Karamas of Shaikh Hussein al-Kasnazan
Karāmas of Shaikh Hussein al-Kasnazan
Shaikh Ḥussein al-Kasnazan performed numerous karāmas that attest to his nearness to Allah. These are some of them :
- Most people used to clearly hear around Shaikh Ḥussein voices of jinn remembering Allah aloud. When asked about them, Shaikh Ḥussein said that those were Muslim Sufi jinn.
- A man from Istanbul, Turkey, was ill and had visited doctors in several European countries without success. One night, this man saw in a visionary dream a man telling him: “Come to Kirpchina in Iraq, and when you follow our Ṭarīqa you will be cured.” The man decided to fulfil the dream. When he arrived to Kirpchina and saw Shaikh Ḥussein sitting with his dervishes he bowed down to kiss the Shaikh’s hand and said: “You are the one who called me, so here I am”. The Shaikh said to him: “It is time that you take the oath of Ṭarīqa and enter a retreat for forty days.” The man did as the Shaikh told him. Soon afterwards, he fully recovered from his illness.
- An affluent leader of a well-known clan in Northern Iraq, named Muḥammad Khān Sulaimān, did not pay zakāt (obligatory alms) or perform pilgrimage to Macca. Once he came to visit Shaikh Ḥussein in Kirpchina and gave five gold liras wrapped in a cloth to one of the dervishes of Shaikh Ḥussein as a gift to the takya. When the money was later brought by that dervish to the Shaikh, who had not been told about the source of the money, he said: “Return it to Muḥammad Khān Sulaimān and say to him: ʿThe takya does not accept unlawful money,’ so let him pay the obligatory alms and perform the pilgrimage first and then he can donate to the takya what he wishes.”
- A Khalīfa called Maḥmūd accompanied by a group of dervishes travelled from Chamchamal to Kirpchina to visit Shaikh Ḥussein. They had in their possession some money belonging to the takya, so the son of Khalīfa Maḥmūd, named Muhammad, bought with the money tea for the takya. Muhammad noticed that there was still one ʿāna (coin of four pence) of the money of the takya left so he told his father. Khalīfa Maḥmūd sent his son to spend even that little remaining money on more tea and not keep with him any money that belonged to the takya. When they arrived at the takya and visited Shaikh Ḥussein, the Shaikh turned towards khalīfa Maḥmūd and said: “O Khalīfa Maḥmūd! The Shaikhs of Ṭarīqa would not lose sight of even an ʿāna of the money of the takya because it belongs to the dervishes of the takya. The takya is the treasury of the Muslims.”
- A cousin of Shaikh Ḥussein called Shaikh Muṣṭafā was one day with the Shaikh shortly before starting the dhikr of afternoon. Shaikh Muṣṭafā said three times to Shaikh Ḥussein that he finds this dhikr too much of a burden for the dervishes. Shaikh Ḥussein replied to him each time that this dhikr has been ordered by Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir al Gaylānī. As soon as the dhikr of afternoon was started shortly afterwards, a falcon (the bird that represents Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir al Gaylānī) came and stood on the wall behind the Shaikh. It stayed there till the end of the dhikr, i.e. to the end of reciting “Yā Raḥīm,” and then flew away. After the dhikr, the Shaikh turned to Shaikh Muṣṭafā and asked him: “Do you still have anything to say?” Shaikh Muṣṭafā replied: “No, I know the answer now.”
- A group of dogs used to gather and start barking in the direction of a grave in Kirpchina as if they could hear or see something strange. Shaikh Ḥussein said: “These dogs bark at so and so in his grave because he used to take his daughters’ dowry. But once he did me a favor in his life so let’s go to his grave and pray to Allah that He may show mercy towards him and forgive him.” When they approached the grave Shaikh Ḥussein asked his companions to listen, and they heard barking noises coming from the grave. Shaikh Ḥussein performed a prayer of two rukʿas (kneelings) and then prayed for the deceased. Shortly afterwards, the barking totally stopped and the Shaikh and his companions left.
- The blessings of Shaikh Ḥussein showed also as karāmas that occurred at the hand of his dervishes. One day Shaikh Ḥussein assigned a khalīfa called ʿAzīz to go to the city of Mosul in the north of Iraq to call people to the way of Allah. This dervish spoke in his heart to Shaikh Ḥussein seeking to be excused because he was weak, knew no Arabic, and did not know the road to Mosul. However, the assignment was to take place. And just for matters to get even more difficult for ʿAzīz, he was told to take with him another dervish who was lame and even weaker than him. In those days travel was hard, as the roads were paved and people had to travel on foot or on the back of animals. Nonetheless, ʿAzīz and his companion reached Mosul easily. Such is Allah’s arrangement for he who walks the road of guidance. The two dervishes ended up staying with a poor man in a rundown house. The man had Christian neighbours that included an old lady who had been bedridden with an illness for more than ten years. When this Christian family learned of the arrival of the two dervishes they asked them to pray for the sick lady in return for fifty golden pieces. The dervishes replied that they help for the sake of Allah only not for any reward or thanks. When the khalīfa saw the lady he touched her with his staff asking for madad (spiritual help) from Shaikh Ḥussein. The lady instantly rose, having fully recovered by the will of Allah. Following this karāma, the people of Mosul came to the dervishes in droves with various ailments and needs.
