Shaykh Ahmad Dede
His Islamic parents, the Pattisahusiwa family, from the Kampong
“Siri Sori Islam” a little town on the beach of the Indonesian islands of Saparoea, came to the Netherlands in the fifties. Ahmad was born in the Friesian village of Balk on 2nd of July 1960 as a 7th child of nine.
When Ahmad was 6 year old his family moved from Balk to Ridderkerk.
In 1976 his father Hdj Usman Pattisahusiwa died and because of this he began to think about the meaning of death. Some years after his fathers death he told some of his friends;
“On my 22nd birthday I will die”
to which his friends reacted in a strange way. At that time he himself did not understand why he told this. Early 1982 his life changed completely. It was during that period that a number of people, told him that they had dreamed that he was going to die. The answer he gave to them was that it was his opinion that God meant something different from what they thought. It was in the spring of 1982 that something happened in his life which made him completely turn his back on the world. As a result of this he began to make a new start in life. He addressed himself to God and asked Allah to accept his life so that he could totally devote himself to His Kingdom. He had spiritual dreams and visions which changed him completely. He told his mother about this dreams and visions and she explained them to him and she said to him;
“I have had portents about you as well, Ahmad, and I saw you working for the Love of Allah and I saw you lead many people to His Love”
Then she raised her eyes to heavens and said a prayer;
“O Allah please accept my son Ahmad, and make him strong for Your Path”.
Ever since that time a mystical and spiritual person appeared to him again and again, but he was never able to have a good view of that persons face. In April 1982 he was told by this person to seclude himself from the world and stay in the old Mosque for a period of two months. This happened in the holy months of Rajab, Shaban 1402AH, April, May 1982. His experiences of that time he has put into words in the following poem;
“Search and Find”
Oh, people
that little bit of Goodness that my Creator has given me,
has embraced me in such a way,
that I am not able to describe this bit of Goodness,
on any paper or with any pen in this world.
Oh Allah, that bit of Goodness that You are giving me,
Which leads us to a straight path.
Oh Allah, that Goodness that You have given me,
That is the fundament which You hand over to us
Oh believers, how Sweet will the Gardens be,
Where the rivers are flowing?
Oh believers, what will be the Greatness
Of this Goodness?
Oh believers, our Lord must be
everlasting Goodness, everlasting Greatness.
On 11 Ramadan 1402AH, 2nd July 1982, in the holy month of Ramadan, Ahmad became 22. A complete transformation took place. He read his first Sufi book “Whirling to Allah”. After he had read the book he appealed to God with this prayer:
“Oh Allah. How wonderful it will be to become a whirling dervish and thus an instrument of Your Love, I am begging You please to bless me with this Mevlevi Opening . Then I will promise You in Your name that my whole life will be at Your Service”.
Three years passed and in secrecy he swore on the Holy Qur’an to Allah and His Beloved Prophet(S.A.W) never to follow another Tariqat. In 1985 he met his Grandmaster, Grandshaykh Muhammad Nazim al Haqqani an-Naqshibandi.
Completely overwhelmed by the charisma of this great Saint, he could now clearly see the face of the spiritual person that had always been with him. It was the face of this Holy man, “The Grandshaykh”. Now he received answers to his unanswered questions. This was of such immense importance to him that he broke his secret promise to the Mevlevi Tariqat and again swore an oath of allegiance to the Imam of the Naqshbandi Tariqat.
In 1985 in Holland when the Grandshaykh led in Friday prayers, a secret “Opening” was placed in his heart. It was in England in 1986, one year later, that his Grandshaykh told him the following;
“Ahmad, what happened to you in Holland is a gift from our Grandshaykh Abdullah ad-Daghistani at a later stage you will understand this better”.
Shaykh Ahmad ones said;
One of the blessings of my Grandmaster in 1986 in England was that he appeared to me in the night and said to me:
“Come”
My Grandshaykh reached out his hand to me and held it saying:
“Come”, I shall introduce you to Khidr(A.S)
At that very same moment, thanks to the blessing of my Grandmaster I stood in front of Khidr(A.S) and received his blessing as well. After this particularly great blessing my Grandmaster said:
“Ahmad, one day you will meet Khidr(A.S) together with me once more”
Ahmad tried to follow his Grandmaster as well as he could and with Allah’s blessing he succeeded in bringing many seekers to his Grandmaster. In 1990 he invited his Grandmaster as a guest of honour at a Sufi-camp. At that moment the Grandmaster was in Germany. Then his Grandmaster told him to act on behalf of him and to represent him wherever he went. There were several Sufi-camps and gatherings and ever more new people got acquainted with the blessed Naqshbandi Tariqat. In 1994 he became increasingly aware of the hidden “Opening” and gradually he felt its importance growing thanks to the spiritual guidance of his Grandmaster. In 1995 his younger brother Djailani passed away from this world and this weighed heavily on him.
In his own words he tells about this experience;
On the 7th day after my younger brother had passed away I called out full of grief;
“Oh Allah cherish me with Your Love now that I need Your Embrace most, I do not know how, but if it is possible please embrace me with Your Holy Breath”.
I got up and suddenly I was whirled around in a forceful spin by an invisible force. While this was taking place the Grandshaykh of my Grandmaster appeared to me and while I was whirling, Grandshaykh Abdullah ad-Daghistani (Qad) spoke in my heart;
“Ahmad, you have been chosen by Allah and His Prophet (SAW) for the Mevlevi Tariqat, to be the Imam of the Mevlevi Tariqat”.
During this occurrence everything disappeared from my heart , I felt my self completely empty everything I knew was gone. I was totally at a loss and when I called out to my Grandmaster for help with the words, “Meded Ya Seyyidi”, I started whirling straight away. Again and again my Grandmaster brought me into a state of “Hal” and in my heart I was led by my Grandmaster and by the spiritual presence of Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi and Grandshaykh Abdullah ad-Daghistani, into the secrets of the knowledge of Haqqani-Mevlevi Tariqat, knowledge that had never been opened before. My Grandmaster prevented entrance to this gnosis from the outside, like a pearl protected within its shell. He passed on an intimation from the Holiest Prophet Muhammad (SAW) telling that I was chosen by Allah and His Prophet (SAW). Because of the fact that the Grandmasters kept me whirling all the time and the fact that I was not yet allowed to reveal the secret, people began to say that I was mad and many of my friends distanced themselves from me. And as Allah Almighty had ordained , it was going to happen. In 1996 when I was alone sitting in our Mosque in Ridderkerk, my spiritual Grandmaster appeared to me and he asked me if I had any questions.
In my heart I knew that my Grandshaykh knows everything about me, I asked him if I could go to Konya to visit the Grandmaster Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi,
my Grandmaster put his sjahada finger up to Heaven and like a bow of the rainbow he make a bow with his sjahada finger and touching the floor before me he said;
“Ahmad this Place is now Konya, and you are now Rumi, Allah will bring Konya to you, tomorrow you will receive a portent”.
The following morning the telephone rang and a friend from The Hague told me, Ahmad the Shaykh from Konya, Shaykh Nuri Hadji Baba will shortly come to Holland and I wanted to ask you if the Shaykh can do the Dzikr in your mosque on Thursday? Earlier I had already received this message from my Grandshaykh and my answer was of course that they would be very welcome. Shaykh Nuri Hadji Baba visited our Mosque on Thursday 31st October 1996 and did a Grand Dzikr. The following day Shaykh Nuri Hadi Baba was going to Sint Niclaas in Belgium and he asked me to join him. The Shaykh asked me to lead the Friday prayers and after that, the Shaykh began to do the Mevlevi Dzikr. Gods Love made the dervishes whirling and after some time the Dzikr was ended. That night, on the same place, another Dzikr was going to take place. Shortly before the start of the evening programme the Shaykh asked a dervish, named Nahid, to ask me the following question,
“If the Shaykh Nuri Hadji Baba asks you to go back to Holland, what will then be your answer ?”
I said immediately that I would act on his request. Then the Shaykh Nuri Hadji Baba told an older dervish, named Hafis, to lead the programme. The Shaykh said that he would accompany me back to Holland. Everybody was very much surprised, because many people had especially come to see the Shaykh from Konya and they begged him to stay. But Shaykh Nuri Hadji Baba, left all his dervishes and people behind and sitting next to me in the car he said to me;
“Holland”
I did not hesitate for one moment and left for the Netherlands. We stopped in my town and in that holy night we stayed for a definite period of time in our Mosque in Ridderkerk. Allah knows what took place during that night, which had only become possible thanks to Gods blessing. Then I thought of the words spoken by my Grandmaster;
“Ahmad, you are now Rumi and Allah will bring Konya to you”
After that Blessed Holy night with Shaykh Nuri Hadji Baba, the next morning one of the dervish came to me, and the dervish Nahid told me;
Ahmad, I want to tell you this, before we went to Holland, our Beloved Shaykh Nuri Hadji Baba told us so many times this;
“If I am going to Holland, Allah will open a new “Opening”, my Tekke will be there”
I could no longer walk away from the truth and I accepted the intimation that had been passed on to me in 1995. With the help and blessing of my Grandmaster I was being prepared for this duty. Late in the summer of 1998 when I was completely alone, my Grandmaster Grandshaykh Muhammad Nazim appeared to me in a vision and said to me;
“Come”
And than the vision disappeared, shortly after this experience I left directly for Cyprus to visit my Grandmaster in Lefke. Arriving first on Istanbul airport, and waiting with hundreds of people in front off the passport control.
Suddenly my Grandshaykh spoke to me in my heart saying;
“Ahmad look to the left, ( I looked and I saw a very thin light like a laserlight, appointing someone, who was standing there.), My Grandshaykh said in my heart; “Go Ahmad, go to him”. I went to him and I said;” Assalamualeikum my brother”. I introduce myself to him ,saying; I am Ahmad, he said; I am Mithat, and we start to talk to each other.He was a Turkish business man coming from Holland. He asked me if I like to go with him to the Holy places in Istanbul. I said; InsjaAllah. Suddenly my Grandshaykh appeared to me, he said; “Ahmad say this….. to Mithat. and I told him what my Grandshaykh told me about him, Mithat was very surprised saying “It is the truth, it is the truth about me”, I said, that my Grandshaykh has send me to him.That night he took the initiation of the Naqshbandi al-Haqqaniyya Tariqat. He stayed in Istanbul and I went the next day to Cyprus. After one week I went back to Holland. One month later in that year 1998, we went together back to Cyprus. It was his first time to meet the Grandshaykh. It was for him like my first time, you can’t explain this in words, because it was Divine! Our Grandshaykh blessed us with a new initiation mentioning in the Bayat the name of Grandshaykh Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi.Then our Grandshaykh asked Mithat ;
“What is your name?”
He said; Mithat Ozturk my Grandshaykh! Then the Grandshaykh said;
“You are Celebi” (Celebi are the descendants of Maulana Jalaludin Rumi(Qad),
Later Mithat said, also that his family, from the father from his mothers side was a descendant of our Holiest Prophet(S.A.W) coming from the line of the Great Master Grandshaykh Abdul Qadir Al-Jilani(Qad).
Mithat’s Grandfather Shaykh Ahmad(Qad), the father from his mothers side was a Shaykh of the Nagshbandi Tariqat, inherited his Secret from his Shaykh, who was his father, Shaykh Sulayman an-Naqshbandi from Tatvan near Mus in the district Van, near the border of Iran. Mithat mother told once, at the time that Mithat was about 7 year old, her father Shaykh Ahmad Karana (Qad) was sitting in the room and said to every one, none of you will have my secret than he looked to his grandson appointing him saying;
“Later when he will be older he will have our secret”.
In 1998 Mithat met his Grand Master, Grandshaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani who opened for him his secret. Mithat said, from the moment that he met his Grandshaykh all the pieces fall together. Mithat said that he have found the Love. One time he told us;
“Short before I met Shaykh Ahmad I was in Konya visiting the Grandshaykh Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi(Qad), I asked the Great Master Rumi his blessings, and I prayed to our Lord Allah Almighty for his opening, to make me working for his Kingdom. Short after this prayer I met Shaykh Ahmad Dede on the airport in Istanbul. Shaykh Ahmad himself came to me, saying that his Grandshaykh has send him. Thanks to our Lord Allah Almighty that was my opening.
From that moment Mithat Celebi Ozturk who is a descendant of our Holiest Prophet(S.A.W) by the blessings of our Grandshaykh has always supporting the Haqqani-Mevlevi Trust.
( This is a story in a story, about two brothers, Lovers of God, who has meet it’s other by the Divine plan, and by the blessings of their Grandshaykh became “One” in friendship for the Love of Allah Almighty)
Now the story starts from beginning again, short after the first meeting of the two lovers of God, Mithat went from Istanbul back to Holland, and Shaykh Ahmad Dede went from Istanbul to Cyprus to Lefke.
Shaykh Ahmad said;
When I arrived there I was welcomed by my Grandshaykh, I kissed his holy hands and I could not find a word to say. That night there was a strong Dzikr, in which my Grandmaster ordered me;” stand up and whirl”. After this Dzikr I went to my room and there was a knock on my door. I opened the door and a young murid from Konya stood in the opening and told me;
“Ahmad, I have a message for you, just now I had a very remarkable experience when I was in front of the kitchen of the Darqa, the Grandmaster Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi suddenly appeared before me and he said to me;
“Oh my son, go to Shaykh Ahmad and tell him that my hands are on his shoulders and that the Sultan is above him”
After this message the Grandmaster Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi left as suddenly as he had come. I embraced my brother and expressed gratitude to Allah for this special news. That night in Lefke I had a very peculiar dream, I saw myself searching and standing in a wonderful area with many people around me, I held my right hand up high and while I looked at the ring on my ring finger I called out to the people;
“I have found it, I have found it, look I have the ring of Abu Bakr as Siddiq(r.a)”
Then I showed the ring of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq(r.a) to everybody. That morning I was invited for breakfast at my Grandmaster’s place. I knew that this dream was coming from my Grandshaykh, I told him about the dream and my Grandmaster said;
“Yes, Abu Bakr as-Siddiq(r.a) was the first who whirled and Ahmad you are the first to represent this whirling”
Some days later while I was still in Lefke an older murid, also from Konya, came up to me and told me this;
“Ahmad, this morning I was with our Grandshaykh I had a newspaper with me with a large portrait of Rumi in it, I showed it to our Grandshaykh and he said to me that there is no longer a Dede in Konya, nor is there one in Istanbul, now the Mevlevi Dede is in Holland it is Shaykh Ahmad”.
Shortly afterwards my Grandmaster sent me back to the Netherlands and he said to me;
“I shall send you to a place where people will receive you with open arms and that place will be England”
My Grandmaster blessed me and I went home. When I arrived home my wife told me the news that Shaykh Nuri Hadji Baba(r.a) had died on 19th October 1998. (May Allah cherish him with His Love in eternity.)
Later in the year 2000 my Grandmaster asked me to come to him in the holy months of Rajab en Shaban. Then he directed me to stay with him for 40 days. On one of those days my Grandmaster said to me that on my 40th birthday the hidden “Opening” would be made known to the outside world. I had just become 40. One year later in the summer of 2001 I stayed with my Grandmaster again for 40 days in Lefke. It was on the 41st day after the Dzikr that my Grandmaster asked me to come to him. The Darqa was filled with murids from all over the world. My Grandmaster spoke about “The Opening” and he told me to go to all the places where people were in need of me, he said;
“Tomorrow you will go back to Holland, do your work and do your utmost for the Prophet (SAW), propagate His Love and Allah will open the east and west for you”
Once in a spiritual lesson, the Sultan ul Awliya, Grandsheikh Muhammad Nazim spoke to one of his dervishes about the spiritual meaning of the “Dede” in the Mevlevi Tariqat.
Grandsheikh Muhammad Nazim said;
“Dede” It means the “Grandsheikh” of the Mevlevi , and the real representative of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, And Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi (Qad) is representing the Divine Love of Allah Almighty on earth”
Shaykh Ahmad Dede is now the appointed head of the Haqqani-Mevlevi Tariqat under the authority of his Grandmaster, Grandshaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani.
Shaykh Ahmad said;
“I am Naqshbandi, I am taking from the Naqshbandi Tariqat, but I am ordered by my Grandshaykh to represent it trough the Mevlevi Tariqat”.
And as such he travels all over Europe to spread the Whirling Love Message of the Great Grandmaster, the Imam of the Mevlevi Tariqat,
Grandshayk Maulana Jalaluddin Muhammad Rumi.(Qad)