the conversion of Prince Charles of England are all hot topics in the papers and on people's lips. All these sayings and occurrences have made the shaikh famous in every class of Turkish society. About the famous he says, "they are king-size people, they can’t enter through this door."

Shaikh Nazim is never king-size in the eyes of his murids. They feel as if when they were born, the shaikh was holding them in his arms and a strong spiritual bond was formed. For them Shaikh Effendi is someone for whom you give up the West’s richness and the West’s concepts to live a very simple life.

Some of them go for years following him around, but for some a few weeks in the year is enough for them. After seeing these people, a question comes to mind: each one is spending the vacation he gets out of his job to come and live a very poor life in hot Cyprus. What is the secret causing these Western, modern people go to spend their days in Lefke: it certainly cannot be an alternative fantasy to the lives they live at home?

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