Abdullah ad-Daghistani

Abdullah Fa'izi ad-Daghestani (Dec. 14, 1891-Sept. 30, 1973) Shaykh of the Naqshbandi Sufi order.He was born in the Caucasian region of Daghestan (then part of the Russian Empire ) in 1891. Both his father and elder brother were medical doctors, the latter being a surgeon in the Imperial Russian Army. Abdullah was raised and trained by his maternal uncle, Shaykh Sharafuddin Daghestani (1875-1936). He showed remarkable spiritual aptitude from a young age and this attracted the attention of many local people. Sometime in the 1900s Abdullah’s family (indeed his whole village) wearied of the repression imposed on Daghestan by the Russian government and decided to make Hijrah (emigration) to the Ottoman Empire . They first settled in the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa , and then after a year moved to a place called Reşadiye (now known as Güneyköy). A new village was established that was populated by Daghestani refugees. Shortly thereafter, Abdullah’s father died and at the age of fifteen he was married to a Daghestani girl named Halima. In 1910, after merely six months of marriage, Shaykh Sharafuddin ordered Abdullah into sacred seclusion ( khalwat ) for five years. This practice included severe austerities that were intended to raise his spiritual rank. He successfully completed this seclusion and when he returned to secular life he found the Ottoman Empire embroiled in the First World War . Along with many young men of his village, Abdullah entered into military service and took part in the Battle of Gallipoli . During a firefight he was severely wounded by Allied fire and he endured a near death experience that only led to a deeper understanding of Reality. In 1921 Abdullah was instructed by Shaykh Sharafuddin to enter another long seclusion for that would last for five years. He completed this and, as it has been described, “the power of his spiritual attraction increased. He became so renowned that even during his Shaykh's lifetime, people used to come from everywhere to learn from him.” He was then granted a license ( ijazah ) to be a master, a shaykh, in the Naqshbandi Path. With the anti-Sufi regulations in the new Turkish Republic impeding religious practice, Shaykh Abdullah began to contemplate leaving the country. After the death of Shaykh Sharafuddin in 1936, a delegation came to Reşadiye from King Farouk to pay their condolences, as he had many murids in Egypt. One of the delegation married a daughter of Shaykh Abdullah and the family moved to Egypt. Shaykh Abdullah resided in Egypt until his daughter’s divorce. The family then left Egypt for Syria . Shaykh Abdullah resided for a time in Aleppo and from there moved to Homs and then finally to Damascus near the tomb of great saint Sa’d ad-Din Jibawi. There he established the first tekke for his branch of the Naqshbandi Order. In 1943 he moved to a house on Jabal Qasioun mountain, a house that was bought by his first Syrian murid and later khalifah , Shaykh Husayn Ifrini. This house and the mosque next to it still stand, and it is now the site of his türbe (tomb). Over the years Shaykh Abdullah Daghestani became well known throughout Damascus for his spiritual teachings and he attracted many thousands of individuals who sought out relief from the weight of worldly life. He died on September 30, 1973. One of his khalifahs, Shaykh Nazim al-Qubrusi , made remarkable progress in spreading the Sufi teachings of Shaykh Abdullah to the West.¹