His Miracle-Like Deeds

1-His being cognizant of the secrets of the hearts of the alive people and the situation of the dead people in their graves: We were having dinner in Izmir in 1961 at the house of Afyonlu Ismail Effendi. The Effendi was with his followers. There were some outsiders, too. After the meal, the conversation started. A couple of young persons stood up and said they had a problem and wanted to ask about it

“O sheikh, our fathers died a few years ago. We dream about him where he looks offended. However, in his lifetime we always showed respect to him. We had the same dream a couple of nights, we are very sad and do not know what to do”.

The venerable Effendi bowed his head down, and stayed a few minutes like that, cutting his ties with the social group and then returned to normal and held his head up and asked. Did your father have a disputed debt issue? They said, yes, he had somebody make a building, the master workman claimed he was supposed to be given 800 Liras more, and our father did not accept this and they had a dispute. Then our father died. Our Sultan told them to pay the money and make the master workman forgive their father.

We were in the same congregation. Next to Dr. Fehmi from the brethren was sitting an old man with beard neither known to us and nor to our Sultan. Later on we learned that that person was called IBRAHIM ELMALI and was the mufti of Uskudar at that time, and told his fellow countryman Dr. Fehmi that he had a problem, they discussed about it and decided to ask the Effendi about it. For that reason the old man joined our meeting. He had been never married up to then. He lived with his mother until he passed the age of 60 and upon the death of his mother, he stayed with his sister. When his sister, too, died, his friends told him he needed a wife to do household chores and suggested him to marry a suitable old lady. The mufti was indecisive in the matter, and came to our Sultan to consult to him. After the talk, he planned to ask it. The venerable Visali summoned the two and read a hadith in Arabic to them which says ‘our prophet says at late stages of the life, not getting married is better’, we should act accordingly.

2- Explaining the hadith. In the same gathering, the conversation continued in different topics. He said A SAINT CAN NOT REACH TO THE DEGREE OF A PROPHET. This reminded me of the hadith THE SAINTS OF MY UMMAH (COMMUNITY) ARE EQUAL TO THE JEWISH PROPHETS. Even though hadith experts said this hadith may not be true, it came to my mind anyway. But I kept silent. After some time, the conversation was over and everyone left.
First our Sultan left and his caliphs followed him. I was walking behind, still thinking about that hadith that the saints of my ummah are equal to the Jewish prophets. I was told that the Effendi summoned me. I walked fast and caught them. We got in the car together where there was an empty space for me. It was dark; we were well into the evening. We went to the Hamit Aga Tea House without speaking and sit four of us as usual in the court of the tea house. We drank teas and then our Sultan turned to me and told me ‘we said A SAINT CAN NOT REACH TO THE DEGREE OF A PROPHET. Then what does the following hadith mean: The saints of my ummah are equal to the Jewish prophets. We talked about it for some time and he left us. I stayed with Hajji Kazim Effendi who said our Sultan passed the issue to me to continue. Their spiritual radio-sets were working quite sensitively.

3- His visit of the graveyard and meeting his dead sheikh in spiritual realm : In 1961, together with brothers and our Sultan we visited the grave of estimable sheikh venerable Abdurrahman Sami Saruhani which was in the Edirnekapi cemetery in Istanbul. It was snowing. We listened together to the recital of surah yaseen, and the prayer was over. I looked at our Effendi who was crying. I saw him for the first time crying. He continued “HE INVITES ME TO AFTERLIFE, TAKE ME TO AROUND THE EYUP SULTAN”… I said ‘MY OWNER, WE WILL BE ORPHANS IF YOU DIE BECAUSE WE HAVE NOT PASSED ANIMALISM DEGREE TO HUMANITY, YET’.

4- His affecting his disciple in the countryside from the remote area: While I was living in Izmir, one day I went to Bursa to pursue some worldly business. That day the venerable Visali and his followers and caliphs together honored my place. My people said ‘he is in the countryside, but we can send a telegram and call him back’. He said there was no need, he would return without contacting him. I was in the Ulu Masjid in Bursa and Hadradt Effendi contacted me spiritually and I turned back to my town right away.

5- The hadith of Abu Huraira and Visali’s karamat (miracle-like deed): It was in one of the first days I joined his dervish order and I did not come across up to then such an attractive and enriching talking. While he spoke, I was sort of drunk with spiritual pleasure. In order not to forget what I listened to, I started to take notes. I continued to this habit a couple of months. Except the ones after the Morning Prayer (salat ul fajr) he delivered speeches generally inside the tea shops, where there were noises from card games and backgammon. I used to put my hands under the table and take notes. He made a signal to me with his hand saying ‘stop writing on the papers, if you write on your hearth, you'll never forget it’. After he said this, I turned to be a recording machine and forgot nothing he said afterwards. I made traffic accidents, suffered from brain traumas, but I kept recording every word he said as a tape. This happened just because and only because of the miracle-like influence of the venerable Effendi.

The miracle of our Prophet (peace be upon him) affected Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him).
In the commentary on the Qur’an called Ruh-ul Beyan, volume 9, page 251, there is a hadith that occurs in Bukhari, Muslim and Tirmizi hadith books which refers to this fact.

Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him) passes on the following hadith to us: Some people told me that ‘You quote a lot of hadith, whereas others do not so much’. He continued the Prophet said one day ‘IF SOMEBODY SPREADS HIS GARMENT ON HIS BODY UNTIL I COMPLETE MY WORD, AND THEN HE COLLECTS IT UP, HE WILL LEARN WHATEVER I SHALL TELL”. Upon hearing this, I spread my black and white striped garment on my body and when he finished his word, I collected it up on my chest. After then, I have never forgotten anything the Prophet said. Abu Huraira is originally from Yemen and converted to Islam after the conquest of Mecca. He is ranked the first among the seven people who quoted hadiths the most. Among the hadith he passed on to us are very lengthy ones like hadith of Lailat al Miraj (the Ascension). This is obviously above the capacity of a normal humanbeing and only was a result of the miracle of our Prophet.

In another hadith, he said (AL ULAMA VERASATUL ANBIYA), scholars and saints are the inheritors of the prophets. Our prophet left no material heritage behind. Even though he owned the Fadak palm trees field, it was not transferred to his heirs. So the transferred to the scholars and saints are his spiritual fortunes, namely his perfection and his miracles. The miracle of the Prophet affected Abu Huraira and hence its effects appeared on him and similarly this manifested on Hajji Bekir Visali as miracle-like deed. We should clarify that no miracle-like deed shown by saints can pass a miracle displayed by the prophets. The miracle was shown by the Prophet, the perfect person, the hodja of the universe, the essence of all the existent, the most esteemed creature. The miracle affected one of his great companions. However, the source of both is the same, namely divine treasury.
6-His last miraculous deed took place on the bench his corpse was washed before the burial: I heard from our Sultan Hajji Mehmet Ruhi that our Sultan told him that HE WILL SHOW HIS LAST MIRACULOUS DEED TO HIM ON THE CORPSE WASHING BENCH. As I was in the countryside, I could not join his funeral. When his corpse was being washed, the person pouring down the water says HE, LYING DEAD ON THE BENCH, TOOK THE WATER BOWL, SMILED AND THEN LEFT IT. Thus, the miracle-like deed he promised when he was alive took place.

7- Resolving the spiritual problems: Whenever I read a commentary on the Qur’an, or hadith, Sufism… etc, and then visit him, he talks about the same topic or verses, without myself mentioning them, and clarifies what I had difficulty in understanding and corrects my mistakes. One of our brothers, called Hajji Mehmet Ayhan, invited both of us to the dinner. We went together. But a problem was fixed in my heart before we depart and I could not help thinking about it. But I did not mention to him. He knew mysteriously all my thoughts and my moods no matter whether I conceal or reveal them. He guided me with the manners, modesty and information peculiar to him, sometimes by giving examples from similar incidents.

While the dining table was being prepared, he requested the Qur’an and opened the page, which he desired and first recited, and then explained it fully with mystical sides included. The subject was the problem which was fixed in my heart which I could not resolve with my efforts and it was settled on the dining table.
We have a lot of memories other than given above. Citing all of them would make the book bigger, albeit there are some secret ones out of them and we are not allowed to reveal them.

However, some of our memories are related to Exegesis of the Anthology and we will talk about them by mentioning the name of our Sultan when there is a need.

8- His Telling the existence of the spirits of dead people on the back row during the prayer: The venerable Visali used to visit for religious guidance the towns where his followers lived when he saw a necessity. He honored the town I live in 1960 with some of his great caliphs and some other brethren. While we were praying the Morning Prayer (salat ul fajr) together in the Masjid, a butterfly appeared, flying up and down in front of the row, constantly moving. Normally during the prayer, you should not look at around, other than the point you put your face when you prostrate before Allah. We did so. We did not look at the butterfly, but it showed itself to us by not leaving that point. This meant in a way the butterfly had consciousness to show itself to us…. After the prayer we invited the Effendi to our house. There was a picture on the wall just opposite of the couch the Effendi sitting on. He asked who he was and I said it is the picture of our dead grandfather who was a member of the sublime brotherhoods (dervish order). He said THEY (HE AND HIS FRIENDS) JOINED US DURING THE PRAYER BY FORMING A ROW AT REAR. I also remember his saying the builder of the Masjid appeared in the shape of a butterfly and did not leave us.

9- Visiting Sabri Effendi: The next day after the Salat Al Fajr, we were sitting together in the court of the tea house. The teas were given. Suddenly the tea glass of the venerable Effendi burst out and the tea was spilled around. None of us had seen such a thing until then and we were rather surprised. The owner of the tea house supposed one of the birds in the tree dropped some dirt into the tea and brought a new one. When the communion ended and we were about to leave, our Sultan turned to Hajji Mehmet Effendi and said:

“One of the dead Nakshi Sheiks invites you from the graveyard. Go and visit his grave… He is the one who made the tea glass to burst out”. Thus we understood the mystery behind the bursting out of the tea glass. After the prayer at noon (Salat ul Zuhr) we visited his grave altogether. However, as the distance was big and the venerable Visali was an old man at the time, he could not attend. The dead sheik was one of the successors of Seydisehirli Hajji Abdullah Effendi, and called Kozanli Sabri Effendi. Our Mehmet Ruhi Sultan wrote a eulogy whose title was VISITING SABRI EFFENDI. In the page 167 of the book named SECRETS OF TRUTH AND RECOGNITION OF ALLAH the eulogy exists which starts with below lines:

WE CAME TO VISIT YOUR PURE EXCELLENCY FOR THE SAKE OF AL BARI (THE MAKER OF ORDER)
VISALI WITH HIS FRIENDS ARE IN FRONT OF SABRI EFFENDI FOR A VISIT
ACCEPT OUR VISIT TO YOUR SACRED PLACE: From the line ‘Visali and his friends are in front of Sabri Effendi, it is understood that he too joined spiritually to the visiting group.

10- His meeting Azrael, the angel of death: Our Visali Sultan got injured in a traffic accident at the end of the year 1961. While he was in hospital, the brother Hajji Omer Lutfi Bozcali visited him, and Visali first met him sitting on his bed, then made a moment of hesitation and turned back.
The visitor waited for some time, and returned back thinking he got some excuse. When Hadradt Effendi left the hospital and returned home, Hajji Omer visited him again and the following conversation took place between the two:

Hadrat Visali: Mr. Omer Lutfi, who was with me when you came to the hospital?

Mr. Omer Lutfi: No one my Effendi.

Hadrath Visali: There was somebody.

Mr. Omer Lutfi: I clearly remember that no one else was there.

Hadrath Visali: The angel of death came to me to end my life. I told him I will request some more living from Allah. Allah granted me to live for some more time. That is why I could not pay attention to you.

Just after 60 days from this conversation, on 22nd January, 1962, he made ablution, and performed two cycles of prayer and passed away by saying Allah.