Re: Who was he?
Dear sister redvelvet
I could see you have been on a journey for some time, MashAllah.
My wife and I are from very different inclinations and the things in the persona of Shaykh Nazim that appealed to her were not the same things in Shaykh Muhammad that appealed to me. Although I was advised by my own fellow mureeds to encourage my wife to take bayah in Shadhili as well, ultimately it was her choice to take it or not. For a few years she didn’t think it necessary as Shaykh Hamza takes his opinion from Shaykh Abdullah bin Bayyah that it is not necessary to be in Tariqah so long as tassuwwuf is practiced from authorised transmitters and my wife liked Shaykh Hamza a lot because of his ability to awaken people and make them realise that we are in the end times. It was only after doing umrah that my wife really felt she needed a Shaykh and her heart always inclined to Shaykh Nazim … Although my Shaykh comes from a rich scholarly lineage, Shaykh Nazim does have the record of tassuwwuf masters of spreading the silsila to the corners of the world and he is responsible and his students for bringing many people into Islam. Tariqas have different approaches too, whereas Shadhiliya is more about removing blockages to the path of Allah (SWT) the Naqshbandi path is about struggling … You will see a lot of the proper mujahideen are Naqshbandi Sufis. They tend to be more laid back than Shadhilis too … The scholarly approach appealed to me the atmosphere and mysticism appealed to my wife.
The Hizb ul Bahr, Qasida Burdah are famously recited by many Sufis, but they originate in the Shadhili Tariqah. It is because this way was commonly attractive to the scholars and poets and elites. A notable benefit in all people who I have seen who joined the Tariqah and I think this comes from the du’a of our Shaykh is that their worldly woes become less and their economic standing changes. Hizb ul Bahr is an amazing litany and very powerful … Have you read the story behind it?