Muzaffer Ozak

Muzaffer Ozak al-Dscherrahi al-Halveti (* 1916 ; † February 12, 1985 ) was an Islamic mystic and sheikh of the Jerrahi - Tariqa (Jerrahi Dervish Order) in Istanbul ( Turkey ). He was the 19th successor to the order's founder, Pir Nureddin al-Jscherrahi al-Halveti . His father was Hajji Mehmed Efendi from Konya , an Islamic scholar and teacher at the court of Sultan Abdülhamid II , his mother Hajjah Aysha Ozak, granddaughter of Sayyid Hussein Efendi ( Halveti Sheikh from the place Yanbolu , which is now on the territory of Bulgaria ) who traces its origins back to Ali , the son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed .

He is called Muzaffer Efendi by his dervishes .

Childhood and youth

During the First World War (1914-1918) the family von Muzaffer Ozak suffered heavy losses. Only he, his mother, his sister and two cousins ​​saw the end of the war; and that in poverty.

At the age of about five or six he came into the care of Sayyid Sheikh Abdurrahman Samiyyi Saruhani, who was a sheikh of the Qadiri , Naqshbandi , Ushshaki , and Halveti tariqas. He took care of Muzaffer Ozak for the next twelve years until his death.

In the years of his youth and as a young adult, Muzaffer Ozak received training from various teachers in the areas of Koran recitation , hadith and Islamic law , including from Gümülcineli Mustafa Efendi, who was nicknamed the “Walking Library”.

education

Muzaffer Ozak also qualified as a muezzin and carried out this activity first in the Ali Yazıcı mosque , later in the Soğan Ağa and Kefeli mosques in Karagümrük , a district in the European part of Istanbul . In the latter he was introduced to the profession of bookseller by the Imam Shakir Efendi.

He was then appointed muezzin of the great Beyazıt Mosque , which is located right next to the Book Bazaar in Istanbul. There Muzaffer Ozak had his own bookstore, which later became known to western Sufism enthusiasts as a kind of pilgrimage site during their stay in Turkey. This bookstore is still run today by his son.

The Imam of Bakirkoy , Hafiz Ismail Hakki Efendi, admired Muzaffer Ozaks voice and style as a muezzin, to which he him in the art of religious music, known as İlahi , Kaside , Durak , Mevlud and Mersiye , briefed.

Muzaffer Ozak was not only active as a muezzin, but later also held the office of imam of the Vezneciler mosque; During the fasting month of Ramadan he was also an honorary imam of the great Suleymaniye Mosque for a period of 23 years .

Sufism

Muzaffer Ozak came into contact with Sufism at an early age . As mentioned earlier, after the loss of his father, he was placed in the care of Sheikh Samiyyi Saruhani when he was five or six years old. He was an educated man who had published over twenty different books on Islamic law and Sufism in Turkish and Arabic . There are also several other unpublished manuscripts on chemistry , alchemy , herbal medicine , and other subjects.

After his death, Muzaffer Ozak met Sayyid Sheikh Ahmed Tahir ul-Maraschi from Halveti-Schabani-Tariqa while still a child. His specialty was the well-known Sufi master Ibn Arabi († 1240), and with him he studied his works al-Futuhat al-Makkiya and Fusu .

Under Nevschehirli Haddschi Hayrullah and Atif Hodscha, Muzaffer Ozak dealt with the interpretation of the Koran . Other teachers were Hajji Abdülhakim Arvâsi and Sheikh Schefik Efendi.

Years later he was accepted as his dervish by Sayyid Sheikh Ibrahim Fahruddin al-Jerrahi al-Halveti. Soon after, he was even appointed his deputy caliph .

About ten years later, in 1966, Muzaffer Ozak succeeded his sheikh after his death. The next day he opened the Tekke , the place of the dervish gatherings ( Dergah ) in Karagümrük, to the public, although a ban by Ataturk , the founder of the Turkish republic, still existed. This had closed all Tekken from September 2, 1925, since then the dervish ceremonies have only taken place in secret.

to travel

In the late 1970s, Muzaffer Ozak made several trips to Western Europe and the USA to present the dervish ceremony ( dhikr ) of the Jerrahi Halveti dervishes to the public. For example, in 1978 he performed with his dervishes in front of a large audience at the 5th Festival of Traditional Arts in Rennes ( France ).

Muzaffer Ozak traveled several times, especially to the USA, and crossed the country from New York to San Francisco . In addition to the performances of the Dhikr , he also gave some interviews or extensive discussions about Sufism with the interested audience, for example at Columbia University in March 1978.

During his visits to the USA, he met Lex Hixon , among others , who then converted to Islam and became his student. Under the name Nur al-Jerrahi , he founded a branch of the Jerrahi -Tariqa called Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order , which to this day has a large number of followers in the United States and Mexico .

Muzaffer Ozak undertook this kind of trips until his death in 1985, which won him a large number of followers on all continents.

Literary works

Muzaffer Ozak is also the author of several books that are mainly known in the Turkish region. Due to his training in the fields of the Koran, Hadith and Islamic law, he is not only an authority there among the Sufis. Most of his works are also available in translations, mostly in English.

• Irşad
  • English: Irshad - Wisdom of a Sufi Master
  • Spanish: Irshad. Sabiduría de un maestro sufí. (vol. 1 + 2)
• Aşk Yolu Vuslat Tariki
  • English: The Unveiling of Love
  • Spanish: La Develación del Amor
• Envar-ul-Kulub
  • English: Lights of the Hearts (in preparation)
• Ziynet-ul-Kulub
  • English: Adornment of Hearts
• Gülsar-i Arifan
• Hazret-i Meryem (not published in Turkish)
  • German: The Blessed Virgin Mary in Islam
  • English: Blessed Virgin Mary
  • Spanish: Mariam
• Sofiyye Sohbetleri (not published in Turkish)
  • English: Garden of Dervishes
• Love is the Wine (edited by Robert Frager )
  • German: The wine of the Sufis
    • (Title of the first edition: Love is the wine )
  • Spanish: El Amor es el Vino
  • Bosnian: Ljubav je vino

Sound carrier with Muzaffer Ozak

• LP Halveti-Jerrahi-Dhikr
  • Journey To The Lord Of Power
• CD Chant des Derviches de Turquie
  • La Cérémonie du Zikr
  • (5th Festival des Arts Traditionnels 1978, Rennes)
• CD Garden of Paradise
  • Sufi Ceremony of Remembrance
  • (recorded April 5, 1983 in Istanbul)
• CD reunion
  • Ceremonial Music of the Sufis
  • (recorded April 16, 1984 in New York City)

literature

• Muhammad Jamal al-Jerrahi Gregory Blann: Lifting the Boundaries. Muzaffer Efendi and the Transmission of Sufism to the West. Four Worlds, Nashville TN 2005, ISBN 1-59744-038-8 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Muzaffer Ozak in the catalog of the German National Library