Sayyid Tâhâ bin Ahmad bin
Ibrâhîm (Quddîsa sirruh), one of the great Awliyâ’ al-kirâm, was a descendant
of ’Abdal-qâdîr-i Jîlânî. He was the most perfect successor-deputy (al-khalîfa
alakmal) of Mawlânâ Diyâ’ ad-dîn Khâlid al-Baghdâdî and the treasure of
Rabbânî (Divine) Knowledge.
His descent continued through
his two sons, namely ’Ubeydullah and ’Alauddîn, ’Alauddîn Effendi is (buried)
in the Hizne village of Shamdhinân. His grandson Muhammad Siddiq Effendi
married Mariam Haným
after her husband Mustafa Effendi died. Tâhâ Effendi was born from Mariam Haným. Muhammad Siddiq Effendi, who
was one of the sons of this Sayyid Tâhâ Effendi, died in Baghdad while he was
Musul Deputy in the Iraqi government. His other two sons Muhammad Sâlih Dârû
and Mazhar Effendis who were in Iraq with their properties when the Ottoman
Empire was divided, migrated to Turkey in 1400 (1980).
Hadrat Mawlânâ Khâlid, who was the qutb of
the thirteenth century of Islam, had been to India (Hindustân) where he had had
the honour of attending the presence of Ghulâm-i ’Alî ’Abdullah ad-Dahlawî,
After attaining the virtues (fadl) and perfections (kamâlât) proper to and
worthy of him, he returned home, Baghdâd, to instruct (irshâd) human slaves of Allâhu ta’âlâ. Since the entire world was illuminated
by the anwâr (spiritual lights) that radiated from Mawlânâ’s heart, Sayyid
’Abdullah, who had become a friend of his while they were studying, visited him
in Sulaimâniyya and attained perfection at his suhba and became a khalîfa
al-akmal of his. He told Hadrat Mawlânâ about the extraordinarily high
qualities of his nephew Sayyid Tâhâ. Mawlânâ ordered him to bring his nephew to
him during his next visit. Sayyid ’Abdullah took Sayyid Tâhâ to Baghdâd; as
soon as Hadrat Mawlânâ saw Sayyid Tâhâ he ordered him to go abruptly to Hadrat
’Abdal-Qâdir al-Jîlânî’s shrine to perform istikhâra (divining by dream).
Hadrat ’Abd al-Qâdir al-Jîlânî informed him that, though his own way (tarîqa)
was great, there remained no experts in it at that time, and that Mawlânâ was
the most perfect guide of his time, and ordered him to go to him at once. Upon
this spiritual order, Sayyid Tâhâ
studied
for two sulûks, that is, eighty days, under Mawlânâ and later went to the town
of Barda Sur. When Sayyid ’Abdullah passed away, he emigrated to the town of
Nehri and began instructing. For forty-two years he emitted faid to his
disciples there. Lovers from everywhere gathered like moths around this source
of light.
He would perform his ’ibâdât in
a small house inherited from his father. At other times he would teach aqlî
(scientific) and naqlî (conveyed) knowledge. He wouldn’t associate with aghas
(squires), begs and politicians, worldly and political talks would not take
place in his presence. He would read (Maktûbât) everyday. He would imprint the
advice (being kind to everybody to be patient with maltreatment and not be
revengeful, besides, responding with kindness to respect and help superiors and
the government) into hearts. All of his masters throughout 1200 years had
always taught this good moral of Islam, they had all been respectful to states
and laws. None of them had been heard to have rebelled against the government,
nor is there a record of such an ugly event in history books. Some antagonistic
and jealous people tried to blemish these blessed people with rebellions
attempted against governments by feudalistic lovers of worldly property and
reputation who could not benefit from these sources of knowledge and beautiful
moral values because they were far from them, and also with others’ ignorant,
excessive and stupid behaviours after their death, so that a few of these
virtuous people were sent to dungeons. However, law and justice proved them to
be innocent and they were set free with sincere and earnest apologies and great
compensatory rewards to appease their blessed hearts and regain their tawajjuh.
Such slanderous arrows, which are often seen in history and story books, were
cast on hadrat Sayyid Tâhâ also, and those poor unfortunates tried to stain
this sun of knowledge and moral by making up imaginary and ugly slanders. But,
since the truth can’t be hidden, those fortunate and alert people who saw and
understood this son of hidâya (the right way) and were not fooled with such
slanders, became lovers and admirers of his and attained comfort, peace and
endless bliss by being enlightened with the nûr (light) radiating from his
blessed heart.
Hadrat Sayyid ’Abdulhakîm-i Arwâsî’s
great-grandfather, Sayyid Muhammad, was one of those who came from Van and
received
faid from this source. Sayyid Tâhâ stayed at Sayyid Muhammad’s house when he
honoured Van, Sibghatullâh Effendi, who was Sayyid Muhammad’s brother Lutfî’s
son, came from Hîzân to Van and attached himself (intisâb) to Sayyid Tâhâ.
Later he returned to Hîzân, where his father lived, and there he became very
famous. With hundreds of his disciples he visited Nehri every year. In one of
those visits, he took with him his uncle Molla ’Abdulhamîd Effendi’s son,
Sayyid Fahîm, who was very young then. Hadrat Sayyid Fehim asked the owner of
the house where they stayed for a night on their way what type of man the
Governor of Hakkari was. The host said that he was drunk day and night. Sayyid
Fahîm thought all night whether it would be right to stay in a country wherein
the governor was a drunkard. The following day they came to the village of
Rasûlan, where Sibghatullâh Effendi asked its inhabitants what kind of person
the Governor was. They said he was a nice person. Sayyid Fahîm joined in at
once. “My cousin! He is a drunkard. Why is he said to be a good person?”
When they were leaving Baskhal’a
for Nehri, Sayyid Muhammad Effendi said to Sayyid Fahîm, on the side, “My dear
Fahîm! Sayyid Tâhâ, whose presence you will enter is a great personage at the
highest degree of wilâyat.[1] Don’t leave him before you receive faid, before you attain
perfection!” When they were departing from Nehri, everybody kissed the hand of
Hadrat Sayyid Tâhâ, who stood in front of a mosque. Seeing Sayyid Fahîm remain
behind, Sibghatullah Effendi came back and asked Hadrat Sayyid Tâhâ to permit
Sayyid Fahîm to return. He did not permit it, but ordered him to remain there.
As soon as the travellers left and while they both were on their feet, he gave
an assignment to Sayyid Fahîm and began to teach him. On a hot day, he had him
repeat all of what he had taught. Sayyid Fahîm repeated everything as he was
taught, except ’hatt-i tûlî’ instead of ’hatt-i tûlânî.’ Sayyid Tâhâ corrected
him right away. In those days Sayyid Fahîm was very young and had not completed
his madrasa studies. One day Sayyid Tâhâ was sitting against the wall of a
mosque when Sayyid Fahîm approached him. He made a sign with his blessed hand
for him to come, and Sayyid Fahîm came. He said, “You are an intelligent
student. You should read Mutawwal.’ Sayyid Fahîm
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[1] Wilâyat: the status of, state of being a walî.
said, “Sir, I do not have that book. Besides, it is not one of
those books that are studied in my country.” Sayyid Tâhâ gave him his own book.
Hadrat Sayyid Fahîm, to complete his education, went to the village of Âbirî,
Bulanik, Muþ, where he studied the whole of Mutawwal in the presence of Molla Rasûl. And, in order to attain high
degrees of wilâyat, he went to Nehri, i.e. Shamdinan, twice a year. During
every visit, he was honoured with various courteous acts by Sayyid Tâhâ. For example,
one day Sayyid Tâhâ was reading Maktûbât before
a dense crowd in the anteroom of a mosque. Standing at a distance, Sayyid Fahîm
listened. Hadrat Sayyid Tâhâ raised his head from the book and asked him,
“Molla Fahîm! Is there a murshid on the earth today?” Sayyid Fahîm replied,
“The likes of the present murshid has not come!” Upon this reply, Sayyid Tâhâ
immediately closed the book and went to his room.
After Sayyid Fahîm attained
perfection (kamâl) and completed qualifications (takmîl) and was permitted to
instruct others with a khilâfat al-mutlaqa (certificate of absolute deputy), he
said he was not competent enough for this duty. Sayyid Tâhâ insisted and
persuaded him to accept it and then ordered him to honour Arwâs, where Sayyid
Fahîm had been born. Sayyid Fahîm left, but, while he was climbing the Nehri
Mountain, Sayyid Tâhâ called him back to his presence and, showing Sayyid
Fahîm’s old letters in books, said to him, “Weren’t these out of your ikhlâs
and love? Why do you run away from this duty?” Sayyid Fahîm, as he had done
before, visited Nehri every year even after he had been honoured with the
khilâfat al-mutlaqa.
Hadrat Sayyid Tâhâ passed away in 1269 (1853). One afternoon, he
was given two letters as he was sitting among trees. He had his son-in-law
’Abdulahad Effendi read the letters. He remarked, “The time has come for us to
leave this world.” His son-in-law said, “Oh Sir, what will we do with these
letters which came from Damascus?” After reading a Khatm-i khâja[1] that day,
Sayyid Tâhâ went to his room, where he lay ill for
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[1] Khatm-i khâja: certain things recited silently by a murshid and his disciples, after which the names of the Awliyâ' in the silsila of the murshid are mentioned, and the blessings of what are recited are offered to their souls, whose faid and ma'rifat are then asked for.
twelve days. His blessed soul ascended to the Rafîq[1] al-a’lâ during the time
of the late afternoon salât. Thousands of lovers who heard the cries were
shocked. While he was ill, he wanted his brother Shaikh Sâlih, who was in the
town of Barda Sur, to come to Nehri. He ordered his perfect brother (birâdar-i
akmal), Sayyid Sâlih, to perform a Khatm-i khâja and tawajjuh. “My brother
Sâlih is a perfect person. Everybody’s head is under his wing,” he said. Hadrat
Sayyid Fahîm accepted Shaikh Sâlih as his Shaikh-i suhba.[2] Until Shaikh Sâlih
passed away in 1281 (1864), he visited Nehri twice a year and, after Shaikh
Sâlih’s departure, he did not give up this custom and honoured Nehri twice a
year until he himself passed away in 1313 (1895).
Except Sayyid Muhammad Sâlih,
the most influenced disciple of Sayyid Tâhâ-i Hakkârî was Sayyid Sibgatullah
Arwâsî. Following him was Kufrawî Muhammad. Sayyid Sibgatullah was known by
such names as “Gaws-ul a’zam” and “Gaws-i Hizânî” among his disciples. He
passed away in 1287. Of his disciples. Abdurrahmân Tâhî Nurshînî was known by
the names “Ustâd-ý
a’zam” and “Saydâ”. Of all his disciples, nineteen were: Fath-ullah Warksanisî,
Abdullah Nurshînî, molla Rashid Nurshînî, Abdulqahhâr who was the grandson of
allâma molla Halîl Sî’ridîn, Abdulqâdir Hizânî, sayyid Ibrâhîm As’irdî,
Abdulhakîm Farsafî, Ibrâhîm Ninkî, Tâhir Âbarî, Abdulhâdî, Abdullah Hurûsi,
Ibrâhîm Cukrushî, Halîl Cukrushî, Ahmad Tashkasânî, Muhammad Sâmî Erzincânî,
Mustafa, Sulaiman and Yûsuf Bitlisî, Abdurrahman Tâhî died in 1304. Ibrâhîm
Cukrushî collected his sayings under the name “Ishârât” (signs). It is a very dependable book. Fathullah Warkânisî died in
1317. Of his disciples, Muhammad Ziyâuddîn Nurshînî, son of Abdurrahmân-ý Tâhî, passed away in Bitlis in
1342 (1924). His book “Maktubât” contains a hundred and fourteen letters. The
first of his thirteen disciples was Muhammad Alâûddîn-i Uhînî who collected his
master’s letters. The second is Ahmad Haznawî. Muhammad Ma’sûm, Sayyid Muhammad
Sharîf
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[1] Rafîq al-a'lâ: the highest status in Paradise, which was the request of the Prophet as his last wish.
[2] Shaikh-i subha: a Walî's second murshid (guide, shaikh) whom he knows to be higher than himself and at whose suhba (company, lecture) he attends after his own murshid's death (At this suhba both Walîs benefit from each other.)
Arabkendî and Abdülhakîm Effendi of Adýyaman were disciples of his. The latter one died in 1399 (1978). Muhammad Râshid Effendi was his son.