Urs of Muzaffer Ozak al-Jerrahi
February 12th is the Urs of Muzaffer Ozak, late Shaikh of the Helveti-Jerrahi Sufi Order in Istanbul. David Bellak visited Shaikh Muzaffer many times during the 1970s, sitting patiently in his bookshop in the old market of Istanbul and joining zikr ceremonies in the Jerrahi tekke, or sufi lodge. Shaikh David was initiated by Muzaffer Effendi into the Helveti-Jerrahi Order, and sometimes a sense of this comes through in David Dede's own teaching and leading of zikr. Suleyman Hayati Dede was welcomed to the Jerrahi tekke, as seen in the photo below, and Jerrahis and other branches of the Helveti often include a semazen in their ceremonies. Shaikh Muzaffer was a person of great depth and spiritual authority, and also one filled with joy and energy and song. He wrote many poems and hymns under his pen-name "Ashki", which means something like "filled with divine love and yearning". The Eye of Love Since I gave my heart to beauty, I can't tell right from left, S