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Hussain
Hilmi bin Said 'Rahmatullahi alayh'
He
was born in house No. 1 of the Þîfâ
Yokuþu, Vezirtekke Sokaðý, Servi Mahallesi,
Eyyûb Sultân, in Istanbul, on the
beautiful spring morning of the 8th of March, 1911 (1329
Hijrî). His father Sa'îd Effendi and grandfather
Ibrâhîm Effendi were from the village of
Tepova near Lofja (Lovec), in Bulgaria, and his mother
Âiþe Haným and her father Hüseyn
Aða were from Lofja. During the War of "Ninety-three"
against the Russians (1295 Hijrî, mîlâdî
1878), Hilmi Effendi fasted every Ramadân and
performed every ritual salât throughout his education
in the Military High School . Among the seniors, it
was he alone who could continue to perform the ritual
salât. Some teachers, who were deceived or perhaps
hired by the enemies of Islam, had been striving to
imbue his classmates with irreligiousness and hostility
towards Islam through lies, slanders and false interpretations
of science. The geology teacher, Âdem Nezîhî,
the physics teacher, Sabri, the philiosophy teacher,
Cemil Senâ, and the history teacher, Major Gâlib
of Baghdâd, went to extremes in their mischievous
teachings. But he did not believe these teachers. He
studied their subjects much more and received perfect
scores in their examinations, winning their appreciation.
When
he was a senior at the Military High School , his father
Sa'îd Effendi passed away. The officers, teachers
and students of the school attended the funeral. The
people of Eyyûb were bewildered by the large crowd
of those who attended the funeral.
Hilmi
Effendi was uneasy when he studied at the Faculty of
Science in the delicately ornamented Zeyneb Vâlide
Sultan Hall at Bâyezîd Square ; whenever
he attended Friday prayer performed in the Bâyezîd
Mosque, there would be only one row of Muslims behind
the imâm, and they all were old. He was worried
that a few years later there would be no Muslims and
was trying to find the cause of this decline. In no
way could he make it out. He was filled with despair,
but had no friends in the school with whom he could
have a sincere talk or receive help from.
One
day he left the campus and entered the Bâyezîd
Mosque for the early afternoon salât. After performing
the salât, he saw somebody preaching on the left
side of the mosque. He sat down. The preacher was explaining
the six fundamentals of îmân from a thin,
small-sized book in his hand. Hilmi Effendi knew all
of what was explained, but he did not leave his place
for fear that the preacher's heart would be broken with
the thought that his preaching did not please him. As
a matter of fact, there were only a few old men who
were listening. He cut his preaching short and, showing
the little books in his hand, said, "Everybody
needs these books. I sell them." His appearance
suggested that he was very poor. Nobody bought one.
Hilmi Effendi pitied the preacher and, thinking that
he would give it to a youth, asked its price. But, when
the preacher said it was twenty-five kurushes, he gave
up the idea, because neither did he have that much money
nor was the book worth that much. The currency of those
days was very valuable; an imâm and a lieutenant
received only 17 and 61 liras[1] respectively. The price
of the book should have been five kurushes at most,
and he found it unbecoming for the preacher to ask for
such a high price. "It should be given free for
Allah's sake. Well, if he lives on it, he should ask
for five kurushes at most," he thought in disapproval.
He walked to the other side of the mosque. The inside
and outside of the balustrade on this side were very
crowded. An old man seated inside was talking. With
difficulty he made his way in and sat down behind him.
The old man was reading a book and explaining how Muslims
should visit the shrines of Awliyâ', a matter
which Hilmi Effendi did not know but was very anxious
to learn. While listening, however, he could not help
thinking of the other preacher and said to himself,
"One who loves Allah should give religious books
freely," repeatedly. Meanwhile, the late afternoon
salât was begun in the mosque, and the old preacher
closed the book he was reading and gave it to Hilmi
Effendi while saying, "This is my present to a
young effendi for Allah's sake," and began his
salât. Though this preacher had not seen Hilmi
Effendi, he knew he was sitting behind him. Hilmi Effendi
took the book and joined in the salât. After the
salât, he looked at the title "Râbita-i
sherîfa" and underneath it the author's name
"Abdulhakîm" on the cover of the book
and learned from someone in the Mosque that the person
who gave him the book was 'Abdulhakîm Effendi
and that he preached at the Eyyûb mosque on Fridays.
He returned to the building called "Bekir Aða
Bölüðü" near the Bâyezîd
Tower where he stayed.
On
Friday, the weekend holiday in those days, he went to
the big mosque. He looked for the preacher but could
not see him. Then he learned that he was an imâm
at another mosque and would come after salât.
He could not stay inside and went out. He saw the preacher
standing beside a bookseller's stand. He approached
him from behind looking steadily at him with love. He
heard the bookseller say, "Sir, don't stand, sit
on this chair," which was covered with snow. When
he was about to sit, Hilmi Effendi jumped up close and
said, "Please, just a moment," and cleaned
the snow off with his handkerchief. He took off his
overcoat, folded it and put it on the chair and said,
"Please be seated now." He looked at him.
His blessed, awe-inspiring face, black eyebrows and
eyes and round beard was very beautiful and lovely.
'Abdulhakîm Effendi said, "Take your overcoat!"
and sat on the bare wood of the chair. Hilmi Effendi
felt sorry but was pleased when he was told, "Put
it on my back." When some people came out of the
mosque, he went in and sat on his high cushion on the
floor of the right side of the mosque and began his
lesson by explaining from a book on the low desk (rahla)
in front of him. Hilmi Effendi sat in the first row
facing him and was listening carefully. He listened
with delight; the religious and worldly information,
all of which he had never heard, was very interesting.
He was like a poor person who had found a treasure,
or a thirsty person who had discovered cool water. He
could not move his eyes away from Sayyid 'Abdulhakîm
Effendi. He was absorbed in watching his lovely, shining
face and listening to the invaluable brilliant words
he uttered. He had become beside himself and had forgotten
about his school, his worldly affairs, and everything.
Something sweet moved about his heart; it was as if
he was being cleaned, washed with something sweet. It
was during the very first suhba that the first few words
had been enough to entrance him as if forming in him
the very blessing called fanâ', the attainment
of which takes many years of sufferings. Unfortunately,
the suhba ended in an hour. For Hilmi Effendi, this
one hour had passed like a moment. As if awakening from
a sweet dream, he put his notebook into his pocket and
stood in the line going out. While he was tying his
shoe-laces, somebody bent over and whispered to him,
"Young Effendi, I love you very much. Our house
is in the cemetery. Come visit us. We will talk."
Sayyid 'Abdulhakîm Effendi was the one who spoke
these sweet, inspiring words. The same night Hilmi Effendi
dreamt of a clear, bright, blue sky, balustraded like
the dome of a mosque. Someone with a shining face was
walking in it. When he looked up, he saw that it was
Sayyid 'Abdulhakîm Effendi, and awoke in delight.
A few days later he dreamt of somebody whose face glittered
like the moon, who was sitting at the head of the sarcophagus
at Hadrat Khâlid Ayyûb al-Ansârî's
shrine and for whom people were standing in a line to
kiss his hand. Hilmi Effendi joined the line and woke
up just as he was kissing his hand.
In
those days Hilmi Effendi lived in Fâtih and went
to Sayyid 'Abdulhakîm Effendi's house every Friday.
Sometimes he would go before the morning salât
and leave unwillingly after the night salât. He
would forget everything as if seeing everything afresh.
He would always stay close to 'Abdulhakîm Effendi,
even while eating, praying, resting and visiting. He
always watched his manners carefully and listened to
him. He tried hard not to waste even a minute. He went
to him during every holiday, and whenever he had free
time. He never missed his sermons in mosques. Firstly
Turkish books and some months laters Arabic sarf and
nahw were taught. Amsila, Awâmil, Simâ'î
masdars, Qasîda-i Amâlî, Mawlânâ
Khâlid's Dîvân and the logic book
Isaguji were memorized. A couplet, a line or an Arabic
or Persian sentence would be written and explained at
every meeting. All of what was written was memorized.
The
first work Sayyid 'Abdulhakîm Effendi assigned
to Hüseyn Hilmi Effendi was the translation[4]
from Arabic into Turkish of a small passage from al-Imâm
al-Baghawî on qadâ' and qadar. He did the
translation at home during the night and took it to
his master the following day. His master said, "Very
good! You've translated it correctly. I like it."
Hüseyn
Hilmi Effendi passed to the second class of Medical
School as the best student. While sitting in a garden
during a visit with his master at Eyyûb, the time
happened to coincide with his completion of a course
in osteology and he was about to work on a cadavar.
His master asked him what he was studying at the university.
Upon his answer, Sayyid 'Abdulhakîm Effendi said,
"You will not become a physician. You had better
transfer to the School of Pharmacy." Hilmi Effendi
said, "I have the highest scores in the class.
They won't let me go to the School of Pharmacy."
"You submit your petition. Inshâ-Allah, Allâhu
ta'âlâ will grant it," said his master.
After many petitions, Hilmi Effendi entered the School
of Pharmacy as a sophomore towards the end of the first
semester. Although the curriculum was half over and
he had to take some more examinations on the courses
given in the first year, he passed all of the examinations
at the end of the second semester. He graduated from
the School of Pharmacy and completed one year of probation
at the Gülhâne Hospital with the highest
honours. He was first appointed as a Lieutenant Asistant-master
at the Military Medical School . He had subscribed to
the paper Le Matin, which was published in Paris, by
the order of 'Abdulhakîm Effendi and increased
his knowledge in French while he was a student at the
School of Pharmacy. He began studying at the School
of Chemical Engineering, again by the order of 'Abdulhakîm
Effendi when he was an Assistant-master. He learned
calculus from Von Mises, mechanics from Professor Prage,
physics from Dember and technical chemistry from Goss.
He worked with Arndt, a Professor of Chemistry, and
evoked his appreciation. In the last six months of the
research he carried out under his supervision, he synthesized
and determined a formula for ester "phenylcyannitro-methan-methyl."
This successful research, which was the first in its
field in the world, was published in The Journal of
The Istanbul Faculty of Science and in the German chemical
journal Zentral Blatt (number 2519, in 1937) under the
name of Hüseyn Hilmi Iþýk. When he
received a Diploma of Master of Science in Chemical
Engineering (numbered 1/1) in 1936, Hüseyn Hilmi
Iþýk appeared in the daily papers as the
first and unique Chemical Engineer in Turkey . Because
of this success of his, he was appointed as a Chemist
Officer at the Department of Toxic Gases in Mamak, Ankara
. He served there for eleven years, many of which he
worked with Merzbacher, General Director of the Auer
Factories; Goldstein, Doctor of chemistry; and Neumann,
Doctor of Optics. He also learned German from them.
He became an expert in toxic-gases. He rendered service.
For example, England sold one hundred thousand gasmasks
to Poland during the Second World War. While the masks
were on their way along the Dardanelles, Germans invaded
Poland, and the Britains wanted to sell the masks to
Turkey . Captain Hüseyn Hilmi Iþýk
examined the masks and, after realizing that their filters
leaked toxic gas, reported them to be "disusable,
good for nothing." The Minister of National Defense
and the British Ambassador became quite alarmed and
did not believe the report. "How could it be possible
for a British product to be defective?" it was
said. He proved his words. At last he had to give the
order that they could be broken into pieces and used
a spare parts; thereby, the British were able to get
their money.
In
1359 (1940), Hilmi Iþýk asked his master
'Abdulhakîm Effendi, "Sir, I intend to marry.
What will you say?"
"Whom
will you marry?" his master asked.
"The
one whom you permit."
"Really?"
"Yes,
sir."
"Then
Ziyâ Bey's daughter is suitable for you."
When
Hilmi Effendi wanted his curiosity addressed before
he returned to Ankara , 'Abdulhakîm Effendi summoned
Ziyâ Bey the following day, and, after a long
talk, his promise was obtained. A week later, Hilmi
Effendi came to Istanbul again, and the engagement ring
was placed on his finger by the blessed hands of 'Abdulhakîm
Effendi, who also carried out the Islamic nikâh[9]
according to the Hanafî and Shâfî'î
madhhabs after registering at the municipality. The
wedding was held two months later. At the feast, 'Abdulhakîm
Effendi sat beside Hilmi Effendi and, after the night
prayer, said a prayer in person. When the couple visited
him a week later, 'Abdulhakîm Effendi conveyed
tawajjuh to the bride and said, "You are both my
daughter and daughter-in-law."
When
Hilmi Effendi was at home at Hamamönü, in
Ankara , during the autumn of 1362 (1943 A.D.), Fârûk
Bey's son Barrister Nevzâd Iþýk came
to him and said, "Sir, 'Abdulhakîm Effendi
awaits you at our house." "Are you joking?
He is in Istanbul ! Why do you say he awaits me?"
Hilmi Effendi asked. Nevzâd Bey swore and together
they went to Fârûk Bey's house at Hacý
Bayram. He learned there that the police had taken 'Abdulhakîm
Effendi from his house in Eyyûb, Istanbul, to
Izmir and later to Ankara . After many petitions, he
was permitted to stay at his nephew Fârûk
Bey's house under police supervision. He had become
weak and exhausted out of anxiety and travel. He told
Hilmi Effendi, "Come to me every day!" Every
evening Hilmi Effendi helped him arm-in-arm to his bedroom,
put blankets on him and left after reciting and blowing
Sûras al-Falaq and an-Nâs upon him. The
visitors who came during the day would sit on the chairs
lined across the room and soon leave. He always let
Hilmi Effendi sit at the bedside and conversed with
him silently. When he was interred in Baðlum, a
village near Ankara, Hilmi Effendi went in the grave
and carried out certain religious duties upon the command
of Ahmed Mekkî Effendi, 'Abdulhakîm Effendi's
son. Mekkî Effendi also said, "Father loved
Hilmi very much. He knows his voice. Hilmi shall read
the talqîn![10]" This honourable service,
too, fell to the lot of Hilmi Effendi. A few years later
Hilmi Effendi placed a marble tablet, which he had written
in Istanbul , at the head of the grave. He also put
a marble tablet on the grave of Hadrat Sayyid Fahîm
in Van and repaired the shrines of Abdulfettâh,
Muhammad Amîn Tokâdî and Çerkes
Hasan Bey in Istanbul . He lead the funeral prayer of
Behîce Me'ân Sultan, the late wife of 'Abdulhamîd
Hân II, as she had willed, in 1389 (1969 A.D.),
and he had a shrine constructed over her grave in the
Yahyâ Effendi cemetery. In the autumn of 1391
(1971 A.D.), he visited Delhi, Diobend, Sirhind and
Karachi and, seeing that the graves of Hadrat Sanâ'Allâh
and Mazhar-i Jân-i Jânân's wife in
the town of Paniput being trodden under foot, donated
five hundred dollars for their repair and protection.
In
1359 (1940), Hilmi Iþýk asked his master
'Abdulhakîm Effendi, "Sir, I intend to marry.
What will you say?"
"Whom
will you marry?" his master asked.
"The
one whom you permit."
"Really?"
"Yes,
sir."
"Then
Ziyâ Bey's daughter is suitable for you."
When
Hilmi Effendi wanted his curiosity addressed before
he returned to Ankara , 'Abdulhakîm Effendi summoned
Ziyâ Bey the following day, and, after a long
talk, his promise was obtained. A week later, Hilmi
Effendi came to Istanbul again, and the engagement ring
was placed on his finger by the blessed hands of 'Abdulhakîm
Effendi, who also carried out the Islamic nikâh[9]
according to the Hanafî and Shâfî'î
madhhabs after registering at the municipality. The
wedding was held two months later. At the feast, 'Abdulhakîm
Effendi sat beside Hilmi Effendi and, after the night
prayer, said a prayer in person. When the couple visited
him a week later, 'Abdulhakîm Effendi conveyed
tawajjuh to the bride and said, "You are both my
daughter and daughter-in-law."
When
Hilmi Effendi was at home at Hamamönü, in
Ankara , during the autumn of 1362 (1943 A.D.), Fârûk
Bey's son Barrister Nevzâd Iþýk came
to him and said, "Sir, 'Abdulhakîm Effendi
awaits you at our house." "Are you joking?
He is in Istanbul ! Why do you say he awaits me?"
Hilmi Effendi asked. Nevzâd Bey swore and together
they went to Fârûk Bey's house at Hacý
Bayram. He learned there that the police had taken 'Abdulhakîm
Effendi from his house in Eyyûb, Istanbul, to
Izmir and later to Ankara . After many petitions, he
was permitted to stay at his nephew Fârûk
Bey's house under police supervision. He had become
weak and exhausted out of anxiety and travel. He told
Hilmi Effendi, "Come to me every day!" Every
evening Hilmi Effendi helped him arm-in-arm to his bedroom,
put blankets on him and left after reciting and blowing
Sûras al-Falaq and an-Nâs upon him. The
visitors who came during the day would sit on the chairs
lined across the room and soon leave. He always let
Hilmi Effendi sit at the bedside and conversed with
him silently. When he was interred in Baðlum, a
village near Ankara, Hilmi Effendi went in the grave
and carried out certain religious duties upon the command
of Ahmed Mekkî Effendi, 'Abdulhakîm Effendi's
son. Mekkî Effendi also said, "Father loved
Hilmi very much. He knows his voice. Hilmi shall read
the talqîn![10]" This honourable service,
too, fell to the lot of Hilmi Effendi. A few years later
Hilmi Effendi placed a marble tablet, which he had written
in Istanbul , at the head of the grave. He also put
a marble tablet on the grave of Hadrat Sayyid Fahîm
in Van and repaired the shrines of Abdulfettâh,
Muhammad Amîn Tokâdî and Çerkes
Hasan Bey in Istanbul . He lead the funeral prayer of
Behîce Me'ân Sultan, the late wife of 'Abdulhamîd
Hân II, as she had willed, in 1389 (1969 A.D.),
and he had a shrine constructed over her grave in the
Yahyâ Effendi cemetery. In the autumn of 1391
(1971 A.D.), he visited Delhi, Diobend, Sirhind and
Karachi and, seeing that the graves of Hadrat Sanâ'Allâh
and Mazhar-i Jân-i Jânân's wife in
the town of Paniput being trodden under foot, donated
five hundred dollars for their repair and protection.
He published Se'âdet-i Ebediyye[11] (Endless Bliss)
in 1956. He founded Iþýk Kitabevi in Istanbul
in 1967, and established the Waqf Ikhlâs in 1396
(1976 A.D.) He disseminated throughout the world his
Turkish, German, French, English and offset-reproduced
Arabic books and received thousands of letters expressing
appreciation, congratulations and thanks. Some of his
works were translated into Japanese, Asian and African
languages. He always said that he had neither the ability
nor efficiency, and that all the services done were
the results of the spiritual help and grace of Hadrat
Sayyid 'Abdulhakîm Effendi and the blessings ensuing
from his excessive love and respect for the scholars
of Islam.
Hüseyn
Hilmi Effendi constantly said that he found the taste
in the suhba and words of Sayyid 'Abdulhakîm Effendi
in nothing else and that the most pleasant moments he
enjoyed were when he remembered those sweet days he
had spent with Sayyid 'Abdulhakîm Effendi. He
said his nasal bones ached out of the grief of separation
and yearning when he remembered those days. He frequently
recited the couplet:
"Zi-hijr-i
dositân, khun shud darûn-i sîna jân-i
man,
Firâq-i ham-nashînân sokht, maghz-i
istakhân-i man!"
(Because
I am away from the beloved, my soul cries out tears
of blood in may chest,
Separation
from those I sat together with burns my bone marrow!)
Hüseyn
Hilmi Effendi read books by the scholars of Islam and
quoted with tearful eyes the sayings of al-Imâm
ar-Rabbânî and 'Abdulhakîm Arwâsî.
He said, "Kalâm-i kibâr, kibâr-i
kalâmast." (The words of the superiors are
the superior words.) He frequently quoted 'Abdulhakîm
Effendi is having said:
"Why
are you surprised at seeing harm coming from one who
was created to be harmful! How can you expect goodness
from him? I am surprised at your being surprised! He
is a sharr-i mahd (unmixed evil). His vice should not
be surprising. If you see him do any good deeds, then
you should feel surprised! Say to yourself, how can
he do something good?"
"The
scholars of Islam were perfect human beings. We are
mere nothing beside them. If we had lived among them,
we would not have been counted as human beings. If we
were lost, nobody would look for us!"
"If
the tekkes[12] had not been closed, many a Walî
would have been trained here."
"I
could not find the possibility or opportunity to carry
out my duty to instruct Muslims."
"If
I spoke a foreign [Western] language, I could serve
[Islam] much more!"
"The
greatest enemy of Islam is the British. They tried to
annihilate Islam with all their armies, fleets, uncountable
gold coins collected from their colonies, in short,
with all their imperial powers. Nevertheless, the harm
of all these giant forces of the British to Islam remains
secondary; a more frightening enemy of Islam is Þemseddin
Günaltay."
"A
sensitive and delicate person cannot eat the food which
he himself puts into a new child's brimming chamberpot.
He feels disgust when he remembers the discharged matter
that is put in it. Using the things that cause disbelief
has the same effect. A person whose îmân
is firm and who is faithful to Islam does not use them
however much they are praised by others." "Not
everybody can understand al-Imâm ar-Rabbânî's
Maktûbât, which resembles neither Hâfiz-i
Shirâzî's poems nor the Khamsa. We read
it not to understand it but to be blessed by reading
it."
"Performing
salât means to turn towards (tawajjuh) Allâhu
ta'âlâ. Realities are revealed to those
who perform salât in accordance with the honourable
Sharî'at[14] in this world. Al-'ilm[14] al-ladunnî
is endowed upon them. This 'ilm (branch of knowledge)
is learned at seventy-two varying degrees; the one who
is at the lowest degree knows how many leaves there
are on a tree at a glance and can differentiate a shaqî
(evil) person from a sa'îd (pious) one. Such people
perform salât in their graves, too. This kind
of salât does not consist of qiyâm (standing)
or rukû (bowing); it means to turn towards Allâhu
ta'âlâ."
Hüseyn
Hilmi Iþýk, 'Rahmat-allahi alaih' passed
away during the night between October 25, 2001 (8 Shaban
1422) and October 26, 2001 (9 Shaban 1422). He was buried
at Eyyub Sultan, where he was born.
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